RACE[ism]

GUEST COLUMN:

What is RACE? What is DIVERSITY? What is EQUALITY? What is DISCRIMINATION?

People toss around these terms every day, but what do they really mean? In the dictionary one can find ‘race’ to be defined as any number of things:

1. a group of persons related by common descent or heredity.
   
2. any of the traditional divisions of humankind, the commonest being the Caucasian, Mongoloid, and Negro, characterized by supposedly distinctive and universal physical characteristics: no longer in technical use.
   
3. an arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, esp. formerly, based on any or a combination of various physical characteristics, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape, and now frequently based on such genetic markers as blood groups.
   
4. a human population partially isolated reproductively from other populations, whose members share a greater degree of physical and genetic similarity with one another than with other humans.
   
5. any people united by common history, language, cultural traits, etc.: the Dutch race.
   
6. the human race or family; humankind: Nuclear weapons pose a threat to the race.
   

  SOURCE: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/race

But what does it mean for people to use race as an integral part of ones vocabulary, when there very well is no universal definition to indicate what is meant by their use of that word? And if it is impossible to decipher the true meaning of race [if one even exists] then how can we try to define diversity, equality, and racism BECAUSE aren’t they somehow interrelated and dependent on a concrete understanding of RACE?

My life experience thus far has provided me with the opportunity to witness how these ambiguously-defined terms function in a society that is framed on the constitutional belief that, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union…do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
SOURCE: http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Preamble

I prefer to explore this issue by recalling some rather recent experiences that sparked my passion for exploring the meaning of RACE.

EXPERIENCE #1

         I recently attended an “awards show” that was hosted by a respected college organization, and having no exact idea of what to expect from the show, I assumed that it would be a typical event to honor the positive contribution various people made to the campus community. But the awards show was shocking and not like anything you would expect to occur at Dartmouth [at least I hope not] and I am positive that had it occurred at Dartmouth the Black community would have become largely divided.
      The awards offered were things like
            "ashiest boy" [the award given was a bottle of lotion]
            "darkest boy [in terms of skin color]"
             "girl with the biggest donk"
            "boy with the worst hollering game"
            "most annoying boy"
            “biggest flirt” and “best swag”

      All persons in attendance were expected to have voted in advance and for every award category the hosts posted personal photographs of the nominees [yes, there were photos of people in their Friday ‘going to the club’ outfits]. But what was the worst is that the female MC said so many inappropriate things. For example, when the guy won the swag award, she stated very loudly in the microphone "ooh ima bout to take my panties off …yeah thats my boo, yep hes got that swag, thank you boo for last night...ooh ima bout to go take my panties off right now."

      When it was later announced that the young lady to win biggest flirt was not present, the MC proceeded to say "oh yeah…she’s a flirt…yall better watch out cause she will try to take yall's man...yeah she is trying to take my man,” then she said "yeah she’s not here...alright... he [in referring to the guy who won the swag award] knows where it’s at" as she began grinding for in her super-mini dress.

      Even the guy to win “the funniest” award decided to perform for the audience and started grinding on the floor to the point that he lost his shoe in the middle of completing a split. Some people watching laughed, others looked on in disbelief, and the person next to me whispered “coonery.”

EXPERIENCE #2

       During class, a student conveniently shifted a discussion of race and the equal protection clause to focus on affirmative action in particular. Affirmative action is a topic bound to bring debate and I cannot recall a single instance where PERSON Y was not upset at PERSON X. The debate was sparked by question asking how the admissions committee decided which persons would be granted admission to our school. The professor tried answering but of course he wanted to have people chime in, so one student did that by stating the following:

"My brother goes to the medical school and in some class there was a Black girl and she knew everything and was better than him...and he asked her how she knew all these things and she explained she attended a class over the summer [possibly an enrichment program like SEAD or LEAD at Dartmouth]...and hence, it seems unfair that the Black student should have to take that class twice in order to do better...because that is almost assuming she is stupid and cannot get it right the first time...."

And this student proceeded to contradict themselves in saying " you know...I don’t think its fair she is able to take the class twice and there’s this expectation she cannot perform well the first time just because of her race…and if I must go to the hospital, I don’t want the Black girl who is too stupid to get the stuff right the first time to operate on me.”

- BrownSugar

BrownSugar is currently pursuing a higher level of education, knowledge and growth in an environment that one can only hope ALSO grows with age.