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Racism discussion at a COL university BY COL students

On Monday i sat in a graduate class at the university of antiuqia, the students were future COL teachers, they all spoke english. Each week they had different discussion on social issues in COL, to prepare them for teaching. Since this is a graduate class these people were in the mid twenties or ealy thirties. This week discussion was racism in COL, primarily how col blacks(afrocholombian) and indio are perceived and treated. As the only foreigner, i was invited by the professor to share my own exp of racism in the US, but at the END of class. So for the first 90 minutes the COL students present the topic and I had NOTHING to do with it.

some points that they presented..
1) after Brazil(80 million blacks out of 200 million), COL has the 2nd highest amount of blacks.
2) COL has several numbers for the amount blacks in COL. One number comes from DANE in a 1993 censo, it estitmate 570,000 to 930,000 in the WHOLE country. The other number comes from the 1999 Direccion Nacional de Planeacion(govt sponsor survey), esitmate blacks in COL at 10.5 million people(out of 45 million). a 1997 UN reports has it a 6 million.
3) Regional breakdown is Choco is 85% black, follow by Magdalena with 72% and Bolivar with 66%.
4) 80% of afrocolombiana live in extreme poverty.
5) 74% of afrocolombianos receive 'debajo del minimo legal'.

govt action..
1) in 1991 constitution an din particular in sanctioning Transitory Article 55, the COL State took a positive step to begin redressing the historical ill-treatment of black persons in Colombia. In 1993, Congress enacted and the Executive signed law 70/93 which establish within its National Development Plan the Plan for Afro-Colombian Development(the `Plan`).
2) one of the most salient features of Law 70/93 is the creation of a special constituency to assure two seats in the National Congress to black communities. In addition, the law recognizes the right of black communities to collectivie ownership of some riparian lands on teh Pacific coast. Further the law recognizes the subsoil rights thereon and the need to provide further resources to fulfill the constiutional guarantee of education for ALL it´s citizens.

There´s some other points that the law makes, but the class focus on the education side of the racism. There was another study that the students quoted from, it was a survey of PRIVATE SCHOOL Principals on how they view blacks students. The principals primary perception is that black student are not wanted because of ¨negative PERCEPTION¨ the principals had. One mention, he thougth that the black student would disrupt his class. Of course it VERY easy to exclude blacks due to economic factors, all private school cost money with most black living in poverty obvisouly they will not be able to afford to pay the tution which could range from 200k to 1.2 million/month.

By caslug on Dec 6, 2005, 07:31 in Friendly Talkzone.

caslug says on Dec 6, 2005, 07:46:

cont.. several plans of action regarding schools were..
1) more funding to public school in predominately black areas.
2) schools were suppose to implement education on racism, some schools did other didn´t.

Also, the student said that in COL there are NO RACIAL LAWS AGAINST ANY one group, BUT Racism is present the community.

Before I spoke about my exp i asked several questions...
1) i wrote my name down and asked if they can guess my country of origin(in asia)..Chinese, japonese, korean where the answer. I asked why they thought i was chinese(i´m not), they said because of eyes and other facial characteristic. I asked them if they met another latin american person from Peru, Brazil, Argenitina, etc., could they tell where the Latino came from. They all said yes. I asked why couldn´t they tell with me then? they said because we have NO exposure to many asians here in col.
2) i asked what were their or their friends/family/society perception of a) chino in COL, they used ¨hardworking, educated, have money, own restaurants, boring¨, then i asked what were there perception of b) blacks in COL, they said, ¨dangerous, criminal, unedcuated, etc.,¨

Now, these teachers confront their own prejudices in a very honest and forthcoming manner. They understood that it exist, and as future teacher they should try to combat these view in their own classes.

Next week they topic for the class will be hetrosexuality in COL(ie, machista, and sexism). I getting invited back to talk about my experience as a straight male in US, just kidding! But my other gringo friend was invited to talk about his experience as a GAY person in North America.

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elmodefoque says on Dec 6, 2005, 07:47:

Those rich black modefoques, ONLY 80% live in extreme poverty, heck, 99% of all injuns (Indio) in Colombia live in extreme poverty and we got far less modefoques. And people wonder why I love Colombia so much.

PROUD ENEMY OF THE RIGHT WING!!!!!! THANK YOU!

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elmodefoque says on Dec 6, 2005, 08:00:

I just remember something, when I was in an Indian village in la gujira we were considered lucky to move to extreme poverty, shit extreme poverty was like going up the social ladder. Injuns normally lived in lower than a snake poverty, or nearly starving poverty or eating sand for dinner poverty, so extreme poverty was not so bad.

PROUD ENEMY OF THE RIGHT WING!!!!!! THANK YOU!

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toneloc24 says on Dec 6, 2005, 08:28:

Good job Cas I would've loved to join you in addressing the "future" teachers. LOL!!!

"Don't tase me, bro!!!!"

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elmodefoque says on Dec 6, 2005, 08:58:

me too, i wanna go with you guys. they might have AUC waiting for me outside but i'll take a chance.

PROUD ENEMY OF THE RIGHT WING!!!!!! THANK YOU!

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caslug says on Dec 6, 2005, 10:34:

dont worry Elmo.. Uni of antioquia is a PUBLIC uni, filled w poor students! They´ll love your left-leaning views, especially fr a professor, looking, white hair, guy that you are! BTW, if you´re in MED before the dec 19th, PM me and we can get together for a beer.

