I know that this is probably wrong of me, but I can’t help it – I am waiting for the next racial controversy on campus with bated breath.
Every year I have been at UR, there has been some type of racial issue. My freshman year it was the Affirmative Action bake sale put on by the College Republicans. Sophomore year, it was the poorly written satire that stated that interracial dating was as unnatural as a black labrador and a German shepherd having sex. It seems like something race-related is inevitably going to happen on campus.
Being that we are in college, we are furthering our education. Part of being an educated person in today’s society means that we all should know that race does not really exist in nature. Just like the common house cat, the human species has physical variations, but nothing that would involve deeper classification.
While the minority student body tries to move past all of the injustices brought upon our ancestors and the issues that plague us today due to members of society that are less intelligent than the members of this university, non-minority students are supposed to look past our looks and see another frazzled student. They are supposed to be compassionate human beings, ignoring controversial institutions, such as Affirmative Action, that bring unneeded tension to campus.
But the events I mention show that these issues are brought up on this campus. What is with this huge preoccupation with the color of someone’s skin? I am of black and Native American descent – get over it.
Since it’s almost guaranteed that something is going to happen, I personally would like this year’s event to be started by someone of color – whether they be African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian or Middle Eastern – and for it to be big.
I would accept a good Islamic, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, or class controversy if it hit the right amount of buttons. Get the middle- and upper-class, heterosexual, Judeo-Christian white majority on campus all riled up by something they see as insulting or a great injustice. Make them feel bad about their existence in Rochester. Get under their skin and give them a taste of their own medicine.
Call the members of UR Hip-Hop a bunch of posers who are misappropriating black culture – just like their ancestors did when they stole the blues, jazz and rock – and can’t rap to save their souls. Call everyone who goes tanning jealous of the natural coloring that having sun-drenched ancestors brings. Call those girls who “grind” at fraternities ignorant whores because their incorrect dancing is a street adaptation of an African tribal dance – among other things.
But now that I think about it, the minority population on this campus probably won’t consciously do anything because we’ve had to deal with America’s race issues our entire lives, and it takes time and energy to successfully pull off something controversial. Time that could be better spent proving stereotypes wrong. The white majority on campus then needs to improve its attitude toward minorities, proving it can do more than just provoke the already small minority population.
Anyway, while I am running from class to work at the library, trying to survive the overload my ambition gave me, I will be subconsciously waiting for something that will either upset me, make me roll my eyes or cause me to raise my fist in the air with pride.
Don’t let me down, Rochester.
Miller can be reached at smiller@campustimes.org.
