While The University of Memphis Student Activities Council isaiming to raise racial awareness with Why Do You Hate Me? Week, arecent study on racial discrimination has some students asking howand when race should be a factor.
A Northwestern University study found young white men with ahigh school diploma and a felony conviction to be twice as likelyto get hired than young black men with similar education and nocriminal record. According to the study, in which 1,000 white andblack men were surveyed, 5 percent of black men with criminalrecords received callbacks for interviews while 34 percent of whitemen with criminal records received callbacks.
Researchers also found black men to be three times more likelyto be stopped by police than white men.
Although federal law prohibits discrimination against applicantswith criminal records unless the crime corresponds closely to thenature of the job, the Patriot Act does allow law enforcementofficials to use racial profiling to detain "persons suspected ofcommitting any act likely to be committed by terrorists."
While the study found race to be a major factor in hiring andpolice profiling, some University of Memphis students saydiscrimination isn't as rampant as the study's findingssuggest.
Curtis Treyton, freshman undeclared major, said he does not feeldiscrimination is as prevalent as others believe.
"I acknowledge that there is a problem, but things are notnecessarily getting worse," he said. "With affirmative action andanti-discrimination laws, the workplace has no choice but todiversify, and laws are cracking down on police brutality."
Although Treyton said he believes racial discrimination is onthe decline, other U of M students say their personal experiencesbolster the study findings.
"I have been pulled over for no reason, and all my black malefriends have gone through it at least once," said Josh Brunt,senior marketing major. "They usually ask questions like, 'What areyou doing out here?' As if to say I don't have any business in anice neighborhood."
Junior business major Anthony Robinson said he has experiencedracial discrimination from U of M police officers.
"I was sitting on the steps of the University Center, and the(University Police) came up to me and said, 'You must not be ableto read the sign that said no sitting on the steps,'" he said,adding that less than a week later, he saw "a group of white kidssitting on the steps, and the same police officer walked right bythem and said nothing."
U of M Police Services routinely asks students to not congregateon the UC steps said Derek Myers, deputy director policeservices.
"I'll certainly entertain any complaints from the students,"Myers said. "But it is clearly posted that you should not sit orstand near the steps."
U of M Police Services has not had any formal complaints ofracism or discrimination, Police Services officials said, addingthat police services officers do not use racial profiling.
Some U of M students said they applaud Police Services' policyof not practicing racial profiling, adding that race should not bea key factor in police investigations.
"I am against racial profiling because this county is supposedto be based on diversity and freedom," said Mohammad Firas Akil,senior biology major. "This country is made up of many differentethnicities, and we have been striving to overcome racism."
Although discrimination, like racial profiling, is wrong it is areality, Akil said, adding that discrimination isn't always blackand white.
"I haven't been harassed by the police because my skin islighter. I don't look very Arabic," Akil said. "But my name isobviously Muslim, so I go through problems sometimes because ofthat."
