EARLIER this February, Office of African-American Affairs Dean M. Rick Turner kicked off Black History Month with a scathing critique that whites in Charlottesville won't "do anything for black folks." At the same time, the Iota Beta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. made history by leaving the Black Fraternity Council for the nonracial Inter-Fraternity Council. Given the stark contrast in worldviews underlying these actions, it was inevitable they would come to a head. And come to a head they did.
In characteristically flamboyant fashion, Turner went around Grounds and in classrooms publicly berating the decision as "disgraceful." After words were exchanged, letters and editorials were written and administrators and students weighed in, the two sides have now apparently decided to keep their dirty laundry between themselves. Turner and members of the Alphas could not be reached for comment. An administrator who had chimed in now refused to talk, as did an Alpha alumnus. Notwithstanding their reticence, the whole hullabaloo and the response to it represent everything that is wrong with how we approach race.
At the heart of this controversy is the concept of community. The Alphas' move was seen as a sellout to the "black community." Likewise, the media coverage that ensued was seen as an effort to exploit a schism in the black community. However, putting up a wall of silence now will not repair the breach. This is a problem that is here to stay as long as African-Americans are expected to march in lockstep with a leadership that is out of step. As long as they are led to believe in a racial ideology that imposes uniformity over individuality and "peoplehood" over personhood, neither the individuals nor the community will succeed.
The struggle for racial equality has long been premised on the advancement of blacks as a community. Whether this is a vestige of communitarian African tradition or of necessity in the face of slavery and Jim Crow, studies have shown that upper-class blacks have maintained significant involvement in the black community. At the same time, the success of blacks outside the community has not come without considerable consternation. Notable individuals like Jackie Robinson, Louis Armstrong, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Clarence Thomas have been derided as sellouts to the black community.
Dean Turner's positions seem to exemplify the primacy of community. He believes that what happens in the black community should stay within the community. As John Rosenberg, a scholar of race relations at Stanford, has written, Turner is the "Dean of All Things Black (and Only Black)." On the other hand, the Alphas believe the advancement of blacks means more than advancing within racially segregated enclaves. In a statement on their Web site, the Iota Beta chapter writes, "Why did Negro League baseball players seek acceptance in the Major Leagues? Why did black Americans in the South boycott for equal treatment and civil rights? Why would African-Americans seek other opportunities in areas outside of the towns they were once raised?"
The Cavalier Daily reported that as Turner sees it, "Martin Luther King, Jr. was an Alpha, and he would roll over in his grave if he knew that these young men made this move." But Dr. King did not live, fight and die only to see blacks refuse to fraternize with whites. Even if some whites remain uncomfortable around blacks, the way to break down those barriers is more integration -
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