by Kelly Robinson

Created on: September 26, 2007

While attending a college in Maryland a few years ago, my Multi-Racial Counseling class was called Racism Class by every student who took it, no matter their race. The teacher was so biased against people who weren't African American that it was a battle to be in the room if you were of any other race. The animosity was palpable.

It would only be people who haven't been in college recently who would feel that no bias exists. They've either forgotten it or weren't paying attention. Schools where bias is controlled are few and far between.

The professor of my Racism Class told all of the white people present that we did not have an identity because we were not of color, our country was ran by old, white men and white people were the problem with our country. The whole problem.

The textbook he chose backed up his beliefs. It was so anti-white that I was in tears at the end of most of his classes and everyone was offended. Everyone. The really sad part was that this professor was the head of the psychology department at this college, so there wasn't a superior you could report him to. The dean of that department was his wife. Fun stuff.

To make it even better, the books he had written about the oppression of African Americans and the evil imparted by rich, white men were required reading. Did he loan us copies? Oh, no. We had to buy them at full price. An ingenious plan to boost book sales.

He had one special pet student who could do no wrong. Oppose one of her opinions in class and he would rail against everyone in the room (except her, of course) and give lower grades on the next exam. No kidding. This pet was the daughter of one of his friends. She was a beautiful, young black girl who flirted with him shamelessly, despite the fact that he was almost four times older than her. She was honored as head of the psychology club and top of the class. Surprise, surprise. I read some of her papers and trust me, she shouldn't have been head of anything. I guess it's all in who you know.

The college experience should be one of learning, growing, preparing students for life. Demanding that students take a class that told them in no uncertain terms that they were of no value unless they had a certain skin color was insane. Ironic, given that this was in the psychology department. Refuse to take the class and you couldn't graduate. So there was the choice students had to make. Flogging or degree?

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