Earlier in June, the New York Times published a headline that in theory would have made principled liberals cry out for blood. It read “Colleges Celebrate Diversity With Separate Commencements”. Let that sink in for a minute.
Whether or not author Anemona Hartocollis penned the title with a sense of irony is irrelevant, as the report details several examples of allegedly prestigious establishments of higher learning ignoring virtually all the lessons Americans were supposed to learn from the civil rights movements of the 1960s.
The story begins with Harvard’s recent decision to hold separate graduation ceremonies for its black students, with the other group apparently including everyone else. Later, it moves on to Virginia’s Emory and Henry College’s “Inclusion and Diversity Year-End Ceremonies”, which designated special celebrations for LGBT students.
On the surface, it appears these institutions of higher learning are making history by completely re-writing the definition of civil rights and inclusion – concepts which used to refer to what they actually meant, namely the idea of individuals from different (and often oppositional) backgrounds coming together for a greater cause or event.
Unfortunately, this era of neo-segregation is nothing new. According to the Boston Globe, the practice of colleges holding separate graduation ceremonies for members of different races is becoming commonplace. The publication reports that Columbia University holds six events at the end of the year, including ones for Asian students, LGBT students, Latino students, and “First Generation” students.
In the 1960s, civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and even his more radical contemporary Malcom X stressed the need for blacks to integrate more into what many considered to be “white America” the time – not hide from it. Malcom X went so far as to call out northern hypocrisy when he noted that inner-city schools in New York were desegregating at a slower pace than many southern states.
How do liberals today justify their sudden rejection of the inclusion they once celebrated?
“The current political climate definitely pushed this initiative to come to fruition,” Columbia University graduate Lizzette Delgadillo told the New York Times.
From the above quote, we can only assume Delgadillo is referring to the election of Donald Trump, and the policy mandates that came from the vote – among them a renewed political vigor for increasing border security and ramping up vetting for individuals arriving to the United States from hostile areas of the world.
However, if she’s referring to the widening disconnect between let’s say, America’s black community and law enforcement, this issue became heightened during the Obama era.
After the liberal media spread the outrageous lie that black American Michael Brown was shot and killed in cold blood by a racist police officer, minority groups and their sympathizers around the country took to the streets to protest what they were told was blatant proof of institutional racism. Demonstrations became increasingly violent after as the media continued to scrutinize similar events around the country involving white police officers and black offenders.
While sensible observers can rightfully write off these occurrences, it’s hard to blame college-aged Americans for developing these views. During their time spent at universities, young Americans are forced to live in a bubble where all viewpoints are accepted – except conservative ones. Even classes that are typically apolitical in nature such as economics, journalism, and other art programs are dominated by discussions regarding the news of the day, wherein the popular opinion is usually whatever casts conservatives as the bad guys.
The idea of colleges breaking up their student bodies into various castes for graduation ceremonies signal a new turn for the American left. While the movement once stood for a more integrated society based around a mutual respect for cultural differences, it has morphed into a hostile rejection of all things “white”.
Part of being conservative is intellectual honesty: liberals led the way during the Civil Rights Era. While the American right pointed to Constitutional references to state’s rights during the desegregation debate, liberals correctly made the case that kicking the can down the road was only making things worse for a significant part of the country’s population.
This flavor of liberalism – which is in many ways compatible with small government policies and beliefs – is quickly eroding as neo-segregation becomes more popular with the contemporary left.
The solution is up to college students themselves. While conservatism is particularly popular in any campus (exception: Liberty University), it doesn’t have to be for this bizarre agenda to be rejected. All students have to do is maintain a basic knowledge of history, and communicate with their administrators that these decisions are widening the cultural gap between America’s ethnicities, not mending any sort of historic wounds.
~ Liberty Planet
