Are you against racial profiling? Good, so am I.

Now consider this scenario: You’re on a dark street in Evanston at 4 a.m. There’s a white man walking down the street. Ten paces behind him is a black man. Who scares you more?

Answering this question made me rethink my attitude toward prejudice — a key element in Northwestern news these days, whether it be recent hate crimes or potential racial profiling of black students in the name of security. The first step in combating prejudice is to realize that everyone harbors stereotypes toward certain groups of people. Most of the time they don’t manifest into anything serious, but such beliefs are at the root of each act of hate we have seen on campus this year.

I’ve had to confront personal prejudices. Most are silly — like the stereotype that minorities are never on time. But, as I learned in high school, others can be more serious.

During my junior year, some friends and I were discussing diversity and stereotypes and somehow got on the topic of racism toward blacks. I, of course, proclaimed my complete blindness toward race or ethnicity.

Then I remembered walking around New York after dark when my stomach dropped every time I passed a black man. That was hardly the case when a white man walked by. I shared that opinion with my friends.

It wasn’t until I spoke those words out loud that I realized how uneducated and dangerous that attitude was. And the look from a black friend, telling me that she would rather not have been in the room at that moment, reinforced this feeling.

In four years of high school, I didn’t know many black men. I didn’t have the chance to get to know many people of different cultures. We have the opportunity to do this at NU — if we take advantage of it.

But in acknowledging the diversity that exists on campus, we have listen to and respect beliefs that are different from ours, whether they be liberal, conservative or somewhere else on the spectrum.

The people who committed the hate crimes and incidents of bias violated this philosophy in every sense. But they also felt like they had no place to express their opinions — except a wall.

Maybe they could have if they had an opportunity to ask questions about another culture. Intervarsity Christian Fellowship has started holding forums designed for students to ask not-so-politically correct questions about other ethnicities. Students should take advantage of opportunities like this to break down a stereotype.

It’s still necessary to speak out against dangerous beliefs. But those who hold such opinions never will hear what people on this campus think unless they have the chance to release their opinions. And before we attack them, we have to acknowledge that we all believe things that are less than politically correct.

Talk to someone about the stereotypes you hold — or at least tell yourself that you harbor them. Maybe there would be less racial profiling if everyone did.