It was a Saturday night. The University of Oklahoma chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon had rented a party bus. Everyone on the bus was white. The alcohol was flowing. People started singing a reprehensible piece that used the N word and alluded to lynching with the message that Blacks would never be admitted to the fraternity.
Not everyone on the bus was OK with this. One brother filmed it and sent the video to a Black student campus group that was looking for evidence of campus racism to present to the administration.
This is the incident with which Lawrence Ross opens Blackballed, his expose of the racism that is still sadly alive and well on historically white college and university campuses. The book is full of descriptions of incidents that shocked me, many of them the work of white fraternities and sororities. There were also descriptions of the microaggressions that Black students experience all too often.
I was deeply bothered by the responses of the administrations to the incidents. As Ross summarizes they were reactive rather than proactive, seemingly more concerned with image control than with the well being of the targeted students.
But some of the racism is institutional and systemic and carried out by none other than the administration. One example that takes place not only in the South, but all over the country is the refusal to take down statues and rename buildings honoring particularly virulent racists.
If you want America's historically white colleges and universities to become truly welcoming, affirming, and valuing spaces for Black students you owe it to yourself to read the book.
On a purrrsonal note, I have finished a crafts kit Amber gave me. It's assembling miniature books that have pages you can read. Most have pre-written stories but I had to write the content for ten. It was fun but very challenging. I'm sure it was good for my post stroke fine motor skills. And it looks so adorable in my studio. I'll post a picture.
A great big shout out goes out to Amber for all the support she has given me in my stroke recovery and the just right presents.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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