Recently, at Oklahoma University, the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon was video taped shouting racist chants, including the use of references to lynchings and multiple utterances of the n-slur. The response to the video has been appropriately negative, but as with anything within politics debate has arisen, and the old (to my generation) "why-can-only-black-people-use-the-n-word-and-I-can't" has been again brought to the forefront, thankfully mostly behind the anger towards OU's SAE. Still, a guest on CNN thought it would be appropriate to ask how black people expect white people not to say it, when popular rap music by black artists uses such language. He went on to say how they are just repeating what they have heard there. Of course, black Twitter didn't take long to respond with the hashtag "#RapAlbumsThatCausedSlavery", satirizing how idiotic his assertion was that rap music was at the heart of racial slurs. This tends to be a sadly common thought among my fellow white people, that for whatever reason we should be allowed to say it without any repercussions (although I wonder why they want to....) when black people can. My response is this: They are reclaiming a word that has been used for so many years, and continues to be, used to dehumanize and degrade black people. We can;t say, "my n****"", because for more than a hundred years under slavery (thinking pre-US), those were what black people were to white people.
The SAE's actions are deplorable, but they reflect only a fraction of racism present on college campuses. Internalized racism often manages to express itself in college, taking form in far too common black face parties. These parties are far from uncommon, and are routinely ignored unless black people do something that could be perceived as violent in response. The critically acclaimed film, Dear White People, explores this issue specifically, along with many other aspects of race politics, excellently, and I would recommend it.
This is not the first time an SAE fraternity has been in the news either. In 2009, Cornell University's chapter had hazed George Desdunes, son of Haitian immigrants, to death. He was found by college cleaners, zip tied and duct taped hands and feet, and had died of alcohol poisoning from a hazing the night before. While it is unclear whether this death is racially motivated, SAE across the nation has a history of racism.
The form of racism that is common is what I like to call Diet Racism. It's racism without the commitment of racial slurs, or the repercussions. It's mostly internalized and readily defended by "I Don't See Race", and is generally really bad at recognizing problems.
The identities of most of the young men in SAE has been protected, which bothers me. While the lives of unarmed black men killed by police will be searched for every flaw, every bad thing they may have done, these young men may never feel the full repercussions of their actions. Some have come to their defense, saying they were clearly wasted, but that only means they were saying what they already had on their minds, but didn't have the mental capacity to filter it. This chant is a call to wake up. Wake up to the fact that racism is not over, that it never was. Wake up to the fact that racism has been instilled into our culture. Wake up to the fact that it will take years of work to undo the damage racism has done, and maybe that damage never will be undone, but at least we can undo the inherent racism present in society. Wake up to the fact that in our lifetimes, and most likely for many years to come, it has always been more acceptable to be white. Wake up to the fact that ignoring problems does not eliminate them. While it is easy for white people to call out this action due to the severity, we still need to monitor ourselves, and society, and demand that these systems be dismantled.
PS
Also, if you're a white ally like myself, don't speak over black people in the fight for equality.
The SAE's actions are deplorable, but they reflect only a fraction of racism present on college campuses. Internalized racism often manages to express itself in college, taking form in far too common black face parties. These parties are far from uncommon, and are routinely ignored unless black people do something that could be perceived as violent in response. The critically acclaimed film, Dear White People, explores this issue specifically, along with many other aspects of race politics, excellently, and I would recommend it.
This is not the first time an SAE fraternity has been in the news either. In 2009, Cornell University's chapter had hazed George Desdunes, son of Haitian immigrants, to death. He was found by college cleaners, zip tied and duct taped hands and feet, and had died of alcohol poisoning from a hazing the night before. While it is unclear whether this death is racially motivated, SAE across the nation has a history of racism.
The form of racism that is common is what I like to call Diet Racism. It's racism without the commitment of racial slurs, or the repercussions. It's mostly internalized and readily defended by "I Don't See Race", and is generally really bad at recognizing problems.
The identities of most of the young men in SAE has been protected, which bothers me. While the lives of unarmed black men killed by police will be searched for every flaw, every bad thing they may have done, these young men may never feel the full repercussions of their actions. Some have come to their defense, saying they were clearly wasted, but that only means they were saying what they already had on their minds, but didn't have the mental capacity to filter it. This chant is a call to wake up. Wake up to the fact that racism is not over, that it never was. Wake up to the fact that racism has been instilled into our culture. Wake up to the fact that it will take years of work to undo the damage racism has done, and maybe that damage never will be undone, but at least we can undo the inherent racism present in society. Wake up to the fact that in our lifetimes, and most likely for many years to come, it has always been more acceptable to be white. Wake up to the fact that ignoring problems does not eliminate them. While it is easy for white people to call out this action due to the severity, we still need to monitor ourselves, and society, and demand that these systems be dismantled.
PS
Also, if you're a white ally like myself, don't speak over black people in the fight for equality.