Shock
I just got an email from Pat about what's going on at Vassar. I'm really unsettled by it, and want to try to talk (or type) it out.
Here's a link to the news story:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/09/26/vassar
In a nutshell, MICA circulated this periodical called The Imperialist that ran an article about race. I'm just going to quote from the above news story to give you a sense: "“How is diversity achieved,” reads the article “Race and Freedom,” written under the nom de plume “Constantine,” in the most recent Imperialist, when minority and gay and lesbian students “are voluntarily confining themselves to ghettoes” of cultural centers created for them. “I find the objective of diversity to be utterly meritless, suggesting that our colleges should become some zoological preserve in some paternalistic attempt [to] benefit our ‘non diverse’ students.”" There was also an offensive cartoon, described in the news story. This whole thing has sparked a conflagration of stuff, including the mention of Vassar students' names on a neo-Nazi website.
Now I'm trying to sort out what I think.
First of all, as the title of the post suggests, shock. I'm so used to thinking of Vassar as a cuddly place where there is liberty and justice for all. Ideals of equality and toleration and all that.
On the other hand, even as I write that, I know that Vassar is not perfect, and even when I was there I knew it wasn't and knew that race at Vassar is a complicated topic, and one I was uncomfortable about although I couldn't quite put my finger on why.
Here's part of why, I think.
I should preface this by saying that I do not in any way agree with the majority of "Constantine"'s views, particularly those articulated in his comments on the news blog I linked to. Least of all do I agree with his comments that it doesn't matter what words you use. It matters a lot.
But I do think that the point he was making relates to a point I've been trying to get my own head around in terms of race at Vassar for years. And it's a complicated point and talking about it may get me into trouble with some people. I'm going to try to watch my own language, but I also have to get myself lunch and to class, so take this as an informal working-out, not a highly polished statement.
For one thing, I think race at Vassar is a problem. Partly because a lot of people either don't think it's a problem or are so fixated on trying to convince people it's a problem that they lose their own effectiveness.
One of the earliest indications I saw -- and perhaps should have thought more about -- is that I was very active in diversity organizations in high school (went to a bunch of conferences, including a national conference, did a lot of agitating at my school), but when I hit the ground at Vassar, I didn't get involved in any diversity stuff. The failing is not entirely Vassar's; some is my own, but I do think that one of the problems about race at Vassar is the assumption that I picked up on that diversity agitating or activism is done by minorities. I was not a minority.
Ok, that last statment needs to be unpacked.
I've been over this ground a lot with myself--true, I am female, Jewish, disabeled, whatever, but I am white. I have no immediately evident physical markings of a minority (ironically in England I have my accent). I am straight (even though I do believe strongly in the spectrum, it's a fact that I've only ever dated guys and chances are I only ever will) and so don't have to put up with all that danger/prejudice. So even though I got involved in agitating for the learning disability commmunity (like, trying to make a learning disability community), the fact is that I'm in the privledged position of only being a minority when I choose to identify myself as one. Which makes a big difference.
So, back to what I was saying. It's not that I tried really hard to affiliate myself with ALANA and QCVC and stuff--although I did join the Asian Students Association--but I got the vibe that I wouldn't be super-welcome unless I really proved myself or something. And so I ended up doing what everyone else did, basically, operating largely in racial and ethnic cliques. True, I had an excuse for being in a Jewish clique because of Yafeyfiyah, but still. I often wished I had more friends of different races and stuff -- although whenever I did that I'd often realize that my friends are more diverse than I sometimes realize, which is probably a good thing because I'm not aware of them as racial types -- but what'm I going to do, go up to someone and say, "Hi. I want to be friends with you because you're black." No! Aargh.
I think a lot of the problem with race at Vassar is that no one talks about it. And everyone's afraid to talk about it because they're afraid of sounding racist. I do think that that's an issue that the stupid guy was trying to get at in his article, although maybe that's giving him too much credit. In another way of looking at it, the only people who can talk about race at Vassar are those who feel innoculated against looking racist because they are in a racial minority or those who feel that they don't care if they look racist and so they might as well be inflamatory, like our friend Constantine. Of course, this doesn't count talking about race in an academic context, which can be done with only a little less tiptoing and making sure that you don't offend anyone.
Not that I'm saying that no one should be offended by discussions of race. It's very easy to be actually offensive, and it's very easy to take offense. I've been on both sides -- I think. I know I've been offended, and chances are I've been offensive.
