What We Talk About When We Talk About Race

The following is a collection of excerpts in response to the Community’s processing of the national tragedies in Ferguson, Cleveland and Staten Island. We reflect on Principal Hassan’s email, Saturday’s assembly, Dr. Chaver’s article, the die-in held on Friday, the corresponding ALES meeting, Sunday’s church conversation and discussions occurring throughout campus. In a discussion between seven ‘others’ exploring what’s problematic, we delve into a meta conversation of how we discuss race in America. This discussion took place on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014, in the common room of Main Street Hall. We invite you to read the full conversation on Exonian Online at http://theexonian.com.TIERRA McCLAIN: Black students.EMILY LEMMERMAN: Black students, like one of you could have, one of you could be subject to this.T.M. : I think it was to point out, again, that it's an Exeter issue.MERCEDES CARBONELL: I think I felt uncomfortable with it, not because it, because… I think at Exeter I’m bothered by the fact that we always have to bring it back to ourselves in order to be able to understand something. So, I would like it if we could get to a place where we could believe that something is serious that seems, initially, to have little to do with us. Nonetheless, in this case, it has a lot to do with us.~ ~ ~T. M. : It’s commending...M.C. : Commending a white policeman’s actions.T.M. : Yes! Thank you.ROWAN MCDONALD: I think it largely misses the point in that, when we discuss Ferguson, we actively try not to discuss Ferguson. In that, in many discussions I’ve had, I have had to reiterate the fact that this isn’t about Ferguson, this isn’t about Michael Brown—I mean it is—but, it’s as much about Michael Brown as it is about many, many other cases. But, it has much more to do with larger issues at play. For the same reason we wouldn’t look into the individual specifics of the Michael Brown case because it’s irrelevant, this feels like kind of a similar abuse.T. M.: I know that when I read the other part of this email, I also felt that he was trying to commend Lt. Lohr for going out of his comfort zone and approaching protesters. It made it seem as if... up until that point there wasn’t a dialogue. And, it made me think of how many of these protests are being stereotyped as "violent rioting" that isn't "getting anywhere" and it took, I guess, this white police officer, who I see painted as a hero, to change that atmosphere. ...And, that’s not true, at all.~ ~ ~E. L. : His email, the assembly was relatively on the cold side and not on, you know, the emotional. Let’s talk about how we act with allies, as bystanders, as whatever and for me, the way I conceptualize what Danna’s talking about is like, I feel like, it’s my privilege to not be as angry as people who cannot be anything but angry. And I don’t mean to say that in a way that paints people who are angry in an irrational way. I want to do it in a way that paints people who are irrationally angry in, like, a very human like; they are angry for a reason….listen to them! They are reasonable, and...M.C. : And, systematic injustice is irrational. So, an irrational response to an irrational system, in some ways, is—KELVIN GREEN II: Is the right answer.TORI HEWITT: Also, one thing that I found to be kind of problematic…. I was thankful that they talked about the history of it, but only talking about the history makes people think we are not over the past events when they don’t understand this is a contemporary problem. You look at statistics, you look at data...racism is not over. It is still systemic. It is still something that affects people on a daily basis, and I think it’s easy for, particularly people of color at Exeter, to pretend that it’s not a problem because we are privileged in other ways that make up for our blackness or brownness. And so I think he could have also listed more statistics, currently and more ideas, even just things like, "Why Do We Think About African American Hair" as being inferior to what is traditionally Caucasian hair? Something that simple and that small does perpetuate bad ideas between races, and I think he could have talked about that as a contemporary problem, not just the historical one.~ ~ ~K.G. : Um, going back to Dean Salcedo’s speech, I think that one of the big things to learn if you were...if you were student/faculty/staff...was when she said "How do you use your privilege?" Because whether you’re a white or a black person at Exeter, which the people there were, how do you use your privilege to bring about change? At the 3 p.m. church session, I don’t know her name. Yes, she went up to speak about a YouTube video she watched and it was...one of the main point that I liked was, "Speak Up Don’t Speak Over," which is a big thing because you see this idea of running towards, like "I think this is an injustice: let me run towards it." And then you leave the people who are feeling the injustice behind. She even made the comment that, like, don’t say, "I can’t breathe." If you’re white say, "They can’t breathe." Because you can breathe just fine, um, so I thought that was just a big thing: how do you use your privilege? Use your privilege as a white individual, as an Exonian, as a Dean, as a Teacher to bring about change. ...Don’t worry about like, "Oh, I need to like run towards this cause," just use your privilege. And don’t think this doesn’t apply to you, because you can bring about change whether you are white and you are not experiencing injustice but you see it, you just see it...DANNA SHEN: Kelvin, something that you just said, um, somewhere in the middle of your comment, you were talking about the idea of like...that there are ways we build hierarchy in discussions like this and I almost...oh you said, "Leaving the people who have the injustice behind." And I think that’s a little bit what this email does, ‘cause I am a little bit trying to process how I feel about this email through how we are talking about it right now. And I feel like that is actually my biggest problem with the email is that it feels like pulling out Lt. Lohr as the example leaves behind all of the dialogue, all of the protests, all of the other really important things that people who experienced injustice were doing in the moment and it makes it...it makes it so that this one individual who has not faced this injustice is the most important narrative in the process. Or at least that’s the message to our community. And that really concerns me. 