Racism at Ursinus
Blockson Lecture: Racism is Everywhere
“Racism is Everywhere: Blockson Lectures on Local African American” a Grizzly article by Melissa Forbes, describes Charles Blockson’s lecture to Ursinus's students and staff of Ursinus College on September 20th, 1995. Blockson discloses the extreme racism he encountered in Norristown, Pennsylvania and the surrounding areas of Collegeville. One of Blockson's more impactful stories is that of a black woman who desires to buy a hat, but the store that she patronizes prevents her from trying it on before purchasing it because racist white people considered black people to have “greasy and dirty” hair. Forbes reports that students said they learned a lot from Blockson’s lecture and, because he shared his intimate experiences with racism, it was engaging to listen to. Overall, the article stresses that racism occurs not only in the deep south, but in Norristown, Pennsylvania-right near students' home institution, Ursinus College. Charles Mills points out racism's structural presence everywhere supports the concept of racism being everywhere when he states, “White supremacy is the unnamed political system that has made the modern world what it is today,” (The Racial Contract, 1). To Blockson’s point, racism and white supremacy are not confined to one area of the United States, but rather the country as a whole-indeed the world-as a whole. Mills would write that this is because white supremacy is an entire political system that governs non-white people.
Ursinus Questions Bias Incident
In the dissertation, “Ursinus Community Questions Response to Bias Incident”, Syed reports an incident that occurred in 2017 that involved a derogatory epithet spelled out in the snow on campus grounds. Immediately after the incident, deans and representatives of the school sent out an email informing the student body about the incident. The email also consisted of a request for individuals to report information to carry out an investigation. A key detail of this incident is that even if found, the perpetrator could not be tried as committing a hate crime even though this was clearly a racial issue. “A bias incident differs from a hate crime in that no criminal activity is involved”; as a result, of this action not violating acts of the constitution, the school claimed they were limited in enforcing repercussions. According to the regulation in our institutions, the school was not prohibited to disclose the actions taken to handle the situation. In addition, the college did not bring light to the full severity of the event, which is why students felt that the school was minimizing the incident to protect their own image. Mills would cite this as an example of white supremacy asserting dominance over other races while not seeing that they themselves are a political system. Mills states, “the system of domination by which white people have historically ruled over and, in certain important ways continue to rule over nonwhite people- is not seen as a political system at all,” (Mills, 1-2). This concept of white supremacy is detrimental because it sets a precedent that there will be no consequences for performing “bias”, but racist incidents on campus. The article exemplifies how racist white people are able to commit an act of verbal abuse and be protected by the political system of white supremacy.
Diversity Educator Speaks on Racism
This document showcases the Jane Elliot experiment. Jane Elliot was an elementary school teacher who divided a class into two sections. One of blue-eyed students and the other of brown-eyed students. One section is deemed superior, while the other section is deemed inferior. One thing I would like to add is something about HBCU's, because of factors as spoke about in the sentence previous, schools like HBCU's were made for this, so that students of color felt at home and felt at "peace" and have people of their similar cultures and be able to relate to them. They wouldn't feel judged or have to deal witht he racism that they have to deal with outside of school. They all feel eqaul and feel like this is where they are meant to be. (Tell Them We Are Rising). It was shown that the superior group treated the other badly. Chido writes that this is how society treats people of color and to be more aware of it. Chido goes on to discuss the further impact that Elliot had with the discussion of race. Elliot continues to say the problem exists due to the people who say things like, “when I look at you I do not see you as a black person.” Elliot believed this stripped away the identity of a person. Furthermore, she discusses that these differences that people have should be celebrated, and it is what makes each and every human unique. To sum it up, she does these presentations in order for people to leave with a new realization and a new attitude to race.
Verdell Freeman Speaks on Difficulties at Ursinus
The author of the article, Keir Lewis, starts off by talking about the history of quilts in America. First, he starts by talking about the importance of quilts, like how it acts as a way to tell stories to others, but also as a way to symbolize freedom, struggle, and “negro spirituals”. This also acted as a way for African American individuals to express their feelings, troubles, and experiences throughout history. This quote from DuBois pointed out to me because it showed that no matter what he wanted to do and the life he wanted to make for himself, all the things he was interested in, it was never going to be enough and there was always going to be struggles more than an average white person just because he was a person of color, "... by the criticism of the other world, toward ideals that made him ashamed of his lowly tasks." (DuBois 10). For instance, a woman named Verdell Freeman had something to say about this, as she spoke “on the ‘quilting voice of the Black experience” to give people of society a way of viewing quilts from an African American perspective. She elaborated on how quilts had a very big impact on African American history, while also talking about some examples of “negro spirituals” found within quilts and poetry as well. As she did this, she truthfully spoke about how today, people should be able to celebrate the “human patchwork”, as the history behind it is very important. To celebrate, people must make their own quilts with emotion (like “understand, caring, and patience”, as stated by the author). In addition to this, the author states how weaving has been a part of African American culture for centuries, as “slave narratives” were “quilting history). It not only became a part of African American heritage through its usage in the underground railroads and usage as non-violent protest, but it also is able to explain its history through its weaving. As it was an African American folk tradition, “negro spirituals”, like African American folk songs and poetry, also illustrated the history of African Americans. In saying this, Verdell Freeman was able to be very decisive with the history of African Americans and how their fine works of weaving quilts were able to express African American culture than be “bedspreads”.