The Great Debate at Kennesaw State

This past Spring, one grad student at Kennesaw State University's Coles College of Business overheard a conversation that he felt was offensive. A few days later, he decided to share his feelings on "The Vent", the anonymous discussion board that enables graduate students in the business school to rant about different issues, ie, fees, lack of alumni support, et cetera. The post described the "situation" he found himself in when he overheard three Black students discussing membership in KSU's Black MBA Association. He felt that the only reason he was excluded from the conversation was because of the color of his skin (yes, that's what he said). The post went on to describe how he felt that racially-motivated student organizations were "offensive" and "racist" and that people who participated in these groups were "self-segregationists". He went on to say that although he had never lived in anybody else's shoes, he understand that Blacks had been treated unfairly... in the past. He offered his hopes that things will change in the future and then quoted the highly inspirational slogan of President Obama's Presidential campaign: "Yes, we can". The call of his post was this: "Is there a need for a Black MBA Association?"

In the weeks that followed the original post, several business students have decided to speak up and speak out either in support for or against the original post, albeit that most people were not as brave as the original author was and decided to keep their post anonymous. Someone even posted (anonymously):

"Often wondered about such things...NAACP, United Negro College Fund, Ebony Magazine, etc...

Change any of those to caucasian/white and you are violating someone's civil rights...but leave it as it is and it is perfectly acceptable. I never understood that."

Toward the end of the thread, the discussion turned to another unacceptable inequity - "reverse" discrimination.

Now, even though I clearly have access to this discussion board, I had never entered nor did I care to read what others were saying. One day, I decided to go in and see what kind of things people were talking about. Naturally, this discussion (titled "White MBA Association" - the author opened the post leading readers to believe that the roles had been reversed and that three white students were discussing membership to the [fictitious] White MBA Association, and then asked why is some racism acceptable when some clearly isn't) caught my eye and I couldn't resist. I was completely baffled. How can someone even suggest that there is no need for organizations targeted toward the social, political, and educational benefit of minorities? How can someone, even after being advised repeatedly throughout the thread, continue to believe that "racially-motivated" organizations are segregationist. How could someone not see that inequalities still exist today between the "majority" and the "minority" and that people are still being treated unfairly in this country TODAY? I couldn't simply exit and accept their ignorance. Hesistant to fire back right then, I took a few days to cool down and think about my response (I didn't want to come off as the "angry Black woman"). This morning, I revisited the discussion and took my time (almost four hours) carefully crafting my reply. Here, I share with you my reasoning behind, and justification of, the necessity of minority media (ie, Ebony, Essence, Jet), professional (ie, AAMBAA, NABA), social (ie, NCNW, NAACP, NPHC), and educational (ie, UNCF, HBCUs) organizations. It kind of long - remember it took me almost four hours to finish. Please feel free to comment. Any feedback is appreciated! Enjoy!

-----------------------------------

Title: What EXACTLY is "reverse" discrimination?

*In this post, I make frequent use of the word "you". This use of "you" is not aimed at anyone in particular. It is used as "you" in the collective: anyone who agrees that minority organizations are racist, offensive, and self-segregation.

I would personally like to know how discrimination and racism can be "reversed"...? When I look up the definition of discrimination and racism on the Merriam-Webster website (www.m-w.com) I see:

Discrimination:

1 a: the act of discriminating b: the process by which two stimuli differing in some aspect are responded to differently 2: the quality or power of finely distinguishing 3 a: the act, practice, or an instance of discriminating categorically rather than individually b: prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment

Racism:

1: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race 2: racial prejudice or discrimination

I don't see anything in either one of those entries that says that discrimination and/or racism can ONLY go one way, which is what is implied by inserting "reverse" before either when talking about discrimination against a certain set of people (white people, more-so white men). Discrimination is discrimination and racism is racism, regardless of who is on the receiving end.

The funny thing to me is that this phrase shows up in a post that was originally about how student, professional, and community organizations targeted toward minorities are "self-segregating", "racist" and offensive, when the sole intent of those very same organizations is to UPLIFT, EMPOWER, and PROMOTE minorities in places where they are vastly under- or misrepresented: universities (especially graduate programs), corporate America, media. It's uncanny to me how you don't understand that point when, at the very school you attend, ethnic minorities only make up (approximately) 20% of the student body. Included in that 20% are people from over 141 different countries (http://www.kennesaw.edu/aboutksu.shtml). Sure, when you look at "141 different countries", it seems to be a lot... but imagine going to a school, or even into a workplace, where very few, if any, of the other students/employees resemble you. I'm sure you can't.

