Black in the Age of Obama

"There's no reason to spend her days helping black students she doesn't know..."

That statement, is the core problem with these ivy leauge African Americans. The elitist attitude is what what will continue to be their false sense of security. Indifferent to racial slights, and the "uncomfortable burden" of discussing their identity, will haunt these women. Do either of these women feel comfortable in a room full of working class blacks, or in a black part of town that they are unfamilar with? Our president understood he was best served as a servant of people less fortunate, than as a benefactor of the elite. I hope these women do some community service, and forgo social clubs for community. The Ivy League walls give a false sense of security, but the real world awaits.

Robert, thats definitely not what the article was saying and I'm inclined to believe you weren't even trying to understand the article.. It was citing the fact that the girls grew up with all the privileges as their white counterparts; they didn't endure those outwardly racist moments like their fathers (i.e. being peed on & called a ***, having a roommate demand a change because of his race). Their experiences as black women in 2009 are vastly different from their fathers' experiences from the 1960s.

Racism will probably never end, no matter your status - class, school, etc.. I work with a bunch of 'ladies' that try to undermine me every chance they get, whether they came from the trailer park, or a wealthy familly...most white's still feel we are inferior..Period!

I read this article twice, and I still don't know what it said. My best guess is that point of it is that Blacks at Princeton are having a hard time dealing with a non-racist environment because they were brought up to survive in a racist one? And, um, that Princeton is thus obligated to be more racist so that these survival skills can be put to use?

If anyone else has a better summary, please share it..

Robert in DC

"Let the physical powers and spirit of true love reign and conquer all."

I highly recommend to anyone, to pay a vist to these three websites.
"They are:- www.poetry4charity.webs.com www.wix.com/givehelp/donate www.4wisdom.synthasite.com

Please! Spread the good word in what you have read & heard. All for love."

I'm amazed that the Princeton student posting here would deny his or her predecessors the right to express their views of life at Princeton in earlier times. I was on campus for both undergraduate and graduate school in the 1970's and 1980's; so I expect I had a fairly clear perspective on how we black and other minority students were treated. How would you like to open the campus newspaper and read articles about just how inferior black students are and how we could expect no better average grade than a B-? Or be constantly told that you are there "to educate" wealthy white students who make no effort to learn anything about you or your culture? Michelle was very kind in detailing the full extent of what we minority students experienced at Princeton in those days. And women in general were not treated a whole lot better.

We weren't allowed to come into most clubs on Prospect St., even when black bands were entertaining the all-white crowd there. When we organized our own events; white students complained that we made them feel "excluded" by the way we "looked" at them! We were in a no-win situation. Of course we knew white students and liked some of them; but for the most part were given the message that we would never be accepted or allowed into certain circles. The triumph of people like Michelle is that she didn't let the exclusionary behaviors of the dominant group on that campus poison her worldview; and that she is still open to learning about and accepting others who are different from her in race, background, social class or whatever.

Yes, it was a privilege to be allowed to attend Princeton; but there were also real struggles involved that should not be swept under the rug for the sake of a false harmony in the service of revisionist history. Our experience at Princeton is just as much a part of the history of that great university as that of the F. Scott Fitzgeralds, Jimmy Stewarts, Woodrow Wilsons and others that Princeton loves to celebrate. I support Michelle's statements 100%!

Black is not the most important ethnic group in America. Every ethnic group is important in America. We certainly don't get that message these days; there are words that describe this dysfunction and one will find them easily in the dictionary.

How about Asian. I wonder how it is to be Asian at Princeton. How much racism do they face? How about Jewish, Irish and Arab at Princeton. How much racism they face?

Racism is more then just black and white. This article is an over simplification of the issue.

