By Willie Burnley, Contributor, Emerson College
As a young Emersonian rounding out my freshmen year, I’ve come to expect the usually loud-mouthed students in the DH either talking about their film shoots, plays, classes, Quidditch matches, anything fashion or entertainment related, or just plain singing. That’s why when I overheard one of my white, artsy colleagues talking about some guy who had won an award, I wasn’t surprised. However, what did catch my attention was when he described the award-winner as “the white guy who everybody thought was black because he sounded so black.”
As an African-American, I really wanted to walk over to his table and ask him what black people sounded like.
Coming to this school, I was hopeful to find what this college universally projects itself as: a liberal institution with a diverse and tolerant student body. The reality, though, is less flattering. Frankly, what I've seen is a lot of pompous white students who only seem to base their left-leaning status off of their acceptance of the LGBTQ community and who allow that to stand as the sole signifier of diversity at Emerson. The problem is, that alone does not make Emerson diverse. It also does not make the college any more accepting in other areas.
Today, the problem we have at Emerson (and I say this reluctantly because we do have many problems, not the least of which are racial) is one of racial definitions. This problem is not simple and in part comes from this college’s administration, part from the mostly homogenous neighborhoods that the average white Emersonian comes from, and part from the lack of racial diversity on campus. For a mostly white college that likes to see itself as as diverse and tolerant, the institution’s reality remains a stark contrast from its ideals.
Now, please understand me, I don't mean that many of the white students at Emerson do have racist assumptions, prejudices, and behaviors, that make the college experience more difficult than it needs to be for people of color - which includes non-blacks. To be able to understand Emerson’s race problem, though, you have to understand that racism in America has changed. No longer is racism largely made up of segregated accommodations, white mobs with nooses in hand, and blatant and violent racist activity that will be accepted by society. Instead, racism today is disguised through the outward show of color-blindness and tolerance that masks a duality of race-consciousness and prejudice.
What this means for Emerson College is that there are many white students who, intentionally or not, are perpetuating many racist ideas that have remained in our culture from the days of Jim Crow all the way back to the days of American slavery without public reprimand. Furthermore, there are few ways that white students can claim exemption from this perpetuation of racism: that is basically to say that having a “black friend” doesn’t cut it, going to a school with a black president doesn’t cut it, voting for Barack Obama doesn’t cut it, and even believing that white Americans are not superior to black Americans doesn't cut it. In fact, if you were to say most of those to me, it would be an even greater indicator of racist-perpetuation on your part.
It is timely that I am now writing this article about racism at Emerson, given that on Saturday, February 9th, an email was sent out to all Little Building residents informing them that the N-word had been written on the exterior of their 5th floor elevator. Despite the letter’s good intentions, though, after acknowledging that the word is a “racial slur,” the rest of the letter stops short of calling the act racist or even mentioning anything having to do with race in reference to the incident. This deracialization of the vandalism almost allows the reader to forget what was actually written and further downplays the historical and social context that makes this kind of act racist. Thus, it does not actually get to the root causes of why the act was wrong and why the administration won't allow it to happen again.
Events like these, although rare here at Emerson, are part of a wider set of circumstances that impact students of color. As a black Emersonian, my life at Emerson has inextricably been connected to a race-consciousness in the face of these issues. Why? Because I’ve had to live through them and see others live through them too. I’ve had to stand there as one of my white roommates called me and my only other black roommate the N-word and asked/said that it shouldn’t offend us because we were never slaves. I’ve had to hear about how that same black roommate had to deal with others' extraordinary disbelief that he went to Emerson, such as when he was talking to white students from this school at a concert and they flat out refused to believe he went here. I’ve watched as a white Emersonian girl talked to a black girl and said, “You’re hair is so pretty, is it a weave? Can I touch it?” and then watched as, without receiving an answer, she walked over to touch it. I’ve had to sit in classrooms where I’m almost always the only black male and one of usually two African Americans. I’ve been present while a white student described a black Emersonian girl as “basically a white girl.”
