In case you missed it, people have been fighting about racial inequality for several centuries.

But now, the viral coverage of incidents of racial discrimination at the University of Missouri has sparked a new wave of student protests on college campuses across the United States. Meanwhile, older generations are rolling their eyes.

Generation Y’s parents are exasperated because they think kids these days are too politically correct. Apparently, today’s delicate little flowers are more sensitive and censorious than ever, wishing to tiptoe around opinions they find offensive. Oh, the dramatics.

In this context, “too politically correct” is a term used to belittle protesters and make minorities seem unjustified in their requests for respect. Instead, critics should stop condemning student movements as hypersensitive and commend those who are actively working to raise the bar for basic human decency.

Call students idealistic, but previous social movements are proof that speaking up and fighting back helps. Every time we make someone look, listen or think twice, we peel back a psychological layer, remove a social blindfold and hold society to a higher standard.

Obviously this is much needed, considering that at the University of Missouri, black students received death threats and were essentially told to get over it and go to class.

However, racism isn’t always so overt. At Yale University, a fraternity hosted a “white girls only” party, according to the Washington Post. At Ithaca College, protests erupted after a man on a panel called a black alumna a “savage” because she mentioned her “savage hunger” to succeed, according to The New York Times.

Post-racial America isn’t going so swimmingly after all. For some reason, older generations still place implied air quotes around terms like “institutional racism,” “hypermasculinity” and “culturally insensitive Halloween costume.”

Likewise, millennials scoff back at those who fail to recognize the significance of social progress, categorizing them with those who still deny global warming. Newsflash: it is happening and it matters.

So, should we protect feelings or free speech? Once again, society is asking the wrong questions. Anti-discrimination movements are not anti-free speech movements. Activists need the first amendment more than anyone and, quite frankly, free speech exists to protect the very type of social commentary occurring today.

In the same way, critics claim that today’s “hypersensitivity” makes it impossible to talk about race, referring to what they call a “chilling effect.” In reality, that’s exactly the point. If a pro-expressionist is made to feel uncomfortable about their offensive Halloween costume, then maybe they will think twice before wearing it next time.

Acknowledging problematic actions is a step forward, something older generations haven’t done. They continue to blame students for being offended and accuse universities of coddling young people’s minds.

Older generations say that students should not plug their ears, but face what they are afraid of. Critics compare dealing with discrimination to exposure therapy, saying the way to reduce anxiety is to face stimuli head-on. After all, young people cannot simply hide from reality, so universities should not overprotect them.

However, protesters cannot be accused of hiding from their fears when they are the ones brave enough to speak up against injustice. The problem is not with how minorities approach the world, but with how others see them. Critics cannot tell people to grow a thicker skin when the point of these movements is to challenge people to look beneath it.

We have come a long way in the fight for equality, but we still have a way to go. Movements championing racial sensitivity will continue to get more refined until having white skin is no longer seen as a privilege.

Young protesters have asked the world why it can’t be more accepting. As always, the response was “because society said so.” But older generations need to realize that intolerance is so old-fashioned.

Students have the power and these crazy kids can change the world.

Alison Gala is a senior public relations major and Spanish minor. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at aegala@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @alison_gala.

Published on November 17, 2015 at 12:36 am