I guess the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 is back in
vogue.
Brown v. Board was so controversial that Attorney Generals
and Governors became involved trying to prevent integration in their states
school systems. Texas Attorney General John Ben Shepperd staged a campaign to
prevent integration in Texas’ schools. Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus went as
far as to call out his state's National Guard to block black students' entry to
Little Rock Central High School.
Governors of Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama tried to stop
the desegregation of their states schools. As for Arkansas, they finally
desegregated when President Dwight Eisenhower responded by federalizing
Arkansas's National Guard.
Fast forward to 2017 and it would seem that California State
University, Los Angeles has ignored the Brown v. Board verdict and has started
segregating black students. But before you start calling the administrators and
university President William Covino a racist there is something you should
know.
The segregation is at the demand of the CSU Black Student
Union, the Afrikan Black Coalition. The Afrikan Black Coalition demanded housing
space delegated for black students and their own full-time resident director who
can cater to their needs.
They’re not just demanding to be segregated, but also
demanding $20,000 per quarter allocated to the Black Student Union, a $30
million dollar scholarship endowment to assist black students, a new
anti-discrimination policy, cultural competency course for faculty and students,
compulsory ethnic studies courses for first and year second year students, and
more black students hired for on-campus positions.
Regression is what happens when snowflakes are overly
offended. They need to be sheltered from reality and the real world. They need
safe spaces so if they come into contact with someone with a differing opinion
they can hide and not be triggered. This is the hallmark of the Regressive
Left, they have jaundiced colleges and universities of the West.
The executive director for communications and public affairs
for the University, Robert Lopez waxed progressively “the community is not
segregated.” That seems like an odd statement seeing that it was Cal State’s
Black Student Union that made the demand for “housing space delegated for black
students.” On the Afrikan Black Coalition’s webpage it states it was “founded
to preserve the cultural traditions and political fervor of Diasporic Africans,”
that statement doesn’t conjure images of segregation to me.
Lopez goes on to say that “We want to provide our students
with experiences that are . . . inclusive and nondiscriminatory,” and
emphasizes that “We do not have segregated housing, that is illegal.”
In order to downplay the segregation and make it seem like a
small issue, Lopez said that last year the student body was only “4.4 percent
African-American” and so far, “Only 24 students applied and were accepted to
live in the community.” They even gave the dorms a sanitary, safe sounding
name: Halisi Scholars Black Living-Learning Community.
And then there is the argument that other schools are doing
it also; Cal State LA joins UConn, UC Davis, and Berkeley in offering
segregated housing dedicated to black students.
So I guess that means, it’s okay.