My name is Cody Houston Frederick, and I would quote to you the percentage of whites on UA’s campus, but I could not find it on the demographics section of UA’s Quick Facts page, despite learning the percentage of African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans. Presumably, this is to save bandwidth and has nothing to do with the fact that white is the overwhelming norm on our campus. Suffice it to say that I am white; I do not speak for people of color (who are themselves not a monolith), and my views are my own.
Recently, a response to Lin Wang’s Sept. 19 letter to the editor appeared in The Crimson White that took issue with Wang’s criticisms of UA Stands. The issue Gonzales takes with Wang and “those who believe like her” is Wang’s claim that a group of students cannot effectively protest against their own interests. And indeed, Wang devotes a whole two sentences to noting that it is difficult for privileged people to demonstrate against their privilege, before moving on to incorporating that point into a larger argument. In short, Gonzales’ criticism of our criticism is a strawman.
The issue that I and many others take with UA Stands is not that a group of white students participates in a movement such as this, any more than the problem with (to use Gonzales’ example) Lyndon Johnson was that he was forced by circumstance to enlist a white cabinet and congress to pass the Voting Rights Act.
The problem, fundamentally, is a lack of introspection.
The lack of inclusion is a problem, make no mistake. Just as with Lyndon Johnson, however, it can be reasonably argued that it is a necessary one, on a campus with 82 percent white students. What is not necessary and, I argue, not helpful, is a movement that exists in part to absolve itself of wrongdoing and complicity with this apparently singular entity “racism.”
I cannot speak to Lyndon Johnson’s actions in the hours following the passage of the Voting Rights Act, but had he gotten back to the White House, kicked up his feet, and said “Welp, we solved racism. Good day, fellas” – never once seeing that he was, in small and large ways, contributing to the larger problem of racism in the United States – he would have received, just as UA Stands did, criticism from myself and others who hold similar views.
The integration of the Greek system is a noble cause. But the idea that we can “end racism” by making an effort to end rampant segregation in the Greek system, all while ignoring the fact that we contribute to this societal problem every bit as much as the mysterious alumni cabal, is preposterous.
We passively surround ourselves with other white students, so much so that UA feels no need to note in its Quick Facts the actual amount of white people on campus, and so much so that even in a group as forward thinking as UA Stands I have trouble finding media attention featuring people of color. To fail to note this is irresponsible and merely props up notions of privilege, and to never once think about how our own personal thoughts and actions contribute to the system is as ridiculous as thinking that Judy Bonner can end racism by hugging Bill Cosby.
Cody Frederick is a junior majoring in history.
