With each new semester, comes the formation of new student organizations on campus. This semester, the Asian American Cultural Exchange (AACE) made its grand debut at SXU. With several students already “liking” the club’s official Facebook page – SXU’s AACE – the Asian American Cultural Exchange is sure to be a popular student organization at the university and is bound to gain even more followers as the school year progresses.
This new student organization joins SXU’s significant list of other clubs that help promote diversity on campus. Unidos, the Black Student Union (BSU), the Muslim Student Association (MSA), the Alliance, and now the Asian American Cultural Exchange will just further help to educate the SXU community on a certain group’s culture and traditions.
However, with the formation of this new student organization, some people may snarkily ask, “Why do we even need another diversity club? We get that everybody is supposed to be treated equally – and really, everybody already is!”
Such remarks are not only ignorant, but they totally promote the false impression that racism no longer exists in the United States.
Just because racist remarks and discriminatory displays are no longer as overtly said or shown as in the past, does not mean that they don’t exist anymore.
Take for example the recent debacle with the latest Ms. America winner, Nina Davuluri. Davuluri is the first Asian American (let alone Indian American) recipient of the Ms. America distinction…and there was backlash.
As soon as the news broke, harsh Tweets broke out, criticizing the choice, many associating her – due to her Asian heritage and skin color – as being un-American.
The internet exploded with comments as sophomoric as “This is America. Not India” to comments as harsh as “Miss America? You mean Miss 7-11.”
The problem lies not within the amount of groups that celebrate their own diversity – there is nothing wrong with identifying with people of a shared heritage and coming together to celebrate that heritage.
But perhaps as a culture we should celebrate in more frequency and with more vigor the amount of diversity that we have on our campus.
We live in a global culture. There is no excuse for ignorant remarks that befell on our new Ms. America or to any person who faces ridicule, hatred and meaningless rudeness because of the color of their skin and not because of the content of their character.
The likening of Davuluri to a terrorist in some Tweets, though, would be enough to make one understand why some races and people do feel excluded or on the fringe of American culture.
At the end of Spike Lee’s masterful film Do The Right Thing (1989), a group of disgruntled African and Mexican Americans riot – destroying the pizza parlor of a local Italian business man and his racist son.
However, when the mob’s rage turns away from the Italian-owned pizza shop to a Korean run convenience store, the convenience store owner says, “I am not like them (pointing to the racist Italian son). I am like you (pointing to the rioters)!”
With this still poignant film, writer/director Lee points out that the reason we have racial issues in America is because of the lack of unified identity in our country as being distinctly American – we’re still seeing the issue of an exclusive American with comments like “Miss America? You mean Miss 7-11.”
So whenever you see a diversity group on campus, don’t ask why they’re here or what we need that for, ask them, instead, to inform you of their personal experiences and the lore of their heritage.
A country cannot function as a whole until it includes all of its part and becomes a single entity.
We will never do that while there is still ignorance. These groups are a great way for a student to become informed of the many rich heritages that the share the home we call St. Xavier University.
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