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As a Black student at Haverford College, I know what racism looks like at ‘liberal’ institutions
Philly.Com ^ | 07/16/2020 | Rasaaq Shittu,

Posted on 07/16/2020 5:44:32 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen

“You belong here.”

Those are three words I’ve heard repeatedly during my short time studying at Haverford College, where I enrolled in August 2019. Whether in discussion with mentors or in collaboration with administrators, I kept receiving affirmation for my presence on a predominantly white, upper-class campus.

As a Black student, I had every reason to doubt those words — though the doubt itself is draining. There’s no reward in constantly questioning your place in a community and what role you play; it creates mental turmoil. However, this struggle was unavoidable. That’s because primarily white, outwardly liberal institutions like Haverford have such a long history of talking the talk without living up to it.

(Excerpt) Read more at inquirer.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: education; racism
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To: PapaBear3625

I would strongly suggest that it’s awful hard to find some Nigerian immigrant on welfare in the US. It just won’t happen. They seem to be entrepreneur business-type folks....consumed with making it.


21 posted on 07/16/2020 6:03:26 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: Kid Shelleen

It’s the soft bigotry of lowered expectations. But liberals are so daft they don’t recognize their own condescension.


22 posted on 07/16/2020 6:05:25 AM PDT by subterfuge (RIP T.P.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
This is typical of liberalism. Say the “right” words, but basically do nothing.

Or worse, like Obama throwing gasoline on the fire of Ferguson.

23 posted on 07/16/2020 6:05:53 AM PDT by libertylover (Socialism will always look good to those who think they can get something for nothing.)
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To: Kid Shelleen

The take I got was it was “racist” because they didn’t go far enough left.


24 posted on 07/16/2020 6:10:35 AM PDT by PeteB570 ( Islam is the sea in which the Terrorist Shark swims. The deeper the sea the larger the shark.)
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To: Kid Shelleen

I agree with one point he makes - leftists should stop treating blacks like fragile orchids.


25 posted on 07/16/2020 6:23:04 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: Brooklyn Attitude

Good question...”Would you have been ____________ (accepted, funded, not disciplined, passed) if you were white?”


26 posted on 07/16/2020 6:24:54 AM PDT by polymuser (It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and so few by deceit. Noel Coward)
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To: GnuThere

Haverford was originally a Quaker institution, but like most Quaker things is mostly in name only. And Quakers are facing demographic oblivion as an originally white group, so have gone head-long into diversity efforts, like the U.S. military. Elder members are dying off fast, replaced by those who are ‘spiritual but not religious’ social-activists, who are probably trained to say “You belong here” to all but traditional Christians.


27 posted on 07/16/2020 6:25:21 AM PDT by JungleGoat77 (.)
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To: GnuThere

Because his white classmates were told to do so in a diversity (or whatever) class.


28 posted on 07/16/2020 6:34:17 AM PDT by Unassuaged (I have shocking data relevant to the conversation!)
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To: Kid Shelleen
...during my short time studying at Haverford College, where I enrolled in August 2019...
29 posted on 07/16/2020 6:41:50 AM PDT by golux
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To: Unassuaged
Probably. 🙄
30 posted on 07/16/2020 6:46:50 AM PDT by GnuThere
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To: libertylover
I see a way forward, but it requires a period of honest and painful discussion, where the voices of those most marginalized are elevated — and put into action. ///

Oh, that's big of him. He'll have a "discussion" as long as his viewpoint is elevated and the viewpoint of the other person is suppressed.

It sounds like he wants more conservative professors. What other viewpoint could possibly be more marginalized on your average college campus these days?

31 posted on 07/16/2020 6:48:56 AM PDT by Gil4 (And the trees are all kept equal by hatchet, ax and saw)
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To: Kid Shelleen
“You belong here.”

Three non-reassuring words.

Actions speak louder than words. It is racist to not treat others as equals and the have the same expectations of academic excellence. It is racist to not disagree with someone just because of their skin color. It is racist to put minorities in remedial college courses because they lack the academic credentials to enter college like qualified students. It is racist to suppress the opinions of white conservatives and blindly go along with any Marxist opinion.

What is not racist and should put anyone at ease is a single high standard for entry into college. If you meet it, and everyone meets it, then you and everyone knows you belong there. Nothing else special is required - simply a sound mind and the content of your character.

By the way, most people are not qualified for college and they don't belong there.

32 posted on 07/16/2020 6:51:54 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA ("War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." - George Orwell, 1984)
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To: ConservativeInPA

There is a time and place for “you belong here.” I’ve used the words with classmates/new students in law school. It wasn’t a throw-away. It was part of a broader talk that included advice on how to make it through the program. If the Haverford community brings it off as if to say “don’t worry about being black”, I can sympathize. . .just a bit.


33 posted on 07/16/2020 6:57:04 AM PDT by jimfree (My19 y/o granddaughter continues to have more quality exec experience than an 8 year Obama.)
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To: Kid Shelleen

As a very good black friend of mine (who happens to be one of the most conservative people I know) said, “Black people are nothing but props for the Democrat Party and organizations like BLM. If they actually gave a shit, they’d be doing something about the millions of black babies that have been aborted and the black kids who are killed every week in cities with supposed ‘gun control’.”

(We’ve discussed at length the fact that, even today, over 70% of Planned Parenthood “clinics” are in and around predominantly black neighborhoods; eugenics are alive and well in progressive circles. As another friend who was a very senior USSS agent in the Clinton White House told me, “I’ve never heard the “N” word as much as I did in the Clinton White House.”)


34 posted on 07/16/2020 7:08:12 AM PDT by ManHunter (You can run, but you'll only die tired... Army snipers: Reach out and touch someone)
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To: Skywise

Except for when they did, by reassuring students that they belonged there. That was bad too.


35 posted on 07/16/2020 7:35:40 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Kid Shelleen
I remember a long time ago an intervention of Thomas Sowell where he said he was happy when he went to university. He knew he earned his spot at the institution. He felt under the Affirmative Action scenario there would always be doubt.
36 posted on 07/16/2020 7:40:01 AM PDT by Chgogal (ALL lives matter. If you disagree with me, YOU are the racist.)
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To: ought-six

Excuse me!

I am European American.


37 posted on 07/16/2020 7:41:35 AM PDT by Chgogal (ALL lives matter. If you disagree with me, YOU are the racist.)
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To: Chgogal
>> He felt under the Affirmative Action scenario there would always be doubt. <<

That is why Clarence Thomas became opposed to affirmative action after attending Yale law school.
38 posted on 07/16/2020 7:56:41 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen (Beat your plowshares into swords. Let the weak say I am strong)
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To: Kid Shelleen

Some folks are never happy.


39 posted on 07/16/2020 8:01:06 AM PDT by kenmcg (tHE WHOLE)
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To: silverleaf
Wonder why she didnt go to Howard?

Any one or more of a dozen reasons.

She was overqualified for Howard, and she didn't want to take the place of a more deserving/needy student.

At Howard, she'd be only one of a few thousand of black chicks, and it wouldn't feel right excelling in front of them, putting them all to shame, making them angrier and increasing the size of the boulders on their shoulders, and resenting her for scarfing up all hot guys.

At Princeton, she could prove Wilson wrong about segregation.

Princeton probably has better weather.

I could go on...

40 posted on 07/16/2020 8:03:43 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
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