Is it discrimination that white professors can't distinguish Asian faces?

Is it discrimination that white professors can't distinguish Asian faces?

Abstract: Thousands of Yale students marched because of two Halloween events, which opened a fierce collision of views on campus: Did ethnic minorities suffer extensive and serious discrimination in their study and life, or were they just a few isolated incidents of discrimination?

Is it discrimination that white professors can't distinguish Asian faces?

Halloween opened Pandora's box.

2015165438+1October 9, thousands of Yale students pulled up "We are out; We are here; We will not leave; We are loved (we are here; We have been here; We will not leave; We are loved), shouting slogans and marching on campus. Various participants, such as blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, undergraduates, graduate students, teachers and professors, expressed their common advance and retreat with ethnic minorities (members of ethnic groups other than whites) and protested that the school did not give enough support to ethnic minorities to protect them from all kinds of discrimination. The parade was triggered by two separate events on Halloween. First of all, Erika Christakis, deputy dean of Silliman College, one of the undergraduate colleges of Yale University, sent an email to students, stressing that the school should not restrict students' freedom of dress on the grounds of caring for the feelings of ethnic minorities, in response to the notice issued by the school's cross-cultural affairs committee, reminding students to avoid some dresses that might offend or hurt ethnic minorities at Halloween parties (such as white people smearing their skin and dressing up as slaves). Secondly, a black girl tried to enter a Halloween student party, but was told that the party was only for white girls.

The parade opened a fierce collision of views on campus: have ethnic minorities suffered extensive and serious discrimination in their study and life, or are there only a few isolated discrimination incidents? Even if some speech and behavior may bring harm to ethnic minorities, does this constitute a sufficient reason to restrict freedom of speech? If ethnic minorities feel neglected and marginalized, should teachers and students of the whole school be given compulsory training to respect multiculturalism? On this series of issues, the tit-for-tat and uncompromising views of the two factions gradually diverged in class and after class, and in various special forums held on this issue.

On the one hand, various student organizations, mainly ethnic minority students, cited evidence, strongly criticized Yale's ubiquitous racial discrimination, and read out a series of requirements to the principal, including making at least one race-related course a compulsory course, and letting Nicholas Christakis and Erika Christakis resign as the dean and vice president of Silliman College (Nicholas was resigned due to his wife's marriage). On the other hand, some professors jointly published an open letter in support of christakis and opposed the restriction of freedom of speech on the grounds of respecting multiculturalism. Many students also doubt or oppose the required race-related courses.

While reporting the facts, the major media also took sides in this dispute. For example, a commentary in the Chronicle of Higher Education strongly supports students' demands when freedom of speech becomes a political weapon, while the Atlantic Monthly's long report "The New Intolerance of the Student Movement" criticizes students for making a mountain out of a molehill and tolerates no objection.

In any case, with the coming of exam week, the Yale campus seems to have resumed its usual rhythm. The students burned the midnight oil for the exam. In order to relieve students' study pressure, the school put holiday candy in the library, posted inspirational slogans in the restaurant and arranged stress-reducing yoga in the gym. The fierce debate about the situation of ethnic minorities triggered by Halloween costumes swept across the school quietly faded out of everyone's sight. The Christmas holiday continues to decorate the tranquility and peace of the campus. The new semester is coming, will everyone take advantage of the joy of the festival to downplay everything that happened before? That's what I'm worried about.

Most social movements with deep concern and vigorous momentum in history have been silent and fruitless after all, but I hope this micro-student movement in Yale is an exception: I hope it will not only open a deeper reflection on elite education, affirmative policy and other issues, but also at least bring about substantive reforms from itself. A quiet holiday should not be an excuse for forgetting, but a space for reflection.

As an international student studying at Yale, with the dual minority status of women and Asians, I deeply participated in the mediation of this debate and witnessed the sadness and anger of the students, as well as the confusion and incomprehension of the school and related teachers. I am convinced that this debate is not a fuss by students, but I also think that the opposing views of the two factions are often based on some simplified dichotomy. Only by stepping out of these misleading dichotomies can we clearly see the plight of ethnic minorities in all aspects, clarify the balance between freedom of speech and respect for individuals, and re-examine the positive efforts that all parties can make to improve the situation of ethnic minorities.

