Show I 'U!‘ i'MIm:'-- 1 f Listen to everyday tales from people of all races last time yea felt someone treated you negatively because of yoar raceetfealcfty? When was tfca NEWSMAKERS M3UM “I feel prejudice in the reaction from group of You can’t understand us’ It’s the denial of your presa minority ence in a room a subde exclusion just because I happen to be white” — Theodore HuBar chancellor University of California at Davis white 56 “It’s a common occurrence Last week I was walking across the street and some guy wanted to make a turn Instead of wailing for me to finish walking across the street he started yelling Vou expletive Asian bitch why don’t you go back where you came from!’ ” “I feel like I’ve walked through life as a privileged person because I'm white ss — Helen Zia managing editor Ms magazine Asian 38 Racism on a personal level remains a part of daily life — whether you are a USA WEEKEND reader or a former UN ambassador Half of readers and of opinion leaders say nearly they've felt discrimination in the past year And a third of minorities say they felt it last week Only 6 of minorities say they’ve never experienced racism vs 29 of whites Among those who report prejudice within the week former UN ambassador Andrew Young (black) writer Garrison Keillor (white) Rainbow Coalition founder Jesse Jackson (black) and Louisiana state legislator leader David Duke (white) and two-thir- ds ex-K- “I had been playing tennis and broke a chain on my locket on a Saturday afternoon I stopped to get it fixed or to buy a new one but when I went up to the jewelry store they locked the door and wouldn’t let me in I stood outside 1 0 USA WEEKEND Juut 2S-3- 0 1991 and waited until some white people came up and I went in with them I didn’t make a big fuss but when the salesman asked if he could help me I said ‘no’ and left” — Mary Frances Berry US Commission on Civil Rights black 52 “I sometimes laugh sardonically when I’m on an elevator and the door opens and some white woman looks and hesitates — ‘Should I get on?’ They don’t see anything but a black face When that door opens and the woman jumps to a halt you know she’s saying every black man is a potential rapist” — Carl Rowan syndicated columnist black 65 “I got on the Capitol Hill elevator with three other members of Congress Two members wanted to go ‘down’ two wanted to go ‘up’ The two who wanted to go up were black the other two white The elevator operator said ‘I will take them down first because they are members of Congress’ It’s a race thing The operator thought that since we were black there was no way we could be members” — Rep Edolphus Towns black 56 Y “Twice within the past year people mistook me for the secretary to the dean instead of the dean which I am” — Marcelina Rivera assistant dean Yale Law School Hispanic 29 “I have employees who don’t let me forget I’m black: little comments jokes graffiti on the bathroom wall But what makes a difference to me is no employee took it off the wall What makes me feel bad did anything about it” is and middle-claWhen I take people to the local welfare department I am treated more politely than a poor person or a person of color” that nobody — Gary White president Jones Transfer Co black 58 — Reader Betty Leader United Methodist Urban Ministry Wichita Kan white 53 “I run into it all the time The perception is that the system is working because here is an Indian doing something worthwhile It’s condescending Sometimes it’s even more blatant” — A David Lester executive director Council of Energy Resource Tribes American Indian 49 “I was stopped recently on a trip in New England by a policeman who questioned me I felt he just stopped me to check me out No explanation was given In New York City I always have problems with cabs That’s just routine Sometimes they slow-dow- I was in a and then speed up Southern state and my two public relations people were two Southern white women in their 30s They had to take Continued on Page 12 Photograph byJama McGoor |