Author: Yennaedo Balloo
I attended the Campus Climate Discussion before Spring Break. The discussion was open to all students and had a good attendance, stronger than most anyone who showed expected. The talks were advertised as a discussion of recent events and climate on campus regarding race relations. It was hoped that the discussion would produce constructive criticism and possible solutions to the problems on our campus.
What I saw at the talks was moving, passionate, self-inhibiting and self-perpetuating. Lest my intentions be misinterpreted at the outset, let me say that it is with deepest respect that I write this piece, and it is an abiding love for community that ever moves me in my contributions to this ongoing racial dialogue.
To anyone who would attempt to deny that there are tensions on our campus, they would have been proven wrong by the displays at the meeting. Tension, thankfully, was not expressed in a belligerent manner at all, but there were stories of sadness and disappointment that are not the stories of a campus that is placid and unified. The stories of personal strife and hardship told of the fear some people of color have on this campus, the feelings of ostracism and isolation that many feel forced upon them.
Passion abounded within the speakers of all views, and there was, for the most part, a fair amount said and expressed by people of all walks and backgrounds who attended. Students on both sides of the issue (I’d attempt to define the “sides” but that is both difficult and the very problem, but I’ll deal with that in a moment) recognized the problems gripping student life.
Despite the emotions being shared that Thursday and the genuinely evident desire of many who showed up in an attempt to make a difference, there was an atmosphere of inhibition among some that ruined the talks in the end of its period. When I say inhibition, I mean that several times people expressed distress that they felt alone and never felt that any of the “other students” on campus were willing to help them to work towards a better campus life. When students who represented that “other” chimed in that they were here, recognized the problem and that they wanted to help, they were shot down for not having been there sooner. Regardless of the timing of the movement, we have to be realistic and accept that it’s better late than never. Many who claim to want change seem to be happier with “never” though.
The issue is serious, and there is a certain amount of naivete among some people if they think one magical meeting will solve these problems, however enthusiastic the group in question may be. While these are matters of trust that can be dealt with over time, the problem was truly in the self-perpetuation I mentioned before.
Members of the administration were in attendance and were, for the most part, quiet observers throughout the meeting. As a group, we did our best to describe the situation on campus while avoiding speech that supported the very polarized feel the campus is developing that is the very evil in itself. As I stated in a prior article, we have groups of people who are afraid of racism, and others who are afraid to points of near paranoia of committing an act of racism. This fear and mistrust ply us apart continually and every day. Judging by my experience in that meeting, I’d say that my claim has been vindicated.
It was that very fear of racism that caused someone in the meeting to shoot down my plea to Dean Avery for work towards a greater unity and trust as being too idealistic and far-fetched, especially for the realists who were “involved in the struggle daily.” My point has been, and will continue to be, that we are beyond needing to work to protect students on this campus from racist attacks and discrimination, we can trust the administration to protect us if we’re wronged for such reasons.
It made me sick to see one student who felt guilty by the end of it for never noticing that there were racial lines she was crossing without noticing them. That mentality is the ideal on campus, and yet several applauded her guilt as if it were some sort of attrition. I’m all for celebrating our backgrounds and how we’re unique (although I’m still waiting for West Indian Week), but shouldn’t we move to abandon those recognitions of boundaries that would separate us and be more comfortable anywhere and with anyone on this campus?
Judging by what I saw, we cannot trust the administration to realize the issue on campus that has developed. Nor can we trust the administration to recognize that it needs to support a diversity program that moves towards unity and trust across racial bounds rather than protection and defense against “the threatening entity that is whiteness” as Sammy Suboh put it. Yes, it’s idealist. So sue me for believing in things like that. It’s only by having a goal that we can make any kind of progress towards it. Even if we never reach that utopia at Oxy, we can at least take steps and wind up somewhere better than where we found ourselves before.
Yennaedo is an ECLS major and Opinions Co-Editor for the Weekly. He can be reached at yballoo@oxy.edu
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