The Social Prism: Behind The Racism

社会多棱镜：种族歧视背后

Bad Influence of Racism on Young People

种族歧视对青少年的影响

However， for young victims of racism like “Nonsense” and Gaster， words do hurt.

In school yards， rather than physical assault， racism is more likely to appear as sarcasm and isolating， which hurt victims psychologically and cause stress， anxiety and depression.

Some experts also believe that it is likely that discrimination contributes to physical health problems like heart disease and diabetes. This is because the health problems that are known to be caused by discrimination， such as stress and anxiety， are risky factors for these conditions. Some reports also find that young victims of racism experience an inability to concentrate on school work. Those who had been subjected to severe racism reported constant headaches， anticipatory anxiety and post-traumatic stress， which affected the way they ate and slept for weeks at a time.

There are some studies that suggest that people who experience discrimination may be more likely to take part in risky behaviors， such as smoking， drinking and taking drugs. They fail in making friends， establishing their own community groups and fitting in the social life， in other words， they are forced to be excluded. These young people can have problems in trusting others in the future and may develop human communication disorders. As a result， there will be more chances for them to seek for comfort from addictive products. Some people become criminals and take revenge on the society.

One of the most horrendous case is The Virginia Tech massacre which was the worst act of massive murders targeting college students in the United States. On April 16， 2007， Seung-Hui Cho， a senior at Virginia Tech， shot and killed 32 people and wounded 17 others in two separate attacks， approximately two hours apart， before committing suicide. Cho had previously been teased for quite a long time during school and been diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder. On April 18， 2007， an American mainstream media received a package from Cho time-stamped between the first and second shooting episodes， in which he states， “You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today， it is your option” and “you forced me into a corner”. His hatred finally became evil bullets.

Although racists often consider their races are superior to the others’， if we trace its source， this idea can be explained by self-abasement and fears.

When people meet others from other community groups with different skin colors， languages， beliefs and lifestyles， they can easily feel scared and become unconfident because of lack of knowledge. As a result， discrimination caused by the sense of insecurity becomes a weapon to protect them.

For the young perpetrators， their lack of the sense of security mases them to turn fears into racist attitudes and behaviors towards other people. Such young people may develop defect in personality and moral quality， or even harm other people.

然而，对于“双面维罗妮卡”和佳斯达这样的种族主义受害者来说，语言就会造成严重的伤害。

在校园中，比起殴打等肢体侵犯，种族歧视更多时候表现为言语攻击、公然嘲笑和社交排挤等。受害者不得不承受巨大的精神伤害，直接引发其压力、焦虑、抑郁的症状。有些专家认为，歧视有可能造成心脏病或糖尿病。这是因为由歧视引起的健康问题，例如压力、焦虑，是引发这些疾病的风险因素。澳大利亚青年基金会的种族主义报告还发现，种族歧视的年轻受害者会出现在学习中无法集中注意力的情况。有人患上持续性头痛、预期焦虑、创伤后压力症候群，并每次影响他们的饮食作息长达几个星期。

另一方面，一些研究调查显示，经历过歧视的青少年，更容易参与冒险性的行为，例如抽烟、喝酒、吸毒。他们在尝试交友、建立社交圈、融入大众生活的过程中遭遇失败，被迫边缘化，对他人产生不信任感，在日后容易产生社交障碍，也更容易从依赖性产品中寻求安慰。更有甚者会走上犯罪、报复社会的道路。

发生在美国弗吉尼亚理工大学的校园枪击案让人至今难忘，它被称为美国历史上死伤最为惨重的校园枪击案。2007年4月16日这一天，就读于该校的韩国学生赵承熙先后两次大开杀戒，共杀死包括自己在内的33名学生，并导致12名学生受伤。此案使美国校园枪击案的个例死亡人数上升到历史新高。赵承熙曾遭受同学的长期取笑，并患上焦虑症。他曾将行凶声明寄到美国知名媒体，影像中说“你们曾有很多次机会来避免今天的事情，那是你们的选择”和“是你们将我逼到了死角”。他的积怨最终变成了罪恶的子弹。

从加害者的角度来说，虽然种族歧视者对他人的表现经常是认为自己的种族优于其它人，但事实上究其根源，则是源于一种自卑和畏惧的心理。当人们遭遇来自另一个族群的人，有着不同的肤色、语言、信仰及生活方式，由于对区别于自己的群体或对象缺乏了解，而产生不自信、害怕的心理。这种不安全感让一些人产生了排挤他人的行为，并演变为一种基于种族的歧视。

这一类年轻的加害者，当他们对陌生环境缺乏安全感，恐惧的心理便转变为对他人的攻击，除了人格发展不健全，也有可能对社会安全产生危害。

Who Are The Models？

是谁做出了榜样

While young people are sometimes perpetrators of racism， they don't learn to behave that way on their own. In the early years of life， parents and caregivers often have the most influence over children’s perceptions on race and racial differences. In later childhood and adolescence， schools， wider community and media increasingly influence young people’s attitudes and beliefs towards race and cultural diversity. However， little research has been done to explore these issues amongst children and young people now.

Attitudes and decisions of education departments also play an important role on racism issues.

