Educational Institutions should be better than this

I am not going to try and tell people how to think or feel, what I will do is point out some things so obvious that I wonder why more people do not notice it.

 

This country seems to be more racially divided now than in a long time, with the casual use of racists slurs and thinly disguised racially offensive language becoming normal in places where it should not be; institutions of higher education.

 

Higher education institutions need to go beyond tolerance because tolerance simply means you will learn to live with something until it goes away. We tolerate pain, we tolerate bullies, we tolerate discomfort, and we tolerate things we have no control over; how we treat each other is within our control.

 

“Hillsdale President Criticized for Referring to Minorities as 'Dark Ones'”

 

“Larry Arnn, the president of Hillsdale College, at a legislative hearing in Michigan on Wednesday, referred to minority student as "dark ones," The Detroit Free Press reported. Hillsdale does not accept any federal funds and thus resists many data-gathering initiatives of government agencies. In his testimony, Arnn described a time he said state officials visited campus to see if he had enough "dark ones" enrolled. Many legislators criticized Arnn for the language”.

 

“Hillsdale released a statement later on Wednesday in which it said that Arnn was sorry if such offense [over his language] was honestly taken. The issue people should focus on, the statement said, was "state endorsed racism." The statement noted that Hillsdale was founded by an abolitionist in 1844 and has always barred discrimination based on nationality, color or sex. The statement added that racial polarization is increasing rather than decreasing in our nation today," and that the solution to this problem is to "return to the principles of the nation," such as a colorblind Constitution".

 

http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/08/01/hillsdale-president-criticized-referring-minorities-dark-ones

 

And this is supposed to be an educated man?

“Controversy on White Student Union at Georgia State”

“The White Student Union, a new organization, is drawing complaints at Georgia State University. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the group is not officially recognized and may not involve very many people at all, but that when notices about it started to appear on campus, a number of people complained. Georgia State -- where 38 percent of students are white, 35 percent are black, 12 percent are Asian and 7 percent are Latino -- prides itself on having a diverse, inclusive campus. Officials said that the non-recognized groups have the right to hold events and publicize them and that the university does not regulate the views of student organizations”.

“Patrick Sharp, who organized the group, said there was a need for white people to discuss issues such as immigration and affirmative action. If we are already minorities on campus and are soon to be minorities in this country why wouldn’t we have the right to advocate for ourselves and have a club just like every other minority? Sharp said. Why is it when a white person says he is proud to be white he’s shunned as a racist?"

http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/08/01/controversy-white-student-union-georgia-state

 

A couple of simple facts:

·         People with white skin are the majority in this country

·         Some aspects of slavery, as well as the civil rights movement are still within living memory of people in this country. So how do you erase hundreds of years of inequality in just a few short years?

·         The organizers new exactly what they were doing, this was quite deliberately done to shake things up

(Normal?)

 

 

Let us have pride in “we the people” of America, not pride in base things that divide us. Simple courtesy is a start, and having genuinely good intentions; especially on educational campuses. After all, we are supposed to be teaching future generations.

 

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam