Cassidy Fludd, a second year student at UVa (anywhere else she would be a sophomore) had what struck me as a very sad commentary (though that was not her intention) on our current racial climate on campuses (of course, UVa doesn’t have a campus; it has Grounds) in the Cavalier Daily. I think it is worth noticing not because of anything peculiar to Ms. Fludd or UVa but because her sentiments are so widely shared.
Ms. Fludd’s purpose was “to enlighten some of [her] classmates” who are critical of special programs and preferences for minority students, and especially of their “self-segregation.”
First, it should be noted that Ms. Fludd herself believes that “self-segregation does not exist (segregation is the forced grouping of a racial group against their will: Jim Crow).” I think that is a fair point, and one that should be brought to the attention of all those who fear that abandoning racial preferences would result in the “re-segregation” of higher education.
Terminology aside, her argument is that minority students are so besieged by threatening and destructive attitudes on majority white campuses that they both need and deserve special treatment from university administrations and the safe haven, reinforcement, and comfort provided by separate racial organizations and support groups.
Can you identify with the following: Are you followed when you enter a store? Do you fear police violence because of DWB, “driving while black”? Did your parents have to sit you down in first grade and explain why kids will not play with you because your hair is not straight or blonde? Does the good ol’ boy network exclude or include you? Are you constantly the only person of your race in the classroom? When race is mentioned in class do people expect you to be the spokesperson of your race?
Several of my friends cannot relate to these questions because they cannot see through my eyes. They cannot begin to imagine what it means to bear my skin color and live with the daily repercussions of what it means to be black in a predominantly white campus — dealing with constant attacks on my ability to excel academically, being constantly on the defense and alert of ignorant comments and handling a consistent amount of pressure because you are assumed to be speaking for all black people.
It is clear, first of all, that very real and almost palpable pain is evident in this plaintive bill of particulars. Indeed, one need not criticize Ms. Fludd or find her unworthy to wonder whether UVa did her any favors by admitting her. Certainly whatever boost she receives from her UVa degree will have been purchased at a very high price.
Moreover, since it is undisputed that a primary rationale for race-based preferences (and yes, I do in fact assume that Ms. Fludd’s admission resulted at least in part from racial preference) is the “diversity” that the preferentially admitted minorities provide to the “majority” students admitted without preferences, it is necessary to consider the contribution that Ms. Fludd’s presence will likely provide. Not knowing her I obviously can’t comment on her personal qualities, academic contributions, good citizen involvement in organizations, etc., but I can say that the predictable effect of her views as expressed here — and presumably elsewhere — is to induce white guilt. Shelby Steele has written far more eloquently than I can about how central inducing guilt has become to what passes for civil rights programs these days, but one doesn’t have to have Steele’s insight to see it at work here. What predictably results, however, is that only white liberals feel guilty; others feel resentment over the preferential treatment.
But perhaps the saddest aspect of Ms. Fludd’s plight is that about half of the burdens that oppress her were placed on her shoulders by UVa’s devotion to “diversity” itself:
When race is mentioned in class do, people expect you to be the spokesperson of your race? … handling a consistent amount of pressure because you are assumed to be speaking for all black people.
If you don’t want white and Asian students to feel that black and Hispanic students are representing their race or ethnic group, and you don’t want minority students to feel an obligation to be racial spokesmen (which they understandably resent), then you shouldn’t give and justify preferences to minority students based on the argument that their unique racial and ethnic differences must be represented in order for everyone to receive a good education.
They cannot begin to imagine what it means to bear my skin color and live with the daily repercussions of what it means to be black in a predominantly white campus — dealing with constant attacks on my ability to excel academically….
Again, if lowering academic standards (whatever they are) for minority students is widely and loudly justified with the argument that virtually no minorities would be admitted (“resegregation,” etc.) if they had to meet the same standards as everyone else, then it should come as no surprise that all minority students, whether preferentially admitted or not, encounter widespread doubts about their “ability to excel academically.”
It shouldn’t take a genius, or even an astute administrator, to realize that if a university, or any organization, regards people as different, assumes they can’t succeed without special assistance, and thus treats them differently, everyone will think of them as different, believe they need special help, and treat them differently. This is so obvious and predictable it’s hard to believe it’s not intended.
