University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, September 15, 1987
Tuesday Forum
5
Groups support blacks chilled by campus life
Being at KU often reminds me of the time I spent as a foreign-exchange student in the small mountain village of Archanes, near the northern shore of the island of Crête. When I first considered going to spend the summer as a foreign-exchange student in Greece, it didn't occur to me that the people would have no conception of what a black American was.
It baffes me to realize that some KU students seem to share the same sentiment. The most amusing thing was that some of the questions the citizens of Archanes asked and the statements they made were the same as many that have been posed by my fellow countrymen:
what are you?" "Did you know you are a normal person?" "It's OK that you are black." Sometimes it seems as though black Americans are foreigners in the land where they have lived, prospered, suffered and died for the past 400 years.
And if that's not bad enough, I've heard statements such as: blacks are only perpetuating racism and segregation by having organizations that seek to support and protect their rights.
I truly wish that protection could be omitted as one of the reasons for having an organization, but it can't because we still run into discrimination and assaults on our basic rights.
Recently, a new wave of racism has swept across America — the clash between whites and blacks in Forsyth County, Ga., the murder of a black man in New York City by white youths, not to mention the numerous race-related conflicts at universities all over the country.
Last year at the University of Alabama, members of white sororites protested efforts of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a black sorority, to move into a house on the campus's sorority row. The white sororities' main argument was that the move would disrupt their lives with noise and distress off campus, particularly by black men. Two days after AKA's moved into their new house, a cross was burned on their front lawn.
These problems are not confined to the South. Officials at Dartmouth blamed a drop in applications submitted by minorities on racial incidents at that institution. And there are many other reports
of racial tension on our country's campuses. So it is apparent that black organizations are still needed to defend the rights of blacks and help resolve race-related problems.
These organizations also function as support systems. The Black Student Union, or BSU, is one of the organizations dedicated to helping black students adjust to life on campus. And they not only serve black students, but they work to provide services for the entire student body. BSU was instrumental in forming Supportive Educational Services, which now provides academic advising and tutorial service to all students of the University of Kansas. BSU also initiated steps to set up an African-American Studies program, which gives black students a chance to learn about their heritage and helps white students to understand more about blacks, thus helping to lessen the damage that ignorance can cause.
I know how it feels to need the support and help that these groups give. I spent the first three days of my freshman year at Gertrude Sellards Pearson residence hall. For some reason, I was placed in a single room, despite the fact that I had requested a roommate. I was upset because I didn't know anyone and my room didn't come equipped with a built-in friend or at least someone who was forced to notice me. I then decided that it wasn't so bad; I would have privacy and I could always go out and make friends. So I set out to meet a few people and I received some polite hellos and even some short conversations, only to find myself at night sitting in my room alone.
Every night all of the girls dressed up and headed for parties that I could never find out anything about. I began to search for someone that might be receptive to me. My search for other faces the same color as mine was fruitless and after two days of solitude I called home and yelled, "I want my car now. I have to go find some black people." My car arrived a few days later and I cruised in my bright little red Fliat to the other side of campus and found out that there was a Black Student Union function at Potter Lake.
I was saved.
I have heard stories like mine from other black students many times. It seems as though nobody
but other black students and organizations included us in their plans, so we are almost forced to seek one another out, not because we only want to associate with other blacks, but because people always seek out the friendliest face in a crowd.
This is what upsets me most about finding out that many people think blacks somehow perpetuate racism by having organizations
Black groups preclude integration of cultures
As any visitor to the University of Kansas can testify, the University is, in fact, a segregated institution. A walk down Jayhawk Boulevard reveals separate, non-interacting social groups of black students. Campus bulletin boards promote all-black social events. The newspapers are scattered with stories of "black leaders" and their efforts at recognition for one group or another.
"T
The cliques (at KU) are unbelievable, and you very rarely see people of different racial backgrounds mixed together in large groups. And for many new black students the University of Kansas is a very cold place.'
Lynda Bassa student
"E
For the mainstream, efforts to welcome blacks have proven frustrating. As with the unexplained rejection of any invitation, confusion and bitterness have resulted.'
and groups that work to protect and support them.
Dan Houston student
People are people, right? But here at KU it seems to make a lot of difference. The cliques here are unbelievable, and you very rarely see people of different racial backgrounds mixed together. We now own new black students, the University of Kansas is a very cold place.
Black organizations provide support, entertainment and other services just as all campus organizations do. And I know of no black organizations on this campus that bar whites from joining. At KU, racism surfaces occasionally in subtle ways, but we can create noticeable divisions between people of different racial backgrounds.
I don't believe anyone on this campus actually sits around practicing the archaic ritual of thinking up ways to discriminate against minorities, but a little more effort could be used to plan activities that all the students of this university feel welcome to attend.
But until then organizations such as the NAACP and Black Student Union will have to exist. Lynda Basa is a Kansas City, Mo., sophomore majoring in journalism.
The responsibility for this segregation is difficult to pinpoint. Certainly the attitudes and actions of past generations of white students created the problem. However, in the immediate present, the so-called "black leaders" should bear much of the responsibility. These leaders gain their strength by maintaining separate organizations for blacks, and by propagating the myth that there are still whites-only institutions on campus. These are blacks saying to other blacks, "Hey, we are different."
What they won't admit is that the opportunity to end segregation is here. This generation of students at the University is less prejudiced than any before. Admittedly there are still biggs, but most of their actions could be explained, if questioned thoughtfully, as nothing more than bravado borne of insecurity.
Generally, white students are eager to welcome blacks as individuals with virtually unlimited potential. The doors are open now!
However, most black students continue to follow their leaders past open doors. They continue to be misled into believing they
wouldn't be welcome in, or enjoy participating in mainstream establishments.
For the mainstream, efforts to welcome blacks have proven frustrating. As with the unexplained rejection of any invitation, confusion and bitterness have resulted. If black students, as individuals, do not begin to move into mainstream campus life where opportunities exist, these invitations may be revoked by our disillusioned successors at the University. Future generations may grow up without any sense of our unity as a species.
Obviously there are many cultural differences between black and white students. We've lived "across the tracks" from one another for too long, in adjacent yet separate communities.
However, these differences should be not a deterrent but an incentive to interact. We have so
much to offer one another; we should take the best of both sides of the "tracks" to fully realize the accomplish of this academic community.
Black leaders who advocate changing the systems of society by establishing separate components are making themselves heroes while endangering the cause for which they claim to fight. It is neither fair nor nice to deem them a threat before being to join and then to join only as an entire block. This approach can only breed antagonism on both sides.
Black leaders must realize that the University is an ideal place to demonstrate the untapped potential of blacks to contribute to the systems of society by functioning as individuals within them.
Staff columnist Dan Houston is a junior from Tulsa, Okla., majoring in advertising and political science.
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