There were no racists, but we were ambushed in all directions.

In the whole American context, naked racial hatred and discrimination occur from time to time. 2065438+June 2005, Rufu, a native of white supremacy, broke into a church in Charleston and shot nine blacks, which shocked the whole country. There is still an urgent need to analyze and effectively end blatant racial hatred and discrimination. However, due to the starting point chosen in this paper (that is, the situation of ethnic minorities in university education), the following discussion often focuses on more subtle racial issues, rather than this distinct racism. Back to the campus turmoil in Yale, among the two schools at present, one side thinks that Yale as a whole is shrouded in racism, and the other side thinks that racial discrimination, if it exists, is only a few acts. Listen carefully to the personal difficulties of ethnic minorities, and you will feel that both sides seem to have their own reasons. There are almost no racists who despise, hate and abuse in these stories; On the contrary, all people are well-intentioned, even if they are a little thoughtless. Nevertheless, minority students feel embattled and struggling in their study and life. After considering all positions, I firmly believe that just because you can't find a racist under the traditional definition, you are actually scratching your boots and doing nothing. I will combine the information I have learned and summarize the embarrassing situation of ethnic minorities in campus study and life from four aspects in the tone of ethnic minorities.

Our faces are blurred.

Michelle, a black girl, has established a very close teacher-friend relationship with Elizabeth, a white female professor, since she entered school for two years. Elizabeth is her faithful listener and will give her useful guidance on many key choices in her study and life. Michelle is a member of the Yale Black Choir. She invited Elizabeth to their Thanksgiving performance. The performance went well. After the end, a friendly email from Elizabeth brought Michelle a lot of trouble and even resentment.

Elizabeth wrote in the letter: "Dear Michelle, I watched the whole performance of your choir from beginning to end tonight, but I couldn't find you anywhere. Did you decide not to take part in the performance because you were not feeling well today? "

In fact, Michelle stood in the first row of the choir throughout the performance; Because of this, she felt very lost: "When I stood among rows of black people, even Elizabeth, who had been close to me for two years and cared about me, didn't recognize me!" " Facing the mainstream white groups, ethnic minorities feel that they are vague behind their predecessors and it is difficult to be recognized and recognized as unique individuals. This is a kind of pain.

An Asian doctoral student in the Conservatory of Music is working as a teaching assistant for a music appreciation course attended by hundreds of people. This doctoral student comes from an immigrant family in California, China. She was born in America and can hardly speak Chinese. In a conversation with the professor about classroom organization, the professor said to her, "Several Asian female students in our class look so much alike that I can't tell who is who." Can you help me identify it? Although the professor meant no harm, he embarrassed the teaching assistant very much. First of all, because he can't recognize Asian faces, and because he subconsciously regards this Asian graduate student from an immigrant family as "their Asian", he can help him distinguish Asian individuals, not "we Americans"-a social unit with whites as the mainstream group (imagination).

It is a common phenomenon that people can easily identify individuals of the same ethnic group, but it is difficult to identify individuals of different ethnic groups. It is called the "cross-racial discrimination deficit" (see Meissner &; Brigham 200 1). The fact that professors can't distinguish ethnic minority students doesn't mean that professors ignore ethnic minorities. Research shows that even if it is deliberately overcome, it is difficult to eliminate this defect.

However, such a cognitive model, which is not malicious and does not favor any ethnic group, has brought significant disadvantages to ethnic minorities on campus in real life. Most students and professors are white; When they don't know us, they will bypass us intentionally or unintentionally in questioning sessions and extracurricular social activities. One reason is that the faces of blacks and Asians without personal identity will not attract attention; Second, once the eyes are opposite, the other party will either ask our names over and over again awkwardly, or smile to cover up the fact that we have forgotten our names. It is difficult for people to have a sense of identity or even a good impression on us in this anxious communication, and further establish a deeper relationship with us. Over time, the help and support we get from our study and life as ethnic minorities will fall far behind others, and we will suffer unknown pain.

Is it discrimination that white professors can't distinguish Asian faces?

We don't have our own narrative.