I think part of the answer is to acknowledge the offensive potential and to try to work around it--to be aware of one's own ignorance.
Let me explain. I think that one of the best examples of dialouges about race and diversity in general that I've encountered has been during International Students Welcome Week here at Birmingham. It was great. Everyone would ask each other questions and not be too afraid that they were sounding offensive. "What's it like in Maritius? What does your town look like?" "What's it like in India? I've heard the standard of living is lower." "What's it like in America? Is it like on Friends?" "What religion do you think I am?" "How are Canada and America different?" "What language do you speak there? I feel like I should know this, but..." "Is it weird to wear the veil? [to an Iranian woman] Is it weird to not wear it here?" And everyone would explain, or be confused, and work out their confusion together. All of us discovering what I'm reading about in Said's Orientalism--in order to explain to someone else what your culture is like you have to have some idea of what their culture is like. That's not what Said is saying at all, but it's related. :) And it's hard work. And I did have a really good discussion about race with my friend from Kenya. She was talking about what it was like coming to the Bham airport and being the only one getting searched and wondering if it was because she was black--assuming it probably was. And we were talking together about that Brazilian guy who got shot in London and whether he was stupid or justified in running from the police... And she didn't say or imply, if you diagree with me, you're clearly racist... And later we were going down the escalator in the Bullring and she told me that I was the first white person that she'd really gotten to know, not a teacher. And I was surprised and looked around at the other people with us, my two closest friends at Bham to date, and realized that they weren't, strictly speaking, white either... And I hadn't really thought about it... in that I was thinking of them as complex people, different from me in many ways.
Does that make any sense?
So I hope this experience will give me the courage to admit ignorance, to ask people questions, and to be open when they ask me questions, to try not to be offended, and to look for the educational moments: the moments to educate, the moments to be educated.
And I do lapse, too.... and I understand the motives for racial cliquing. The short story of my Yom Kipper is that for the evening service I was 30 minutes late because I couldn't get a cab and it was raining and it was really frustrating because no one around was Jewish and no one knew what it meant for me to be missing Kol Nidre, the most important prayer in the year. And the next day I found a little Jewish community and I felt at home a bit more. But it was also good to leave that and go back to my little international flat... and the Jewish community was also cool because they were all British and different from me...
I don't know. It's all so complicated. But I think I feel a bit clearer on it now.
Here's a link to the news story:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/09/26/vassar
In a nutshell, MICA circulated this periodical called The Imperialist that ran an article about race. I'm just going to quote from the above news story to give you a sense: "“How is diversity achieved,” reads the article “Race and Freedom,” written under the nom de plume “Constantine,” in the most recent Imperialist, when minority and gay and lesbian students “are voluntarily confining themselves to ghettoes” of cultural centers created for them. “I find the objective of diversity to be utterly meritless, suggesting that our colleges should become some zoological preserve in some paternalistic attempt [to] benefit our ‘non diverse’ students.”" There was also an offensive cartoon, described in the news story. This whole thing has sparked a conflagration of stuff, including the mention of Vassar students' names on a neo-Nazi website.
Now I'm trying to sort out what I think.
First of all, as the title of the post suggests, shock. I'm so used to thinking of Vassar as a cuddly place where there is liberty and justice for all. Ideals of equality and toleration and all that.
On the other hand, even as I write that, I know that Vassar is not perfect, and even when I was there I knew it wasn't and knew that race at Vassar is a complicated topic, and one I was uncomfortable about although I couldn't quite put my finger on why.
Here's part of why, I think.
I should preface this by saying that I do not in any way agree with the majority of "Constantine"'s views, particularly those articulated in his comments on the news blog I linked to. Least of all do I agree with his comments that it doesn't matter what words you use. It matters a lot.
But I do think that the point he was making relates to a point I've been trying to get my own head around in terms of race at Vassar for years. And it's a complicated point and talking about it may get me into trouble with some people. I'm going to try to watch my own language, but I also have to get myself lunch and to class, so take this as an informal working-out, not a highly polished statement.
For one thing, I think race at Vassar is a problem. Partly because a lot of people either don't think it's a problem or are so fixated on trying to convince people it's a problem that they lose their own effectiveness.
One of the earliest indications I saw -- and perhaps should have thought more about -- is that I was very active in diversity organizations in high school (went to a bunch of conferences, including a national conference, did a lot of agitating at my school), but when I hit the ground at Vassar, I didn't get involved in any diversity stuff. The failing is not entirely Vassar's; some is my own, but I do think that one of the problems about race at Vassar is the assumption that I picked up on that diversity agitating or activism is done by minorities. I was not a minority.
