(The little i and capital We/Our are intentional political misspellings).
In last week’s feature article titled “Four Kinds of First-year students you don’t want to be next term,” one of the sub-sections prompted me to go on a stealing rampage. i took all the Campus newspapers from five newsstands and replaced them with notes asking the paper to “PLEASE stop publishing racist articles.”
i made this direct action because the cartoon and article subtitled “Involvement-Addict Allen” was racially insensitive and targeted an individual member of ABC.
The cartoon shows a black man with a skin-tight ABC T-shirt on. This carton is clearly targeting this year’s ABC president Clay Grego given that he is one of the few black males in the club (and only black male on the board) and almost always fashions skin tight T-shirts.
i am sure that the Campus didn’t intend to target Clay, but by not asking questions such as “does this negative cartoon image resemble a specific individual on campus?” they subconsciously singled him out.
Another part of the sub-section that infuriated me was that the article indirectly discouraged both black and white students from joining ABC.
Involvement-Addict Allen dissuades black students from joining ABC by blatantly linking involvement in the club with being over loaded with responsibilities.
The final line of the subsection even implies that ABC could contribute to black students having a mental meltdown. Again, this is sadly hinting on racist stereotypes that black people are inclined to go crazy.
The cartoon of Clay reinforced the stigma to white students that ABC is exclusively for Black people. In reality, ABC is an open organization dedicated to celebrating the African diaspora and combats the personal and institutionalized racism that pervades this campus.
i do not believe that either the writer, designer, or editors of the article intended for the piece to hurt and offend. But i also do not believe that ignorance is an excuse.
If We want to rid the world of racism, We (as white people) must hold Ourselves and other white people accountable.
It shouldn’t have to be black student’s job to tell Us every time We screw up and do something racially insensitive. i still love everyone involved in the Campus paper for the work that they do, We just need to ask a few more questions next time. Thank you for the space.
Lee Swaydis, ’14
Disbelief • Sep 28, 2012 at 12:42 pm
I’ll just say it.
This editorial is a joke. Try logic over emotion. It’ll do wonders.
Side Eyeing You • Sep 13, 2012 at 4:16 am
Is this article serious? Really? What does using a lowercase “i” here accomplish? Are you trying not to lord your “white privilege” over the the readers of color? How does disrespecting yourself help anyone?
Also, it is entirely possible that not everyone knows Clay on this campus (in fact, it’s more than likely, sorry Clay!) so the person who made these drawings could have made any likeness accidental. You’re talking about “ignorance not being an excuse” and therefore implying we should call anyone who doesn’t know of Clay’s existence and fashion choices “ignorant.” But you know what’s shocking? The fact that Clay and this drawing don’t really look that similar. They’re both Black, yes… and they both seem to wear clothing. I’ll admit, these clothes look rather tight but, whoa, if you look at the other drawings it seems their clothes are all tight too!
And then after this point I can’t really figure out what you’re trying to say. Or, well, I can, but I can’t believe you’re saying it. “…final line of the subsection even implies that ABC could contribute to black students having a mental meltdown.” You and I both read the final line as “Watch out, Allen — if you don’t cut back, you’re headed straight for a first-degree meltdown of the mental variety,” right? The fact that it’s saying that being in all these clubs at once (final count is around 4-6 potential activities) is, you know, kind of draining, what with Allegheny being such a difficult school and all. Is there some racist stereotype about black people not being able to handle so many clubs? You are aware that the article is saying “don’t do too many things or you’ll burn yourself out!” and not “black people tend to go crazy, so don’t do too many activities.” Yes, there IS a stereotype that black people can go crazy. I’m 100% with you on that. But… how is that even being implied here? This is a human being becoming stressed over a reasonable situation that they put themselves into because they enjoyed being involved a little too much.
I wonder what you would have said if the artist had chosen a white person to wear the ABC shirt and become stressed? Perhaps the article would have been racist then because of “white washing.” Or, maybe, the article could have mentioned that ABC is for everyone? Oh, wait, the article wasn’t about ABC, it was just one of many clubs name dropped. Man, wouldn’t it have been easier if the person was white and ABC wasn’t mentioned? Then you could just be mad at The Campus for not including more people of color (a normally justified complaint)!
But you know what makes racism go away? Stealing all the racist articles so no one can see! Then you could write this Letter to the Editor about an article no one else read so you can’t really be challenged in your views. Man, hiding things so no one is offended sure changes things. Oh, wait, that’s actually one of the biggest problems in defeating racism in this country; hiding it away so no one can see it so no one even thinks it’s there.
Also, who do you mean by “We (as white people)”? Are you addressing the readership? Because you seem to be writing to The Campus staff throughout the article. Man, you’ve just made the unfortunate assumption that everyone on staff is white. Or that only white people can act in a racist manner towards Black people.
That said, I thought it was a poorly written article.
Alum • Sep 11, 2012 at 2:26 pm
dude, seriously?, get out of fantasy land (also known as Allegheny College’s campus), and into the world. No harm was intended from the published article, however the society of over-reactors which we have become has enabled this incident to get much larger than it should have. I commend the campus for articles they have written in the past with a dwindling budget and staff numbers, and wish only the best of them into the future.
Please Allegheny (as a collective community), grow stronger and not further apart, and experience the world outside of the structured and ‘safe’ environment of the college’s campus or related programs- I guarantee it will open everyone’s collective eyes and move the campus environment forward.