TO THE EDITOR:
American sociologist W.E.B. Dubois lamented about blacks’ imprisonment from self-identity: “...the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world — a world which yields him no self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.”
At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and beyond, white members of the institution of power have historically created an exclusive environment denying equal opportunity, equal representation and equal consciousness for minorities in thought, expression, organization and action — particularly those who identify as politically black.
It has been only 60 years since the first African-American undergraduate was allowed to enroll at the University of North Carolina. As recently as 2013, there were only 98 black males enrolled in the class of 2017 compared to 1,054 white males.
Author Ishmael Bishop’s resignation from The Daily Tar Heel as a result of verbal subjugation from his peers is a symbol that this historical trend of exclusiveness at the University of North Carolina and beyond continues today and into the future. While Bishop used his column to create a social representation of black solidarity — an opportunity for black people to find emotional strength in common memories of suffering — Bishop’s peers expressed disdain for his defense against generations of white degradation toward his people.
