Some things are bull and it's not worth calling them on it. Some things are bull and they are worth being called out. And today on Cesar Chavez day, I'd like to take this time to call out the bullshit that "multiculturalism" has become. So, we know what multiculturalism is, in general, it's respect for other people and their cultures, "other" being those that are different from YOU. Or at least...that's what multiculturalism is supposed to be about.
But here at CSUMB, that's not what it's about. Not even close. And it's sad really, for a school that is supposed to have multiculturalism as a founding principle of it's design. But then, it's not really CSUMB's fault, because what they're doing is really the same as dozens of other places have been doing for the last decade and a half or so. It's really just a problem that has been integrated into multiculturalism so much, that people barely realize it's a problem.
There are all kinds of different people in the world, asian, indian, middle eastern, black, brown, red, and yeah, that accounts for everyone. Oh...wait, there's still "white" people. It's kinda sad, saying "white people", like there's some kind of grand consesnsus between white people the world over on what they're like. Europe is banding together like never before, and there's still several dozen languages and cultures there.
But this is the problem with multiculturalism, the flaw that has become part of the system. White people are not seen as another group of people with a culture and a presense to be respected right along with the rest, it's seen as the color white is seen, boring, basic, bland, and empty. Descendants of native americans often complain about their "lost" or "destroyed" heritages that they're trying to get back. Blacks often try to create some kind of quasi-africanism and mexicans celebrate the fact that they're not from America.
But white people are constantly told they don't have a culture, and if they do, it's a "bad" one because it's about consumerisim, or capitalisim, or oppression, or racisim. I have met almost half a dozen people(read: PEOPLE, not all are white) who'd side with me to start a "white unity" club on campus, or something to that degree. And I know what you're first thought is: "ZOMG!!! WHITE POWER NAZI RACIST KKK!!!!11" And I know why you thought that too, because that's what multiculturalism has taught you to think. And I wonder, of you reading this, how many of you are white?
There are clubs for Mexicans and they're not racist clubs. There are clubs for blacks and those aren't racist clubs. Heck, I know whites can join at least one of the black clubs on campus. So why is a white club that would do essentially the same thing, respect others, talk about sterotypes and all that, be inherantly thought of as "racist"? Well, I believe the quote given to me by a friend, from the administration here on campus sums it up pretty well: "we don't celebrate white-people holidays."
This is of course, in reference to why we have Cesar Chavez day off but not President's Day. Great as Abe Lincoln or George Waashington may have been, famous as they still are today, they are white people. And celebrating anything white-related is against multiculturalism, and thus, bad, and since you are celebrating something of white people, you must be like white people, and therefore: racist.
This friend's girlfriend told me of how some students tried to start a club like I mentioned above, something just like the other cultural clubs do, the only difference: it was started by white people and about respecting cultures. There was over a month in hearings and trials alone. The school simply would not approve it and their arguments were the expected ones, that, in short, whites are bad.
The University of Delaware had a program that when you signed up for the school it read in short: "all whites are inherantly racist, if you wish to correct this problem, the school will provide services to help." lolwut? Yeah, this university actually said, right in it's cirriculum, what is now a founding priniciple of "multiculturalisim", that all whites are racist and bad. After several years, the school changed it(rather recently I might add), but the ideology remains. How can this be "multiculturalism", when a significant cultural and ethnic group is being racistly discriminated against?
In short, it's not, and it hasn't been for a long time. "Multiculturalism" has become "anti-whiteism", an ideology that all non-white cultures are to be celebrated, not for any particular reason, but simply because they're not white. Which is why I call upon you, whomever you are, if you're reading this, and I don't care what race, ethnicity or culture you are part of, to just stop for a moment and say to yourself: "when I'm respecting other people, am I really including everyone in that?"
I'm not asking for special treatment, I'm asking for you to take a look at the system and really look to see if when they say: "We respect all cultures." that any culture and it's people who desire respect in that system, are given it. Regardless of their skin color, and that people aren't inherantly seen as racist because of something they have no control over. It's not "fair play", it's not "revenge" and if it is, then really take a look at who the racist is. If you think it's fair for whites to be disrespected or treated pooly based on the actions of people with the same skin color in the past, then yeah, the only real racist is the one in your mirror.
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3 comments:
I fully agree with you on that there should be a club for whites because there is a sad element of whites being oppressed and not being able to be proud of where they are coming from. Although, I believe the reason why many people don't take easily the concept of a white club because it can be seen that when most vast and well known groups of whites join together it is usually in the mission or goal of putting down another group that has a longer history of being the underdog. If you feel this thought can be proven wrong then make the club on campus. There used to be a jewish club and at my high school there was an European descendant club as well!
Racism
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Historical Facts
UN Report Hits US Racism
RIGHTS-US: U.N. Panel Finds Two-Tier Society
By Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 11 (IPS) - The United States
government is drawing fire from international legal
experts for its treatment of American Indians, Blacks,
Latinos and other racial minorities.
