What would happen if I opened an all-white college?

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

Did anyone else find this racist? Not all white people are privileged. Some of us actually do have to work hard to get anywhere.

Thank you! That sentiment is blatantly racist. There are losers out there who will never admit it, though. It's OK. They know it to be true, and as much as they front, they can't even kid themselves. Sad, actually.

au contraire wrote:

Who said anybody was whining? The OP merely asked "What would happen if...?" Is the reading comprehension--lack thereof--really that bad on this board? (Don't answer that.)

Ari Gold said:

"I'm white, not rich, and got $70,000 student loans to repay, but if i was black in the same situation, i would have went to school for practically nothing."

Yes, I would say that is whining. I wasn't specifically referring to the OP... my apologies for generalizing

"You said it right, though: "White is generally used..." Why is that? Why is it that the same people who wish to be referred to as Hyphenated-Americans do not feel that they owe the same courtesy to "white people"? If you happen to be white, when's the last time a non-white referred to you as a "European-American"? My guess: NEVER. I'm not saying that they should, per se, but shouldn't the courtesy extend to all?"

Well, I will finish my thought then... "Black is generally used to mean African-Americans". Black is a socially acceptable label these days, so unless someone specifically asks you to refer to them as African-American, I think you will be ok. In turn you can ask them to refer to you as "fill in the blank"-American. Then you will both be happy.

"Talk about non-starters; the Sons of Italy example was weak, and I think you'd agree."

Interestingly enough, I do not agree. That is why I used it as an example. I am of Irish descent. Therefore I cannot apply for the Sons of Italy scholarship, while another person of a different European descent can.

"And no: all white people cannot easily pinpoint their ancestry. Many immigrants changed their surnames upon entry to the States--for a variety of reasons. Chief among them: discrimination. Go figure."

You are right here in that I generalized. I should have said "MOST white people..." And to use your idea, I think this argument is weak. You are seriously comparing this example to the millions of African's who lost their the ability to pass on their histories as they were bought and sold?

There is no "go figure". I think it is well known that many other ethnicities, such as my own, were discriminated against in their early entry into this country. I do not see how that point negates anything I was talking about.

"Also, just because someone did happen to know that they were "Irish", for example, do you really think they're going to be tripping over scholarship opportunities based on that heritage?"

I am not interested in this part of the thread. I, unlike the whiners I was referring to, actually understand that colleges may be looking for specific characteristics and will reward those who have them (ie: minority scholarships). School X wants more diversity... they offer scholarship advantages to minorities. Makes sense to me. School Y wants to win NCAA XC... they offer scholarship advantages to faster runners. That doesn't make sense to you??

You said that you read every post. How do you not see that this thread is about (wrongly named) reverse-racism and double-standards? Can you get off the dude misusing the term all-black colleges long enough to see that?

Writing style accolades aside, I agree that society should not blindly value race as it does, however.

BTW, how'd I do (given that I was big enough to not point out your spelling mistakes)?

Of course I have seen it, and I\'ve seen just as many white people go out of their ways to avoid living, working, or socializing with people who do not look like themselves. You\'re honestly unfamiliar with the term \"white flight?\" What part of the US do you live in?!

wjw0006 wrote:

I feel a "reverse-racism" effect.

?

RACISM=a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

a black person who hates whites is exhibiting racism, not reverse racism.

an interestinger fact wrote:

What do y'all think of these "Miss Black", "Miss Asian", "Miss ABW*" and the like pageants?

*Anything-but-White

Miss Italia-America

What do y'all think of this ABNIA* pageant?

*Anything-But-Non-Italian-American

You are right though... the Miss ABW* pageant needs to be stopped!

*http://www.azbikeweek.com/missabw2007.htm

an interesting fact, why are you so worried about other people's ethnic pride?

And if your ethnicity does not have a pageant, start one. But be sure not to limit it to women because that might upset some dudes who want to be MR. ____!

at the beginning of time were whites given an unfair advantage? were white cavemen only allowed to go to cave college?

where and when did the unfair distribution of wealth happen? if it was from the beginning then what does that mean? and if there was not an unfair distribution in the beginning, and now there is, then what does that mean?

