Lamar Thorpe, a Presidential Administrative Fellow and the 2006-2007 president of the Student Association, disagrees with Alex Shoucair’s column “Race dialogue unnecessary.”
“In other words, Alex, it’s necessary to engage in gender dialogue as well as race and class because power dynamics change, which is why the questions posed by The Hatchet were both critical and thought-provoking.”
Commentary from the opinions editors, op-ed columnists and The Hatchet's Editorial Board
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Vol. 109
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Did he actually respond to anything in the article?
Thank you Lamar! I personally think that GW has too many “structured” conversations. People are scared to say what they are really thinking, or ask what they may honestly want to know about another race. . . I laugh at some of the things one of my close friends and I talk about. . . oh yes, she is black and I am white. We tend to forget until we are in the mall and people in Virginia give us nasty looks. I will say the only thing I disagree with Lamar is Hillary. . . I personally think she has set women back, by staying with Bill. She basically has said to women “Stand by your man no matter what!” that is neither here nor there in regards to the Hatchet’s article. Race dialogue is ALWAYS critical and YES like Lamar said there are black people that do feel isolated on this campus. . . and that was the point of the article.
GW, and this entire country, needs to stop viewing people as members of this or that group, and start viewing each person as an individual.
We don’t get our rights because we’re black, white, gay, straight, or any other label. We get our rights as individuals. You are your own person, and we shouldn’t be in the business of assigning people to groups based on arbitrary factors like race.
The sooner we start treating people as individuals and not as members of groups, the sooner we can more towards a respect of all people.
Greetings,
Lamar, please go back to being irrelevant.
Many thanks.
Sincerely,
Everyone
some of your premises are flawed. Please go to this website: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ and after you participate tell me if you truly believe that you see things without regard to race, gender, religion etc. It appears you may see things with rose tinted glasses.
I applaud Lamar for raising the discussion from a level of personal cynicism exhibited by the previous columnist to a conversation of understanding how multiple identities affect the ways in which people maneuver through their life experiences in this American society. We know that in this country minority groups–be it poor working class, ethnic minorities, women, the disabled, individuals of varying gender identities, etc.–have a unique history that is laced in the very fabric of this society. Therefore, it is not so simple to just accept avoidance of social and political woes that continue to haunt us since the very founding of our country.
Surely, as Americans, we’ve come a long way, but that doesn’t mean that these types of dialogues are completely irrelevant and unnecessary as Alex has suggested. As hate crimes continue to soar, as our political leaders continue to receive death threats because of their race or gender, as women and girls continue to be terrorized in their homes, and as the poor continue to be ignored, then unfortunately these conversations must take place.
I can understand why Alex would be disgruntled by racial dialogues at GW because they seemingly go nowhere. However, as I read the Bridging the Gap article, I was glad to see that a particular experience among African American students at GW was highlighted from their perspective, which was also cited in Lamar’s response. Let’s be honest, GW is a majority institution which means that the experiences among minority students are seldom expressed without being attached to some controversy. That is pretty sad and pathetic.
Again, the framing of racial dialogues needs to be altered, not tossing out the conversation all together. As we continue to have these kinds of discussions, we can begin to learn more about ourselves and each other—and that is not an arbitrary “publicity campaign to help [anyone] make friends”. It’s a way to dissect the issue, begin to understand why it even exist, and develop solutions to resolve it. I agree with the comment by Logan, that we should “start viewing each person as an individual”. I’d be willing to take it a step further and say that we should begin seeing the humanity in each individual and realize that each person is complex and should be respected for the identities that one ascribes themselves to.
yawn
Blah, blah, blah, blah…
Students need to understand that, for the vast majority of the impressions you hold, nobody cares about how you feel about anything. I’m sorry that Mommy and Daddy aren’t here to tell you how special you are every moment of you existence, but that’s life. Grow up.
Lamar having respect for women – better late than never! Guess the “judicial process” was a shot across the bow.