The last time I looked at my calendar, it was the year 2005; however, life on the Mississippi State University campus feels like the year 1965. I am referring to campus organizations. Where is the black representation? It sure is not in the Student Association, which seems to be controlled and influenced by the white majority.
Being involved in student government requires one to actually do something, and I do not mean just during the month of February. The Student Association cannot be that oblivious. It is evident that a problem exists, and the SA lacks the courage to fix it.
I am especially ashamed of the black people in the SA. I would think that they would have the nerve to speak up and represent the black students on campus. I guess being in the SA is all about appearances and not about the issues.
I have four issues that I want to mention that I personally have noticed. First, the Student Association should be aware that the majority of Mississippi State’s campus is white. Black students often get the short end of the stick.
Ideally, they should mandate that all campus organizations be racially equal. They should have an equal number of both white and black students. The black students need to be represented by strong, independent black students and not weak-minded ones who are too afraid to speak their minds in the presence of their white peers. If the SA requires mandatory racial equality in all campus organizations including itself, it will show the black students that they are part of MSU and that they are about correcting the many wrongs of the school.
The second issue that caught my eye is the interview process the SA holds for selecting cabinet heads. When black people go in for their interviews, all they see are white people staring at them, and that can be very intimidating. When there is no one in the room who looks like you, how can one be encouraged? How can one relax in that all-white environment? It does not take a brain surgeon to see that this is a problem. Why is there no diversity on the interviewing boards?
This is also a problem in other organizations that use interviews as part of their selection process. Interviewing for the SA is like trying to vote in 1940 Mississippi. No matter how prepared, determined or organized you are, chances are slim to none that your desired goal will be met. One or two may slip through, but the rest are turned away.
Next, when I walk around campus, I am shocked to see no “whites only” or “coloreds only” signs. I am referring to two specific places on campus that seem to be racially zoned.
The first area in which I call the black zone is the area between The Union and McCool Hall. There are hardly any white people socializing in that area when it is inhibited by a vast number of black students.
The second area is what I call the white zone-the grassy areas on the Drill Field. Black students are almost non-existent in that area when white students are using it. It is so nice that the Civil Rights movement did not go to waste. I hope the SA is not that blind to see such racial dissention, especially when the areas I am referring to are close to the SA office.
Lastly, why are there not any full scale events honoring the black leaders such as Martin Luther King or Medgar Evers who gave their lives so that black students could get the same education as white students?
Bulldog Bash is cute, but what does that accomplish? The SA should take the initiative to show the black students that they have some decorum of respect. There surely are enough facts, pictures and statues of white people around campus. Black students should be represented year-round and not in the shortest month of the year.
I question the leadership, I mean, lack of leadership in the SA. Are the members there to make changes or to sit up there and look pretty? Being involved in government means having to deal with the realities of life. If you cannot handle the heat of politics, then you are in the wrong place.
In case you have not read a newspaper lately, the South lost the war, and that result has not changed in the last 140 years. Black people have the right to be heard and represented, and I say that it is time that you, SA members, wake up in the year 2005 and realize that 1965 is dead and gone.