This week, our campus was faced with the reality that racism is alive and well on our perfect little campus on the hill. And people reacted. Being a part of an intro anthropology class, we became aware of and discussed issues of race that have always been present on our campus but really made themselves apparent this year. This is especially poignant in the context of racial discrimination and protests on college campuses across the country, from Occidental to Yale. Not only this, but there are certainly heightened tensions coming from a global scale with the Paris attacks and on a local scale with our own Ray Warren Race Symposium. There’s a lot going on in the world and on our campus right now, and as seen in the protest, LC students were upset and ready to do something about it.
On one hand, I am incredibly proud of our campus for reacting so quickly and full-heartedly. Not only this, but I am really exited by the list of demands as outlined in the open letter which are sensible and pragmatic. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but think about Dennis O’Rourke’s Cannibal Tours. In this film which we watched this week in Intro to Anthropology, the audience is appalled by the white tourists who treat the native New Guinea citizens like zoo animals. Yet, the film also alludes to the fact that the tourists, generally, are the more progressive, forward-thinking individuals who are willing to spend their money on going to these foreign places, questioning the natives and their own practices, and expanding their minds. In addition, the native citizens of New Guinea economically rely on these tourists and their culture has adapted to support the tours. The audience becomes quick to judge the out-of-place tourists without seeing the complete picture.
I’m afraid this is how some people have unintentionally acted in the wake of the YikYak comments with the commenter being the tourists, the “other”, totally separate from us. It’s easy to condemn the anonymous poster and the institution of racism without scrutinizing our own prejudices and actions. I think this became apparent with several comments made by mostly white students at the protest. Some people thought this was the space to share their feelings about being white and upset, when the space could have been given to a POC who we came to support. The protest was to support our non-white community, but, in some cases, it felt that white students felt the need to drive the conversation. And I think that completely undermines the experience of students of color throughout this ordeal.
The whole situation became quickly sensualized with media attention and mass participation, particularly from the white community. As my friend put it, at a certain point, it became more of a statement to go to class than to not. Despite this, I am still very excited to see our campus fed up with institutionalized racism and move towards tangible change.