DISCUSSION EXPOSES ROSE STUDENTS TO QUESTION OF WHAT IS ‘RACE?’
By Joanne Hammer
Terre Haute Tribune Star, IN
April 5 2006
About 50 students and faculty who attended a documentary and discussion
at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology learned that what people
perceive as “race” may, in reality, be a social perception.
The group watched the final segment Tuesday in “Race: The Power of
an Illusion,” a three-part documentary produced by California Newsreel.
“How do you define ‘white’?” asked the group’s facilitator, Ella
Ingram, Rose-Hulman assistant professor of biology. “What is white –
or what is non-white, that is the question.”
The film portrayed how race was embedded into the nation’s politics
and economics.
In the 1930s, government officials used a national appraisal system
in which race was a factor in real estate, according to the film. As
a result, the government gave the lowest rating to communities that
were all minority or were in the process of becoming integrated.
After the film, some students had personal examples of how those
considered “white” had an advantage over other races.
Because the color black has a negative preconception, people think
“black is bad,” said Sean Durrant, a student from Jamaica. “Those
with lighter-colored skin have an inherent advantage.”
The documentary showed a black World War II soldier who came home,
excited to build a new life – when he was told he could not buy a
home in a certain neighborhood because he was black.
Students also were exposed to the question of what is “race.”
According to the film, in 1909, a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that
Armenians were legally white. But in 1922, when Japanese businessman
Takao Ozawa petitioned to become a naturalized citizen, he was denied
because he was “not white within the meaning of the statute,” according
to the film.
“Everything they worked for was just all taken away,” said student
Jim Sedoff, during the discussion.
During the time of racial segregation and Jim Crow laws, courts wanted
to decide who was black. Different states had different rules about
the percentage of ancestry and a person could cross state lines and
legally change race, according to the film.
“They make so much effort to define something when it is really
political,” said student Anita Isch.
Facilitating such discussions allow students to learn about different
ethnic backgrounds of students and people they may work with in
the future.
“It’s a comfortable and safe environment,” said Karen DeGrange,
director or International Student Services.
The end of the film posed a question that startled some students and
raised the issue of personal responsibility: What can you do to make
a more equitable environment?
Joanne Hammer can be reached at (812) 231-4214 or
[email protected].