Racism on Campus?

http://www.cyprusupdates.com/2011/01/new-law-to-combat-racism-and-xenophobia/

     I recently was leaving my dorm to head to my class this past Thursday when all of a sudden someone shouted out, "I HATE BLACK PEOPLE!" The comment threw me off and reminded me of the ignorance that is still around no matter how much the world has evolved. To hear someone shout that out offended me and left me a little puzzled as to why they had the need to shout that out. Did that person specifically not like me and chose to say something that would cause a reaction from me, did they have no clue who i was and just did it for kicks and giggles amongst their peers... perhaps? I was unsure how to go about the situation. I have heard racist comments before that were directed towards me and I have either confronted the circumstance or just shrugged it off in regards to that persons ignorant statement. According to the book Outspoken Free Speech Stories, I have taken both the aggressive and passive actions towards what I would consider hate speech. I was unsure on whether or not I should report it to a police officer so that they aware of the situation in case it were to happen to someone else. However I began debating with myself on whether or not the matter was important enough to report. We have all had someone say something hurtful, mean, or offensive. We ourselves may have been the one who has said something to another individual that may have not been considered kind. So how do we determine if remarks made are classified as punishable hate speech or just another form of protected free speech?
     In class we have been looking more in depth at hate speech and protected free speech with recent articles and readings. One example of free speech was presented to us in a class handout about a civilian from a small town who decided to hand out fliers to the public informing them about his position on homosexuals and how the educational system doesn't need to permit any laws requiring students to be informed about various sexual preferences. The townsmen went on to call them sexual perverts and wanted to organize a meeting to help stop this current law. A Lesbian Mom living in the community was extremely offended by it in regards to the fact that her child got a hold of the flier as well as she herself being a lesbian. She claimed that the flier raised intentions of intimidating the gay community. The argument however, in the local townsmen defense is that the flier never portrayed any intent of harm just his free speech on how he felt about homosexuals and what he wanted to do to prevent schools on informing the youth about it.
      A personal case that I felt could relate to this was recently when I went to a comedy act featuring Amy Anderson. She was Asian American and chose to poke fun at all the jokes that are made towards Asian Americans such as; how people have yelled at her Asian speaking imitations, physical distinctions, and more. The audience including myself was shy to laugh because the jokes she made depicted her race in a negative light. However, she would constantly encourage us to laugh saying that it was okay. Throughout the skit she asked if the audience had any questions or topics to talk about. One student yelled out, "What about how you guys cant drive!" There was an immediate awkward silence after he made his comment. Amy told him that if he wasn't a college student she'd rip him a new one! She then asked him what his race was, he told her Puerto Rican and she replied back by saying that she would never want to drive there and everyone cheered and clapped for her quick remark. I pondered about the situation in the students defense. Amy Anderson of Asian descent was making fun of her own race by restating the Asian jokes she has heard since she was a child and told us to not be shy and laugh. The student who made the remark was just going along with characteristics that he himself and many of us have heard about Asians. However when someone who isn't Asian says it, it's offensive. Don't get me wrong, I am not condoning racist jokes or remarks but I don't think Amy should have been shocked due to the environment she created with her comedy piece. I just feel that people should not be shocked or offended when hearing a stereotype of any race when they themselves were poking fun at it.

http://www.nmci.org/

     For example, I'm African American and a very popular term used within our race is the N word. I am not a fan of it and choose not to use it in my vocabulary. The N word was a term to degrade the people of the African American culture. Now that we are in the 21st century a lot of African Americans are stating that they have reclaimed the word and use it as a term of endearment amongst other fellow African Americans. However when the term is used by people outside of the African American race people within the community become offended and those people are considered racist. However I feel as though people outside of the Black Community use it because their is so much exposure to it, especially with music. The Hip Hop Industries artists use it constantly amongst rappers such as Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and many more. These artist are very popular in today's youth culture and have a fan base world wide. Naturally fans of someones music will sing a long with the lyrics that they have known to love and memorize. So if an artist says the N word like a lot of Kanyes and Lil Waynes verses do the fans regardless of what race they are, are repeating those exact lyrics back. I myself listen to these artists however I don't sing a long to when they say the N word and if someone I know chooses to sing that around me I politely ask them not to because I take it as offensive. I hate the N word and choose to not use it and become offended when anyone within my race or outside my race says it. Is the N word a form of hate speech or protected free speech? According to certain regulations that we have been reading in class I feel as though its protected speech but I myself categorize it under hate speech.
     For example, recently there has been news wide discussion on whether or not the N word should be removed from books that have educational value, I myself think it should be. My father himself said he remembered when he was a high school student and his teacher would say the word because it was in whatever textbook that was being taught to the class and how he would cringe every time he heard it. To some they might see these textbooks informal with no intent of harm. 

http://info.lecturetools.com/blog/bid/39488/How-Technology-Empowers-the-Shy-Student-to-Participate-in-Class

     All in all there is a gray area between hate speech and free speech. There is no black and white about the situation. What some people might see as free speech such as the student who yelled I hate black people, or the attendee at the comedy act who referenced Asians as bad drivers, or the teacher who reads aloud the N word because its in the textbook may have no intent of harm however could be doing just that.