Most of our readers have never been in a situation where they are the only members of their race in a room; most of our readers are white. Many black students face this situation every time they go to class. There are 1,123 black students at the university, 838 undergraduates and 285 graduate students. This means most white students have no idea what it is like to be alone in a room full of ‘minorities’ because there usually aren’t enough of them to fill up a room. I have recently had two opportunities to become the white exception at UW; to be the only white person in a room full of minorities. The experience was a difficult one, but it is one white students on campus should have as often as possible, and at least once before graduation.
My most recent experience came last Friday at the second annual Black Men’s Forum. The event, put on by The Wisconsin Association of Black Men, focused on finding ways to improve communication among black men on campus. When I walked into the room I immediately got the feeling I was out of place. It may have been imagined, but with only three or four whites in a room of about 60 blacks, you can’t help but feel your skin color will affect the way people think about you.
Sitting among dozens of black men, I could tell they were feeling something I wasn’t. I thought I picked up on the feeling of having goals and struggles that unite a race, but I couldn’t understand. A classroom full of white people doesn’t give me the same feeling, and it was a feeling Dr. (John Yancy) Odom said black people need to cultivate. He suggested that black people watch out for each other academically and recognize each other, even with a head nod, when they meet on campus, indicating a need for black people to connect as a community.
Yet in the midst of last semester’s “diversity” obsession, I heard various sources saying that black students tend to self-segregate on our campus. White students perceive black students who hang with other black students as shutting themselves off from the rest of campus. In many cases this is true of both whites and blacks; we tend to stick with what we know because it is easier. But the type of connection that was discussed at The Black Men’s Forum was not about doing what is easy. The call was for blacks to support and validate one another to make it easier for them to undertake the difficult task of spreading into and changing the larger university.
The first step in this process will likely involve picking specific, measurable goals and uniting. After realizing my lack of understanding, I am certain this is a task with which white students are largely incapable and unqualified to help. What we can do is to think about how we will react when faced with the goals of a united minority. The best way for us to prepare for this is to attend their events. But if we attend in masse the point will be lost. If just one in 1,000 of our white students had shown up I would never have been able to experience either the feeling of being a lonely minority, or the desire to not be the only representative of a certain race or perspective. This experience also helped me understand the need for inter-group unity, to find others who share a similar background and at times perspective, in this context.
Another thing I noticed at the Black Men’s Forum was a lack of political correctness. The speaker talked about God; black was capitalized in one place and not in others, and some unintentional ignorant remarks were made. What quickly became apparent is that people often hamper progress with their PC obsession. For fear of offending someone, many of us don’t tell others what we think, ask questions or share our views. In a small group break-out session at the forum, I was asked to clarify something I had contributed to the conversation. I suddenly worried that I, one of only two white people, may have made a dumb “white person mistake.” Afterward, I shared my worry with the woman who had asked for clarification, who told me it was better to ask about race, even with the risk. Neither blacks nor whites should get caught up in worrying about nitpicky political correctness. The picture is much bigger than that.
Not only should non-minorities support and attend these events, we should also understand that unity does not equal self-segregation. While the experience of being a minority in the context of an isolated event obviously cannot begin to compare to the experience of being a racial minority, it can help provide an understanding of the need for support and unity in such situations. Additionally, an effort must be made to drop fearful political correctness in the interest of fostering dialogue.
Andrew Carpenter ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in communication arts and psychology.
