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ODE: Leaving out the important things.

So, I submit this to the ODE yesterday. They printed it without hacking it to pieces, but left out one key passage.

Per the grossly overquoted Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”

That gave context to the whole submission. Thanks, ODE. Thanks a lot.
But thanks for running it 24 hours after I wrote in. That was a classy move.

  1. Olly says:

    …and I guess I will remain so.

    It never ceases to amaze me how many people seem to think calling someone “ignorant” constitutes a persuasive point or a defensible argument. (I’m all for everyone trying to get along, though.)

  2. Olly says:

    OK, I’ll bite.

    Personally, I think objections to OMAS are purely symbolic and have to be framed as such. No lives are being ruined by the set-asides, no adverse effects suffered beyond (perhaps) a minor inconvenience. We’re not talking about Jim Crow here. However, the philosophical questions raised by the policy are interesting.

    Anonymous commenter, do you think an institutional policy that treats students from certain ethnic groups as qualitatively different from others can be leading us in the right direction? It’s not a trick question or one that I’m completely decided on myself; I’m genuinely curious.

  3. Casey says:

    Dude or dudeette, at least write your name after your post, you coward. I have a hard time taking advice from unnammed sources.

  4. Anonymous says:

    What year is this ummm 2005 and man it really breaks my heart to witness among us there are individuals who are culturally unaware and as well as the ignorance. 🙁 Lets stop all of this and try to get along!

  5. Ian says:

    If there was a policy in place which treated all complaints as the gospel truth, wouldn’t the entire College of Education currently be suspended or otherwise punished?

  6. Timothy says:

    It doesn’t work if we assume they’re all valid either, which is the current policy.

  7. Olly says:

    Class certainly isn’t supposed to be a support group, but neither is it supposed to be a threatening environment. “Some jerk mak[ing] a slur in class” may not be the stuff of life and death, but it cannot go unchallenged.

    On the other hand, I’ve heard allegations of racism that, when it comes down it it, didn’t seem to have much content to them. But we can’t claim to be interested in distinguishing between valid and invalid complaints if we assume that they’re all spurious to begin with.

  8. Melissa says:

    “The claim is, though, that the fears are not unfounded: that racial discrimination is rife in our classrooms. It is vitally important that such claims not be dismissed out of hand.”

    So maybe some jerk made a slur in class… that doesn’t mean that all white people feel the same.

    Furthermore, class isn’t supposed to be a support group.

    I agree with the remainder of your post. If there is such an incident, there are appropriate channels to address it. But the fears are unfounded because they are aimed at the entire white student population.

  9. Casey says:

    I’m not sure if the above post is sarcasm, but if it isn’t, then fool, you must be crazy! Not investigating an allegation because it’s too painful to re-hash might fly for rape and other violent crimes, but discrimination? If you’re too much of a wuss to confront a problem, then you deserve that problem. As far as the College of Ed goes, as far as I can tell, some are pissed off because facutly told a Native American to look people in the eye, which supposedly is taboo in said Native American tradition. In that regards, you take the advice, or you don’t. Your call. Or start every interview with “I’m Native American and I’m not going to look you in the eye.” I’m sure there is more to the story than that, but the Eugene Weekly (which is the primary source of my knowledge on said topic) is so poorly written that it’s hard to figure out what the issue is.

  10. Anonymous says:

    .. but Olly, wouldn’t investigating those specific incidents bring additional pain and emotional distress on those who were already the victims of said incidents by making them rehash their terrible discrimination incidents at the university..

    It’s a vicious cycle.. and why hasn’t anyone mentioned the College of Education bullshit while we’re at it?

    See how much easier it is to just accept the quotas?

  11. Olly says:

    Been keeping well clear of this one, but:These classes are for self-declared non-white students who are have unfounded fears of white students and don’t want to share a class with white students. (my emph.)The claim is, though, that the fears are not unfounded: that racial discrimination is rife in our classrooms. It is vitally important that such claims not be dismissed out of hand.

    The thing is, if the situation is as bad as the “pro-racist ideology” folks would have it, then installing enrolment quotas for certain sections is a woefully inadequate response. If students experience racial harassment in the classroom, we need to investigate the specific allegations and discipline those responsible rather than, say, set up some half-assed panacea that is itself ideologically offensive on many levels.

  12. Melissa says:

    Clint; you’re right, registration and ability to register isn’t the point.

    These classes are for self-declared non-white students who are have unfounded fears of white students and don’t want to share a class with white students.