ADDENDUM – One of the serious problems with the frustration and resentment expressed by Ms. Fludd’s complaints is that they seem impossible to satisfy or ameliorate. For example, one of the many crosses she must bear is “listening to comments like, ‘We can all tell by looking around Grounds that this is no longer a white male institution,’ despite the statistics; U.Va. is 68.2 percent ‘White-American’
(http://www.virginia.edu/Facts/Glance_Enrollment.htm).”
But what exactly is the problem here? The latest census data reveal that the U.S. as a whole is 75% white (down from 80% in 1990). Thus whites at UVa are underrepresented, even though Ms. Fludd thinks there are too many of them.
Actually, the biggest problem, and saddest fact, is that she thinks of them as “them,” just as too many of them think of her the same way.
Thanks, “diversity.”
Discriminations and opinions
Discriminations: A Sad Commentary Archives has a post that could be considered a post about race relations of some sort. This is a dialogue, or maybe a monologue, that should or could might cause one to think. In any case, check out the link above….
I’m sorry Cassidy had those negative experiences. I had to be sat down and have some painful truths explained to me too, that had nothing to do with race. (Socioeconomic status – we were poor – and the fact that smart girls weren’t going to have many friends in a very small high school.) Perhaps Cassidy thinks that all white people have happy lives all the time.
Also, I think black kids would do well to have a little less explaining from their parents. My black coworker told me that her mother discouraged her from majoring in biology; she wanted her to do education, nursing, or social work, because “they” wouldn’t let her get anywhere in her chosen field. When she got a promotion that put her in a very decent salary range, her mother told her, “You be nice to those white people – they’ve been very nice to you!” It didn’t have anything to do with being nice, it had to do with her doing her job well. I see some self-esteem issues with black coworkers I’ve had over the years, and I think a lot of it is parent-inflicted: rein in your dreams, they’re not possible for such as you. That’s one painful thing my parents didn’t sit me down and lay on me.
With so much capital is invested in victimology how does this capital get invested in responsibility? “Leaders” in the Black community have money and power rolling in because of this strategy. Unfortunately, for Black folks this has lead to a culture that squelches dreams. The final fruition of this is that to be a responsible citizen and achievement (within the bounds of the law) oriented member of society is looked on as being “white”. Unfortunately I think that, except for a few exceptions, this will not change in the forseeable future.
A good post, John. I admire the patience and perseverence with which you man the lines, day after day, calmly refuting the obvious contradictions and double standards in our official race and “diversity” policies.
How long can this continue? My prediction: If our double standards do not subside soon, then whites are going to start responding to them in explicitly racial terms.
If this happens, it will be because whites have concluded that it is no longer possible to view current policies as anything other than a deliberate, racially conscious assault on them qua whites. (For else why all the double standards? And why do they not change, even when fair-minded people like you point out the blatant contradictions in them?)
They will increasingly feel that it is a sucker’s game not to respond to racial power plays in racial terms. Current policies say to whites: “Your children must give up opportunities to other groups with favored skin colors; and you must feel ever guiltier about yourself, even as this deprivation goes on.” That is the unfortunate subtext of the UVA student’s comment that you linked to. That is what U. of Michigan tells us all today, with the Supreme Court’s blessing. No group will put up with that forever without becoming radicalized.
There comes a point (think of the Balkans) where ethnic hostilities grow so great that the vocabulary of multi-ethnic common citizenship just ceases to be realistically available. The question is when that point arrives.
Some months back, John, you put up a post on FrontPage Magazine’s symposium on “The New White Nationalism in America,” prompted by Professor Carol Swain’s provocative book of that title. I remember your post vividly, for I thought that symposium was important.
You rightly recognized that Professor Swain was one of the few serious-minded participants. But you were quite wrong, I think, to dismiss the contributions of American Renaissance editor Jared Taylor. The symposium was in truth a close-fought debate between Swain and Taylor, with the other participants chipping in, at best, minor asides of dubious relevance.
