Ignorance Dominates Campus Landscape
An Appeal to Aid Local Strays
Oberlin's Future in America: Progressive or Pompus?
Academic Multiculturalism Rediscovers Minority History
Protesters Drew Generational Praise
To the Editors:
How can you pose as learning when you aren't doing the labor?
In the past week, a lot of ignorant things were said to us. One person said, "You talk about diversity, but you want everyone to stay in their own groups." And another person said, "You keep on saying, 'I'm oppressed, I'm oppressed.' But who's oppressing you? Nobody hates you." (On an aside, we want to point out that personally, we would never use the words, "I'm oppressed," in explaining our experiences.)
This attitude of complacent ignorance is growing in the Oberlin community. The fact that people are using words like "racism" and "self segregation" without knowing what they mean is problematic, not to mention down right stupid. Besides denying the fact that people of color are still living in a racist society, and denying the fact that whites have more power in our society, this attitude is completely contradictory to the spirit of a liberal-arts education. We want to know what class at this school teaches students to talk about concepts, and use words, they don't understand. Even worse, these same people argue, in the vein of "how is this going to contribute to ME?" against creating classes, where they might learn what these terms actually mean (i.e. Latino/a Studies, Asian American Studies).
The fact that some white students so easily close their minds to an argument made by a person of color has historical significance. It has happened before!! White people have traditionally rejected ideas, from people of color, without actual consideration. It is racist! If we were white, I feel our words would carry more significance to white students, rather than simply being shrugged off as words from "angry minorities." Instead of thinking of us as "angry minorities," why don't you think of us as "angry PEOPLE."
Instead of defining words like "racism" and "safe space" or having to explain the reality and concept of "institutionalized racism" for you, we think you should do the work yourself the way we have to. If you want to know where we're coming from, here're some authors to get you started: bell hooks, Ward Churchill, Ama Ata Aidoo, Barbara Smith, Yen Le Espiritu, Malcolm X, Ron Takaki, Gloria Anzaldua, Edward Said, Gary Okihiro, Clara Rodriguez.
To the Editors (and the Oberlin community):
Once a week, I go with a group called Oberlin Stray Rescue to the Oasis animal shelter - about a 5-minute walk from campus - to walk the dogs who live there. They are always thrilled when we pull into the driveway - they bark excitedly, run back and forth, wag their tails ecstatically. It always makes me feel good that no matter what kind of grade I got on my French quiz, or how much coffee it took to get me through the morning, or what I look like on that particular day, they are always glad to see me.
There's Amos, the black-and-white dog whose head is simply too small for his body, but who makes up for it in his enthusiastic personality. Black Jack, a big, beautiful, soft black dog who loves a good hug. Hobbes, a gangly hound who is always curious, always energetic - he wants to sniff everything. Sunny, a big golden angel of a dog; Woolie, a cheerful black ball of fuzz; Moe, a spastic brown adolescent; Elvis, a gorgeous black-and-white dog with attentive ears and a sweet face; Barney, the kind of mellow, agreeable hound that everybody has to love, and Tonka, a spunky tan-and-white pit bull with a constantly wagging tail.
On the way to the shelter last week I was told that Barney, Elvis, and Tonka had been put down - killed. I was devastated; I knew that shelter animals got put to sleep all the time, but never ones I had known so personally! Not Barney, with his wise, soulful eyes and velvety ears! Not Tonka, with his perky step and inquisitive face! Not Elvis, who had been deemed too unpredictable for us to walk and so he would watch the other dogs leave and return with puzzled eyes, his tail slowly wagging back and forth, wondering why we had neglected him! The absence of these dogs made my heart ache; I tried not to think about them trustingly licking the veterinarian's hand as he injected the serum into them, or about their lifeless bodies, once so warm and loving, now tossed in a cold limp pile with so many others.
My heart still aches for these three dogs, who were condemned to death simply because no one wanted them; because there wasn't room for them anymore. If you are interested in helping out, even a single spare hour a week is enough to walk dogs - it is the only real exercise they get, and the shelter can always use more volunteers. For information on Oberlin Stray Rescue, and how you can help out, e-mail Catherine Stone at stonekatie@hotmail.com, or feel free to e-mail me at Madeleine.Asher@Oberlin.edu, or check out Oberlin Stray Rescue at the ExCo fair. You can also donate to the shelter in the collection cans at the counters at the Feve and Ben Franklin's. And if you live off campus and are considering adopting a dog, please visit the Oasis shelter! I can't guarantee that you'll love what you see there, but I can promise that the dogs will love you.
To the Editors:
Recently many essays in the Review focused on the socio-political implications of race and class. Inspired by the contentious character of them and discussions about them, I would like to link them to the recent forums on multiculturalism.
