Racism continues to play a negative role in our society.
At least according to a 2012 study by the Applied Research Center, which assessed the attitudes of the Millennial generation in terms of race and activism.
The notion that racism is no longer an issue is “nonsense,” said Robin Muhammad, the chair of the African American Studies department at Ohio University.
“It’s an updated version of an older argument that essentially ignores racial inequality,” Muhammad said. “You have to look at the basic facts of where racial equality can be actually established. So you look at income, wealth, transfer of wealth from generation to generation, educational obtainment. There, no one argues that racial inequality doesn’t exist, because it’s simply quantified.”
Conversations that acknowledge racial conflict are important to have, Muhammad added, both on-campus and on a national scale.
Any illusion of a post-racial society following the 2008 election, when Barack Obama became the United States’ first African American president, has been created, at least in part, by the media, said Winsome Chunnu-Brayda, the associate director of OU’s Multicultural Center.
“We’re always talking in the black community that we have rappers, that we have sports stars, that young people look up to,” Chunnu-Brayda said. “For the first time we have a president that will make a difference in how people see themselves. But sadly, in my opinion, that has not happened.”
Through programming and education, however, the divide could be somewhat lessened, she added.
The invisible dividing line develops because of the tendency to stick with environments mirroring their own, said Jillian Causey, president of the Black Student Union.
“A lot of African American students come from inner-cities,” Causey said. “A lot of (their environments) back home are predominantly African American and a lot of white students come from predominantly white areas … you have to realize that the world isn’t going to be your one culture or race.”
Keith Hawkins, the president of Students Teaching About Racism and an African-American, said the notion that racism isn’t prevalent comes from a question of experience, adding he has encountered a variety of difficult situations on campus.
“Every year I’ve been here, I’ve encountered some new element of racial tension,” said Hawkins, a senior studying astrophysics.
Derrick Holifield, a junior studying English and a member of Black Student Cultural Programming Board, said he’s “been called the n-word by people driving past,” among other incidents.
Despite experiences similar to Holifield’s, Causey said that racism at OU is not an issue that is likely to be out in the open.
“Most racial issues I’ve seen on campus have been really covert,” said Causey, a senior studying health services administration. “It is nothing like what my parents experienced when schools were being integrated … it’s mostly comments that people make.”
Current racial issues on campus can’t compare to those of segregation, Causey said. However, stigmas can still cause problems for OU’s black students.
She recalled one particular situation in which black greek life organizations were prohibited from holding an annual event because of problems at the event in years past.
When permitted to hold the event, the Black Student Union was charged “an astronomical amount,” she said.
“I felt like they were grouping all black student organizations together,” Causey said.
The majority of the groups’ proceeds were used to pay the fee, Causey said, defeating the event’s intended fundraising role. After working with the administration, Causey added the conflict inspired OU to create a new policy which follows the same procedure for all events, regardless of student group.
“It’s unfortunate we had to go through that, but that was a good end result,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know things like that happen.”
African Americans currently make up about five percent of OU’s student body.
One of the major problems students face while seeking higher education is inequality in income between races, Muhammad said.
“If they’re already coming from an unequal background, it affects not only how long it’ll take for them to get out, but also how well they do while they’re (in college),” Muhammad said. “(Being able to afford education) also affects career choices.”
Today, white Americans have 22 times more wealth than black Americans, according to CNN. The total median net worth for white households is $110,729 as opposed to $4,955 for black households, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Though there are programs at the university including the Multicultural Center and BSCPB that promote racial awareness, Hawkins said that there seems to be a racial divide within the student body.
“As an OU community we seem to be somewhat segregated,” Hawkins said. “As students we need to break that tendency.”
Under President Roderick McDavis, OU has furthered these efforts with a diversity initiative and the Urban Scholars Program.
“For students to come to a university that would be entirely homogenous … would mean they would have an impoverished education,” David Descutner, interim vice provost for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, said in a previous Post article. “The world beyond the campus is way more diverse than this campus is.”
eb104010@ohiou.edu
