Could racism be dismantled with a little education? David Leonard says it's worth a try
By David Leonard
Ebony - January 17, 2014
Recent months have seen a wave of campus racism at America’s colleges and universities, including Fordham University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, Northwestern University, and the Ohio State University.
While racism is as commonplace at America’s “liberal” training grounds
as binge drinking, I found myself wondering about occupying America’s
universities. I found myself wondering how Black studies and ethnic
studies have the potential to change America’s racial path. How Black
studies and understanding the ongoing history of racism is essential to a
quest for a “more perfect union.”
Imagine if every student took at least one Black studies course per
year during college alongside of Chicano Studies, Asian American Studies
and Native American Studies. What if students, what if white students,
starting in kindergarten and through graduate school, American’s future
leaders, teachers, and voters learned a 4th R – racism –
alongside 'reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic? Surely institutional racism
would remain an obstacle, but Whites who inhabit those institutions,
from the classroom to the Capital, would likely be changed.
Learning about minstrelsy and the history of racist
imagery would surely impact the decision from White students to don
blackface for the sake of fun, parties and Halloween. Learning about
the history of slavery and lynchings would hopefully encourage thought
from entire communities the next time a noose appeared on campus, the
next time someone scrawled lynch on a chalkboard or dorm room door.
There would be no more excuses and claims of ignorance about these
histories.
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