Summary Of Campus Racism 101 By Nikki Giovanni

Throughout the piece “Campus Racism 101” by Nikki Giovanni, the concept of ignorance is evaluated and advice to minority students is given. Giovanni, a professor at Virginia Tech, describes the struggles that might, and most likely will, impact minority students and addresses the stereotypical mindset that those students, and Giovanni herself, will encounter while on campus and in the “real world”. Giovani uses imagery to set the stage of her piece “Campus Racism”, as well as logical and backed by real world experience advice to students to help minority students succeed in predominately white colleges. Giovanni first uses imagery to set the stage for stereotypes and the issue of racism on college campuses. At first this seems irrelevant as she describes a young man who is “Too cool for school. Yet too stupid for the real world” and wants to start a band. Giovanni then transforms this example into one about racism by changing the young man to one that is studying and a group of young people saying “So you want to be white”. This introduces the topic

While some would perhaps argue that Giovanni makes significant assumptions about white individuals throughout her piece and directly uses stereotypes in her advice giving portion, these assumptions and stereotypes are backed by her own experiences and history. Giovanni uses interactions that are common and usually not acknowledged as “racist” but are racist due to assumptions like a black student can give the “black perspective”. This assumes that any one African American can speak for the entire African American population. Giovanni’s general advice to students such as “Go to class”, “Meet your professors”, “Understand there will be professors who do not like you”, etc. are solid and logical pieces of advice that do not necessarily only pertain to minority students but are important for anyone to be