A FEW WEEKS ago, a handful of students from the Architecture School - who are no doubt regretting their actions right now - had a party. Tim Lovelace thought that it was racist. Anthony Dick thought it wasn't. Both articulated their viewpoints well in The Cavalier Daily over the course of the last two weeks. The question of who is right in regard to this issue is hard to say. Anyone willing to intelligently and objectively look at the two arguments posed will be forced to admit that there are merits to both. However, the situation is no longer this simple. On Friday, signs were posted up around Grounds attacking The Cavalier Daily and Anthony Dick as racist.
The fact that these are unfair criticisms - which they are - is beside the point. Once again, open discussion about racism in America has degenerated into finger pointing and animosity. No one said this is a fun issue to deal with, but whether or not anyone wants to admit it, the reason we make such little and such slow progress in eradicating racism is not that whites are guilty of racism or blacks of reverse-racism. It is because - due to the high emotional charge associated with this problem - neither group is willing to really listen to the other. As a result, opportunities for discussion which could lead to movement in the right direction are reduced to bitter exchanges between the races that instead hurl us two steps backward. Perhaps you think that I am wrong in making this statement, and that prejudiced and small-minded whites are to blame for racial self-segregation. If you believe that that fault lies truly with oversensitive minorities, and what I have said makes you really mad, write me hate mail. Put up a sign about how I am an ignorant and awful person. You will just be proving my point.
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Anyone who has ever been caught in between two friends who are fighting knows that the truth usually lies somewhere in a synthesis of their respective stories. Such is the case here. Lovelace was right in saying that the party thrown by the Architecture School students had potential to be harmful in that it could serve to perpetuate racist stereotypes. Dick was right in his assertion that Lovelace's perception of the damage done by this party might have been somewhat extreme. What has caused the problem here is not the views proposed - discussion is crucial to progress - but rather the inability of individuals to leave their personal prejudices, loyalties and egos behind when approaching this topic. In failing to view the issue of race objectively, many who claim to be the biggest proponents of racial unity often unknowingly obscure the truth from their view, and in doing so forfeit any hope of moving forward.
Something that often is misunderstood in discussions of race but that is crucial for us to realize is this: This is not about who is wrong and who is right. By clinging to the notion that one group is to blame, we are undermining the very idea we claim to be promoting and we strengthen the division that we are trying to destroy. The bottom line - which we too often lose sight of in our hostile bickerings - is that there is no difference between black and white. While we don't like to think about it, the fact is that we are ephemeral beings - the black and white of our skin is going to fade away very soon. Historically, white people were 110 percent to blame for racial problems. But this is the present. Slavery has been gone for 150 years. Great strides have been made in civil rights legislation, and we are now at a point where we can claim to be more or less on an equal playing field. In America's early years, whites concocted differences between the races for their own benefit. The structure that supported this is gone now, and it is time for us to leave behind the problems of the past and all take responsibility for the issues of the present.
When all things are taken into account, it becomes clear that we need to find a new way in which to approach the problem of racism. We need to stop pointing fingers and accept universal responsibility for this issue. Minorities need to realize that everything that can be interpreted to have racial connotations is not necessarily racist or ill-intentioned. It is crucial to be conscious of our human instinct to lash out at any sign of possible attack without applying reason to it first. Whites need to understand that race is a highly sensitive issue, and that actions that are in any way rooted in race, while they may not be malicious, still contribute to our environment and in this way can help to perpetuate racist thought even if the acts in and of themselves were not racist.
Finally and most importantly, as in all things, we cannot underestimate the power of leading by example. Mahatma Gandhi once said, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." We need to understand the significance of this statement. Real devotion to racial unity may, at times, require a sacrifice of one's own ego. Should one fall victim to a race-based attack, the best way to prove to the perpetrator the injustice of his actions is to love him in spite of his misguided behavior. It is no myth that unconditional good-will, while it may perplex many, is contagious. It is only in this way that we can truly spread respect and love for one another.
Finally, we need to keep in mind that we cannot hope for an immediate solution, but through understanding, sensitivity, reason and self-sacrifice, there is no doubt that our goals of racial reconciliation can some day be realized.
(Laura Parcells is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. She can be reached at lparcells@cavalierdaily.com.)
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