THE COLOR of a person's skin means nothing more than any other physical component of his or her appearance. Quite frankly, it does not matter if someone's skin is white, black or aquamarine any more than his hair color. One can tell no more about a person simply by looking at his skin color or "racial group" while walking down the street than one can tell by the color of his eyes. I would argue that one could tell more about a person by his choice of clothing. Unfortunately, many people enjoy speaking out of both sides of their mouth on this issue. These proponents claim to support equal rights for people of all skin colors and racial groups, but at the same time do everything they can to separate people into these artificial classes.
Equal rights is a wonderful general term that people love to shout out whenever the subject of race is approached. We should be ashamed of ourselves to think that we would not guarantee people of all skin colors equal rights. There certainly are significant portions of our history which have relied on artificial racial divisions, but now is the time for these divisions to end. We can no longer judge people by the color of their skin or their racial group but by, to quote Martin Luther King Jr., "the content of their character." I can think of nothing more admirable in this situation. We must all make this our goal.
Unfortunately, while we are taught that each racial group is equal and each person deserves to be judged on the content of his character, we find that this same establishment is teaching us that minority racial groups are entitled to special, or at least different, treatment. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every time we separate the races based on this artificial boundary, even in the name of promoting racial harmony, we only move ourselves further away from a society where there are no racial divisions, which should be our ultimate goal.
African-American Affairs Dean M. Rick Turner's recent racially exclusive activity is the embodiment of the flawed reasoning present in our society. Turner hosted a publicly advertised event, "A dialogue with black men," andasked a white student to leave because of the color of his skin. The mere existence of an office and dean for a particular racial group only serves to promote the myth that there is some great universal difference between the races at this university (other than skin pigment). In addition, the fact that Turner can host an event which openly excludes whites and escape without so much as a forced apology is proof of the doublespeak so common in such racial issues. I would like to see a group attempt to hold a public discussion open only to white males and escape as unscathed as Turner has.
There was likely a time when affirmative action could be rationalized as remedying past discrimination based on a race. However, this time is long past. Yes, there are still racists in this world, but the time of institutionalized racism in this country has gone. The remaining racial boundaries that exist are simply reinforced by programs such as affirmative action. By separating the races into these artificial groups, we are sending a clear message that there is a fundamental difference. There is none.
While the mandatory diversity training, which was a common subject of debate earlier this school year, has faded into the background, the administration and student groups are still pushing for fundamentally flawed racial diversity. Programs such as "Voice of Diversity at UVA" promote a concept of diversity simply based on charts and graphs separating people into neat little columns. By reducing diversity to this very basic idea we dehumanize our attempts to achieve racial harmony. Nothing is accomplished by having diversity that looks better on paper. True diversity can only be reached when a persons skin color ceases to matter.
A transformation such as a race-less society cannot happen over- night. We have covered a phenomenal amount of ground in the last 30 years, and we will continue to do so, but our ultimate goal must be a society where the color of one's skin is no different than the color of his eyes -- a simple aesthetic factor to be noticed and disregarded. We must work to end programs which enshrine our difference in skin color as some great dividing line or relative advantage or disadvantage. Only once we cease to promote these artificial boundaries can our society truly reach a point where these racial tensions can be extinguished.
Daniel Bagley is a Cavalier Daily associate editor. He can be reached at dbagley@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
PATEL: Personal development courses support students beyond the gradebook
By Heer Patel | 3 days agoThe University must rethink its approach to education beyond traditional major-specific requirements and mandate personal development courses.
EDITORIAL: Commercialization threatens U.Va.’s educational mission
By Editorial Board | 3 days agoAfter all, measuring the University’s worth in terms of accrued capital, operational efficiency and numerical rankings molds this space into just another cookie-cutter institution.
YOUNIS: Why every U.Va. student should say yes to English
By Ayat Younis | January 9, 2025Every student at the University, regardless of their primary field of study, can professionally and academically benefit from engaging with the English department.
