Globe and Mail Reports, Student Experiences, and Negative Racial Encounters.

This study examined the off-campus experiences of negative racial encounters among first-year students at York University in Ontario (Canada). Focus groups were conducted with 48 Black students, 26 students of Chinese origin, and 33 students of Italian or Portuguese origin in 1993-94. In descending order of frequency, students identified stores, jobs, schools, buses/trains, restaurants, encounters with police, everyday activities, offices, and media as sites in which they had negative racial encounters. In contrast to the frequency with which various sites were identified by students, articles dealing with "visible minorities" published by the Toronto (Ontario) "Globe and Mail" since 1977 focused overwhelmingly on sites in which the police were involved and, to a lesser extent, jobs. The focus group discussions indicated that students of all racial backgrounds may have negative racial encounters, that students of certain races/origins may have negative encounters in some sites while students of other races/origins may have similar experiences in other sites, that students felt that negative racial encounters were more prevalent off-campus than on-campus, and that some students talked about their negative experiences, particularly in stores and jobs, in a way that suggests an organization of experience in terms of systemic racism. (MDM)