Didn't go to the All School All Day Teach In? What are you racist?
I have edited this entry twice already, and if I continue to edit it, it would be reduced to almost nothing, because I have been convinced that not only are the majority of my arguments badly flawed, but that I have no right to pass judgment on anyone's decisions but my own. Therefor I will leave the post in its current form, as an historical reminder to myself of what a pompus ass I can be.
What are you afraid of? Afraid you're part of the problem?
To quote a speaker at the event today, "The only thing evil(racism) needs to prevail, is for good people to do nothing." By not going to the event, not only do you make a statement that racism isn't an important issue to a significant portion of the Sarah Lawrence community that you are a part of, you also directly contribute to the problem of racism and the sense of a hostile uncaring environment to non-whites on this campus.
Think racism isn't a problem on this campus?
There is this preconception that Sarah Lawrence is a 'liberal' campus. You might think, "this is a liberal campus, there shouldn't be racism here," like I did. But we all come from the real world with our own particular backgrounds, and calling yourself liberal doesn't automatically grant you all the qualifications of being a good person. We all have something to learn.
How many people of color do you know who didn't go the event?
When I asked the audience today how many of them knew someone who didn't attend so they could go shopping or sit in their room, nearly every single person raised their hand. Chances are, if you didn't go to the event, you are white. I don't know why you didn't go, but it's starting to sound like it's because you don't see yourself as being part of the problem, and you don't see the problem as effecting you. Are you really that selfish?
Think you can't make a difference on this campus? You already made a difference by not going to this event. I don't think it's the kind of difference you want to make.
Part of the point of the event was to generate discussion about possible solutions to the problem. There were a few concrete institutional things that were suggested, but the main contribution of the event today was to generate discussion and interest in the Sarah Lawrence community to fight racism, and increase awareness of the issues. Are you a woman? Don't you believe in the womens' rights movements? The first step to a successful movement is to improve awareness about an issue. The second step of a movement is for the people in a movement to make tiny changes. If there are enough people involved, those tiny changes amount to huge progress. But when people get apathetic, and say that this is a liberal college, and racism shouldn't be an issue here, and racism has always been and will always be with us, movements end. Twenty years ago the ethnic diversity of this campus was much less than it is now. Six years ago, it was significantly more.
Did you think that the event would be hostile like this post? I went, and I didn't see any hostility.
There was disagreement to be sure, and emotional intensity, but I didn't see anyone raise their voice at anyone else. Everyone there was generally united by the fact that everyone there decided to show up, which means that everyone there had something in common: wanting to do or say something about racism. Maybe you are afraid that you would run into hostility, because you are racist. Just think about that.
Think Sarah Lawrence dealt with this problem poorly? What do you think we would get at a state school?
We have this incredible opportunity at Sarah Lawrence to be involved in school-wide community building events like this one. A state school would be hard pressed to pull off something like what Sarah Lawrence did for racism. Maybe you want to blame the school for doing it wrong so that you can blame anyone but yourself for not trying.
Did you go shopping instead of going to the event?
Racism is structurally inherint to capitalism, at least in its current form. Capitalism requires a layer of exploited workers to function, and the majority of those exploited workers are racial minorities. If we are going to adress racism, we will need to adress the issues of capitalism. Whatever you did instead of going to the event, was racism on you mind at all?
What are you afraid of? Afraid you're part of the problem?
To quote a speaker at the event today, "The only thing evil(racism) needs to prevail, is for good people to do nothing." By not going to the event, not only do you make a statement that racism isn't an important issue to a significant portion of the Sarah Lawrence community that you are a part of, you also directly contribute to the problem of racism and the sense of a hostile uncaring environment to non-whites on this campus.
Think racism isn't a problem on this campus?
There is this preconception that Sarah Lawrence is a 'liberal' campus. You might think, "this is a liberal campus, there shouldn't be racism here," like I did. But we all come from the real world with our own particular backgrounds, and calling yourself liberal doesn't automatically grant you all the qualifications of being a good person. We all have something to learn.
How many people of color do you know who didn't go the event?
When I asked the audience today how many of them knew someone who didn't attend so they could go shopping or sit in their room, nearly every single person raised their hand. Chances are, if you didn't go to the event, you are white. I don't know why you didn't go, but it's starting to sound like it's because you don't see yourself as being part of the problem, and you don't see the problem as effecting you. Are you really that selfish?
Think you can't make a difference on this campus? You already made a difference by not going to this event. I don't think it's the kind of difference you want to make.
Part of the point of the event was to generate discussion about possible solutions to the problem. There were a few concrete institutional things that were suggested, but the main contribution of the event today was to generate discussion and interest in the Sarah Lawrence community to fight racism, and increase awareness of the issues. Are you a woman? Don't you believe in the womens' rights movements? The first step to a successful movement is to improve awareness about an issue. The second step of a movement is for the people in a movement to make tiny changes. If there are enough people involved, those tiny changes amount to huge progress. But when people get apathetic, and say that this is a liberal college, and racism shouldn't be an issue here, and racism has always been and will always be with us, movements end. Twenty years ago the ethnic diversity of this campus was much less than it is now. Six years ago, it was significantly more.
Did you think that the event would be hostile like this post? I went, and I didn't see any hostility.
There was disagreement to be sure, and emotional intensity, but I didn't see anyone raise their voice at anyone else. Everyone there was generally united by the fact that everyone there decided to show up, which means that everyone there had something in common: wanting to do or say something about racism. Maybe you are afraid that you would run into hostility, because you are racist. Just think about that.
Think Sarah Lawrence dealt with this problem poorly? What do you think we would get at a state school?
We have this incredible opportunity at Sarah Lawrence to be involved in school-wide community building events like this one. A state school would be hard pressed to pull off something like what Sarah Lawrence did for racism. Maybe you want to blame the school for doing it wrong so that you can blame anyone but yourself for not trying.
Did you go shopping instead of going to the event?
Racism is structurally inherint to capitalism, at least in its current form. Capitalism requires a layer of exploited workers to function, and the majority of those exploited workers are racial minorities. If we are going to adress racism, we will need to adress the issues of capitalism. Whatever you did instead of going to the event, was racism on you mind at all?