Emotional and intellectual vigor pervaded Barnum 008 last Wednesday as over 100 students, faculty, and community members gathered for a round table panel discussion about the role of race in American politics. The "Dream Deferred" panel, sponsored by Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC), was a preliminary kick-off to EPIIC's international symposium. The symposium officially begins this Thursday.
The panel addressed an array of complex issues dealing with race relations and US politics in light of the recent presidential election. Tufts history Professor Gerald Gill moderated the two-and-a-half hour discussion, which featured six professors from Tufts, Harvard, UMass Boston, and Dartmouth.
In a series of presentations, panelists called for active citizens to express their moral outrage against racial and social injustice.
"I believe that democracy in America is in serious trouble," Harvard University Professor Lawrence Bobo said in a presentation that provoked a dramatic response from the audience. "Racism remains close to the heart of American politics," he said. "This cries out for a sense of moral outrage and steady contestation."
Bobo was vocal in his anti-Bush sentiments, particularly in a discussion of the president's appointment of John Ashcroft as attorney general. He also took shots at the Secretary of State Colin Powell's appointment. Powell, he said, is "the black face legitimizing the Bush presidency."
"I am proud of the African-American community for never being firm believers in Bush," Bobo said. His remark sparked a round of applause from the audience.
Professor James Glaser, chair of Tufts' political science department, focused on the electoral system and the Florida election debacle. Glaser, the sole Caucasian panelist, said the nation's voting regulations lead to systematic biases.
"What the election of 2000 showed us is that this highly decentralized system is still full of problems.... What is most troubling is that the same kinds of people are being excluded," he said referring to reports that some election officials in Florida prohibited citizens of color from voting.
The panelists were critical of the mishandling of the election recount and said that President Bush's appointment of a number of minorities to his cabinet did little to mitigate their concerns. The success of token minority politicians such as Powell and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chow does not erase concerns of racism in American society, they said.
"This is a problem that cannot be hidden by a few black faces in a few high places," Bobo said.
Professor James Jennings, who teaches urban and environmental policy at Tufts, expressed disappointment in today's African-American leaders. "I think that black leadership has a lot to account for in this 'deferred dream' that is in our midst," he said.
Jennings pointed to four problems for which he feels black leaders are responsible: The failure to challenge poverty at its structural roots, the failure to build progressive politics with other minority groups, the failure of black leaders to move away from their role as "cheerleaders for the democratic party," and the failure to address socioeconomic problems in the international arena.
The panel energized both audience members and the panelists themselves, who represented a multitude of racial backgrounds. Dartmouth Professor of Sociology Christina Gomez focused her five-minute talk on the challenges faced by Latinos in the US and promoted a pan-Latino political agenda.
"Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez may represent the 'latinization' of America, but in terms of politics, there is still very little representation," Gomez said.
The Asian-American voice was represented by panelists Paul Watanabe, a political science professor at UMass Boston, and Tufts Professor Jean Wu, who teaches a popular American Studies course called "Race and America."
Watanabe, who spoke at Tufts last semester about the racialization of Asian Americans, criticized the US voting registration process. He also spoke about the difficulties Asian Americans encounter in pinpointing their role and identity in American society, and emphasized the importance of education in promoting positive interactions between various racial groups.
"To me, the hope lies in the education piece," Wu said. She lamented the fact that very few minority groups, particularly Asian Americans, feel a strong connection with their own racial history and evolution as US citizens.
"When you have a younger generation who has so little knowledge on how the system works, it's important to get basic education in order to get closer to a point where you can act," Wu said after the discussion.
The intellectually charged setting prompted passionate discourse during the question and answer session, when both panelists and audience members called for increased awareness and involvement on the local level.
"Angry people get off their butts and angry people participate," said Glaser, who called himself the optimist among the panelists.
In response to questions about the role of students in bridging the nation's social gaps, Bobo told the audience not to "wait for the adults."
"You students are the connecting tissue," he said.
Gill, who inspired a few laughs from the audience when he apologized for breaking his role as moderator, responded to one student's inquiry as to why there has not been a unified student movement since the '60s.
"There are student movements," Gill said. Though today's movements may be different in thrust, community outreach groups such as the Leonard Carmichael Society and Headstart programs are student movements that should not go unrecognized, he said.
The evening's panel was called a success by audience members who appreciated the opportunity to gain an academic perspective on the nation's racial issues.
"We had an incredible group of people raising questions and 'thinking out of the box,'" EPIIC participant Ariana Wohl said.
"The panel brought to light a lot of issues that have come up both on campus and around the US," sophomore Meena Jagannath said. "Race issues are often brushed under the rug because America is supposed to be a herald for democracy, but politics are plagued with race issues."
Some audience members recognized that the evening's discussion might have made conservatives uncomfortable. "I understand that there may have been some conservatives in the audience who disagreed with some of anti-Republican sentiments, but people need to be shaken up sometimes," junior Doug Hansen said.
"Innocence can't be claimed if you don't want to face the facts, so I think it's important to be informed."
EPIIC Director Sherman Teichman applauded the panel for demonstrating the importance of addressing racial issues and their affect on politics.
"To me the vigor is self-evident," he said. "It has the kind of integrity and is the kind of education that this kind of program is all about."