Ok, that last statment needs to be unpacked.
I've been over this ground a lot with myself--true, I am female, Jewish, disabeled, whatever, but I am white. I have no immediately evident physical markings of a minority (ironically in England I have my accent). I am straight (even though I do believe strongly in the spectrum, it's a fact that I've only ever dated guys and chances are I only ever will) and so don't have to put up with all that danger/prejudice. So even though I got involved in agitating for the learning disability commmunity (like, trying to make a learning disability community), the fact is that I'm in the privledged position of only being a minority when I choose to identify myself as one. Which makes a big difference.
So, back to what I was saying. It's not that I tried really hard to affiliate myself with ALANA and QCVC and stuff--although I did join the Asian Students Association--but I got the vibe that I wouldn't be super-welcome unless I really proved myself or something. And so I ended up doing what everyone else did, basically, operating largely in racial and ethnic cliques. True, I had an excuse for being in a Jewish clique because of Yafeyfiyah, but still. I often wished I had more friends of different races and stuff -- although whenever I did that I'd often realize that my friends are more diverse than I sometimes realize, which is probably a good thing because I'm not aware of them as racial types -- but what'm I going to do, go up to someone and say, "Hi. I want to be friends with you because you're black." No! Aargh.
I think a lot of the problem with race at Vassar is that no one talks about it. And everyone's afraid to talk about it because they're afraid of sounding racist. I do think that that's an issue that the stupid guy was trying to get at in his article, although maybe that's giving him too much credit. In another way of looking at it, the only people who can talk about race at Vassar are those who feel innoculated against looking racist because they are in a racial minority or those who feel that they don't care if they look racist and so they might as well be inflamatory, like our friend Constantine. Of course, this doesn't count talking about race in an academic context, which can be done with only a little less tiptoing and making sure that you don't offend anyone.
Not that I'm saying that no one should be offended by discussions of race. It's very easy to be actually offensive, and it's very easy to take offense. I've been on both sides -- I think. I know I've been offended, and chances are I've been offensive.
I think part of the answer is to acknowledge the offensive potential and to try to work around it--to be aware of one's own ignorance.
Let me explain. I think that one of the best examples of dialouges about race and diversity in general that I've encountered has been during International Students Welcome Week here at Birmingham. It was great. Everyone would ask each other questions and not be too afraid that they were sounding offensive. "What's it like in Maritius? What does your town look like?" "What's it like in India? I've heard the standard of living is lower." "What's it like in America? Is it like on Friends?" "What religion do you think I am?" "How are Canada and America different?" "What language do you speak there? I feel like I should know this, but..." "Is it weird to wear the veil? [to an Iranian woman] Is it weird to not wear it here?" And everyone would explain, or be confused, and work out their confusion together. All of us discovering what I'm reading about in Said's Orientalism--in order to explain to someone else what your culture is like you have to have some idea of what their culture is like. That's not what Said is saying at all, but it's related. :) And it's hard work. And I did have a really good discussion about race with my friend from Kenya. She was talking about what it was like coming to the Bham airport and being the only one getting searched and wondering if it was because she was black--assuming it probably was. And we were talking together about that Brazilian guy who got shot in London and whether he was stupid or justified in running from the police... And she didn't say or imply, if you diagree with me, you're clearly racist... And later we were going down the escalator in the Bullring and she told me that I was the first white person that she'd really gotten to know, not a teacher. And I was surprised and looked around at the other people with us, my two closest friends at Bham to date, and realized that they weren't, strictly speaking, white either... And I hadn't really thought about it... in that I was thinking of them as complex people, different from me in many ways.
Does that make any sense?
So I hope this experience will give me the courage to admit ignorance, to ask people questions, and to be open when they ask me questions, to try not to be offended, and to look for the educational moments: the moments to educate, the moments to be educated.
And I do lapse, too.... and I understand the motives for racial cliquing. The short story of my Yom Kipper is that for the evening service I was 30 minutes late because I couldn't get a cab and it was raining and it was really frustrating because no one around was Jewish and no one knew what it meant for me to be missing Kol Nidre, the most important prayer in the year. And the next day I found a little Jewish community and I felt at home a bit more. But it was also good to leave that and go back to my little international flat... and the Jewish community was also cool because they were all British and different from me...
I don't know. It's all so complicated. But I think I feel a bit clearer on it now.
posted by L @ 12:58 PM
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