LOL@ TIN FOIL statement by KBLACK25. I remember hearing that one, when I was an undergrad. and was in a general psych. course. The professor was talking about schitzophrenics and how they might walk around with tin foil on their heads, in the belief that the foil would protect their brains from the penetration of invisible rays, etc. Brings back a lot of memories (OG wipes tear from his left eye).
Tuner, I'm a teacher, and I have heard students think in terms of race, A LOT. I've also heard the following statement thrown around, especially on the news: "the young people no longer think in terms of race," so I threw it up on the poll as an option. Some people agree with it, which is fine. Kids, I find, though, still use race as a way to establish a hierarchy. Mexican students are especially targeted, by the rest of the Puerto Rican/Dominican/Black kids. Amongst the Black kids, there's a seperate hierarchy, based on skin tone. If you're very dark skinned, irregardless of whether you're an attractive person, especially if you're a girl, many kids will make fun of you, though it's done lightheartedly (kids, today, no longer really pick on each other, they reserve it for teachers that they perceive as being weak). Overall, I've heard a lot of the African American kids say that they prefer light skinned girls/boys.
African American kids have busted out with statements like, "if you don't want to speak English, you should go back to your country." These are statements made by the same kids who ruin lessons, all over the school building.
Hispanic kids have also shown themselves to have racist feelings, though not all, or even most, of course, when speaking to me in private, because they sort of feel that, because I'm Hispanic, I won't be offended. It's all "morenos" this and "morenos" that.
Then, there's the whole issue of stereotyping. I have several college degrees, yet people from my own community will ask me, or a colleague that's with me and is of color, if we've finished high school. Meanwhile, I've had a White colleague, with barely a year of experience under his belt, be aksed if he was my "boss" or if he was helping me with my craft (I've actually taught him most of what he knows, when it comes to real classroom practice).
Anyway, racism is here to stay. I'm a person who has a hand on the pulse of what's going on with young people, especially in NYC, because I deal with hundreds of kids a day, and I've seen the racist beliefs they hold. If you teach people that they're different, to build position, power, make value judgements, etc., then there will always be division, hatred and wasted opportunities to actually turn this mother around.