racist follies at Auburn

Christian A. Gregory christian11 at mindspring.com
Wed Nov 7 13:55:52 PST 2001



> Is your student, as far as you know, racist or otherwise disapproving of
> those of different pigment? Looking at the expressions on those young
white
> faces, I get the sense that they may as well be portraying Martians or
> vampires, so disconnected and mechanical are their poses. Of course I
wasn't
> there (damn!) so I don't know what was said, whether or not they attempted
> "ebonics" or what they consider gangstaspeak. They might think they were
> being "politically incorrect." And what about the cheeky co-eds posing
with
> them? Somehow I get the feeling that those girls wouldn't be so
> accommodating had they been next to real black men.
>

You're right. They look dazed and confused. Racists are blind to history too.

I can't say about the particular student, but the racism is bascially built in. I can't imagine that those kids would have tried to pull that shit if there were any black people around or if they let them in the greek system. And yes, for most of those girls, getting that close to a black man would get them kicked out of the house or the family. I'm not exaggerating--once again, my students' writing is an incredibly rich source of ethnographic detail. A female student this semester wrote a paper in which she said it finally dawned on her when she came to college that it might be okay for other people to date people of other races. It's not for her of course . . .

Needless to say, one of the big reasons the greek system remains segregated is b/c the alumni threaten to withdraw funds from the university and the frat/sorority if they integrate.

I recently forthrightly suggested to a former student (one who has the ability, if not the propensity to understand arguments) that fraternities on campus were racist to the core. He said that they didn't prohibit black members in prinicple. I asked him if they had ever co-sponsored an event with a black fraternity (as they do with white fraternities all the time). Blank stare. I asked him how many of his frat brothers had "little sisters" from black sororities. Hasty departure.

Christian



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