The first forum illuminated several problems - I will discuss two. The first relates to ethnic studies and their integral place in true "multiculturalism." Numerous people of color argued the importance of ethnic studies, but the calls fell on deaf ears. Professor Dawson, moderator, rebutted the argument by challenging the proponents to enumerate ethnic studies' benefits for college community. The majority of the faculty and the administration - if not by Dawson himself - share this position. This argument belies a question of value, i.e., is ethnic studies worth teaching? Does it have educational value? For this college to require a lecture on ethnic studies' benefits concerns me. While I agree that students can teach teachers, placing the onus on students to inform teachers about the benefits of teaching certain subjects sounds absurd. I'ts like middle management telling the corporate officers why they should diversify their portfolio. With as many Ph.D.s as this college has, I would hope the benefits would be self-evident. Alas, they're not.
Before the faculty berates me for collectively insulting them, I am not attacking their education, but the blinders it seemingly imposes on all who pass through the institution. Academia implies what topics comprise legitimate scholarship through the subjects it offers for debate. Although valid, it's also backward in some ways. Many faculty members dismiss ethnic studies as "identity politics," whatever that is. Didn't Nixon use his identity as a staunch anti-Communist to insulate his gestures to China from criticism? What about Likud and the Camp David Accords? Wearing a political identity is not new, unique to people of color, or bad per se. Please remove the blinders. Ethnic studies is legitimate scholarship, beyond that it is necessary scholarship. The future of America demands it - America is no longer the bastion of straight white males (SWhiMs) or WASPs. In accord with this and this year's convocation series, the College should immediately announce a policy supporting ethnic studies and taking concrete steps to implement it. Progressive Oberlin should aggressively undertake this scholarship instead of resting on its laurels as it often does.
If Oberlin is to deliver the liberal arts education it proclaims to, this move is necessary. The administration professes they cannot teach everything given a set amount of money. While true, it's beside the point. They are accountable for the courses they offer, the vast majority of which relate to white people. It's not a question of money so much as it is of will. A true liberal arts education encompasses more than a scattering of different fields, but a breath of subfields as well. Although impossible to mandate, Oberlin should offer it. That students should demand as much brings me to the next point.
Only a few students, largely people of color, make this demand. While leaving the "conversation about multiculturalism," I overheard a student remark that it was a bitching game referring to the aforementioned students. While this is an arrogantly ignorant comment, sadly enough its underlying sentiment is common. This illustrates just how unsuccessful that "conversation" was! The majority of white students did not LISTEN to what the majority of people of color were saying. What's more is that they lack the fortitude to undergo the difficult process of implementing "multiculturalism." As evidence of this, just look at the numerous articles defending white privilege and class privilege reappropriating poverty, Sener's ill-conceived "reverse-racism", or Smith's illogical comparison between the oppressed defending their right to coalesce and the KKK defending their right to oppress. Alternatively, look at the turnout for the second multicultural forum. There were definitely many fewer white students there than attended the previous session.
President Dye, I hope you will firmly support and implement ethnic studies. I hope the majority of students join me in that call and enjoin other students to do so. I hope white students interrogate their privilege. Unfortunately, I wouldn't wager on any of these, which is a truly sad sign at such a "progressive" college.
To the Editors:
The recent articles attacking Abusua, Asian-American Alliance and La Alianza Latina are once again examples of Euro-centric dominance that forces us as people of color to validate and justify our role in the United States. These organizations are a lifeline for many students who are underrepresented not only on campus but also in society. They enable us rediscover our history and culture, when we have been discouraged to do so, as well as create a strong sense of community, when there is none.
Western dominance has shaped our history and still shapes our lives today. This dominance affected Mexican-Americans in the southwest in the 1890s, with the loss of our land titles (between 1854 and 1930, 3.7 million acres of land owned by Mexican- Americans was stolen by the U.S. government). This dominance affected Puerto Ricans, in the early 1950s, when women of the ages 16-24 were given varying dosages of birth control without consent, causing them to become sterile. This dominance again affects us on the Oberlin College campus when we have to explain and validate our presence and again when the Oberlin police interrogate us because they profile us and criminalize our existence.
As a small number of Latinos attending an elite institution (11 percent of U.S. population but only 3 percent of the student body), with one of the lowest retention rates on campus, La Alianza is integral in our survival. We carry the burden of not only reclaiming a silenced history, but also by being one of the few who have access to such an education. La Alianza promotes a space that allows Latinos to reclaim their roots, history and heritage. We support and encourage educational forums in which Latinos and non-Latinos can learn about our history respectfully, which is an increasingly growing presence in every aspect of American culture. An academic environment that is Multicultural should be this vehicle; one that allows everyone to take part in the learning process.
To the Editors:
I want to share the outpouring of appreciation and thanks I have received over the past month for our generation's activism. Not just my parents' radical friends but neighbors I had never met before, old teachers, callers to the local radio station, people everywhere I go tell me how great it is that we are out there taking up the struggle. I went to the dentist and the receptionist, who had heard me on the news reporting about the School of the Americas protest, said it gave her hope to know there were young people out there like me. I don't want to take all the credit and I want to pass on this support and encouragement. I think it is important and inspiring to know that there are lots of older people supporting us. Now if only they would get out on the streets with us, we might have ourselves a revolution.
Copyright © 2000, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 128, Number 13, February 11, 2000
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