Black pain has been largely ignored on campus for decades.
A vast majority of non-black individuals still believe in the idea that Southwestern College is a racism-free utopia. Each incident of racism is viewed as an isolated problem. In the last ten years, SWC has been immersed in four major crises involving anti-black discrimination. Although historically the racial tensions were limited to faculty, staff and administration, it has now seeped into the student body.
One need to look no further than this month’s ASO election debacle to see this reality. Institutional racism has become near impossible to deny, despite some writing it off as “debateable.”
Last year SWC President Dr. Kindred Murillo contracted a team led by Dr. Shaun Harper, the executive director of USC’s Race and Equity Center, to conduct a study on the racial climate of the campus. Their study found that among the 50 other campuses surveyed, SWC had one of the worst anti-black problems. Reports of racial slurs against black employees litter the pages of Harper’s report.
And yet people still deny anti-black behavior on campus.
Ignoring or denying the black community’s pain is indicative of a more subtle and insidious pattern of behavior that has plagued the campus.
We call the South Bay a melting pot of cultures, but fail to remember that each group’s biases simmer in the pot too.
Latinx students also face discrimination. While SWC has labeled itself a safe place for undocumented students, many face the legitimate fears of family members or themselves being assaulted, harassed or deported each time they have an encounter with law enforcement. We have a Dreamer’s Center that The Sun is enthused about, but we need to serve more than the Latinx community.
What special accommodations have been made for the black community besides clubs that they had to create themselves? The small number of black student clubs are advised by an even smaller group of dedicated faculty. Nearly every organization or club on campus serving the Latinx population has a different leader.
There needs to be an increase in black faculty representation on SWC’s campus. There are only 13 black full-time faculty members, compared to 54 who are Latinx and 122 who are white. The ASO and Governing Board are both comprised of predominantly Latinx members. The sole black candidate who ran for a seat on the Governing Board received no endorsements from any of the current members and was criticized when her platform was geared towards healing the black community.
Racism is not always an overt act. It has evolved beyond segregated schools and water fountains into a disguised monster. Activist Stokely Carmichael coined the term “institutional racism” during the Civil Rights Movement. He said racism has two distinct classifications: individual and institutional. racism.
“The first consists of overt acts by individuals, which cause death, injury or the violent destruction of property,” he said. “This type can be recorded by television cameras; it can frequently be observed in the process of commission. The second type is less overt, far more subtle, less identifiable in terms of specific individuals committing the acts. But it is no less destructive of human life.”
A lack of black instructors and elected officials reveals a flaw in the system. But, over the past decade, we also had feces being left in the lockers of black custodians; police being wrongly called on black faculty for incorrect assumptions of homelessness. Now, in 2019, we have black students on the receiving end of potential hate crimes.
The pain left from these issues needs to be genuinely heard. We commend Murillo for trying to acknowledge the core issues of the institution, but this effort needs to stretch beyond the woman in charge and members of the black community fighting desperately for their voice to be heard.
Writing off their grievances by saying there is only a four percent black population on campus is saying their lives matter less as a minority. We need to shine a light on the knowledge they have been trying to provide the community.
Southwestern College administrators need to come up with solutions to the anti-black problem instead of just “working on it.” Having listening sessions and promoting changes in hiring processes of employees is a great first step, but in order to denounce the naysayers, it needs to be heard from administration that they blatantly acknowledge the dire state of the college.
Until then, people will continue to believe the college’s anti-black problem is still “up for debate.”
