UCSD: Moving Forward and Back

Most of the time I can honestly say it's great to see one's alma mater in the press. I often look back at my days at UCSD with a ton of fond memories. I honestly feel my experiences there shaped the person I am today. In the past few weeks however, the news reports coming out of UCSD have been anything but nostalgic. The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity recently advertised a party to "celebrate" Black History Month. The celebration was called "The Compton Cookout" The invite, which was posted on Facebook urged all participants to wear chains, rapper-style urban clothing by makers such as FUBU and speak very loudly. Female participants were encouraged to be "ghetto chicks" with gold teeth, cheap clothes and "short, nappy hair." The invitation went on to say that the party would serve watermelon, chicken, and malt liquor. A campus satirical group known as the Koloa defended the invitation after it drew protest and used a racial epithet to express their glee about the "cookout". Reports have now come in about a noose being hung in one of the campus libraries. There are so many layers of bad to this story one hardly knows where to begin. Not only am I an alumnus of UCSD but upon my graduation I was accepted into the Teach for America program and I was placed to teach English as a Second Language at Compton High School. You have to hand it to this fraternity. In one fatal swoop and with the power of the internet these young men were able to disparage an entire group of people, insult a beleaguered city and ignite racial tension on a university campus. If anything, Pi Kappa Alpha can be seen as a shining example of how to multi-task.

The first layer of this "invitation" is the idea that the fraternity brothers thought that a ghetto themed party in the hood would be edgy and funny. Let's face it, racist humor and using racial epithets has become the new "edgy" in our society. Look no further than former Seinfeld cast member Michael Richardson or John Mayer's ill fated Playboy interview. For some strange reason they, along with this band of fraternal brothers have determined that using racist language and stereotypes is not racist at all but instead it is some type of hipster, cool trend that they so desperately need to be a part of. The fact is that racial humor works as real satire when it has a moral center and is done with a degree of intelligence. I am afraid intelligence was the key thing missing in the invitation that was posted, and the idea of a moral center did not even come into play. The goal of the invite was indeed a simple one; let's disparage an entire group and a community. Well done boys, mission accomplished.

The other aspect of this mindless prank is the idea that once again the city of Compton was used a verbal punching bag. I assume the boys of the fraternity have no knowledge of the community itself except of course, for what we all tend to know. Yes, Compton, which is now 70% Latino, has been the epicenter for gang activity, violence and failing schools. This it seems, was all the frat members needed to create their invite and have their fun. My sense is they would not care about the fact that there was much to be proud of in the city when I taught there and worked as a staff member for Teach for America. After years of corruption a group of African American, Latino and Samoan church goers, came together to elect a new mayor and make sure the old one got put in jail. At this same time, a state administrator vowed to make sweeping changes with regards to the state of education in Compton. From 1998-2004 test scores at many elementary schools in Compton rose to new heights. I had the pleasure of working with a group to Teach for America corps members and alumni who worked shoulder to shoulder with veteran Compton teachers in an effort to push their students academically. Their work was truly inspirational and the results of these efforts included an elementary school in Compton being named the first distinguished school in the districts history, a group of biology students passing the biology AP exam and moving on to four year universities and an army of teachers/educators who understood the possibilities of change through relentless hard work, determination and a belief system that all kids can learn. The city in years past has had its share of problems with regards to crime and violence but in recent years, thanks to a rigorous and respectful effort by the Compton police department, statistics have shown that crime is at an all time low in the city. I suppose none of these things mattered to the little fraternity that could. I mean really, none of these things I have mentioned are funny or edgy but they are true, and truth was not invited to the party. Ignorance and a lack of good judgment however, had standing invitations. Again gentlemen I say, bravo, whoever is paying your tuition checks must be pleased and overwhelmed with pride.

There will be many who see this incident and use it as a litmus test as to how far we have come in our society with regards to race relations. This, in my humble opinion also lacks a bit of judgment and perspective. We must remember that this is a country that was ruled by white supremacy since its inception. Thanks to movements dating back to the days of the first slave rebellions and abolitionists, laws have been stricken down, new laws have been written and legislation has tried to push our society to live up to its true potential. In a multi-ethnic society incidents like these are bound to happen. It's the downside of living in a democracy. You have the right to be ignorant. What we can do is remember that as far as we have come, we still have lengths to go. My hope is that the university will take swift action and revoke the charter of this fraternity and contact their parents to let them know what wonderful young lads they have raised. Funding also needs to be revoked from the Kola newspaper/cable access show. Hey if you want to be a bigot be my guest but you can't use university funds and represent UCSD while doing so. Good luck fund raising and God's speed. I also hope that the images I saw of the teach in at UCSD; the images of White students standing with their Black and Latino classmates to denounce these incidents, lets people know how far we truly have come. I hope it let's the minority students at UC San Diego know they are not alone and that the majority of students there, take no pride in this foolishness. This is the way our society works at times. We take 1000 steps forward but without warning we get pushed 300 steps back and sometimes get knocked down. The true litmus test is not how far or how hard we get knocked down; it's how quickly we can get back up and keep moving forward. I have faith that the students at UCSD and the community of Compton have already begun dusting themselves off and are moving forward as we speak.