At the beginning of the semester, I, a white male hailing from suburbia, made a conscious decision to take a course in which I was a minority. I initially enrolled in Economies of East Asia because I was interested in comparative economics and I needed the econ credit. When I realized that would be in the rare position of being a minority, I took it as an opportunity to have a true Wesleyan experience.
After having scored a 78 percent on the “How Wes are You?” survey, I felt that this experience could be significant and enlightening in shaping my general experience here. I was right. Throughout the semester I learned about being in a minority, I endured the involuntary silence so often imparted upon people in harsh, foreign environments. I feel like I’ve grown a lot from the class and have gained a new perspective with which to view my life.
All that being said, the end of my experience was marred by a distinctively embittering occurrence. I, along with two white classmates, was presenting a research paper to the class at our final meeting. The topic of the paper was U.S. influence on South Korean economic policy. Upon the conclusion of our presentation, the floor was opened for questions. The first question was as follows: “You’re wrong, maybe if all of your sources weren’t Americans you would have realized…”
Admittedly, the subjective perspectives of my group undoubtedly seeped into our work; however, the intent of this economics paper was an objective, economic analysis, not a moral judgment of American neo-imperialism. My assailant had not read my paper, had not checked my bibliography, he assumed I held the values of the culture with which he associated me. He was prejudiced. This attack, which precipitated others, was a blatant example of a common trend here at Wesleyan. I could also see girls in the second row of my class writing and underlining “bullshit” as I presented and passing notes back and forth.
I realize that not even here at “Diversity University” are the problems of racism and intolerance nearly subdued. I do feel, however, that this school in general empowers those who are elsewhere subjected to the silencing I experienced in my economics class. This empowerment is heightened in a setting such as that class in that people who have been subjected to the ills of a minority status are placed in a position likely as foreign to them as mine was to me: they are in the majority. If they are not careful, they can succumb to the same vices, which act against them in so many other situations.
This occurred in my class. I was stripped of my credibility and my dignity and was overtly disrespected due to the color of my skin and my place of birth. The fact that we had researched and thought over our topic meant nothing because we were white, and we were instantly discredited in that arena through prejudice and racism. I am appalled at the actions of my classmates because constructive criticism was instantly abandoned for outright cultural attacks without any semblance of effort at an open dialogue or informative exchange.
I pride myself in always trying to see the world through various perspectives and being open-minded, it is, in large part, why I chose this school. My experience and experiment in diversity and being a minority succeeded in cementing one conception in my mind: the dangers inherent in social structures founded with implicit inequity are not unique to any culture or people, and without diligent, constant attention they manifest themselves in harmful and repugnant ways.
As I wrote this, I received an apologetic e-mail from the student who initiated the above events. While I thanked him for his apology and sincerely accept it, I think the event and trend still merits discussion and all of our thought to combat the divisive forces at work in our communities.
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