One of the characteristics of undergraduate education in Yale University is its three-year oriented learning program. In the past three years, under the systematic guidance of the most outstanding professor of literature, history and philosophy in our school, a few undergraduates who have been selected for this program have read the classic texts that have profoundly influenced western civilization from Greece and Rome to the 20th century. This project is widely regarded as a successful model of liberal arts education. Every year, there are more applicants and fewer candidates, which makes the participants in this project look like the favored ones even among Yale undergraduates.

However, Naomi, a black girl, asked to quit less than a year after she was selected, because her voice and care could not find a place in directional learning. While reading the Federalist Collection, she asked to discuss the debate about slavery at that time and the legacy of compromise in the Constitution. The professor refused her request because "this has nothing to do with the most critical issue!" " The most critical issue is the separation and balance between state power and federal power, legislative power and administrative power. "Later, she questioned why all the guided studies were about whites and men, and didn't blacks and women have classic texts worth reading? In addition, she questioned why in the context of globalization, in the extremely international Yale campus, directional learning is limited to the so-called western civilization.

Directional research is different from English department, East Asia department and other departments that specialize in a certain aspect of human civilization. It claims to convey the essence of human civilization and cultivate a broad-minded mind, but it seems to accept the western-male-centrism without reflection: white men's things are worth reading by everyone, and they don't have to read other people's experiences and thoughts. In addition, it also strengthens the western male centralism: when it excludes the works of women and ethnic minorities from the classics, these unique and often critical views are further ignored and forgotten.

Although the United States is a pluralistic immigrant country, in the imagination of mainstream discourse construction, the United States and Europe come down in one continuous line, basically a country established by white Europeans. In this mainstream cultural narrative, blacks, Indians, Hispanics, Asians, etc. Each occupies a cultural plot. Although each has its own subculture uniqueness, this subculture itself has been labeled by mainstream culture and become thin. For example, in the mainstream discourse, Asians are regarded as smart and diligent foreigners-no matter how many generations of immigrants we are, black groups are regarded as the base of laziness, poverty and crime, constantly dragging their feet and causing trouble.

Because the existence and living conditions of ethnic minorities are constantly interpreted and constructed by mainstream culture, ethnic minorities often have a sense of alienation in social life: "I am obviously not the person you see, but I don't know how to convey a true me to you!" Because in social situations, people always carry various pre-existing cultural presuppositions (for example, black men have developed limbs and simple minds; Asian girls are shy, reserved, and like to cook. When they visit ethnic minorities, it is easy to accept impressions that are consistent with their expectations and filter out those that conflict with their expectations. Under the western-male-centered and American mainstream discourse system, the experiences and thoughts of ethnic minorities and marginal groups are either properly included or placed in vague silence; In any case, it seems that there is an invisible muffler that deprives or forges our unique sound.

We are not "elites" after all.

Various cultural presuppositions for ethnic minorities not only often cover up the individual uniqueness of ethnic minorities, but also often bring more direct and serious harm. The stereotype of black people is particularly harmful: "Although I am a Yale student or even a professor, my racial identity seems to constantly remind me that I don't belong to this elite group;" I will always belong to the lazy and poor criminal base where I come from. "Many black girls say that when they eat in the student canteen, students they don't know often regard them as canteen staff and hand them the dirty dishes they have eaten.

Many black boys said that when they were walking with white classmates on campus, campus patrolmen often picked them out to check their student ID cards. Last January, a black boy, a third-year undergraduate at Yale University, was on his way home from the library. Being regarded as a suspect, he was threatened by the police at gunpoint to lie on the ground for questioning and examination. In addition, when black students seek help from school counselors in the face of psychological troubles, they are often asked questions that other ethnic students will not be asked, such as "Are you drunk?"

Charles is a fifth-year doctoral student in the Department of Applied Physics of Yale University. Unlike most of his lab friends, he is a tall black boy. He said that in the past five years, I can't remember how many times he was mistaken for a school security guard, a garbage collector or even a dangerous suspect. Recently, he and his white classmates walked on the road around the campus. A man came up to him angrily, pointed to a campus equipment maintenance car next to him and shouted, "Why did you park your car in the middle of the road?" You move it now! "Yes, most security guards, restaurant waiters, school maintenance workers, cleaners, etc. All are black, and only a few professors and students are black, so people are used to treating black people around them as the former rather than the latter.

