Racism , Cynicism, or Conspiracy Theory?

SO, here I am talking to a coworker of mine, and amazingly quite a few of our conversations stem around race. (My coworker is a white male). Now, I don't mind because in this day and age it's rare to have an honest conversation about race with someone of another race. Plus he asks really thought provoking questions that make me think, and I give him honest answers and respond with questions of my own. Anywho, we were talking about enrollment at SFA and how the percentage of white students has dropped in recent years. Now, I don't go to SFA and quite frankly I could care less about SFA; but what he said was interesting. Here goes snippets of our conversation:

Him: Enrollment of white students at SFA has dropped because all of the minority students are getting the grants and scholarships. Minorities are basically going to school for free, and white students are having to pay full price. That's why they're building all of these things on campus- to entice more [white] students to come. I don't think it's fair that minorities get most of the scholarships. I have a4.0 GPA and I applied for a scholarship as a black male who had a 2.9 GPA, and he received the scholarship. I think that's a bunch of bull. That's why SFA is going to crap.

Me: Well, first we can't blame minority students because they don't make the decision as to who gets what scholarship and who doesn't. Second, you need to look at your financial aid department who is handing out the scholarships and see what's going on. ALl the students are doing is filling out the application and praying they get the money.

Him: Well, I was told that the president of SFA [a Mexican Man] said that white people were going to become the minority on campus and that the minorities would become the majority. I don't think that's right.

Me: Well, that's still racism it's just directed at whites this time around. Maybe people need to look into getting a new president. People are only going ot do what their boss tells them to do and if he sasy give more scholarships to minorities that's what they're going to do. Plus college is like a business. The more minorities a school has the more funding they get. So of course they're going to want their minority numbers up in order to receive government money.

Him: Well, I have a question. What's wrong with having Predominately White Schools? We have Historically Black Colleges and no one says those schools are discriminating or racist; but if we have a PWS [Predominately White School] then that school is racist and discriminating. What's up with that?

Me: Well, first anyone can apply for entrance to HBCUs and cannot be denied based on race. I know people who are white and go to HBCUs. Second, a lot of colleges are PWS, I went to one. SO I don't think it's a problem, until racial discrimination starts.
(Later in the day, I realized that I should have said: HBCUs were started because Blacks had a hard time gaining entrance into college, so we started our own)

SO anywho, I got to thinking: Do we see racism or reverse racism in everything? IS it really racism? Or is it just jealousy? Or is it just things are changing and we don't want that change? Is it cynicism? Or is it conspiracy theory?

I think it's a combination of all of that. Whether people choose to bury their heads in the sand and proclaim that racism doesn't exist, it doesn't change the fact that it does exist. BUT not everything is racism. Sometimes it's just the better person got the whatever [promotion, spot, job, etc]. If you're a black male with a bachelors degree going up against a white male with a masters and he gets the job, that's not necessarily racism- he does have more education than you. But if it's reversed and you [black male] have the masters and the white male has a bachelors, then it could be construed as racism.

However, in the interest of the school with the declining white population, that just may be a conspiracy theory. Considering the same coworker told me that Nacogdoches public schools are becoming majority black because [white] parents are taking their childrent o private schools because of the influx of Katrina kids entering the school system. Supposedly education has gone down to accomodate these Katrina kids and [white] parents aren't pleased about that. Well, now that has a bunch of potentially racist propaganda in that statement! Let's break it down:
Katrina kids come [mostly black], [white] parents take their children out of the schools. The reason: education is going downhill. Well, that's like saying the [black] kids are dumber than the [white] kids, so I'm going to pull my [white] child out of that school. Or it's saying [black] kids receive a lower level/quality of education than [white] kids- at which point "who's fault is that?" comes up. Or it could be construed as too many [black] kids are at this school and I need to pull my [white] kids from the school system and go broke (coworker said some of these parents cannot afford provate schools, but they send their kids anyway) sending them to a school I can scarecly afford.

Is all of this racism? Is this just one big conspiracy theory? Or are people like my coworker just a cynic who believes in conspiracy theories? So much to think about, ya know? It wouldn't be this complicated if people were just honest instead of politically correct. How about, "I took my hcild out of this school becuase too many black kids are there"? Or "I don't go to SFA because they are starting to have more minorities than white students"? If we were just honest no one would have to wonder and second guess other's actions and words, and we as a country and as a people can move forward and address these issues. SO long as we continue to hide behind politically correct vernacular we will never fight the war on racism. Everyone will continue to put their head in the sand and believe that racism doesn't exists or that racism is not a major issue in our world today.