Did you miss History 201 and 202?

When it is brought up that more minorities are in jail nobody brings up the fact that they belong there only they didn't have a good lawyer to get them off.

Just start up a college that doesn't offer athletic scholarships and eliminate the "race" checkbox on the application. Make admissions based on academic qualifications only. Of course, the way things have been going, Asians would bump out a lot of whites, but so what? If the purpose of this college is to accept the brightest and most qualified students and teach them to be the best in their fields, it's up to you to be among them by nailing everything in high school. If you can't do that, fair is fair and you don't have any business taking a spot away from a smarter Korean guy any more than some guy has taking your spot because of his race. Starting up a "whites only" college would only do the very thing you're trying to prevent because admissions would favor one race and stand to eliminate better qualified candidates.

i'm saying that it would be racist if it bothered the person that it was directed towards. i was referring to myself, so i don't see that as racism, because i am not bothered by the term. equally, i don't find it racist for a black person to refer to his buddy as "nigga", if the term does not bother him.

as i said before with the naming of the channels, there isn't one channel that you could pinpoint and call "white entertainment television", because there are so many. it has nothing to do with the fact that it is PC or not. if there were only one or two channels aimed towards the white population, then no, i would not be bothered by the name white entertainment television.

I also recommend anyone who wants to open their mouths too much about "reverse racism" to read Richard Kluger's 800-page tour de force about segregation and the Brown v. Board of Ed. decision -- "Simple Justice".

You will be moved by its emotional force and it's impeccable scholarship. And you will close the book ashamed to have ever even thought of such an idea as an "all-white college". I know, I know, 800 long pages may be hard to get through, but some people who have ready widely enough to have an ounce of credibility on this issue might find it worth the time. (How's that for condescension?)

I think you may be missing my point about the All-black vs. historically black university label. The OP basically cited two cases of Reverse racism. AA and the ability of blacks to have "black-only" universities. The reason that there are historically black universities is due to a national policy of discrimination against black. For white person to then turn around and use this as an example of his own persecution is ridiculous. It also shows why the question he asked, both in the title and body of his post, shows a real lack of critical thinking skills. Also about a quarter of the post since his post agreeing with him on "all-black" universities.

I realize that a lot of the posts are about reverse discrimination, but it is an egregious error for multiple people to be using that as a prime example. The other examples were AA programs, which I mentioned, and corporate hiring and marketing practices. In those examples, the policy is basically set by white americans. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I'm pretty sure "reverse racism" isn't the right term.

Without reading beyond the first post, I can say there has been an all white school opened. It's called Brigham Young University.

Shouldn't we be looking at personal situations instead of generalizing a group of people based on their race? Isn't that racism? None of the advantages you mention are directly connected to being white. For the most part they are earned. Yet there are scholarships, etc. available to non-whites exclusive to their skin color.

don't you remember the show called a Different World with Denise Huxtable attending an all black school. Well she had a white roommate her first year played by guess who?

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

Shouldn't we be looking at personal situations instead of generalizing a group of people based on their race? Isn't that racism? None of the advantages you mention are directly connected to being white. For the most part they are earned. Yet there are scholarships, etc. available to non-whites exclusive to their skin color.

Are they earned?

Put a black person and a white person from the same background. Parents have the same education level. Family is in the same economic position.

Statistically the white person will be far more successful than the black person.

Why?

What you are trying to do is deny that you have any advantages over minorities by being white. Which if you would actually look at the research instead of saying your opinion you would be wrong. In no way am I saying that you have not worked hard for what you've got. I'm sure you have. But color, in America, is one of the deciding factors for success. Individuals might rise above this artificial barriers but its very hard for whole groups of people to do the same.

Just look up the history of welfare and federal housing created during the New Deal period. Someone mentioned white flight. Blacks could not leave the city, the federal government made sure of that. Thus we have a whole generation that could not create wealth and pass it onto their children because of federal government institutions.

