2008 Woodie Awards
Our reader's voices
Issue date: 12/7/07 Section: Voices
- Page 1 of 1
Campus still not diverse
At the beginning of the semester, I wrote a letter to Central Michigan Life which addressed my experiences of racism as a younger black faculty member when I first taught at CMU 18 years ago. Recent events reveal that things have not changed as much as I had hoped. While drinking coffee at my favorite coffee shop, The daily Grind, I looked up and saw a 10-foot Confederate flag posted on a car in downtown Mount Pleasant. Later that day I read about the controversy in the Honors Program where it seemed as though the class on American racism was being used as a political football. Finally, the noose incident confirmed that the CMU I had experienced 18 years ago hadn't changed as much as I would have liked.
When reflecting on these issues with my classes, I asked if the campus would have been more outraged if a display of a Nazi crematorium used to burn Jewish prisoners or a diorama of the U.S. Calvary slaughtering Native men and women at Wounded Knee had been used. I wondered what it would take to break through the denial that seems built into the American mindset which cannot seem to understand the history of racism in America? The noose act may have been intentional or an act of ignorance, but it still hurts those who have had relatives and community members lynched in obvious and subtle ways by the historical and continued presence of institutional racism and hate crimes.
Despite these continuing problems, I was encouraged by the "We Value Diversity" ad in CM Life. Perhaps with so many people willing to commit their names and voices to diversity, we can move beyond ignorance and intolerance to understanding and mutual respect. Add my name to the list.
Donald H. Matthews,
professor of Philosophy and Religion
Injustice knows no boundaries
To the members of the CMU and Mount Pleasant communities who have criticized "outsiders" for coming to CMU to respond to the nooses incident and other acts of racial and ethnic intimidation, I encourage you to consider these words from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Joyce A. Baugh
political science professor
At the beginning of the semester, I wrote a letter to Central Michigan Life which addressed my experiences of racism as a younger black faculty member when I first taught at CMU 18 years ago. Recent events reveal that things have not changed as much as I had hoped. While drinking coffee at my favorite coffee shop, The daily Grind, I looked up and saw a 10-foot Confederate flag posted on a car in downtown Mount Pleasant. Later that day I read about the controversy in the Honors Program where it seemed as though the class on American racism was being used as a political football. Finally, the noose incident confirmed that the CMU I had experienced 18 years ago hadn't changed as much as I would have liked.
When reflecting on these issues with my classes, I asked if the campus would have been more outraged if a display of a Nazi crematorium used to burn Jewish prisoners or a diorama of the U.S. Calvary slaughtering Native men and women at Wounded Knee had been used. I wondered what it would take to break through the denial that seems built into the American mindset which cannot seem to understand the history of racism in America? The noose act may have been intentional or an act of ignorance, but it still hurts those who have had relatives and community members lynched in obvious and subtle ways by the historical and continued presence of institutional racism and hate crimes.
Despite these continuing problems, I was encouraged by the "We Value Diversity" ad in CM Life. Perhaps with so many people willing to commit their names and voices to diversity, we can move beyond ignorance and intolerance to understanding and mutual respect. Add my name to the list.
Donald H. Matthews,
professor of Philosophy and Religion
Injustice knows no boundaries
To the members of the CMU and Mount Pleasant communities who have criticized "outsiders" for coming to CMU to respond to the nooses incident and other acts of racial and ethnic intimidation, I encourage you to consider these words from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Joyce A. Baugh
political science professor