The stereotypes faced by black students not only make them often misunderstood in social communication, but also make it difficult for their talents to be freely extended and recognized. On the one hand, people often think that their abilities are inferior to others. Imani is a black girl in grade two. In a chat, a white boy said to her: "My white sister's grades are similar to yours, but she will definitely not be admitted to Yale"-suggesting that Imani can be admitted to Yale, but because of her racial identity, she has received special care from the affirmative policy.

This prejudice is widespread in mainstream society. Research shows that even university professors who sincerely believe in racial equality are obviously more willing to give white job seekers interview opportunities, higher starting salary and more training when faced with two resumes with exactly the same content (only one is marked with a white name, such as Emily or Greg, and the other is marked with a black name, such as Jamal or Lakisha) (see Bertrand & Mullainathan 2004)。

On the other hand, faced with the ubiquitous stereotype that black people are not as smart as others, black students often fall into the psychological mechanism of self-realization, thus further confirming and strengthening this stereotype. This phenomenon is called "stereotype threat", that is, when a person is aware of the stereotypes left by her group, she is more likely to act in line with these stereotypes. All ethnic groups are threatened by different stereotypes. An interesting study shows that Asian girls in primary and secondary schools, before taking the math test (compared with the control group), if they are deliberately reminded of their Asian identity, their grades will be significantly improved, while if they are deliberately reminded of their female identity, their grades will be significantly reduced (see Ambady et al. 200 1).

Compared with the above research (the stereotype threat faced by Asian girls has both positive and negative effects), the stereotype threat faced by black students in learning can be said to be completely negative. Psychological experiments show that when black students are deliberately reminded of their racial identity before the exam, their test scores will drop significantly (see Steele 20 10). This is not only reflected in exams, classroom speeches, paper writing and so on. At any time, when the stereotype that we are "less intelligent than people" is awakened, we may behave worse because we are at a loss. Over time, this has continuously strengthened and deepened the (subconscious) prejudice that "the talents of ethnic minorities are indeed inferior to others", thus eroding our self-confidence and dignity.

Besides being threatened by misunderstandings and stereotypes, the lack of examples of mutual appreciation among elite groups is another unforgettable pain for minority students. According to a poster on campus, the number of black professors in Yale has increased from 0% of 170 1 to 3% of 20 15 in a century. Although professors can guide students across races, in a society with very unequal races, the separation of ethnic identities often means that it is difficult for professors to empathize with and appreciate the immediate difficulties of ethnic minorities. Moreover, the fact that most professors are white sends a strong "ominous sign" to ethnic minorities: "Even if I study hard, a respected position like Yale will not open the door to me in the future!" (See Cole 20 16)

Is it discrimination that white professors can't distinguish Asian faces?

Redefining racism

The above discussion is far from exhausting the difficulties of ethnic minorities in their study and life, but I hope it is enough to show that the students' protests and demands are not groundless or make a mountain out of a molehill. Even though the obvious racial discrimination is only a rare phenomenon on campus, the campus life of ethnic minorities is indeed shrouded in systematic and ubiquitous racial inequality because of the flat understanding of ethnic minorities in mainstream discourse and the great differences in the situation of different races in the whole society (especially the poverty and struggle of black groups). Faced with this kind of inequality, which is often unintentional, silent, ubiquitous and infinitely accumulated, the traditional definition of racist (that is, consciously thinking that different races have advantages and disadvantages and deliberately treating different races differently) has almost lost its explanatory power and critical power.

Therefore, I think it is necessary to redefine it: all those who ignore, acquiesce or do nothing to further deepen the extremely serious racial inequality at present, whether she intends to do it or not, should be regarded as racists; All institutional arrangements, institutions and organizations that ignore, acquiesce in and aggravate racial inequality should be regarded as manifestations of racism.

In the context of the creeping spread of racism, it is not enough to rely solely on sincerity to stop yourself from becoming a racist and effectively resist racial inequality. Far from discussing ways and means to effectively combat racism in all aspects of social life, this paper wants to go back to the university campus and make a preliminary analysis on how to improve the situation of ethnic minorities in elite education, especially on the differences between the opposing sides at present.