The U.S. is failing to meet international standards on
racial equality, according to the U.N. Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) based in
Geneva, Switzerland.
Last Friday, after considering the U.S. government's
written and oral testimony, the 18- member committee
said it has found "stark racial disparities" in the
U.S. institutions, including its criminal justice
system.
The CERD is responsible for monitoring global
compliance with the 1969 Convention on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination, an international treaty that
has been ratified by the United States.
In concluding the CERD report on the U.S. record, the
panel of experts called for the George W. Bush
administration to take effective actions to end racist
practices against minorities in the areas of criminal
justice, housing, health care and education.
This is the second time in less than two years that the
U.S. government has been found to be falling short of
its treaty obligations. In March 2006, The CERD had
harshly criticized the U.S. for violating Native
Americans' land rights.
Taking note of racial discrimination against indigenous
communities, the Committee said it wants the U.S. to
provide information about what it has done to promote
the culture and traditions of American Indian, Alaska
Native and indigenous Hawaiian peoples. It also urged
the U.S. to apply the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples.
The CERD also voiced strong concerns regarding
environmental racism and the environmental degradation
of indigenous areas of spiritual and cultural
significance, without regard to whether they are on
"recognized" reservation lands.
The Committee recommended to the U.S. that it consult
with indigenous representatives, "chosen in accordance
with their own procedures -- to ensure that activities
carried out in areas of spiritual and cultural
significance do not have a negative impact on the
enjoyment of their rights under the Convention".
In its 13-page ruling, the U.N. body also raised
serious questions about the death penalty and in the
sentencing of minors to life without parole, which it
linked to racial disparities between whites and blacks.
In their testimony, Bush administration officials held
that the treaty obligations do not apply to laws or
practices that are race-neutral on their face but
discriminatory in effect. The Committee outright
rejected that claim, noting that the treaty prohibits
racial discrimination in all forms, including practices
and legislation that may not be discriminatory in
purpose, but in effect.
The CERD panel also objected to the indefinite
detention of non-citizens at Guantanamo prison and
urged the U.S. to guarantee "enemy combatants" judicial
review.
The panel said the U.S. needs to implement training
programs for law enforcement officials, teachers and
social workers in order to raise their awareness about
the treaty and the obligations the U.S. is required to
uphold as a signatory.
Human rights defenders who watched the CERD proceeding
closely said they were pleased with its observations
and recommendations.
"The U.N. is telling the U.S. that it needs to deal
with an ugly aspect of its criminal justice system,"
said Alison Parker of Human Rights Watch, which has
been monitoring discriminatory practices in the United
States for years.
In a statement, Parker hailed the U.N. panel for
rejecting the U.S. government's claim that more black
children get life without parole because they commit
more crimes and held that the U.N. criticism of the
justice system was fair.
"Once again, the Bush administration has been told by a
major human rights body that it is not above the law,"
said Parker in of the indefinite detention of terrorism
suspects at Guantanamo prison.
Other rights activists also held similar views about
the outcome of the CERD hearings in Geneva.
"[It has] exposed to the world the extent to which
racial discrimination has been normalized and
effectively made permissible in many areas of American
life," said Ajamu Baraka of the Human Rights Network,
an umbrella group representing more than 250 rights
advocacy organizations.
As part of its recommendations, the Committee has asked
the U.S. government to consider the establishment of an
independent human rights body that could help eliminate
widespread racial disparities.
Lenny Foster, Dine (Navajo) and representative of the
Native America Prisoners Rights Coalition, was a member
of the indigenous delegation to the CERD. He observed
during the examination that the United States was "in
denial".
"Spiritual wellness and spiritual healing is paramount
to the very survival of the indigenous nations," he
said. "There are efforts to prohibit and impede the
spiritual access. Corporations cannot be allowed to
prohibit access and to destroy and pollute and
desecrate the sacred lands."
Bill Larsen of the Western Shoshone Defense Project
delegation also testified before the Committee, making
a strong case concerning environmental racism and the
deadly pollution caused by mining on their ancestral
lands.
In March 2006, the Western Shoshone leaders had
received a favorable response from the Committee to
its complaint about the U.S. exploitation of their
sacred lands. The U.S. is obligated "to freeze, desist
and stop further harmful activities on their lands",
but failed to take any action.
Indigenous leaders said they welcomed the Committee's
decision to ask the U.S. to submit its report on
compliance within one.year.
"It is important that all Native Peoples within the
U.S. know that they have rights that are recognized by
international law even if the United States refuses to
recognize them or act upon them," said Alberto
Saldamando, one of the indigenous delegates attending
the Geneva meeting.
"Now it is not just us," he continued, "but the
international community that has recognized that
indigenous peoples within the United States are subject
to racism on many levels and has called for effective
steps by the U.S. to remedy this situation."
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