Freedom to choose

An unpopular truth

[Reprinted from Issues & Views June 2, 2003]

Here's more on that all-white prom that "enlightened" worthies like Fox's Bill O'Reilly and Jeffrey Shapiro, writing in the Los Angeles Times, found so reprehensible. In our last report, columnist Sam Francis, commenting on the decision of white students at Taylor High School in Wrightsville, Georgia, to exercise their right to host a prom dance just for whites, asks, "Why can't whites have their own private dance without being damned and denounced by self-righteous prigs like Mr. Shapiro and Mr. O'Reilly?"

And in his weekly column, "What freedom is all about" (5/26/03), Pat Buchanan suggests the reason for the disquiet among those who share the indignation of O'Reilly and Shapiro -- that is, a lack of desire to acknowledge that it's "natural and normal" to prefer the company of members of one's own group.

That's certainly how one might interpret Michael Fletcher's description of this year's "Black Senior Celebration" at the University of Pennsylvania (Washington Post, 5/19/03). At this event, a pre-graduation observance, black students participated in a ceremony where seniors were presented with pieces of kente cloth, called out the names of their "elders," and poured water on a plant in a supposed African libation ritual. Fletcher points out that there were other separate celebrations held by Asian-Americans and latino seniors, as well. He writes, "University officials say these racially and ethnically themed ceremonies are a way for minority students to celebrate their cultural connections . . ."

Nor were such ceremonies unique to the University of Pennsylvania. Fletcher writes:

This year, various schools are hosting racially separate graduation events, in addition to their regular ceremonies. Vanderbilt University had a separate recognition ceremony for black graduates. Washington University in St. Louis hosted a black senior alliance ceremony. The University of Michigan and Michigan State University held black celebratory ceremonies. Stanford University will host a black graduation ceremony next month, and the University of California at Berkeley hosted its Black Graduation on Saturday. Many other schools also have special ceremonies honoring Latino and Asian students. . . .

With a freshman class last year that was 43 percent minority, the University of Pennsylvania has a long history of supporting racial diversity and allowing students to gather in culturally and racially separate support centers. There is the Hillel House, a cultural center for Jewish students, the Newman Center, which promotes Catholic traditions, and the W.E.B. DuBois College House, which holds black cultural forums and houses about a quarter of the university's black students, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

It comes as no surprise that the parents of the students who put on that all-white prom paid for the event out of their own pockets, whereas it is the general policy at institutions around the country for colleges to pick up the expenses for the celebrations sponsored by the various colored students. This is probably one double standard that white students find acceptable, as long as they are allowed the unhassled right to design an event free from the interfering rules of righteous integrationists.

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