Last week, Erynn Williams wrote a column on the topic of diversity – or lack thereof – in the entertainment industry. Ms. Williams argued that the lack of diversity in certain industries isn’t because of racism, but rather because people of color don’t show interest in those kinds of jobs. She closed her article by saying, “…if there is no one of color to show interest in a field, then there will be no one of color in that field.”

I respect Ms. Williams’ opinions, and I think her article was well-researched and supported. I also think it was founded on an idea that has hurt minorities throughout American history, including today, and that needs to be discredited.

The idea is this: Social inequality is a natural state resulting from inherent differences between racial groups and should be accepted as the norm.

If you went back to 1800 and tried to find a black man qualified to be an attorney, you wouldn’t find one. Not because black men are bad lawyers, but because in 1800 it was illegal for slaves to read. In this time period, many people justified slavery by claiming that slaves were too uneducated and ignorant to be anything but. They failed to see the obvious flaw, that their poor education was a result of their status.

Later on, in the 1900s, people made a similar argument in favor of segregation. They claimed that different races simply had different places in society and that segregation was the natural result of this condition. As with slavery, we now see these inequalities as the result of racial discrimination and not “the way of things.”

I know that these comparisons seem extreme, and I hope that Ms. Williams will understand that I’m not trying to call her racist. Nor am I saying that the lack of diversity in the entertainment industry is comparable to slavery. What I am saying is that it’s incredibly dangerous to attribute social inequality to “the way of things.” This is especially relevant now, as our campus struggles against institutionalized racism.

I’ve often heard greeks say that minorities “aren’t interested” in joining white greek organizations. Yet once administrators spoke up, we saw dozens of minorities stepping forward to join our greek system. This is indicative of the fact that, on this very campus, the same old arguments are being used to excuse institutionalized racism.

The argument that social inequality is “the way of things” has been around for hundreds of years, and it’s always been wrong. As our campus tries to cleanse the stain of segregation, we need to bear in mind that persistent racial homogeneity isn’t a natural state. A universal talent pool is the best talent pool, and if the only people drawn from a given talent pool are white, then something has gone wrong.

Nathan James is a junior majoring in public relations. His column runs on Thursdays.