TO THE EDITOR:
We are two ‘non-whites’ who felt compelled to respond to your letter to the editor which claimed that a space for only people of color is evidence of reverse-racism. We disagree.
You claim that ‘our’ ancestors fought to end segregation.
May we remind you that your ancestors probably fought to keep segregation? At this point, you might throw up your hands and groan, “But that was in the past! It’s 2017. I’m different than my racist confederate ancestors!” In return, we would gently remind you that you cannot simply turn a blind eye to the past because you disagree with it. You have a responsibility to acknowledge it because those supposedly ‘mistakes of the past’ sowed the ground on which you now reap the benefits.
Acknowledging the past also includes remembering the very foundations of segregation and its historical significance. Segregation still happens today, with regards (not only) to housing and education, and it makes a bigger impact than any one ‘non-white’ space will, but we digress.
Why not question why these spaces make you feel uncomfortable?
Consider this question in the perspective of a student of color who attends a predominantly-white university. Students of color are already living and have been living with this ‘uncomfortableness’ since the day they were born. You will never know this experience because you are not a person of color.
Moreover, people of color are not a monolith and our experiences are not the same. This absence of knowledge isn’t meant to cripple you; rather, recognize this absence so it may be filled. Acknowledgement of your privilege as a white person is the first, but not the last step in achieving integration and equality.
In the study you cited, you fail to acknowledge how perspectives differ when discussing these spaces. The author mentions how spaces like these “provide a safe haven from the otherwise unwelcoming campus climate”, and in your letter, you fail to recognize the unwelcomeness that led to the original demand from Students4Justice.