When anencounters racism such as offensive comments on his/her biological characters， the person can always fight back or turn to law for help. However， sometime， while students report their racism experience to teachers or schools， they cannot obtain justice they supposed. More often， directors don’t take such kind of conflicts seriously， but see them as jokes and random incidents among students. And such cases are less likely to be handled as racism behaviors. Eventually， little effective measures are taken to help the students being bullied for racial reasons.

On the other hand， in some countries， there are researches accuse that the education systems are racist. For example， in American public schools， numbers of black students who have been punished are times of white students. Youth of color are at much greater risk than their white peers of being punished for discretionary violations―that is， actions for which the school can choose whether or not to punish the student， as contrasted to offenses that must be met with specific punishments. African-American students in their first year of high school are 31 percent more likely to receive a discretionary school disciplinary action than white students with similar academic profiles.

In 2008， New Jersey， the number of expelled African American students is as many as 60 times of expelled white students. In Minnesota， the number of suspended African American students is 6 times of suspended whites. In Iowa， African American students only take 5% of total students； however， they take 22% of suspended students. Schools in low-income communities remain highly unequal in terms of funding， qualified teachers， and curriculum， which affect the educational level of Latino American descents as well as African American descents.

In American， the Applied Research Center publishes a research focusing on 18 to 25 year olds to answer these questions on racism：

‘If someone asked you to define contemporary racism， what would you say？’

‘What would be the first things that came to mind？ ’

‘And do you think your answer would be any different from people of a different racial or ethnic background？’

When 18-year-old first-year college student Justin， who is white， is asked if the public school system is racist， said， “In my experience in my life， from the schools I have been to， I haven’t experienced racism. I haven’t seen my schools deny service to any specific race. It is just predominantly white， predominantly Jewish， because that is where I live， and that is how it is. I have never witnessed， you know， someone’s race being a factor in school.”

Justin’s answer revealed a broad tendency among our participants who were white college students， and came from comparatively privileged backgrounds. They don’t believe that their high schools intentionally discriminated against anyone； the segregation they witnessed and the corresponding difference in resources were just “the way it is”. And there was no need to question that fact. Participants like Justin generally did not talk about the policies and practices that created their public school systems.

Most young people of color had little hesitation pointing out at least two or three of the systems as racist， particularly criminal justice system and employment， and in many cases argued that “all” of them were at least somewhat racist and intertwined in their inequity.

当年轻人有时扮演种族歧视加害者的角色时，他们并不是自己主动学会这些行为。在他们年幼的时候，孩子对种族观念和种族差异的认知主要受到家长和监护者的影响。之后在童年和青少年时期，他们对种族和多元文化的价值观逐渐受到校园生活、更大的社交圈和媒体的影响。然而，如今很少有孩童和年轻人的针对性研究和调查。

教育部门在种族歧视问题上的态度和决策也起着至关重要的作用。

当一个成年人在职场上遭遇他人带有种族歧视色彩的言语攻击时，他可以表示抗议，或者采取法律武器捍卫自己。然而在校园里，许多学生将种族歧视的经验汇报给教师或校方时，却无法得到公正的对待。许多时候，校方仅将学生之间的矛盾归类为玩笑和小口角，而非校园暴力，更不会上升到种族歧视这类严重的问题来对待。最终使得校园种族歧视问题成为默认的习俗。

另一方面，也有报告指出不少国家教育系统自身存在“歧视”问题。例如，据哈佛大学的报告显示，在美国公立中小学中，黑人学生因违纪受处罚的比例比白人学生高出很多。年轻的有色人种比他们的白人同辈更容易因违反纪律受到制裁，这种情况发生在学校可以酌情选择是否惩罚学生时。数据表明，高中第一年时，即使非洲裔美国学生和白人学生成绩表现差不多，接受学校处罚的概率也会高出白人学生31%。

2008年，新泽西洲，非洲裔学生被开除的是白人学生的60倍。在明尼苏达州非洲裔学生被停学的是白人学生的6倍。艾奥瓦洲的非洲裔学生在公立学校中只占5%，却占被停学学生的22%。不同社区学校教学质量的差距，使拉丁裔和非洲裔子女受教育水平低下。

美国应用研究中心对18-25岁青年发起了一系列关于种族歧视的调查，包含以下问题：

“如果有人问你怎样定义现代种族歧视，你怎么说？”

“你最先想到的第一件事是什么？”

“你觉得你的回答会不会与来自不同种族或民族背景的人不一样？”

当一名18岁的白人学生Justin被问起他是否觉得公立学校的制度有种族主义之嫌时，他说：“在我的生活经验中，我上过的学校里没有过种族歧视。至少我没见过，我的学校拒绝为某一个种族服务。只不过那里白人和犹太人比较多。因为我们居住的区域如此，事情就是这样。我从来没见过某人的种族在学校中成了问题。”

他的回答代表了一部分受访者，他们是白人大学生，有着具有竞争力的、有优势的背景，不相信自己的高中故意歧视过谁。他们见过的隔离和区别只是“事情就是这样”，并没有必要质疑这个事实。像Justin这样的参与者并不谈论造就了他们公立学校系统的政策和事务。

而大部分有色年轻人却可以毫不迟疑地指出至少2到3件体系中的种族歧视之处，尤其是犯罪司法系统和就业系统。很多情况下，他们认为所有的系统都存在某种程度的种族主义，这些不公平交织在一起。