By Nabi Dressler
Editor-in-Chief
“Diversity is a code for white genocide,” was the rallying cry for the White Man March that happened March 15. The display of white supremacy hurlin’ us back into the ‘50s was organized by Amherst College grad Kyle Hunt, who believes he can be President in 2020.
If you’ve stopped grimacing, I commend you, because I haven’t.
The attempted worldwide display of “I’m white, male and I want MORE” proved wildly unsuccessful; ten dudes (arguably the most entitled brats of this decade) marched in this moron parade in Cincinnati. I suspect there are handfuls of white supremacists who didn’t jump at the opportunity to publicly label themselves as such, or didn’t have a racist friend to give them a lift.
Diversity is beneficial, y’all. It invites us to learn about cultures other than our own, expand our minds and become lovers, not fighters. That is, if you take diversity the right way. You could also get paranoid about “the illegals” taking “your jobs” and that instills hate. Loathing diversity helps no one, nor does it result in social progression. I fail to see how diversity can even be remotely equated with white genocide. Minorities aren’t going on rampages, killing all white men in sight. But since these neo-Nazis were quick to bring up genocide, let’s begin from there.
Oh, it’s been genocide and oppression from the start, kids. Christopher Columbus was one of the first perpetrators of mass murder in the United States.
Funny, when I learned about good old Columbus in middle school, he was heralded as a groundbreaking explorer. Guess the white men who whitewash history books forgot to include that he had this pesky habit of brutally killing Native Americans just because he wanted the wealth of a place he had no business taking over. The extent to which I learned about Columbus’ treatment of Native Americans was minuscule, if anything. We also spent about thirty seconds on the Trail of Tears later in the year, but that was it in terms of Native American education.
The most awe-inspiring part is that we still have a holiday commemorating a murderer when we have a plethora of other incredible Americans to celebrate, mostly because of the wishes of the white guys in the Knights of Columbus.
To this day, Native Americans are subjected to impoverished conditions on settlements they were forced into by white men. They also have very little media representation, along with every other minority; even Native American roles go to white actors. Models parade around in faux headdresses of a culture they’ve learned very little about and I still get to listen to my friends’ parents’ support of the Washington Redskins’ derogatory name because “It’s been that way forever” and “Why change it now?” Right, why ask an NFL team to stop being offensive at this point?
The widespread colonization that happened for centuries is a no-brainer; white men seized the lands and resources of the “lesser races” in the name of God or just plain greed (greed doesn’t sound as virtuous).
But let’s focus on the truly oppressed: white men, who totally need this White Man March, as if the majority of history hasn’t been one White Man March after another.
To do so, we’ll have to ignore the truth that the history of modern civilization is a LOT of white men with superiority complexes, thinking they’re justified to do awful things (hint: genocide’s been a popular one, and it typically wasn’t inflicted upon white males).
But that’s the past. In these tumultuous times, white men are so oppressed, guys. They can’t even murder people anymore without sometimes suffering repercussions. Like these murders, just samples of the evident oppression of African Americans by typically white men. Asking for help after getting into a car accident and you’re African American? Yeah, a white police officer killed someone in this situation, too. And it’s not just isolated incidents, that’s the thing. Take the stop-and-frisk policy: it exists. In 2014. In America. Incredible.
The notion that white men in America are persecuted is so absurd I want to laugh all the way to Capitol Hill, where there are 98 women in Congress out of 535 total representatives. Of those 535, 81 are minorities, making this not-very-diverse Congress the most diverse Congress ever. In Congress, there are 42 African Americans, 35 Hispanic Americans, 11 Asian Americans (and one of them is even a Senator, I feel very represented!) and a whopping two Native Americans. Not enough representation for white men! Look at all that White Male Oppression in politics!
Surely we can find white male oppression in the workplace. Perhaps if we look at the Fortune 500 CEOs. Of these CEOs, a whopping 23, or 4.6 percent, are women. Too high! 1.2 percent of the 500 CEOs are African American, while 1.6 percent are Hispanic and another 1.6 percent are Asian. White men are losing their control!