    Mmm. Sounds like constructive diversity dialogue to me..

  13. Clint says:

    Ahh yes, Principles. I remember I had one of those in grade school, he wasn’t very nice.

    Yea, interesting side note: I enrolled at UofO as a Native American because I’ve got the necessary 1/8 required to claim it, and I remember getting unsolicited emails to get into these math classes.

    I never took them up on the offer because it was just as easy to register for the class normally.

    I think all of this is rather frivolous though. What’s the worst case scenario: In the end, as a “privileged white senior” .. you’re just going to have priority registration anyway, so those 10 spots that get reserved for “discriminated people of mixed backgrounds” wouldn’t matter.

    On second thought.. yea Mel, keep up the good fight.

  14. Melissa says:

    Ten seats in one class. This isn’t the only class, and there are plans for more.

  15. Timothy says:

    They’re called “principles” Clint.

  16. Clint says:

    I’ve never seen an Emerald editorial get so much attention before.

    While I agree with Melissa on this, don’t you think there’s better battles to fight? 10 seats for a math class..

    I guess if you’ve got the time to waste.

  17. Ian says:

    I fail to see how Mr. Zola’s racial minority or majority status is relevant to the discussion of his ideas.

    What does matter is that he appears to believe that colorblindness is tacit support for a “pro-racist ideology.” This is an appalling idea. Delineating people by race will no nothing to help eradicate racism. As Mr. Zola says, racial biases do exist on this campus (and throughout the U.S.) and they should be confronted and overcome, not ignored. But will confronting them with opposing racial biases do any good? I do not believe so.

  18. Melissa says:

    I know BRT wont bring any result. Filing a complaint with them is a formality before bringing in the real authority.

  19. Matt says:

    I have also filed a complaint for action with the BRT. We should all (probably futilely) submit one. At least we would be giving them something to do…

  20. C.T. says:

    “Finally, please spare us the Sean Hanity and Rush Limbaugh talking points about reverse discrimination. That is virtually impossible when US establishment is run by whites.”

    Condaleeza and I had a good laugh at that. Gonzalez and Gutierrez are at brunch with Elaine Chao and Norm Mineta, but they’ll probably get a chuckle also.

    Sincerely,

    Clarence Thomas

    p.s. I’m emailing Powell. He loves this kind of shit.

  21. Melissa says:

    Meh. Dude, go to that feedback and post.

  22. Rock Malibu says:

    Yes, biting the hand that feeds him. Anyway, I doubt he’s a minority, Zola is an Italian name.

  23. Melissa says:

    Two things on Marc:

    He claims to hate the government so much for what it has “done to his people,” yet he has no problem accepting grad school funding at a public university. Private institutions can do what they please: public universities have to obey certain laws.

    If he does pay for grad school out of his pocket, then he and his poor-little-minority act can kiss my ass. Either way, he has no place to talk.

  24. Rock Malibu says:

    Since leaving the university for the real world I have looked back often and thought, wow if only I could be back. But then I see those responses by Marc Zola and I think thank you Marc, thank you for bringing me back to reality, I don’t miss it.

  25. Timbo says:

    I think people are familar enough with King to catch your references and allusions without the explicit quotation. Some would argue that the piece is actually stronger for the subtlety.

    But not Marc Zola. I bet he would have been more strongly swayed with King’s authority to back up your words.

    Que sera

  26. Timothy says:

    Good moves, Mel. I had exactly the same thoughts upon reading the lazy defense of such practices.

    For fun: Take Jared’s article, swap out “of colour” or “minority” or “multicultural” for “white”, and see how the OMCA sounds. See how the MCC sounds. That’s right, just like David Duke.

  27. Melissa says:

    I filed a complaint for action with the Bias Response Team (like they’ll do anything).

    I’ve also filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in the US Department of Education. I’ve been in contact with Edward Blum of the Center of Equal Opportunity.

    I don’t think that Greg Vincent realizes that when one race is discriminated against, all races are in danger of discrimination.

    That, and race does not denote culture. Why is OMAS involved?

  28. Tseren says:

    Great article. I posted a comment to a counter article that was written about the same topic.

    Great use of the quote, but I think that perhaps it’s getting a little overplayed.

    I say we start looking to people other than MLK. I like the quote, it’s good, but there’s gotta be something that would be a little more impactful.

    I have a great one from Gandhi, but haven’t been able to use it yet:
    “I do believe that where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence I would advise violence.”

    Anyone have any other suggestions?

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