‘Where’s the White Culture House?’

"I can't believe this is happening again."

In response to the recent racist flyer incident, strong reactions on both sides, though dichotomous in opinion, captured the same sense of incredulousness. But while many — including some members of Tufts' Asian American Alliance (AAA) and their allies — make this statement in reference to the incident itself, others have voiced this statement in reference to the oversensitivity, self-righteousness and political correctness of members of the AAA. Such reactions range from relative indifference to virulent, explicit attacks on specific Asian-American student leaders — often by persons who have never met them.

As a member of the AAA, I was deeply dismayed by the incident and even more so by the backlash aimed at those who have spoken out. However, particularly as a white student — who prior to taking American studies classes would probably have asked, "What's the big deal?" — I believe that it is by far more constructive to dismantle and discuss these commentaries than to condemn those who have voiced them. I do not proclaim myself to be an expert on the subject; rather, I would like to address some of the myths and fallacies embedded within dominant racial discourse — both on Tufts' campus and in U.S. society — with the hope of facilitating deeper discussion and understanding.

"Racism is no longer a major problem."

Race scholars often discuss the way in which white people and people of color — both those who claim that they are not racist and those who experience the material conditions of systematic racism — talk past each other regarding issues of racial discrimination. The discursive definition of racism typically refers to intentional, recognizable manifestations of racial hostility, such as racial slurs and the Ku Klux Klan. In this way, racism exists in individual pathologies — in racist people and organizations — within an otherwise racially equal society. Scholars can define racism as a system of economic, social and political privileges and disadvantages based on socially constructed, historically contingent racial categories; it is embedded, masked and reproduced within U.S. social institutions to the benefit of whites and the disadvantage of people of color. Look around you. Who holds positions of power? Who works menial jobs? Who serves in government? Who sits in prison? This social structure is neither arbitrary nor natural.

"Racial stereotypes are funny and harmless."

The argument that racial stereotypes are, in fact, a means of recognizing and appreciating racial difference — a humorous means of allaying past wounds — neglects to consider the following questions: When and why were these racial meanings constructed? Who has the right to create racial identities? What historical purpose did such constructs serve? What is their continuing function in society today?

The 1854 appeals case People v. Hall, which ruled that the Chinese could not testify for or against a white man in court, deemed the Chinese "a race of people whom nature has marked as inferior … incapable of progress or intellectual development … differing in language, opinions, color and physical conformation, between whom and ourselves [whites] nature has placed an impassable difference." In the period that followed, white citizens had free range to murder, rape and pillage Chinese communities, and did so, confining them to what we know today as Chinatowns.

In 1982: A 27-year old Chinese American, Vincent Chin, was killed by two white men who called him a Jap and accused him of stealing their jobs. Neither of them spent any time in jail for the murder.

Feb. 4, 1999: A 23-year old Guinean immigrant, Amadou Diallo, was shot and killed by four plainclothes officers who fired 41 rounds, mistaking the wallet he was pulling out of his jacket for a gun. All four officers were acquitted.

Dec. 31, 2008: A 23-year old young black man, Robbie Tolan, son of famed baseball player Bobby Tolan, was accused by white officers of having stolen the sports utility vehicle he was driving and was shot and wounded, unarmed, in the driveway of his own  home in Bellaire, Texas.

Jan. 1, 2009: A 28-year old unarmed black man, Oscar Grant, was shot and killed by a white transit officer in San Francisco, Calif.

July 16, 2009: Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested outside of his Cambridge, Mass. home by a white officer on the charge of breaking and entering his own home. Charges were later dropped.

Racial stereotypes — such as the foreign Asian who can't speak proper English or the criminal black man — have always served a function in society and go hand-in-hand with hate crimes and social injustice.

"So where's the White Center?"

Tufts University is no exception to U.S. society. There is, in fact, no White Culture House because we don't need one; the institution itself is white. Discussions or perceptions of race on campus are understood to be the domain of students of color, while whiteness remains neutral or unmarked. How often do you hear statements about all the white kids sitting together in the dining hall or all the white kids only making friends with people of their own group? That being said, it is still an institution of learning, and we have an incredible opportunity here to educate ourselves on issues of race, privilege and power.

"This campus is so PC."

Much of the backlash has featured an attack on those who are supposedly campaigning for political correctness on campus. What exactly does politically correct (PC) mean, and who exactly is administering it? If, in fact, something is literally politically correct — that is, it is in line with the goals of the current political structure of the United States — more likely than not, it would not line up with the goals of those who advocate anti-racism and social justice. Charging someone or something with being PC has become one of the most popular means of hampering constructive conversation. It is much easier to throw around this buzzword — and I challenge someone to define what it actually means — than to think or ask why something is this hurtful, problematic or offensive.