Race...Something we just don't like to talk about!!!

I live about a block away from Lansing Community College and it seems that they are having some race relations issues...

From Lansing State Journal...

Published February 11, 2007
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
LCC's N-word contest appalls public
School officials: Essays an aid in discussing topic

By Matthew Miller
Lansing State Journal

An announcement went out from LCC earlier this month about an essay contest being held for Black History Month.

The topic was "Does the word 'n-----' belong on the Lansing Community College campus?" Only that n-word was spelled out.

The contest would be open to the general public. Prizes would be awarded, one for an essay arguing in favor, one for an essay arguing against.
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The winners would square off against one another in a mock trial later in the month.

Bettye Thomas Gilkey's reaction when she saw it: "I was appalled."

And she wasn't alone. The idea of such a contest seemed to touch a nerve.

"I think it feeds into racism," said the Rev. Lester Stone, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Lansing.

"I think the overtones and undertones of the negative nuance of the meaning of that particular word get an opportunity to be expressed. I don't see any justification for having that."

LCC officials say the contest was meant to be an opportunity for teaching, for thoughtful discussion of a contentious topic, but they grant that it didn't necessarily come across that way in the announcement.

"The communication that went out was premature," said Rebekah Woods, interim dean of the Student and Academic Support Division.

LCC officials are now debating whether to go forward with the contest.

If they do, Woods said, they will make sure "the full and appropriate context is given for what we're hoping to achieve."

According to Stan Chase, LCC's director of education initiatives, the committee that came up with the contest wanted to start a discussion about how different generations viewed that word.

Word 'acceptable now'?

"Coming from the old school myself, to me it carries some emotion," Chase said. "But when I look at some of the rappers and some of the young people and the use of it in their vernacular, I would like to have a platform to discuss their perception and why is it in some arenas acceptable now as opposed to arenas where I came from where it was so unacceptable.

"Through critical and crucial conversations, people grow," he added. "We're hoping that this will be one of those kinds of conversations."

Woods said the college has received complaints and that many of the people who complained changed their minds when the contest was explained to them.

But not everybody.

"They should withdraw it altogether," Stone said.

"Are they going to have an essay contest about perjorative words that are used about other ethnic or racial groups?"

Gilkey said she believes the topic is worth talking about because, "based on the amount of covert and overt racism that exists, we don't need any ambiguities on things like this."

Is LCC right forum?

But she still doesn't know that LCC should be addressing it.

Gilkey worked at the college for 15 years. She said that, during her time there, she experienced "racial hostility and racism." She doesn't feel that LCC ever dealt with such situations adequately.

"I don't feel they're strong enough to deal with race relations on that campus," she said.

Chase disagrees. LCC, he said, is a "mirror of our community" in terms of diversity.

"It's a safe environment to have that kind of discussion," he said, "an environment that allows people to speak their feelings and have them respected, because we grow through our differences."

Contact Matthew Miller at 377-1046 or mrmiller@lsj.com.

I understand why people are "outraged" by the use of the N word. The word is deep-seeded in racism and should not be used! But...The whole purpose of this essay contest is to discuss the impact of this word. This is an opportunity to discuss racism in a straight forward way.

This essay might be crossing the line of political correctness, but it is something that needs to be discussed.