Tone, as i said, it would of been great to have you in that class. BTW, lots of hot looking chicas at the uni!

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elmodefoque says on Dec 6, 2005, 11:09:

did you say hot leftist poor university students? count me in. they don't have to address me as "profesor" elmodefoque, modefoque will do just fine.

PROUD ENEMY OF THE RIGHT WING!!!!!! THANK YOU!

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juancegomez says on Dec 6, 2005, 11:09:

... Somewhat of a response to point 2:

The deal with the discrepancies about the exact amount of Afro-Colombians has to do with:

a)the difference between "pure blacks" (who really are a minority, at about 4% of the population) and "mulatto" (which are not, at about 14% or more. I think that even the previous census and the DANE admits as much).

b)the lack of a newer census (other than the ongoing one, of course) that reveals current data and not just projections.

Might want to take that into account when speaking about the numbers.

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ws244 says on Dec 6, 2005, 12:10:

racism Political correctness and minority laws in the states are hippocritical,and all the political correctness laws can not change human nature. One only has to look at any U.S. prison where the whites stay with the whites, the blacks stay with the blacks, the asians with the asians,and the mexicans stay with the mexicans. Even under the most rigidly controlled prison environment where everyone is supposedly equal, is still a failure due to human nature, and the powers are powerless to do anything about it. Even in a Walmart breakroom people divide up.

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elmodefoque says on Dec 6, 2005, 12:25:

ws244, well said and that's were farcs come into the picture, lets just kill each other, we never gonna change anyway, except me. my best frinds have been white, black, asian and lantin gringos, but i never had any colombian friends. For colombia the best solution is to F--k each other up, see who wins.

PROUD ENEMY OF THE RIGHT WING!!!!!! THANK YOU!

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elmodefoque says on Dec 6, 2005, 12:45:

Middle class and wealthy Colombia want things just as they are. They wanna keep their maids, their very cheap labor, they don’t have to socialize or live anywhere near those miserable low lives, they don’t want the poor seated next to them at MacDonald’s , they don’t want their kids going to school with them. Everything is honky dory. The poor are saying FU modefoque, we will make your life impossible as long as we don’t get a piece of the pie, and that’s when a rag tag two bit army like FARC comes in the picture
I gotta go!

PROUD ENEMY OF THE RIGHT WING!!!!!! THANK YOU!

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caslug says on Dec 6, 2005, 12:50:

one thing that struck me odd.. was the high import tax on products that COL does not produce. Like computer parts(not system), if the parts were cheaper then the computers would be cheaper and more affordable to more people. Hence improving the education of the society as a whole. It´s riducalous that DELL sends me email for $300USD desktop computer, while in COL the cheapest dell i seen is about 550USD.

I understand proctecting domestic industries like clothing manufacturing, but high prices on consumer products that will HELP society ie, computer only hurts the poor.

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Crazy Eagle says on Dec 6, 2005, 12:50:

multi-cultural I grew up in Canada, and in university knew a lot of people from different countries. One of my best drinking buddies was from Kenya. When I moved to California I lived in an area with perhaps 20-30% blacks (mostly yuppies) and noted many times how blacks seemed surprised that I would converse with them completly relaxed as though it were nothing unusual.

The blacks in the States tend to have their own sub-culture, with different vocabulary, pronounciation, music, and values. In Canada, because there are far fewer, they are far more integrated.

My guess is that in Colombia some areas are more integrated than others. Antiquoa has a very white bread rep. Caslug, did you see many mulato students on campus? Any studying to be teachers? Probably more on campuses in coastal towns and in Cali.

"Do you want to know what it is like inside a black hole? Then look around." Carl Sagan

"The natural rhythm of life is routine punctuated by orgy" Aldous Huxley

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utopiacowboy says on Dec 6, 2005, 13:39:

WS244, you always go on about how different groups don't like to mix but that is not my experience. I went to a party at the home of an inter-racial couple on Saturday and the guests were a mix of races and ethnic groups. Today at lunch with some of my coworkers again there was a typical mix of races and ethnic groups. Maybe you need to spend less time with racists and get out more.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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ws244 says on Dec 6, 2005, 16:48:

anglo in Bogota Well i am going to be in Bogota next week through the end of the month, all the while with the awareness of my gringo minority status among a bunch of Nationalistic Colombians. What is really upsetting though is in the cinema they do not have buttered popcorn, nor sweet relish for hotdogs at Pomona, Exito, Carrefour, etc. On the other hand UT-C. if you are going to be in Bogota over the holidays P.M. me and i will give you our phone number so you can stop by to say hello.

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Costeño Esp. en Telecomunicaciones says on Feb 2, 2008, 17:14:

mmm i've lived my whole life in the northern region, i know cachacos, whites, blacks, morenos, trigueños, etc. In COLOMBIA, IT DOES NOT EXIST RACISM but there is regionalism instead. something else: the answer to the apparent racism against black people in colombia is that they are poooooooorr most of them. thats why MOST OF POOR PEOPLE IN COLOMBIA (no matter if they arent black) they dont go to the best universities, schools, hospitals, etc.
another fact: you can call anyone in the street NEGRO = NIGGER and nothing happens because its not a derogatory word, it only describes a colour.

Spanish dude... you gotta learn spanish.

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