[1487] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
response to "Ghetto Party" incident (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Kevin Chen)
Wed Oct 8 11:00:03 2003
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2003 10:57:19 -0400
From: Kevin Chen <kchen@MIT.EDU>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
For those of you who aren't undergrads...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2003 10:39:44 -0400
From: UA President and Vice President <ua-president@MIT.EDU>
To: undergrads@mit.edu
Subject: response to "Ghetto Party" incident
Dear fellow students:
We are Pius Uzamere and Jacob Faber, Undergraduate Association President
and Vice President. As MIT undergraduates, you are part of the
Undergraduate Association and so we feel that as your President and Vice
President, it is our duty to inform you about our personal positions on
an incident which has occurred on our campus and has affected the social
climate amongst us.
On Thursday, October 2, 2003, a group of students held a party entitled
=93Ghetto Party.=94 Although this party was held on a wing of their
dormitory, this was by no means a party held by their dorm as a whole,
but rather by a small number of students. Some of these students wrote
emails to public lists advertising this party. In describing the theme
of this party, the senders made extensive reference to extremely
negative stereotypes of certain cultural groups.
The behavior exemplified in this incident -- heavily reinforcing
negative cultural and socioeconomic stereotypes and publicly portraying
members of other races as dirty, irresponsible, and violent, for example
-- is deleterious to the MIT community at large. Perpetuating negative
stereotypes about certain races, cultures, genders, and other
socioeconomic groups is strongly against the spirit of community that we
strive for at MIT. It is impossible for serious academic work to be
done, for true collaboration to be had, or for productive lives to be
lived in a community that is lacking in basic levels of mutual trust,
respect, and purpose. Whatever the intentions of the author(s), the
=93Ghetto Party=94 concept and advertising did not manifest as harmless fun=
,
but rather as a destructive influence on the basic footing upon which
the success of our community rests.
It is tempting for those who do not belong to the referenced affinity
groups to dismiss highly objectionable content such as the =93Ghetto
Party=94 advertisement as mere satire. This is understandable, as issues
of racism and classism are hard topics for most people to swallow.
Unfortunately, an argument of this sort ignores the fact that satire is
completely contextual. Consider two siblings who jokingly chide each
other privately about a wayward family member. Now consider their next
door neighbor who publicly mocks and derisively imitates that family
member within the confines of their neighborhood. When the family
members are talking to each other in private, the chiding is harmless;
when the outsider, the neighbor, does it in public, the mockery becomes
hurtful and offensive. It becomes very difficult for the family to
remain in the neighborhood and maintain its dignity and self-respect.
Jacob and I have heard reference made to the differing effects that
epithets have on different generations. In the wake of President Vest's
email regarding this issue, there have been some who have implied that
perhaps the MIT administration is simply too easily offended. Those who
are somehow skeptical about whether or not this particular email hurt
anyone should know that multiple members of the lists to which the
advertisement was sent have indicated that they found the email to be
quite offensive and hurtful. Indeed, if this advertisement were truly
funny and did not cause any real problems, then why did the affected
recipients of this email not feel comfortable approaching their fellow
students directly to discuss the issue? It is unfortunate that these
students were trapped in an extremely disquieting situation just so that
a few students could provide the theme for a party.
With respect to the generational issues that actually do exist, it is
clear that the United States and MIT of 2003 are not the same as they
were in 1963. We have come a long way and race relations have clearly
improved a great deal. Despite this, it appears that the social mores
and taboos in place now lead to a dangerous condition -- one where
racism is subtle and taken for granted. In today=92s world, racism,
classism, and sexism are usually not apparent from what people shout
from the rooftops. Rather, it is what people say to their friends in
casual discussion, how they act with their friends in private, and the
things they do without thinking about the impact on others that give
prejudices the chance to manifest themselves.
We should not be as concerned about the ranting lunatic who burns
crosses in backyards as much as we should be concerned about the
intelligent college student who has no qualms about =93innocently=94 joking
with his or her friends about "ghetto niggas" who drink malt liquor and
loot their neighbors, for it is the words of the student and not those
of the overt, radically racist lunatic that perpetuate the venomous
feelings about many groups in this country. Practically everyone
recognizes and rejects the blatantly hateful messages that the lunatic
peddles. Thus the ugly rhetoric used, perhaps inadvertently, in this
seemingly more innocuous context is most damaging because it is deemed
*acceptable* by popular acclamation of all those who keep quiet when it
passes by their ears.
We should make it clear that this is not a censorship issue. The right
to free speech is not in question here. However, each and every student
at MIT has a vested interest in seeing that the community standards of
openness and diversity are upheld so that all of us may feel safe and
secure in our right to contribute to the world-class academic
environment of which we are a part. It must be emphasized that once a
communication leaves a small group and enters the open forum that is
MIT, the applicable community standards are not merely those of a group
of friends or a dormitory; the authors have a responsibility to respect
the standards of the entire MIT community.
As two black students, Jacob and I were outraged at and insulted by the
attitudes and overtones of this email. More importantly though, as
leaders of the undergraduate community, we were disappointed and
disturbed. The effect that such an email can have on the collective
psyche of students who lay their eyes upon it is staggering. This issue
affects every student at MIT, no matter what their race or class. We
would expect that any capable leaders in our position would take a
strong stance on this matter.
Incidents that contribute to a pervasive, unsafe environment for large
segments of the MIT community are of an extremely serious nature and
must be investigated at the Institute level. Too often, incidents like
these are brushed off and marginalized. Any response that does not
recognize the gravity of this situation and treat it accordingly is
completely inappropriate. Although it is critical to the welfare of the
Undergraduate Association at large that this issue resolved in an
appropriate manner, the UA is not a disciplinary body. MIT has
well-defined judicial and disciplinary processes and these must be
applied fairly and in a timely manner. Expulsion of the students found
to be culpable is certainly not an answer, but neither is simply having
them write =93I will not use racial slurs=94 500 times on a chalkboard. It
must be made clear to the campus and to the students that cultural
intimidation on this campus in /any /form is utterly unacceptable. While
everyone makes mistakes, at some point, individuals must be held
accountable for their actions.
Let it be said now: this incident will test the mettle of each and every
one of us. We must not allow this situation to divide the Undergraduate
Association. Our student body is the smartest, hardest-working group of
students in the world. Jacob and I are confident that all of us can
unite as members of the Undergraduate Association and work together to
take advantage of this opportunity to make steps towards addressing the
underlying social issues on our campus. In this regard, we are in the
process of leading the UA towards engaging in constructive, campus-wide
discussion on the implications of this and other racial incidents that
have occurred on our campus. Jacob and I feel that a continuing dialogue
on how we can reap the benefits of our diversity in combination with due
diligence paid to the serious investigation of incidents that threaten
the harmony on our campus will lead to bountiful results; these elements
are of critical importance as we continue to make MIT a wonderful place
for brilliant students of all backgrounds to live and work.
Sincerely,
Pius A. Uzamere II
Undergraduate Association President
Jacob W. Faber
Undergraduate Association Vice-President
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