First of all, I think that respecting ethnic minorities and protecting freedom of speech are equally important and different values. Regardless of whether the protection of freedom of speech in the United States is excessive (many hate speech prohibited by the European Parliament often falls within the scope of the protection of freedom of speech in the First Amendment of the United States), the Cross-cultural Affairs Committee of Yale University reminds students morally by email to try to avoid Halloween costumes that will harm ethnic minorities, which does not conflict with the protection of freedom of speech at all.

Because moral self-censorship or reminding by others is completely different from administrative censorship and monitoring supported by some deterrent means: the latter threatens freedom of speech, while the former is harmless to freedom of speech, and it itself appeals to freedom of conscience. Therefore, it is untenable for Erika Christakis to accuse the Intercultural Affairs Committee of restricting students' freedom of speech.

However, from the perspective of protecting freedom of speech, it is inappropriate for students to ask the school to resign as the dean and vice president of Christakis, which means that Christakis and his wife will be convicted for their remarks (although this is not a legal punishment). In order to improve the embarrassing situation of ethnic minorities on campus, it is not important to impose administrative punishment on christakis (or others who have similar words and deeds). What is important is to widely recognize, sympathize with and actively improve racial inequality. This can only be achieved by appealing to everyone's freedom of conscience and speech, through constant communication and running-in, and giving conclusive facts and powerful arguments.

Second, in terms of practical policies, I think we should carry out compulsory training between teachers and students in colleges and universities to respect multiculturalism and different ethnic identities. For example, we should tell teachers and students not to acquiesce that black women in canteens are waiters and Asians are all Japanese (many Japanese and Korean students complain about walking on the road, while others often say "Ni Hao!" )), it is likely that it will not only have no effect, but will aggravate the stereotype of ethnic minorities and construct their weak identity. Moreover, being forced to study is easy to cause psychological conflicts and aggravate the marginalization of ethnic minorities.

The truly effective education is that every minority member becomes an educator and teaches people how to treat themselves correctly in all aspects of daily study and life. When someone treats us black girls as waiters in the canteen, we should not only tell each other: "I am not a waiter, I am a Yale student", but also tell him: "Please note that there are many black girls on campus who are not waiters, but Yale students."

When someone shows impatience with our foreign students' clumsy English, we should not only tell each other: "My English is really not fluent, please be patient and let me try to make my elaborate argument clear", but also tell him: "For foreign students whose mother tongue is not English, we face unique language barriers, and we need patience and encouragement to stretch freely." Every one of us, everyone with ethnic identity, let us be teachers and teaching materials that respect multicultural cultivation and pass on our dreams, diligence, difficulties and beating the floor.

Third, if the proportion of ethnic minorities among teachers and students is always stagnant, even if every ethnic minority consciously becomes a multicultural teacher and textbook, it will be difficult to eliminate the stereotype and thin understanding of ethnic minorities by mainstream groups. Moreover, equal educational opportunities are an important lever to improve the embarrassing situation of ethnic minorities in the whole society. This means that, in the context of the serious lack of social resources (especially educational resources) of ethnic minorities, it will be a betrayal of the concept of equality to cancel the affirmative policy in higher education (that is, to consider the applicant's racial identity as one of many factors when entering the university and balance the two principles of merit-based admission and equal opportunities for members of all ethnic groups) and unilaterally follow the principle of merit-based admission.

In the recent debate of the High Court on abolishing the affirmative action policy, Chief Justice Roberts questioned the value of racial diversity in the academic field and asked: "What unique perspective can a minority student bring to a physics class?" The logic behind this query is precisely the instrumentalization of education and knowledge seekers-the value of knowledge seekers depends on what unique contribution she can bring to the development of disciplines-thus failing to see that the affirmative policy really responds to people's equal rights as knowledge seekers and creators of their own destiny. Adhering to the affirmative action policy does not mean that affirmative action has unlimited priority, nor does it mean that the current affirmative action policy has no drawbacks and room for improvement, but only states an eternal truth: education is not only a means to cultivate outstanding talents; Seeking knowledge and learning to change one's destiny and promote social justice is a universal right of human beings, so it is also the deepest commitment of education to individuals and society.