Racial
double standards
Gerry
Wachovsky
Just
about every school across the nation has
clubs that students create for the purpose
of meeting similar people and relating to
issues that they may have a mutual interest
in. Some of these clubs deal with entertainment
or sports, while some clubs deal with politics
and culture. Recently an Oakley, high school
girl had an idea to start one of these clubs,
but she has been getting a large amount
of flak for it. Why in the world would she
be under such fire for wanting to start
a club? Simple ? the club that Lisa McClelland
wants to start is a Caucasian club, and
according to much of the United States,
this is simply not acceptable.
What
I find so hypocritical and contradictory
about this is that many ridiculously natured
clubs are formed, clubs nobody seems to
have a problem with, yet when a Caucasian
club is to be formed, the girl is made to
feel guilty for ever having thought of the
idea. Allow me to go through a short laundry
list of clubs that I find questionable,
clubs that exist here on our very campus,
clubs that never received the kind of flak
that this girl is getting.
One
club that always gets my blood boiling is
the cop-killer supporter club, known as
the "Student Coalition to Free Mumia
Abu-Jamal." Can somebody please explain
to me why this club can operate without
criticism while McClelland's Caucasian club
cannot? The students in this club support
a man that savagely killed a cop in cold
blood, a man who is now on death row awaiting
justified punishment for his crime. Since
when did it become acceptable to start a
club that not only celebrates a cop-killer
but works to free him, ultimately wanting
to release this dangerous man back into
society? Does anybody else find this preposterous?
Soon
after McClelland made her idea for a Caucasian
club public, Darnell Turner, the first vice
president from her local chapter of the
National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People made a statement saying
that he believes her club would create "racial
tension." Allow me to understand this
mentality: Mr. Turner belongs to a club
that is based solely on the color of one's
skin, yet he has a problem with McClelland's
club? It seems to me that her club would
be right up Turner's alley. Furthermore,
if her club would create racial tension,
then surely the over 20 race-and culture-based
clubs here on campus would create tension
as well? Apparently the African Student
Union, the Muslim Student Association, the
Latino Student Union and the Iranian Student
Association, not to mention more than 15
others, are not subject to this scrutiny.
Go figure. I might further add that McClelland
has graciously offered anybody who wants
to join membership to her club, not just
Caucasians, and has said that no one will
be excluded. That is more than I can say
for some of the clubs I mentioned.
How
about all the political clubs here on campus
that support silly and illogical ideologies,
such as the Campus Progressives, who are,
for all intents and purposes, neo-communists
that hate President Bush for no reason other
than the fact he is Republican. Why
hasn't anybody started a Saddam Hussein
club? Remember all the ultra-liberal students
here who were so vehemently against the
war and who seemed to think that Hussein
was such a stand-up guy? A club of this
nature would probably be welcomed more warmly
than a Caucasian club would!
I
support McClelland fully in her spearheading
of a Caucasian club and I urge anybody who
disagrees with this club to think twice.
There are clubs and special interest groups
for every possible facet of society, including
those based on race, culture and political
affiliation. Why then, should a white student
be lambasted for wanting to begin a Caucasian
club? Quite an interesting set of double
standards her opponents possess, wouldn't
you say?
Gerry
Wachovsky is a broadcast journalism major
and can be reached at SenorBucho@aol.com.
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