Washington, D.C. college students and residents reflected on personal experiences of discrimination, with many saying it is still prevalent today.
Elizabeth George, a 52-year-old black woman visiting American University’s campus in June, looked down when asked about the discrimination she faced in the 1960s and since then.
“I was always seen as a second-class citizen,” said George, who grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. “I was never given the opportunities my white counterparts were. Though some interviewed shared similar experiences growing up facing racial discrimination, many people interviewed described different labels for what “discrimination” is.
Jordan Hayley, 19, shared her experience growing up as a white female in Houston, Texas.
“Many people assume that because I’m white, I am guaranteed privilege and that is not the case,” Hayley said.
“Quite frankly, I think that is racist.”
But this issue goes beyond the concrete walls of AU, and into the streets of D.C. and the rest of the nation.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2015, the Pew Research Center surveyed black and white Americans asking their perceptions of race relations, law enforcement and fairness. Seventy nine percent of blacks surveyed said “a lot” needs to be done to achieve racial equality while just 44 percent of whites did.
Another Pew poll from 2016 revealed that 71 percent of black people have experienced discrimination based on their race/ethnicity.
“I’ve had instances where I was going shopping and I’ve had people follow me because they thought that I would steal something,” said April Spence, 34, of Woodbridge, Virginia, who is black.
Six decades after the start of the Civil Rights Movement, people of all generations wondered what the current state of discrimination means as they reflected on the work of civil rights leaders and regular citizens that came before.
George shook her head as she said, “Though we’ve made strides since the civil rights era, sometimes I wonder if electing a smart, black president set us on the course for a pivot backwards.”
Stephan Adebajo, 20, who is black, sat reading a book last week at the Tenley-Friendship Library. He reflected on a recent experience of discrimination.
“I go to an all boys school and it’s predominantly white,” Adebajo said. “We have a rowing team, and I couldn’t make the boat I wanted to be on even though I proved myself more capable than everyone else on the team.
All the boys that made it were white.”