A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to meet Jos? Antonio Vargas, the Pulitzer Prize-winning former Washington Post reporter who revealed himself to be an undocumented immigrant in a moving New York Times Magazine essay this summer. Vargas said something that struck a chord with me: “Only white people can teach other white people about white privilege.”
I do not have any qualms in admitting that I have lived a highly privileged life. The era of oppression my Irish and Polish ancestors faced more than a century ago has transitioned into a time of opportunity free from sweatshops or anti-Catholic prejudices – at least in this country. I have come to understand my heritage through textbook chapters, movies about the English occupation of Ireland and (don’t hate!) U2 songs from the early 1980s.
However, currently marginalized groups like gay Americans, African Americans and Latinos do not have the opportunity to be so passive in understanding American prejudices against different ethnicities. Instead, they are living through it. National conversations about ethnicity, migration, social welfare and crime are dominated by negative and deconstructive comments about race in this country. If you do not believe me, just wait until a slew of commenters hiding behind their online pseudonyms incoherently attack my take on race in America.
In this national and local climate where racist tendencies still exist, the Multicultural Student Coalition has asked for more than $1 million in student fees funding from the Student Services Finance Committee. The more than month-long process has been scarred by personal accusations of racism from some MCSC members and allies. The dispute has exposed some of the most grave problems with honest discourse on this campus that existed long before MCSC sent their waiver to SSFC.
For example, at last Thursday’s SSFC meeting, Student Council Rep. Clay Thomas opened his open forum testimony with a not-so-welcoming salutation: “Hello, fellow rich white folks.”
In this case, I am not singling out Thomas because his actions in Associated Students of Madison meetings are normally counterproductive to creating any sort of civil dialogue about the issues facing student government or multicultural groups, but instead because his greeting has become emblematic of the way some of our representatives in ASM talk about each other – and their constituents.
Poverty exists on a continuum, meaning that – at least in my opinion – people like me with white privilege but not a ton of money still have more opportunities than a black or Latino student from a poor community, who still have more opportunities to live a fulfilled life than those living in the most poor and crime-ridden slum of Rio de Janeiro or Johannesburg.
Thomas’ statement unnecessarily generalized all SSFC members – or even all student government representatives – as a group similar to stereotypical lawmakers in Congress: rich, suit-wearing oligarchs with no regard for their constituents. But unfortunately for Thomas and those who agree with him, student government representatives likely have more complex financial situations they probably do not often discuss with their colleagues. His comments are most disturbing for the way they misrepresent the views of white multicultural allies on this campus who often come from working class backgrounds.
Just because Thomas screwed up, however, does not mean student leaders on the other end of the ASM political spectrum are off the hook.
ASM’s legendary ruling “boys’ club” that dominated student government leadership during my first two years in Madison were just as guilty for less-than-civil governing. In late 2009, words like “douchebag” were tossed around a Student Council session, and earlier that year rumors abounded that SSFC Chair Kurt Gosselin threatened to provide less opportunities for groups that were too vocal in their opposition to a new constitution that eventually failed in a referendum.
Gosselin denied the accusations to The Badger Herald at the time and has since graduated. However, he still regularly weighs in on ASM issues from his blog, North Park Street, where he regularly sensationalizes ASM’s problems and missteps from his perch several hundred miles away from Madison. Gosselin, like any true and savvy politician, jumps on whichever opportunity he finds to call leaders like Chair Allie Gardner or former Vice Chair Beth Huang corrupt.
Unfortunately for Gosselin, Gardner and those closest to her in ASM are among the only leaders committed to keeping policy-making discussions civil, despite their incompetence this session. For sensitive issues like the MCSC approval process, the tactics that people like him and Thomas use distract from the most important conversation ASM should be having: how to make the SSFC process as accessible as possible for groups like MCSC.
Ryan Rainey ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism and Latin American studies.
