Column: Post-racism hasn't come to America
Published Feb. 26, 2010
One day, I hope a party posted by white fraternity men to Facebook titled "Compton cookout" will surprise me. Today is not that day.
It pisses me off, as it should you. First of all, it is Black History Month.
Could the Pi Kappa Alpha brothers of the University of California-San Diego not have managed to wait one more week and act out in a month that is not dedicated to the acknowledgement of African-American contributions to this country? Of course not. The shelf life of racist-themed cookouts are finite, and maybe the ladies they invited (who they recommended dress and act "ghetto") would have moved on to sombrero and tequila parties. It seems at the corner of white privilege and class privilege you get astounding examples of doucheness.
And my heart goes out to the black and other students of color at UCSD. On a campus in which black students are less than 2 percent of the student population, it must be horrible to wake up one day being mocked by your white classmates. The campus climate must be a struggle. For comparison's sake, the black population at MU is a bit more than 8 percent.
The small community of color is not surprising at UCSD, which is in California, a place where a state ban was passed on affirmative action. White students at UCSD obviously need some kind of discussion of cultural competency.
Racist parties are not a new concept, though they seem to have experienced resurgence of late. In a world constantly deemed "post-racial" it seems to have struck some as appropriate to mock their black classmates and neighbors. And I'm not coming for UCSD. The administration responded immediately by distancing themselves from those students guilty of public displays of racism and publicly railing against their actions.
However, it remains to be seen whether the guilty students or the associated fraternity will be punished for their acts.
I don't judge California; I reserve my judgment for the guilty alone. This is not something that would surprise me if it occurred here. In my four years in this town, I've seen blackface, brownface and yellowface; I'm sure a hood party would find some sort of audience here.
If you are wondering, there is no situation where this sort of party would ever be appropriate; the ideology that low-income communities of color are something funny is endemic to our classist societies.
Beneath every supposed "ghetto queen" or "gangsta" is a person, shocking as it might be. They have different histories, families and lives. This is why these parties are unacceptable.
Our society is built on flattening the diversity of people of color and other oppressed groups into stereotypes. At the end of the day, for every wild white woman on "Rock of Love," people realize she is an individual person who makes individual choices (though the judgment does have a large class component). Whereas every contestant on "Flavor of Love" seems to act as an ambassador for black culture and by extension, black people. New York does not stand for me.
I'm sure in two months, another cheerleader will think it's appropriate to wear blackface with a costume, or a hipster will have a fried chicken admission to a party, and news outlets will act shocked and people of color will shake their heads.
Post-racial? Not close.
Comments (9)
10:44 p.m., Feb. 26, 2010
Derek said:
Odds going off at 2:1 that this girl's next column mentions the alleged racial incident outside the BCC.
11:05 a.m., Feb. 27, 2010
The Amazing Rando! said:
To be fair, here is the breakdown of "race" at UCSD: Asian - 44% Caucasian (White) - 26% Mexican-American - 10% Other-Undeclared - 10% Filipino - 4% Latino/Other Spanish - 3% African-American - 2% Native American - 0% (92 people) --Taken from the UCSD Profile It should also be noted that the men of Pi Kappa Alpha have denied involvement with the party and have condemned it, saying they are pro diversity and against racism.
5:22 p.m., Feb. 28, 2010
Defender of the Truth! said:
Brandon, PLEASE, just sit down. I love it when white people want to tell people of color that racism will always exist, so we should just sit down and shut up. Ignoring racism and classicism isn't going to make to go away. NO, you do not have the right to to quell our protest when our culture is constantly questioned, exploited and/ or mocked. You position of privilege allows you not to be hurt by being quiet. Also, I believe Chatoyya stated that there judgment for these actions were the for "guilty alone", not white people across the United States and certainly not you. As the for rest of nonsense that you choose to fill the comment box with- I won't dissect as it's all nonsensical. What I will address is where the hell do you get off questioning the head wrap (not "freaking hat"? WHAT does that have to do with the article?!!! What does her choice to wear a headwrap have to do with Africa?! NOTHING. She's not trying to be cultural. She is cultural and the headwrap doesn't make it so. Even if it did...You want to fault her just because she might choose to express her ancestral connections just because you don't. One word, GENTRIFICATION. Look it up. OH, P.S. Native Americans aren't red. Derek, DUH! Amazing Rando!, I'm glad you posted facts, to make your point, but I'm not sure what your point is. Chatoyya never said UCSD was a majority white school-if that's the point you are trying to make.
