Incidents of Racism at UC Berkeley: Written Testimony of Gabriela Galicia

2, 4, 6, 8 we don’t want to integrate!! These words were chanted by people that were against the integration during the segregation era in the U.S. history. Although the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine was stopped it still exists in many forms. In 1995 the Regents of the UC system voted to end all affirmative action, which caused the minority enrollment of entering undergraduate class to plummet in 1998. Due to this the hostility on college campuses has increased among minorities. This can be seen from being the only minority person in the class to being isolated to a corner of the campus just to be with people that are similar to them. Coming from a community that was predominantly Latino to a big change and being what a true minority is. My high school was mostly  Latino and African American students who did not have a lot of resources as other schools have and therefore trying to strive as much as possible with what little the school had. The graduating class of 2005 had more than before first generation students that were college bound. This was due to the help of the college bound programs like Puente, EAOP, and Upward Bound that I participated. Coming to UC Berkeley was a great change coming from this community. Although the campus is recognized as being diverse there is evidence that shows the contrary and this is because many minority students did not apply because of intimidation. At my school there were students that were qualified but for the fear of not getting in they did not even attempt to apply. The intimidation of going to a school of not being prepared because of lack of resources in high school and going to a college and going with the mindset that they will not be able to make it. As other examples going to college and being told how they got to the point they are now coming from a background like mine.

Minority students that are here also have noticed the hostility even though it may be subtle it is still felt. These students do not only have to worry about their classes, work, but also the pressure of being one of the few students that are like them and face the racism and intimidation by other students. Some students cannot take this pressure and drop put early without attempting, and others make it their goal to go on to prove that they are able to succeed even though there are many hardships along the way. Sometimes this causes the student to lose concentration because they are thinking that they are the only minority in their class. I can relate to this because I am the only Latina in my chemistry lab and there is only one African American student who is the only minority besides me. Other examples that are clearly seen is on campus on Lower Sproul which is known as “Chicano Corner” and the benches for the African American students. These students have isolated themselves to these corners to be with their “own kind.” This shows how they have to resort to this because since the numbers are so small they try to stick together.