In that respect the FrontPage symposium was a microcosm of the real racial situation in this country. True, millions of white Americans still embrace the left-wing “PC” ideology on race. But among those who do not, the two serious options on the table are: faithfulness to the high-minded, color-blind tradition exemplified by yourself and Swain; or throwing up our hands, concluding that the system is broken, and becoming white nationalists like Taylor out of simple self-defense. (You described Taylor as defending “white supremacy”; that was simply incorrect. There are almost no white supremacists left. If anything Taylor tends white separatist, which is obviously different, and is no more self-evidently evil or beyond the pale than the peaceful breakup of Czechoslovakia was so.)
I have to tell you, John, I find myself wavering between these two options. Nor am I alone. In your efforts to persuade others, you would do better to concede that Taylor is an intelligent guy who makes some terribly plausible arguments. You would do better to engage him on your site. He’s appeared on MSNBC several times in the past year, and he always draws a good number of supportive calls from whites, as well as much criticism.
Sorry for the length. This rambling comment is by way of praising your site, believe it or not. I think the situation in America is degraded enough that it is now a close call — closer than you acknowledge — between (A) color-blindness and (B) packing it in and embracing a defensive white nationalism. Your site represents the “moderate” approach to ethnic issues in America, not the “right-wing” one. There are non-negligible alternatives to your right.
But I agree we should keep faith with color-blindness as long as it is realistically possible. It is the nobler vision. And what I want to say is that your tenacious example, your obvious faith in reasoned persuasion, are among the things that keep me (for all that I’ve written here) on your side of the fence. So far.
I feel sad about the comment I just posted, but there it is. It is, obviously, only tangentially connected to that poor UVA’s student’s commentary. It is better viewed as something that has built up as my response to “Discriminations” generally.
You do noble work here fighting the left. But there are serious arguments coming from your right (IQ differences, hugely lopsided rates of black-on-white violent crime, MeCHA-style anti-white demogaguery, the lousy historical track record of multi-ethnic societies) that you need to confront too.
Perhaps all I’m saying is: I don’t find Jared Taylor, Sam Francis, Murray & Herrnstein et al. obviously wrong about our situation. I wish you would devote more of your talents to persuading people like me to change our minds.
Like RT above, I want to say that I really like this column and look forward to reading the new posts every day. It seems to help bring a sense of balance to a world gone crazy. As to Ms. Fludd’s sad commentary, I would like to make a few comments based on my own observations.
On her denial of self-segregation:
I may be defining the term differently from her, but I have seen self-segregation happen too many times to believe it does not exist. You can diversify a campus all you like, but the people who have certain backgrounds and interests will tend hang out with those who share the same backgrounds and interests. More often than not, they will be of the same, or similar, racial background. Case in point: Even in a church, where we are all united by a common bond, and skin color has absolutely no importance, the Black people will tend to sit together every single time. At the church where we worshiped in Japan, we had a small group of English-speaking people. It was made up of Americans, Africans, Aussies, Kiwis, Philipinos, Koreans, etc. Without fail, the Africans would sit next to one another, even though they came from different countries in Africa. In this case they really had only English and skin color in common.
Another case:
We live in Hawaii, which is an extremely diverse state, where my white daughters are once again in the minority. If their close circle of friends is also “haole,” it is only because those Caucasian kids are the ones who reached out to my girls when they were new to the schools. When I attend classes at the University of Hawaii, I see Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, “locals,” etc. all hanging together in their little insular groups. It is what they know and are comfortable with.
I know this is a long post too, but there is one more point I would like to talk about, and that is the issue of “playing the race card.”
Several years ago, when we lived in NC (our girls were minority students there too), there was a little black girl who liked to come over and play with my daughters. She was a little older, but I encouraged my girls to include her in their play. When the girls complained about her behavior, I began to observe them, only to discover that the little girl was quite a bully. She forced her way into their games, picked on them and teased them unmercifully, and was rough physically. When she finally began to sense their rejection she reacted with (you guessed it): “You just don’t like me because I’m black.” It made me very sad to hear that, because I am sure that she learned that from her parents, and that would be the attitude with which she faced everything for the rest of her life.
I could go on with other examples, and I am sure others have had similar experiences. All I know is that if children are told when they are young that they can do anything, they will believe it. If they are told that their skin color will hold them back, well, they will believe that too. How very sad that parents still lay such heavy burden on their children’s shoulders.
