It's time that we stop sugar-coating racism, students and professors at the University said at a recent div-ersity forum.
The Student Council Diversity Committee, the Washington Literary Society and Debating Union and University Media Relations sponsored a diversity forum March 1. Open to anyone at the University, the Diversity Forum included Anthropology professors Richard Handler and George Mentore as speakers. Afterward, a racially diverse group of students discussed their experiences with diversity and racism as part of the student panel.
Diversity, according to both Handler and Mentore, is a code word for race. Even though the civil rights movement officially ended with the election of Ronald Reagan for U.S. president, racism looms across the country and the University, they said.
Handler, who teaches an anthropology course on the subject of diversity and racism, began the forum by stating the panel was not intended to be a "feel-good event."
Handler said the discussion of "diversity" is a way not to talk about racism.
What fuels racism, he said, is that people self-segregate -- not only at the University, but around the world.
"'Separate but equal' -- is that the way to go in the 21st century?" Handler said. "The problem is that all these people want to be separate but equal."
Even though the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawedmany forms of discrimination, Handler said the way people separate themselves according to race is an example of Jim Crow segregation.
A proponent of academia, Handler said the first step in killing Jim Crow at the University would be to "respond with more courses."
Handler afforded that the University makes "nice" efforts to promote diversity. Friendships and clubs, however, are not going to solve the deeply-rooted racial issues in this country and at this University, he said.
"The issue is not to have friends of other colors or persuasions or to be in clubs where you do nice things," Handler said. "What we have to do is think through these issues and they are not easy to think through."
In what Handler called the "native model of society," people learn to prioritize the individual over the group. Celebrating diversity is the problem of today's society, he said.
"That's the way society was put together and studied over centuries," Handler said.
Leaders like Thomas Jefferson, for example, espoused great contradictions, Handler said. American history is filled with these contradictions. The government and its citizens pride themselves on equality and diversity, and our history is packed with vicious, violent and disgusting racial relations, he added.
"And then diversity speak has emerged," Hander said.
Mentore said he also believed the problem is in the deep institutions of inequality that were born hundreds of years ago.
"Solving our problems here [at the University] means solving our problems in the wider world," Mentore said.
Mentore added that it is going to take critical thinking and reflection because there is a difference between living culture and reflecting back on culture.
Mentore challenged everyone at the forum to think critically about our modern state. Racial difference is tied to the idea of loyalty to our nation-state, he said.
"You learn to disobey your parents and obey centralized authority, like the president, or the University," Mentore said.
Familial loyalty and love is also what contributes to racism, he said.
"Inside of race is the idea of blood," Mentore said. "You love your child because it has your blood."
So can racism end in modern times?
"Imagine loving someone else like your child, but it's not your blood that made you love that person," Mentore challenged his audience. "Love is so deeply embedded in the idea of race."
He said if today's students don't address these issues, then racism will loom just as large in the next generation.
After Mentore briefly discussed his take on racism and diversity, six students of different races spoke about how their identities have been affected by society's views of race.
On a different vein, the panel spoke about racism on a personal level.
"Race is a part of my everyday life," Student Council President Jequeatta Upton said in sharing her experience.
Panel members were fourth-year College student Chris Ray, third-year College students Upton, Elizabeth Chu, Galen MacCaba and Michal Duvdevani and third-year Engineering student Pavan Gupta.
Student questions focused on how diversity and racism affected these members of the students in their everyday lives. Mentore challenged the student panel to reassess their views of diversity.
In hindsight, panel participant Elizabeth Chu said the event could have been better structured.
"I wish there was a focus or there had been leading questions" to guide responses, Chu said.
Chu said she thought there were good ideas behind the event, but she didn't feel it was as effective as it could have been.
"I thought the Washington Society made a good effort in trying to bring about a diverse panel to share experiences," Chu said. "I'm a little confused what the point is, but I thought it was a great effort on their part."