And how about that crazy affirmative action? How dare colleges try to help the disadvantaged? Let’s get back to the days where colleges wouldn’t accept anyone besides white men, which disturbingly wasn’t very long ago! (Shocker, people love affirmative action when it benefits them and especially when it hinders Asian Americans’ chances. ☹)
Alright, I can rip on white men some more, but I’ll stop. The majority of people understand this “Diversity equals white genocide” bogus is just that: bogus.
On Twitter, #WhiteManMarchProtestSigns trended, and had some incredibly witty responses, including plenty from white men.
Some of my favorites included:
https://twitter.com/AnnaHolmes/statuses/444852598274019328
When are they going to make "12 Years A Slave Owner"? Their stories need to be told too! #WhiteManMarchProtestSigns
— reg (he/him/heaux) (@R2ThaEdgy) March 15, 2014
What do we want EVERYTHING When do we want it STILL #WhiteManMarchProtestSigns
— Sen. Lemon Gogurt ugarles.bsky.social (@Ugarles) March 15, 2014
https://twitter.com/thehardask/statuses/444853982456844289
I mean, it’s laughable, the white supremacy of a statistically insignificant group and the sheer madness of extremists. We can dismiss that, but let me tell you what we can’t dismiss.
See, I’ve actually heard a moron in one of my classes claim that he wished he were black, because he would “get everything” and “get into every college” and his life would be an absolute breeze if he were African American. The ignorance made me want to hurl, and it’s terrifying that even in my generation, it isn’t just a few oblivious people with flawed thinking like this.
Especially during the college process, I’ve noticed that some white guys actually think they’ve got it real tough in life, tougher than the rest of us, simply because they’re white guys. Sure, they can complain about their lives. If you haven’t noticed, I do. But if you look at the statistics, it is downright untrue that white men are oppressed; they’re the least oppressed segment of the population, and all you need to do is look at how little women and minorities are represented in a country full of women and minorities.
A lot of people understand this. I’m willing to bet the majority of people understand this. And they should all get this cookie (or this one or this one or this one).
But time and time again, individuals don’t even pretend to understand the discrimination and actual oppression they’ll never have to experience. They’ll likely never have to squirm in their seat during a lecture when race comes up. They’ll likely never be harassed or whistled at on the train ride home. They’ll likely never be stopped and frisked by the NYPD for doing absolutely nothing wrong. They’ll likely never be shot because of their skin color, nor will they face prejudice when trying to make it up the corporate or political ladder. The list goes on.
Gender and ethnic disparity are the types of things I truly wish more teachers addressed at some point in our secondary education. Since it isn’t happening at school, it’s letting our youth go out into the world with brains filled to the brim with memorized facts but little understanding of how society actually functions. Heck, if I didn’t have internet access, I wouldn’t be an adamant supporter of a lot of the causes I support because we very rarely learn about social injustices in school, and at home, I’m simply told to not get so worked up.
People love to complain about the millennials and how ignorant and ill-informed we are, and while I’m not denying there will be handful of ignoramuses in every generation (including yours, mind you), we aren’t exactly being exposed to the real world unless we seek reality out ourselves. These social topics should be integrated somehow into our curriculum. Perhaps they shouldn’t impact our GPAs, but should be mandated just as our core classes are. I know, I know, this stuff isn’t on the ACT, and it isn’t going to get us into college, but isn’t it worth our time? Yeah, our core classes are vastly important, but isn’t the other stuff, too? You know, the social issues that people need to see in order to absorb various viewpoints, formulate more informed opinions and thus make more societal contributions?
Great courses like Sociology are offered, but alas, I didn’t take Soc although I desperately wanted to, because I was paranoid about which AP classes colleges supposedly like to see on midyear transcripts. Luckily, AP Psych includes material on gender, race and the like, which we talk a bit about. However, we needn’t stop at simply brushing the surface of the issues that affect us daily, issues that affect our lives much more than the quadratic formula does. If a class like Sociology or, say, Human Rights for Dummies, was mandated, we’d all be more knowledgeable people and better off in the long run, and that’s the goal of education, right?