This is all part of the problem. Of course, Emerson does not exist in a vacuum and these acts are a part of the wider American context. Emerson is just a microcosm for the problems at play far beyond these few blocks we call a campus. However, as a school and student body that are so hellbent on describing themselves as liberal, accepting, and tolerant, certain things on this campus need to change. Where we start is with definitions. Taking a page out of my feminist playbook, just as I have learned there are gender binaries in this society, I have found that there are racial binaries as well. What does sounding black sound like? In my case, it can be anywhere on the spectrum of utterances from highly sophisticated to casual vernacular. What does being a “basically a white girl” mean in contrast to being a black girl? Frankly, I don’t know, but I’ve been on the backhand side of this racial binary before. Just like many other black Americans, I was told that my intelligence meant that, according to one white male, I wasn’t black and “was basically white.” When I was told it, it meant was meant as a compliment. But what he was saying was that sounding black meant sounding stupid or ignorant or ghetto (another favorite word of many white Emersonians) and that, by contrast, white was intelligent and all things good. However, that is not the case.
Sounding black can mean a lot of things, but the fact of the matter is that it should not be defined by non-blacks. White students are not a member of the community that will be put into a box by their definition, they will not have to feel ostracized by sounding too black or not black enough as they go out into the world. Additionally, when they give credence to white definitions of non-white people, they are working in collusion with the institutionalized racist notions of this nation. Even when white Emersonians are not actively trying to be racist, their actions do not cut it to actually be a left-leaning non-racist. No excuses will, either. The only thing that will cut it is if they educate themselves in anti-racism and become allies.
So, when we look at the race problem at Emerson, we start with definitions and their wider implication on the people around us, in this school, and in this nation. White students need to recognize the impact of their actions and beliefs, which means beginning to realize their own white privilege. This in itself is difficult because American society rears its white children to not recognize their privilege because to do so would be to start to see that the American meritocracy is, at best, broken and may in fact have never existed - because, even without white privilege, there is male privilege, heterosexual privilege, and economic privilege. But if Emersonians actually want to be what they always tell people they are, they need to step up and commit to actually becoming allies and not working in collusion with a racist system.
As a young Emersonian rounding out my freshmen year, I’ve come to expect the usually loud-mouthed students in the DH either talking about their film shoots, plays, classes, Quidditch matches, anything fashion or entertainment related, or just plain singing. That’s why when I overheard one of my white, artsy colleagues talking about some guy who had won an award, I wasn’t surprised. However, what did catch my attention was when he described the award-winner as “the white guy who everybody thought was black because he sounded so black.”
As an African-American, I really wanted to walk over to his table and ask him what black people sounded like.
Coming to this school, I was hopeful to find what this college universally projects itself as: a liberal institution with a diverse and tolerant student body. The reality, though, is less flattering. Frankly, what I've seen is a lot of pompous white students who only seem to base their left-leaning status off of their acceptance of the LGBTQ community and who allow that to stand as the sole signifier of diversity at Emerson. The problem is, that alone does not make Emerson diverse. It also does not make the college any more accepting in other areas.
Today, the problem we have at Emerson (and I say this reluctantly because we do have many problems, not the least of which are racial) is one of racial definitions. This problem is not simple and in part comes from this college’s administration, part from the mostly homogenous neighborhoods that the average white Emersonian comes from, and part from the lack of racial diversity on campus. For a mostly white college that likes to see itself as as diverse and tolerant, the institution’s reality remains a stark contrast from its ideals.
Now, please understand me, I don't mean that many of the white students at Emerson do have racist assumptions, prejudices, and behaviors, that make the college experience more difficult than it needs to be for people of color - which includes non-blacks. To be able to understand Emerson’s race problem, though, you have to understand that racism in America has changed. No longer is racism largely made up of segregated accommodations, white mobs with nooses in hand, and blatant and violent racist activity that will be accepted by society. Instead, racism today is disguised through the outward show of color-blindness and tolerance that masks a duality of race-consciousness and prejudice.
