Well, this is rather awful, though not entirely unexpected. A Facebook page catering to over 1,000 women of color to provide them with a base of support (aka a safe space) was recently shut down after messages bashing men and white people were leaked. The Claremont Independent, a student paper covering the Claremont Consortium of Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, and Pitzer College, obtained screenshots from the group. When they reached out for comment, evasive maneuvers seemed to have been deployed by the page’s administrators, as it was shut down. A student involved with the group said it was done so to prevent the “mole” from sending more messages to the Independent.
You have to read some of this nonsense. One person was whining that they have white parents, another was worried that her business class would be “full of white, male business bros.” Another student noted her fear of taking a politics course since its “dominated by white men.” Oh, and student said that a professor who is a “person of color” and leans to the right, raises “a red flag.” Time to grow up, kids [Warning: some strong language]:
In response to her adoptive white father making jokes at her expense, Sarah Weiyun Otterstrom (SC ‘17) posted “I just need to get this out. I hate having white parents so much.”[…]
Additionally, Namrata Mohan (SC ‘16) stated that her family “ha[s] THE ‘white person voice’ they use when they want to make fun of white Americans.” Later, she continues to justify this “white person voice” by stating that although “it’s soooo lowkey shady,” it’s acceptable to “make fun of white Americans” because “like white people created #colonialism so i’m not mad.”
Rachel Song (PO ‘18), who posted in the group for advice on classes, stated that she was concerned about taking “PSYC141: Leading Entrepreneurial Ventures” because she is “afraid [it] is going to be a class full of white, male business bros.” Lanna Sanchez (PO ‘19) noted that she is “kinda scared to take a politics course in general since this space is typically dominated by white men.” Sanchez added that a class taught by a “conservative POC [person of color] professor” also “raised a red flag.”
Catherine Chiang (SC ‘16)—who was elected by her peers to be the senior class speaker at Scripps College’s commencement ceremony this year and who is an acting intern at the Scripps Communities of Resources and Empowerment program—stated, “asian boys r a social issue,” to which other students responded “esp [especially] the nerdy ones who can just hide in their tech caves” and “they get all angry when it comes to how Asian men are asexualized/emasculated.” Kristine Lee (PO ‘17), a staff member of the Pomona College Asian American Resource Center who sits on the “Production” and “Mental Health” committees there added, “F*ck your masculinity whiny Asian cis bros this is why I only hang out with femmes.”
[…]
After the Independent reached out to members of the 5C Women of Color group for additional comment, the page was shut down. “We found out that screen shots of our interactions were taken by people who work for the Claremont Independent, and they’re geared to write an article,” wrote Kit Lee (PO ’17). “In order to preserve the confidentiality of past conversations and healthy discussions that have occurred in this group,” she continued, “we will shut down the group … to prevent whoever is the mole from leaking more screenshots to the CI.”
Now, this wasn’t the opinion of everyone. The Independent did quote Carlos Perrett (PZ ’18), who said, “Facebook groups like the 5C Women of Color not only lack inclusion, but also fail to meet their purposes of creating a space of support. Instead these groups have become the perfect outlet for shaming, hostility, and discrimination.”
These students seriously need to get a grip. White people are not out to get you. I promise you that a classroom full of white men isn’t a triggering event. If you feel that way, you have some serious self-confidence issues. This is college, not Oceania. These institutions should not be frightening by the mere presence of people who look, act, or think differently than you. If anything, that’s part of the experience. What’s wrong with people of color adhering to a more conservative point of view? Does these students actually think that if you’re born to a certain, racial, ethnic, or religious group you have to vote, or think, in one way and one way only. That’s anti-American to its core. Folks, roughly half of the world is male, and there are a lot of white people too. Deal with it. I have never entered a room, in which my racial group was the majority, but I didn’t care—I was among my fellow Americans. That should be what you see when you enter any place in this country. Sadly, identity politics has become the crack cocaine of the left, so remember, when you enter that Starbucks, classroom, gas station, library, movie theater, or whatever place (public or private), be sure to count all the white people (and all the people of color) and make up some half-baked, neo-colonial hypothesis of how America is racist, and then run off to your safe space. If you don’t want to end up like a crazy person, you don’t have to participate in such progressive antics. It’s very simple.
This Facebook group, which was nothing more than a cesspool of lunacy and discrimination is gone, but I’m sure there’s many more. That’s fine. We have free speech. If anything, these students should’ve kept the page operational. We’re not going to black bag you over it, but you should be able to defend why you don’t like white people or guys publicly when discovered. The mere notion that this was a private group shows that they wanted a “safe space” to act ridiculously. To the students worried about classrooms full of whites, maybe you should channel the words of Gore Vidal, one of the most prolific and influential writers on the left, “It is of no consequence what others think of you. What matters is what you think of them. That is how you live your life.” You never know, maybe these “white business bros” are cool people, who dare I say, might have the same political leanings as you do. Oh, the horror!
Last Note: To my adoptive white parents, I would like to say thank you for giving me a better life. Love you both.
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