2:17 a.m., March 1, 2010
The Amazing Rando! said:
Defender of the Truth! - Thank you for posting your point of view. I apologize for the spottiness of my first comment, my formatting seemed to have gotten lost at posting time. I think that the topic of race is something that is too often avoided in our country, or completely blown up by people sniping various sides of every issue. I felt that the article used the term "people of color" somewhat ambiguously. A person could, for example, take it to mean that all minority groups were seriously underrepresented at UCSD if they only sourced this article. This, however, is not the case. You are correct, the writer did not state that it was a majority white school, but I feel at times that "not saying" something is just as important as saying it, especially when we mix in unclear social terminology that comes with such a charged topic. Moreover, the author begins the article by stating that the party was put on by a specific fraternity of a specific race. However, recent news pieces from UCSD seem to suggest that said fraternity was wrongly accused of orchestrating the event. I posted those facts more or less as what I thought would be a good supplement to the article. I believe that racism is still a specter that haunts our society today, just like you do. I think many white people in our generation feel that we are "post" civil rights movement era, but acknowledge that racism hasn't gone away. On that same token, however, many white men and women from our generation do not know or understand how they can contribute to the race conversation in a meaningful way. You can imagine this becoming a source of frustration, especially when white people see stories in the media saying things like "we're still racist here in America". I think many wish they could actively do something about it, but don't know what to do aside from not being what they perceive to be "racist". Clearly, this is not enough to fix the problem. Like you read in the first comment here, this lack of communication and understanding can really set us back! This barrier is producing nothing but cynicism. We don't need to be rebuilding the walls that our parents and grandparents managed to knock down. In order to get rid of this racism problem, we're going to have to kill it with sunshine. In this case, sunshine is wholesome, truthful, respectful, and I'd go as far to say loving dialogue between everyone everywhere, not just some talking heads on television or in government. Granted, all of this is just my take on things, and that's why you're reading this in the "comments" section of The Maneater. I very much appreciate the author's passion on this issue and in her other columns. I am eager to read more columns by her in the future. Disagreement and debate is a great way to expand horizons.
11:51 a.m., March 2, 2010
Rick said:
I admire how you cleverly slant this so that it seems obvious that affirmative action is good and California is bad and racist for banning it. I have a question: why is it that when a less qualified white person gets a job or a scholarship or [insert anything you want here] over a more qualified black person that's racism, but when a less qualified black person gets [anything] over a more qualified white person that's somehow ok? Also as for the party, who cares? Frats have 'redneck parties' all the time, rednecks never complain. Many people have 'corporate hoes and ceos' or parties with catchy titles like that, and I rarely hear actual office workers complaining. This frat had a 'gangsta party' or whatever they called it, and you, who are not a gangsta, at least to my knowledge, angrily rise to their defense. Why? Why not defend the rednecks or the business men? Oh wait, because they aren't stereotypically black, and you only defend, support, or agree with people who look like you. Come to think of it you might be the biggest racist around.
9:01 p.m., March 3, 2010
Anthony said:
Rick has a solid point about affirmative action. Race is such a muddled issue, you need to step back and look at it another way. I'll take Dr. Seuss's example, the Star-bellied Sneetches. A Star-bellied Sneetch and a Starless Sneetch both apply for a position in school, but the Star-bellied one has better qualifications. The Starless Sneetch, however, gets in instead of the Star-bellied Sneetch and gets a scholarship as well. Almost everyone would agree this is unfair, but it happens every day in the name of fairness. People just don't have the ability to step back and look at the situation logically.
