Today in my Psychology class, instead of the standard lecture, we were given an unexpected assignment by a campus
diversity coordinator. It was called the "Race Game." The apparent concept of the game is to try going a whole
day excluding people of other races from your everyday speech, in much the same way that someone might serve a white
person but not a black person at a pharmacy counter. After spending a day doing this, we are to write a paper on our
feelings and observations from it.
I'm choosing not to play along, simply because I find it completely tactless, and possibly dangerous. I understand
the purpose of it, and I understand how acting that way would affect people. But to go to this length to prove a point?
It just seems so crude to behave like that so you can understand the seriousness of discrimination in America.
The biggest problem with this little "game" is that you are the only one who knows that it's a game. If
it was a campus wide deal, it wouldn't be so bad, because then the other students and faculty would know the reason
for you to act this way. As it is, if you were to recognize only white people, you are going to offend so many students
and faculty, and possibly gain a reputation of being a total asshole.
I have nothing against people of other races, cultures, religions, or sexual orientations. I actually get disgusted when
I think that a human being could possibly be such an idiot that they could think they are better than others for such
stupid reasons... Perhaps I overreact a little when it comes to issues like this because of past experiences, but I
don't agree with the logic behind assigning this "game."
Has anyone else heard of or participated in this?