Here I will present personal and other experiences that have shown instances of discrimination and prejudice. Although somewhat extreme, I want to show how the initial prejudice can create very negative discriminative actions.
Since my freshmen year at SCU, which was 3 years ago, I have had several instances where I have or friends have experienced racial discrimination from fellow SCU students. These may have been outward verbal or physical actions, or even certain actions that may show hidden feelings.
I would like to provide an example that I saw my friends experience. To set the story, I will provide the setting. My two Black guy friends came with me to a large block party, freshmen year. Fraternity guys were passing out cups from their balconies as we reached for them. When I reached for a cup, I was handed the cup in a gentle manner. However, when my two Black friends reached for cups, the cups were simply thrown at them and fell on the floor. After that, the Fraternity guy who had done so did not acknowledge my friends at all. We simply left the party after that since we were so upset and frustrated.
This is not the only example of this occurring. This article was found on Racialicious.com, written by Carmen Van Kerckhove, a blogger of race and diversity.
SCU “South of the Border” Party
Source: Racialicious.com
In 2007, there was a party at SCU that was well known among the Bay Area community. It was called the “South of the Border” party. Now this name alone sounds somewhat racist. However, the outfits that the students were wearing to the party was over the edge.
Students dressed as Latinos, or how they portray them. Students wore janitor and pregnant mother outfits. For me, this is disgusting and unbearable. I have many Hispanic & Latino friends who would be absolutely horrified if they knew about this party. Luckily, this had all occurred before I arrived at SCU but I feel as though there are still these racial thoughts that are not constantly portrayed in public.
Now these are clearly very extreme instances of discrimination and these do not happen often, but the point is that they do occur. There are issues of discrimination and segregation on the SCU campus, but this always starts with the initial prejudice that arises.