You say that African-Americans were treated unfairly in the past... so, what... now that we all have "equal rights" we should just get over it? How can we when we're reminded of it every single day? There were white people who did not vote for Barack Obama, not because of his platform, but because they were "afraid if he wins, the Black will take over" or because a "nigger running for President... [is] definitely a second stringer" or a "wolf in sheep's clothing", not because he's qualified (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tid_QkTkgdc). That was nine months ago... you mean to tell me that everything has changed and is all hunky-dory now? What planet do you live on?

And how dare anyone question the motivations of long-standing minority organizations such as the UNCF, NAACP, Ebony Magazine, and even Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Black fraternities and sororities (NPHC) when these organizations were started because Black people didn't have access to higher education by way of resources (thanks, UNCF) or because whites simply did not want Blacks in their schools (thanks, HBCUs). Blacks weren't accepted into the social clubs of whites (thanks, NPHC). If there were any images of Blacks in the media, they definitely weren't positive (thanks, Ebony, Essence, Jet). And even AFTER Blacks were declared "equal" on paper, there was still a huge need for advocacy for "the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens" (thanks, NAACP). Were they supposed to just disappear after we all became "equal"?

Although some minorities may not have the necessity for an organization dedicated towards them (but, open to others which is important), many do. There are societal influences everywhere that prove that organizations such as these are still necessary even after (only) 45 years since the Civil Rights Act was passed. Influences such as the words you use when talking about certain issues. A Black man doesn't get a job he's qualified for and he's a victim of discrimination. A white man doesn't get a job he's qualified for and he's just been a victim of "REVERSE" discrimination... like it's just NOT supposed to happen to him. Influences are even apparent at retail and grocery stores. How come when I walk into Wal*Mart to buy a book I have to walk past the "Romance" and "Best-Sellers", and head to the "African-American Authors" section that doesn't even categorize by genre? Try to tell me a Black person made that up. And once I've left the segregated book stand, I move over to health and beauty to find some shampoo and conditioner to wash my hair and I have to go to the "Ethnic Hair Care" section (which is rather small compared to the "Hair Care" section - notice it isn't labeled "Caucasian Hair Care"). I'm pretty sure if my shampoo was on the shelf with all of the other shampoos I would be able to find it just the same. It doesn't stop there, because apparently if the person that designed the grocery aisles didn't think of the bright idea to separate the soy sauce from the other sauces, nobody would have ever found it. Thank God for the "Ethnic Food" section. And no matter how much it is argued, minorities still do not have the same access to the same educational resources at the grade-level as whites. Sure, some do, but the overwhelming majority do not. The worst schools in cities across the country are heavily populated with underprivileged minority children whose under-paid teachers couldn't care less about the success of their students than they could about whether to have chicken or fish for dinner. On second thought, they probably care more about dinner. Many of those same minority children won't go to college, and many of the ones that do won't finish. Those are the minorities that you will never see at Kennesaw or your workplace. Sure, there's a chance that a few of them might get lucky and become successful somehow, but the harsh reality is that most of them won't. Most of these children don't have businessmen and women to look up to and aspire to emulate. Most of them don't have parents telling them to do something productive with their lives. All too often the role model in the eyes of these children are athletes and entertainers, and no one tells them to have a backup plan because, more likely than not, they're going to have to use it. So if there have to be organizations that target minorities in order to ENCOURAGE them and SUPPORT them throughout their college and professional careers, so be it. I'd rather see MORE of these organizations than I would struggling minorities.

Go to your Economic and Finance Club meetings, your Beta Alpha Psi outings, your Society for Human Resource Management events and observe how many minority member faces you see. Do the members of these organizations fairly represent Kennesaw State, or are there far less than 20% minority members? How many of those minority members are Black? Now think about Corporate America. How many minority CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and other executives do you imagine? THAT is the purpose of these organizations targeted toward minorities and THAT is why they are still necessary today. Minority clubs and organizations aren't racially exclusive as you would like to believe they are. As iterated previously in this discussion, everyone is welcomed and invited to attend, join, and participate.

I'm not ashamed to say that I am a PROUD member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Council of Negro Women, and the National Association of Black Accountants. I'm also proud to say that during my undergrad career at Georgia State University I was a member of Softer Touch, an organization dedicated to community service centered around underprivileged young Black women. Also, now that I know it exists, I will be researching information on the African American MBA Association. I'm happy to have been so blessed throughout my life to have the resources to be in college, I'm obligated to be a good role model for the generations to come and to support and encourage the Black youth to get on and stay on the right paths in their lives. Getting into college isn't the last step and it doesn't mean it will get easier, these organizations are only making sure that minorities have the resources, support, and guidance needed to be the best person they could possibly be in life.

I am also puzzled at how you feel that "racially-motivated" organizations are a problem, but I didn't see mention of the "gender-motivated" organizations. Would it be okay to belong to a professional organization targeted at women, as long as it doesn't target ethnic minorities? Seems to be a double standard to me.

As for how discrimination can be "reversed", I'm still completely confused.

Kesha H.
MAcc '10