Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Final Project

Rosabi Pena Garcia
Final Project Presentation
Professor Cacoilo
12/05/18
Institutionalized Racism in Ivy Leagues

Institutionalized racism is a form of racism expressed in the practice of social and political institutions. It is also racism expressed in the practice of social and political issues. Education was always an important skill to have. My mom always pushed for me and my sister to do good in school. She taught us how to work hard for anything we wanted. If I ever wanted the latest phone, she always made me pay for a portion of it. And when I wanted to go out with friends, I had to finish whatever responsibilities that were at home. She wanted us to work hard to teach us the greatest lesson in life. Hard work really does pay off. I take this very lesson and apply it to different situations in life. I applied this lesson to school. I always made sure my sister and I were going to be set for college with no tuition to pay. When I was helping my sister apply to her dream schools I realized that it was going to takes more than hard work. But what if no matter how hard you worked the system was always against you because of your race. 

Columbia's Racial Makeup:
Yale's Racial Makeup:
Columbia University is a very diverse school for an ivy league. I was really impressed with the racial makeup in the school. After hosting several interviews with student, a lot of them shared common points. The lack of diversity within the faculty. Many of the interviewees shared the disappointment when a white professor would teach ethics and morals of people in the middle east when that professor hasn't experienced it first hand. Another point shared was the lack of supplies for low income students. Columbia enrolls a several low income students but don't supply them with the tools they need such as book vouchers or affordable/flexible meal plans. They are left behind their fellow classmates and struggles for supplies. About more than half of the school pay the tuition in full amount or close to it. These are usually upper middle class families that can afford the $80,000 tuition (per year). Theses students don't really have to worry about their next meal or how to pay for a book because they have a support system. 

This issue stems from the wealth gap in America which involves race. Since the beginning of slavery, America has been trying to oppress people of color. In every single fashion, whites have used different forms of slavery to ensure their hierarchy will not be affected. And that their image will not be tainted. Throughout history blacks and hispanics have been criminalized for minor charges or at times for no logical reason. Approximately 90% of inmates incarcerated haven't been given a trial. A majority of this population are black or hispanic and are too poor to get bail money. 

An author that connects to this issue would be Bell Hooks. In "Understanding Patriarchy", she writes "We cannot demand for men the right to be whole, to be givers and sustainers of life...they are imprisoned by a system that undermines their mental health." I applied this quote to my topic and looked at it from a different perspective. Society has imprisoned the minds of minorities. It has corrupted them into this ideology. Many minorities don't go into higher education because they were kept out and were threatened by white America. They are pushed out of their homes (gentrification) into poverty stricken areas and forced to go into poverty stricken schools. And that is all they had to work with. Ivy leagues were initially only made for white male America, minorities just started attending these schools. Although we have come a long way, they still much more to go.
I conducted interviews with minority students at Columbia University. In between photos I displayed different artworks and statistics on this topic.  I created a tumblr blog on this issue. I discuss racial demographics in different ivy leagues, the history behind it, current news, and lets viewers submit their experiences or thoughts. I also did a couple interviews with minority students attending Columbia University. They share their experience and hardships they deal with. I plan on continuing these interviews in different schools to see the differences and similarities. I also plan on endorsing the page more to receive different stories from students all over the country.

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/poisonedivyleague

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