SELF-SEGREGATION. It's an interesting term, and it is even more interesting as of late at the University. More often than not, "self-segregation" is a negative term that people apply to minorities, and view as a weakness that plagues our great American melting pot.
However, often when people use the term self-segregation, they expand the meaning of the term and generalize it to an entire race or ethnicity. Too often, people misapply the term self-segregation in wrongful ways. Many times, people of the same race grouping together can be a good thing, because ethnic pride is a wonderful thing.
This, of course, is not a defense of ethnocentric people. Ethnocentrists insist that their skin color or the slant of their eyes is superior, and this is an arrogant type of philosophy. No one should ever be so pretentious as to claim their culture is the greatest.
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Ethnic pride, on the other hand, is different. Pride in one's race or ethnicity is different than a feeling of superiority. People with ethnic pride realize the unique aspects of their respective cultures, and they realize what they bring to diversify American society. People with ethnic pride insist on the differences that races have, and they seek to bring those differences to light while not denying the validity of others. As a way of doing this, many minorities have created organizations such as the Asian Student Union and the Black Student Alliance. Students are able to find aspects of their cultures in common with other students. This in turn forms a bond, and many people are linked by such experiences.
For example, no one besides a Chinese-American will know what it feels like to be called a chink - just as any member of an ethnicity or race knows what it feels like to be pigeonholed into a specific stereotype. This Chinese-American looks for someone to find comfort in, especially after spending time among people who have not experienced similar situations. Logically, that person reaches for someone who has shared a similar or common experience.
For this reason, minorities often group together. This is not something disgraceful or something that ought to be swept under the rug. The tendency to separate into these organizations is a product of society, and minority organizations have been created as a way to channel these cultural differences. By shouting ethnic pride, these organizations diversify the University by increasing awareness.
However, some people are against the creation and existence of minority organizations. One of the arguments against such claims is that minority organizations are inherently racist. However, these organizations do not discriminate, and merely promote what is unknown to many. There are many people who have lived in predominantly homogeneous areas, and they do not have a great deal of knowledge about other cultures. Minority organizations provide an easy and accessible avenue of exposure to a different culture.
It is not necessarily a bad thing to see several members of the same race walking across the Lawn, regardless of what that race is. If one can find a common bond, then that is all that matters. If that common bond happens to fall on common experiences due to race, then so be it. It happens, and there's no use in denying it. It is ridiculous for anyone to expect that one has to fit into the mold of a typical American. With the exception of Native Americans, everyone's families immigrated here, and with each culture came unique customs. Minority bonding is necessary to keep these customs alive. America shouldn't have a homogeneous population with no sense of ethnic background. It would be boring if everyone blended like soup, and although there are things like personality that make people unique, race can play a part in forming this as well.
Unfortunately, the first thing that someone notices about another person is the way that person looks. People cannot see the mind with the eye, and nothing ever will change this. It is high time that people stopped targeting race with a jaded eye. Race does not have to be a matter of contention, and it should not be accused of separating the student body. Ethnocentricity is much different than ethnic pride, and racial identity is something that ought to be embraced. People ought to be proud of their differences and find brotherhood and sisterhood with those whom they find things in common. Anyone who insists on homogeneity is grasping at a corrupted American dream, because the melting pot is actually a tossed salad.
(Kevin James Wong's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at kwong@cavalierdaily.com.)
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