Personal I think America is a much more diverse place than it was 50 years ago. However, to say there is no racism in the America and that being white doesn't have any advantages is completely false.

Since most people are using their personal stories as basis for their posts I will start with my personal background. I am an young black man who has lived in both urban (mostly Black and Latino) environments and in suburban (upper-middle class mostly White) environments. I have also been in close contact with years of academic study on these subjects (my mother is a professor of American History at Swarthmore College). I attend an Ivy League institution (which did not recruit me because of my race or at all for that matter). I went to a public high school which sent 20+ students to Ivy League schools (and a couple others to the likes of Berkeley, Caltech, etc.) my senior year. I scored over a 1400 on my SAT , was near the top of my class, was editor of the school newspaper and literary magazine, was published multiple times in the New York Times (and Parade Magazine but I'm not too proud of that), was a national merit scholar, was a rather accomplished track athlete, volunteered, tutored, etc, etc. Basically, I'm suggesting that I was/am plenty qualified to be at my current Ivy League institution. That being said, I have had my admission to my current university questioned multiple times by my white peers, many of whom were so bold as to tell me that I was most likely admitted under URM (under represented minority is the hot term being tossed around by sociologists ) or AA admission standards. I have been bombarded with numerous complaints about the "reverse-racism" of universities like the one I am enrolled in. The statistical fact of the matter is the group that has most benefited from Affirmative Action (both percentage wise and in terms of total number) since its implementation has been upper-middle class white women especially in the working world and in the sciences and engineering. In terms of college admissions, African-American men are the group least "helped" by variable admissions standards. Numerically "we" get into fewer universities compared to other URMs and those that do do not graduate at a very high rate. All of that being said, African-Americans as a group make up 4% of college students at colleges and universities that keep up stats on such matters (most colleges and universities). Meaning the attention given to this issue greatly outweighs the likelihood of it occurring. In the very rare occurrence , a white student is not chosen in favor of an EQUALLY qualified student of a different race (but also students that admissions folks think will spice up the student body like, other Caucasian foreigners, white American students who have spent time abroad, great athletes of any race, student entrepreneurs, concert pianists, child prodigies, etc.). And in this infinitesimally small percentage of cases there is legitimate discrimination going on. To those who have definitively been affected by a scenario like this I am truly sorry, but these are the unfortunate breaks of life.

In regards to Affirmative Action reform, there have been many attempts to reorganize the criteria in order to help benefit Americans with an emphasis on socio-economic disparities rather than racial (or perceived) racial disparities. However, many of these attempts at reform have been shot down by Caucasian politicians who feel like supporting such a move would hurt their chances at capturing "the black vote".

In regards to starting an "all-white" university. This has been addressed many times in this thread, but no one has mentioned Bob Jones University which is essentially an "all-white" school. It has also been mentioned earlier but, "all-black" or historically black colleges like Morehouse, Tuskegee, Grambling State, etc. have been openly "recruiting" white students for quite some time (just like schools like BC and Notre Dame have been trying to increase black enrollment).

Again in regards to starting an "all-white" university, I say go for it. But be wary starting new universities is rather expensive and I feel as though there are many people (white or otherwise) who might not support such a venture ( I think it would be kind of tough to convince investors). People attending, investing in, and teaching at such a university may run the risk of being black balled and labeled a racists. Contrary to popular belief (and what Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would have you believe) it is the majority, not the minority which determines what is deemed racist. While it is true that members of the effected communities are frequently responsible for pointing out things that they find offensive it is the majority (white people) that give power to these sentiments. Blacks felt that being referred to as N*****s, Porch Monkeys, Sambos, Jigaboos, Darkies, Spooks, etc. was offensive and hurtful long before those terms were deemed as tools of racists by the general public.

Sorry for the excessively lengthy post, I simply could not help myself. I find it so interesting that people (of all races and socio-economic backgrounds, rich, poor, black, white, whatever) can make themselves into victims of "the system" if they really try.

Best post I have read in a long time.