Newspapers / St. Andrews University Student … / Oct. 22, 2004, edition 1 / Page 6
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OP-ED Week of October 22nd. Things Are Not Black and White Until We Are One Matthew Peak Staff Writer St. Andrews recently hosted an on-campus Club Fair designed to present to the college popula tion the numerous clubs available for the Fall 2004 semester. As I strolled through the aisles and looked at what opportunities were presented, I noticed a club called the Black Student Union or BSU. I left feeling pretty disappointed that students needed their skin color to form a union. The immediate question that needs to be asked is; what if there was es tablished a White Student Union? The answer is pretty easy to guess. There would be protests, petitions, campaigns and the ending of aca demic careers. Voices would rise up and cry that America is a rac ist nation and that a White Stu dent Union is a travesty of justice and an insult to all non-whites. I agree that having a White Student Union is a wrong way to have an identity, but so is the Black Stu dent Union or a Hispanic Student Union or any “union” that has as its basic identity the color of skin. In our current level of education and understanding, most people would ^ree that the shade of mel anin in the epidermis is too weak a standard by which to determine who a person is or is not. To look at a person and judge them unfit for what a society offers because their skin color docs not match one’s own is a very flawed idea that has plagued mankind since Noah stepped off the boat and thanked God that he was alive. In Amer ica, we have struggled long and hard just to say to one’s neighbor that their skin color means noth ing as we try to fulfill the golden rule: Love your neighbor as you yourself would want to be loved. But it seems that race keeps com ing up time and time again. We talk of a day where people will be judged by the content of their charaaer and not by the color of their skin and yet, the color of the skin still pervades our thinking. We have the National Association for the Advance of Colored People (NAACP), the Association for the Advancement of Mexican-Ameri- cans and the Arab-American Ac tion Network. We have African-, Mexican-, Arab- and Asian-Amer- icans. It would seem that the col or of one’s skin is very important. And it is especially important if you’re Caucasian. Why are we obsessed with being hyphenated Americans and hav ing groups and unions where the determining faaor for decision making and membership seems to be race? Since we seem to swoon at the idea of a color-blind society, it would seem that we would jump at the chance to stop being half- Americans and just be united as Americans, regardless of our skin color. The reason behind this dis crepancy can be found in the ideas of multiculturalism. On the surface, muiticiJturalism seems like a fine idea with the hon orable goal of ensuring that super ficial differences among people do not lead to division and hatred. But it has become a rotted peach that poisons our children with ideas that will lead to the break down of America and the fall of what could be aiguably the great- Gilbert Abraham Staff Writer There are 3 main rea sons for the existence of minority groups: To facilitate an insti tutional and social sup port group To promote social/ ethnic communication & progression To give a name to the minority The reason why there are institutional and so cial support groups is because people organize themselves inherently according to the simi larities that they share with other people. Hu man beings are gregari ous by nature and the need to associate and share knowledge for the group’s progression is the this world with naturally open minds as they have not yet been exposed, long enough, to the societal poison which teaches us to stereotype, and prejudge. If children were taught to ask con- struaive questions, as opposed to being taught to discriminate based on differences, the pre dicament of intolerance that has plagued hu man beings for all cre ation would, at least, be treated like an atrocious grisly disease as opposed to being spread. Human beings have an intrinsic need to name and label everything! We must, we have to, and it is absolutely an obliga tion! And that’s fine, but it is how we are taught to label that is the problem. Black, White, I have of ten argued are imjust EXIST! Someone show me how, biologically, 1 am different from The Honorable Ron Bayes or Dr. Deegan to the point that we are of a differ ent species. I am not. A race is defined by its bio logical variation within a species and there is none among human beings, not to the extent that there would be specific races based on color. My salmon friend and I, after long debate, con cluded that in order to make a change in this monumental problem that we fece, called dis crimination and racial prejudice, we must, as cliche as it sounds, “be ourselves.” We must re cruit impressionable people and mold them into critical thinkers whom arc indifferent to ethnical differences and est nation on earth Jn ordetitcfc premise behind learning labels used to associate whom celebrate edu- understand'why nfultiCUltu^ftm* is so bad for America, we need to look at two mitigating factors; race and culture and the link between them. Since we know what race is, let’s look at culture. What do we mean when say “culture?” People of ten travel to different parts of the country to experience different cultures, but what are they expe riencing? Usually, it is very su perficial things like food, art and music. In this sense, differences in cultures are good because tast ing traditional Hispanic dishes or viewing Native American art or hearing Celtic songs can op>en our eyes and enrich our creativity as hiunans. I like Hispanic dishes and think Native American art is beautiful and find something touching about Celtic music. In such ways, I accept a multicultural idea. But there is something deep er at work. When most people talk of “multi cultural,” they are not interested in the superficial things that can en rich our lives, but core worldviews. In the mind set of multicultural- ists, in dealing with racism in America, particularly the variety in which whites disliked non-whites, the one way to equalize skin col ors was to give each skin color a institutions. Groups aire formed to make a con centrated effon on unit ing people that share a common interest to ac complish something. The progression of social and ethnic com munication is the fore most reason for the ex istence of the BSU. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream and in that dream he clearly out lined how he wished that his children would not be judged by anything but their charaaer. That dream is one that I share along with many others. Dr. King and his daugh ter experienced this dream, if only for a short while. They experienced being judged solely upon their character, because from an early tender youth they did not un derstand, nor were they bias to, complexion be cause the desire to dis criminate based upon complexion is something that is learned. Children mirror the dream that Dr. King spoke about. Children are born into a group or ethnicities. These types of labels are based solely upon their pigmentation, a label that is highly inadeqiute at capturing the essence of their ethnical heritage. At least, I would like to be called russet, auburn, mahogany, maybe even sexual chocolate, but not black. And for “white people,” I say olive, por celain, ivory, and for some, even salmon cap tures just the right hue. I think Asians and His- panics have it best, they aren’t called yellow very much, and at least there is an effort to associate Asians and Hispanics to their correct ethnical group. The other day I was asked by my salmon “complexioned” friend, “What can I do to bridge the gap? What can I do to make a change?” While we were speaking about things pertaining to hu manity he uninrention- ally brought up race over and over again which in stigated me into remark- cation and intell conversation. We must start a social revolution and it is imperative that it starts here and now. SO, my salmon friends and my olive friends and my chocolate friends and my pearl friends and my porcelain friends and my auburn friends and my ebony and ivory and all my tan friends, we are waiting for all of you who want to join us. NO BLACK OR WHITE OR YELLOW PEOPLE ALLOWED! Getting back to the purpose of the BSU, it will need to exist until we no longer associate negative stereotypes with the black complexion. It will exist until black people are no longer judged by anything but their character. It will exist until the scolding imprint of oppression’s shackles fade away and we are only reminded of those times in books and fables, not by belliger ently ignorant people. For those who may be ^ftUdren are born into ing, RACE DOES NOT presendy unaware, BSU. The opinions expressed in the Opinions-Editoriak section of The Lance are solely those of the author anA An necessarily rcjUct the
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