Group works to increase diversity

by Kristin Howard
THE POST

Imagine having the length of your hair determining where you are allowed to sit. Seems kind of arbitrary, doesn’t it? Some students face this issue everyday, only it isn’t hair length that determines how they’re treated — it’s their race.

The Black Student Communications Caucus sponsored a workshop last night at Ping Center to spark conversation among a group of students about diversity and racism at Ohio University.

As students entered the workshop, they were told whom they could talk to and whether they could eat or sit down based on the length of their hair. The icebreaker gave students a chance to get to know others in their "groups" while experiencing discrimination first-hand.

Following introductions, participants were split into groups and asked to act out skits based on topics given to each group.

Topics included understanding, segregation and tolerance. Most skits included humor but tackled issues that are relevant on campus today.

Most of the workshop was spent in a large group discussion where participants could talk about opinions and try to eliminate misunderstandings about specific cultures and races.

One topic that received a lot of attention was voluntary segregation around OU’s campus. Whether it is in the dining hall or in class, it is obvious to most students that people of different races do not usually interact.

Some students said they did not consider staying with people like themselves as voluntary segregation. They said they saw it as just being with the people they want to talk to and spend time with.

Everyone agreed that regardless of whether it is segregation or not, in order to reach cultural diversity students of all races need to branch out and meet new people.

OU junior Mattie White stressed that society needs to make a conscious effort to stop this trend. "If there is ever going to be a change we have to go out and make it," she said.

Marcus Headlam, a senior at OU, urged participants to try to meet new people from diverse backgrounds.

"You can’t always judge people by face value," he said. "Take the opportunity to meet people who are different than you; you might find a good friend."

Participants said it was important not to get caught up in the black and white issue because problems exist among members of all the different cultures on campus. They said people should not limit themselves in relationships and urged them to break stereotypes in everyday life.

One participant raised the question of how to identify members of other cultural groups. For instance is it acceptable to refer to someone as black or should it be African-American?

Most students said that labels did not really matter, although they could list some that they did not want to be called. OU freshman Garry Gross wondered why he had to be labeled at all. "Why do I have to be called anything but Garry?" he asked.

The question of whether minorities can be racist raised a lot of discussion. Some students said no because racism is defined by power. The majority is always in power so minorities cannot be racist, they can however be prejudiced.

Many students said that history should not play a role in society's attitude today, but OU junior Micaela Fernandez disagreed.

"We are still feeling the aftermath of our history, and we can’t change that," she said. "We need to challenge ourselves to move on from it. Sometimes it seems like we are moving backwards but we need to move forward together."

OU sophomore Eryn Herndon urged students to move on from what has happened in the past. "Focus on the day at hand," she said. "We can’t worry about the past."

Reactions to the workshop were nearly all positive. Micaela Fernandez has attended several workshops similar to this one. "This is good to give people a place to talk about these topics; it’s good no matter what." she said. "I’ve been to a lot of these, and I learn something new every time."

OU junior Malinda Handy said the workshop helped her overcome past insecurities. "I like coming to things like this where I have to step out of my comfort zone," she said. "We need to let others know that if they step out of their comfort zone they won’t be shunned — they will be welcomed."

Vanessa Jones, a junior at OU and a member of BSCC, enjoyed the program but thinks that it may not be reaching everyone who needs to hear these messages.

Although many different cultural groups were invited to participate, most of the audience consisted of black students.