When I first read Nikki Giovanni’s “Campus Racism 101”, I thought it was only discussing about the ignorance and racism black students go through in a predominantly white college. After reading it a couple times more, I realize that the topic of racism has a small part in Nikki Giovanni’s essay. Nikki Giovanni’s “Campus Racism 101” was basically on how to deal with ignorance while being an individual. She explains that black students, or any other students, should not pay attention to ignorance and just go to class to do their work. I agree with Nikki Giovanni because there is racism in the world, but racism should not stop you from doing what you want to do. This all leads to the topic of individualism. As an individual, you are responsible for going to class and doing assignments on time in college. If you do encounter ignorance, you should not get bothered by it. This is why Nikki Giovanni provided answers to give when people ask stupid, ignorant questions. She simply said that you are an individual, that you cannot “take the racial world on your shoulders” (Giovanni pg. 114). While attending college, you are there to get your work done and learn from it. I agree with Giovanni when she said, “Your job is not to educate white people; it is to obtain an education” (Giovanni pg. 114). It is your chance to deal with yourself as an individual in college. You are attending college to obtain an education, just don’t let racism and ignorance get in your way.
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True that there is much racism in the world today and that we should not let it bother us, but the fact is that it does bother us. As the old saying goes, evil feeds on evil, or essentially if we ignore that racism long enough it will grow and grow and grow until there is almost nothing we can do about it. We must face down racism and ignorance some of the time, because let's face it the system of dealing with it now isn't very good. If there is to be change each of us must contribute to the whole, and only then can we beat back the tide of oppostion. I know many would call me a hippocite for not being overly accepting of the Christan beliefs, but to me that makes it even easier to see where the weakest points of ignorance are; like a double agent I not only find out the way things work and help bring it down but I can also learn in the process. My own ignorance really is bliss, it's just how you use that bliss is what really counts.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the focus of Nikki Giovanni's essay is on dealing with racism and ignorance in college, it can be applied to so much more. You do not necessarily have to be black or white, male or female, or even attending college to benefit from her essay. You could use her tips just about anywhere you might run into ignorance or racism, like the supermarket. We can use her advice help ourselves and others, especially if those others are the ones that are racist or ignorant.
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