What I find most disturbing about this article is the fact that it was written at all--I went to a (then) prestigious all-women's college outside of Boston--30 years ago--and it was never a question of relating to other blacks--yes, class plays a factor in all relationships regardless of race--but it is a given that the white individuals attending these institutions felt then as apparently the students attending them now have been taught by their parents to feel--that blacks are present on these campuses as a result of sufferance not due to their obvious academic achievements--(Clarence Thomas notwithstanding) We ignored them then and did what we needed to do--I suggest that the blacks present on these campuses now do the same--The fact that Barack Obama and other African Americans like him have become accomplished and successful means little to these people and it really shouldn't--We need to keep our eyes on the prize--Racism isn't class bound--In fact, its quietly alive on most of the campuses of higher learning--Black in the Age of Obama? As opposed to being black in some other Age? Newsweek was this your opening salvo with respect to a meaningful dialogue on race in America? Absurd.

What I find most disturbing about this article is the fact that it was written at all--I went to a (then) prestigious all-women's college outside of Boston--30 years ago--and it was never a question of relating to other blacks--yes, class plays a factor in all relationships regardless of race--but it is a given that the white individuals attending these institutions felt then as apparently the students attending them now have been taught by their parents to feel--that blacks are present on these campuses as a result of sufferance not due to their obvious academic achievements--(Clarence Thomas notwithstanding) We ignored them then and did what we needed to do--I suggest that the blacks present on these campuses now do the same--The fact that Barack Obama and other African Americans like him have become accomplished and successful means little to these people and it really shouldn't--We need to keep our eyes on the prize--Racism isn't class bound--In fact, its quietly alive on most of the campuses of higher learning--Black in the Age of Obama? As opposed to being black in some other Age? Newsweek was this your opening salvo with respect to a meaningful dialogue on race in America? Absurd.

In 1997 when Madeleine Albright was appointed as the first woman Secretary of State, Newsweek and other media didn't describe the U. S. State Department as "post-sexual." I also doubt if they described Brown University as "post-sexual" when Ruth Simmons was chosen as its president, or Shirley Tilghman to lead Princeton, or Drew Gilpin Faust as president of Harvard.

Where is the fairness?


DLE
Cambridge, MA
Princeton alumnus

How interesting that in 1997 when Madeleine Albright became the first woman Secretary of State, Newsweek and other media didn't use the term "post-sexual" in describing the U. S. State Department. I also doubt that the term was used to describe Brown University when Ruth Simmons was chosen as its presidents, or Shirley Tilghman to lead Princeton, or Drew Gilpin Faust as president of Harvard.

Where is the fairness?


DLE
Cambridge, MA
Princeton alumnus

Yeah Romano, we have already been witness to your Whiz Kid mutterings bearing upon ''climate -controlled diversity'' at the University of North Carolina, where visiting congressman Tom Tancredo [ R-Co] was assaulted in a free-for-all organized by pro-immigrant leftwingers who smashed windows and were beaten back down the hallways of the universities all -purpose assembly area by police who ''broadcast'' overlapping streams of pepper spray in order to clear the room, with arrests for assault and battery upon a police officer and resisting arrest.

So much for ''diversity''. It has no become incumbant upon conservtaive speakers as observed by POLITICO last week to hire guards to accompany them to student speaking engagements as the neo-fascism universally seen on American campuses has forced such a condition to exist.

The Charlotte News-Observer Apr.15,2009 : ''Protest Stops Tancredos UNC Speech'' [whose editors demand the expulsion of the student ''thugs''].

First of all, Newsweek, I am appalled at your use of the term "post-racial", as if having an African-American POTUS has somehow magically removed all traces of racism from our society. That is a dangerous, premature, and simple-minded precedent to impose. Unfortunately, this article hints at the old "things are better, so shut up" blind mentality, and undermines the story of these Princeton students.

When the dialog surrounding race relations narrows on such simple ideas as the "black" and "white" experiences of individuals, I feel as if I must negate my own experience (which is more true to me) for one that upholds some publicized view. Assuming that all people who identify as being black to understand some vaguely understood or better yet misunderstood perspective not only implies that white people or green people understand a certain identifiable perspective, but it also further estranges those who cannot and will not fit within the mold of a firmly established system of marginalization (whether in deviance of or in its support). We must change the atmosphere of our social consciousness from one that is overly focused on what makes us different to one that brings truth to our human similarities. How hard is it to simply look at someone and care about them? Unfortunately, we are no where in sight of anything close to common and mutual concern for one another.