5:07 p.m., March 4, 2010
Mike said:
To Anthony and Rick, As a latino student at Mizzou, I would just like to point out that Affirmative Action is not ALWAYS quotas. In fact, I agree with both your assumptions that rewards based strictly on race and disregarding qualifications is detrimental not only to the individuals involved, but society in general. However, I believe that affirmative action in the form of the Chancellor's Diversity Initiative can enhance the cultural climate of our school by giving highly qualified (far higher than our university average) minority students the money they need to attend school can be beneficial to all races. Affirmative Action does not always mean quotas.
12:14 a.m., May 19, 2010
position of privilege is a bogus theory said:
position of privilege What a horrible thing for someone to assume about another person. I've dealt with this in my personal life too many times. This terminology has been thrown in my face. It's a theory that some "scholars" have put out there that basically says this. If you are white, male, and middle class, you world view is flawed because you haven't faced the same disadvantages that people who aren't those things have faced. It's a way for the person who uses it to say "I could see how you would say that, you have had more privileges than me." It's simple reverse racism. The people that say that about whites are making that judgement based on the COLOR OF THEIR SKIN. Not knowing if that person was, gay, poor, jewish, bi-racial, etc. When I hear people use it it makes my skin crawl. Screw you "defender of truth" for making those assumptions in your first post. You are guilty of the same things you are railing against. And finally ChaToyya, find something else to whine about. Signed, Someone who looks like they are really in a position of privilege. But is really a gay, Jewish, lower class student. Because of those things does that make what I say mean more? NO
6:40 p.m., Feb. 26, 2010
Brandon said:
I don't even know where to begin, Chatoyaa. Once again, you take the cake with your race-baiting and silly jumping to conclusions. Don't give me your self-righteous judgment. I know I'm not a racist or anything close, and most whites in America aren't. Why are you judging us all because of the idiotic actions of a few fraternity guys? Newsflash: Fraternities don't exactly breed or take in the most mild-mannered folks. Why are you surprised? How is this indicative of "all white folks" at UCSD? UCSD has over 28,000 students!! One fraternity of 30 or 40 guys does this, less than 1% of the student pop., and you make a huge deal out of this why? Just by the law of large numbers, chances are this crap is gonna happen sooner or later! There will always be racism, no matter how much we try to stamp it out. It's a sad fact of life. But I'm tired of folks like you acting like it's somehow a HUGE deal if someone acts or says something racist. Yes, it's not appropriate, but unless they commit a hate crime, the best thing to do is just ignore it rather than give it more attention. If we don't let non-crime racism get to us, then the racists will realize sooner or later that their efforts are futile. And what's this BS about "punishment"?? Punishment for free speech and freedom of association, which is IN THE CONSTITUTION?? What "crime" did they commit? Is being racist or having unpopular views suddenly a crime? Freedom of speech was put in the Bill of Rights specifically to protect unpopular viewpoints. You don't have to condone them, but you at least have to acknowledge that they have that right just as you do. You can't 'punish' someone just for saying or doing something racist if they harmed no one. That's tyranny. You're such a Marxist "racism is everywhere" type. I know of folks like you. I'm tired of folks like you and your elitist worldview. You think you're better than me, Chatoyya? And what's with that freaking hat in your picture? Are you trying to be "cultural" or something just b/c you have dark skin, when you probably have never even stepped foot in Africa? That's like me saying I'm Irish at heart just b/c my ancestors were Irish immigrants. And what about racist minorities? Yes, they do exist. You seem to have this really weird view that only whites can be racist. What's up with that? I've heard of some blacks in the inner cities who think being educated is "acting white" or not speaking in ebonics is "talking white." Certainly it's not all blacks, but there's enough to know they exist. Are those folks absolved of these 'sins'? Don't shove your "cultural competency" politically correct nonsense on anyone. White students at UCSD don't need that. Maybe the folks who held the party but not all white folks. There's no evidence all the students supported it by a long shot. And furthermore, what if this really was just an innocent party poking fun at gangsters in the ghetto?