What this means for Emerson College is that there are many white students who, intentionally or not, are perpetuating many racist ideas that have remained in our culture from the days of Jim Crow all the way back to the days of American slavery without public reprimand. Furthermore, there are few ways that white students can claim exemption from this perpetuation of racism: that is basically to say that having a “black friend” doesn’t cut it, going to a school with a black president doesn’t cut it, voting for Barack Obama doesn’t cut it, and even believing that white Americans are not superior to black Americans doesn't cut it. In fact, if you were to say most of those to me, it would be an even greater indicator of racist-perpetuation on your part.
It is timely that I am now writing this article about racism at Emerson, given that on Saturday, February 9th, an email was sent out to all Little Building residents informing them that the N-word had been written on the exterior of their 5th floor elevator. Despite the letter’s good intentions, though, after acknowledging that the word is a “racial slur,” the rest of the letter stops short of calling the act racist or even mentioning anything having to do with race in reference to the incident. This deracialization of the vandalism almost allows the reader to forget what was actually written and further downplays the historical and social context that makes this kind of act racist. Thus, it does not actually get to the root causes of why the act was wrong and why the administration won't allow it to happen again.
Events like these, although rare here at Emerson, are part of a wider set of circumstances that impact students of color. As a black Emersonian, my life at Emerson has inextricably been connected to a race-consciousness in the face of these issues. Why? Because I’ve had to live through them and see others live through them too. I’ve had to stand there as one of my white roommates called me and my only other black roommate the N-word and asked/said that it shouldn’t offend us because we were never slaves. I’ve had to hear about how that same black roommate had to deal with others' extraordinary disbelief that he went to Emerson, such as when he was talking to white students from this school at a concert and they flat out refused to believe he went here. I’ve watched as a white Emersonian girl talked to a black girl and said, “You’re hair is so pretty, is it a weave? Can I touch it?” and then watched as, without receiving an answer, she walked over to touch it. I’ve had to sit in classrooms where I’m almost always the only black male and one of usually two African Americans. I’ve been present while a white student described a black Emersonian girl as “basically a white girl.”
This is all part of the problem. Of course, Emerson does not exist in a vacuum and these acts are a part of the wider American context. Emerson is just a microcosm for the problems at play far beyond these few blocks we call a campus. However, as a school and student body that are so hellbent on describing themselves as liberal, accepting, and tolerant, certain things on this campus need to change. Where we start is with definitions. Taking a page out of my feminist playbook, just as I have learned there are gender binaries in this society, I have found that there are racial binaries as well. What does sounding black sound like? In my case, it can be anywhere on the spectrum of utterances from highly sophisticated to casual vernacular. What does being a “basically a white girl” mean in contrast to being a black girl? Frankly, I don’t know, but I’ve been on the backhand side of this racial binary before. Just like many other black Americans, I was told that my intelligence meant that, according to one white male, I wasn’t black and “was basically white.” When I was told it, it meant was meant as a compliment. But what he was saying was that sounding black meant sounding stupid or ignorant or ghetto (another favorite word of many white Emersonians) and that, by contrast, white was intelligent and all things good. However, that is not the case.
Sounding black can mean a lot of things, but the fact of the matter is that it should not be defined by non-blacks. White students are not a member of the community that will be put into a box by their definition, they will not have to feel ostracized by sounding too black or not black enough as they go out into the world. Additionally, when they give credence to white definitions of non-white people, they are working in collusion with the institutionalized racist notions of this nation. Even when white Emersonians are not actively trying to be racist, their actions do not cut it to actually be a left-leaning non-racist. No excuses will, either. The only thing that will cut it is if they educate themselves in anti-racism and become allies.
So, when we look at the race problem at Emerson, we start with definitions and their wider implication on the people around us, in this school, and in this nation. White students need to recognize the impact of their actions and beliefs, which means beginning to realize their own white privilege. This in itself is difficult because American society rears its white children to not recognize their privilege because to do so would be to start to see that the American meritocracy is, at best, broken and may in fact have never existed - because, even without white privilege, there is male privilege, heterosexual privilege, and economic privilege. But if Emersonians actually want to be what they always tell people they are, they need to step up and commit to actually becoming allies and not working in collusion with a racist system.