First, thanks to you all (“y’all” doesn’t work here) for your thoughtful comments. I know Mary and her two impressive daughters. They are among the main reasons my family had such a good experience the year we spent in Tokyo, and Mary herself played a big role in Jessie’s being able to move up a grade in mid-year and jump into the middle of a hard geometry class. I can thus say with absolute certainty that anyone who had the possibility of associating with Mary, Mark, and their daughters and who chose not to did themselves a great disservice.
I think Mary is right to observe, in effect, that “birds of a feather stick together,” but “segregation” is such a loaded term that I think we must approach its use with caution. I myself think that “self-segregation,” although understandable, is unfortunate, but given the role of universities themelves in actively promoting it through separate recruiting, separate admissions standards, separate orientations, separate housing (sometimes), separate racial and ethnic deans, etc., etc., I too am not sure that “self” segregation is a correct term.
I also appreciate RT’s comments about the Jared Taylor, Sam Francis, and the white “separatists.” I’m not sure that Murray/Herrnstein should be placed in that camp, and I also don’t think white “separation” is any more feasible or desirable than black separation. Still, I have not really read much of those guys, and RT makes a compelling case that I should. I’ll try, and I’ll even try to be open-minded, although I readily confess that I find what I think they say to be abhorrent. And even if I thought that racialist policies made any sense I still don’t see how they could be constitutional. But then, I don’t see how our current racial preferences can be constitutional, either.
I also find it difficult to believe that there is no self-segregation at UVA, although perhaps “self” is not quite the right term. Here at Bryn Mawr, the minority freshman come to school earlier than the “non-minorities,” and have a separate orientation. Thus, they all know each other quite well before anyone else even arrives. How can policies like this not lead to segragation?
There are many other causes of this so-called “self” segregation. All-minority dorms, minority school clubs, minority magazines, how can all of this not cause minorities to associate with themselves more than with others? With all these exclusionary associations, why wouldn’t minorities separate themselves from everyone else?
Although, I confess, I wouldn’t notice it here. Unless I were to put forth a strong effort, I wouldn’t be able to tell you the skin color of anyone in my classes. It’s just not something I notice. Probably because -in my physics classes- it’s never been called to my attention, and it’s just not something I think about. But would that be the same in an American History class covering slavery? I don’t think so.
Speaking as a 3rd year undergrad at UVA, Ms. Fludd’s comments really bothered me. The thing that stood out most, as John emphasized well, was her claim that the fact that the majority of the campus is white is somehow proof of a racist university. That has a personal hurt to it; this girl has never even met me, and somehow she implies that I am here because of my color and/or social status, when that is simply not the case. It devalues me and everyone else’s accomplishments when someone takes such a narrow view of the world.
And as far as self-segregation goes, I was thinking that I perhaps am guilty of that, but that is just not the case; in fact, I had a very good friend who happened to be black that I hung out with all the time…until he was kicked out for poor grades.
Did I hang out with him out of guilt or of a sense to learn about another culture or be “open minded?” Absolutely not. I hung out with him because he liked the same computer games I did.
I find myself now spending all my time with people that share the same views as me, because my views have progressively become more and more anti-diversity because of the extreme moral repugnancy and personal attacks “diversity” represent. I will not hang out anymore with black people, because, with a very limited number of exceptions, they see me as the enemy.
I think that is the saddest thing of all.
“Did your parents have to sit you down in first grade and explain why kids will not play with you because your hair is not straight or blonde? Does the good ol’ boy network exclude or include you? Are you constantly the only person of your race in the classroom? When race is mentioned in class do people expect you to be the spokesperson of your race?”
Actually, the above questions can be answered, “YES” by many Asians in certain areas of the country. They do not receive the benefit of Affirmative Action, but are still able to succeed.
John,
Most definitely, Murray and Herrnstein do not belong in the same category as Taylor or Francis. I can’t say what RT is smoking, but there’s a huge difference between bearing an unwelcome message, and advocating burning the house down because of it.
It is so sad to be always reject by another because your name is not MR Smith .
The futur is now in the self-segregation , just for the dignity .
Thierry