Harvard's Black Commencement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some universities (particular in CA and TX... similar to the demographcs of young people there) are majority-minority, and soon whites will be a minority number-wise. I guess no one will mind when Whites have their own ceremony then?

The argument that whites will be in the minority is idiotic. Whites are only in the minority if you only consider 2 races: white and non-white. However, as a single race, Caucasian Americans (whites) are and will always be the single largest group at these colleges. You need to check your us vs. them mentality.

Actually your argument is idiotic.

The grad school that I attended is currently majority Asian. I believe there are other colleges that are not majority White.

I'm Asian, but honestly, what does happen when the white students at a majority Asian college decide to hold a 'White Commencement'? Will everyone be as accepting? Interesting to consider, IMO.

We never had an Asian Commencement at any of my schools, and I honestly find it a bit strange. Yes, I had Asian friends, but I also had plenty of non-Asian friends, and got support from them also. My 'community' was not wholly Asian.

And, the idea that minorities have certain struggles, and therefore deserve their own celebration doesn't ring true to me either. Every individual has their own struggles. I don't like being lumped together with every single other Asian, and I can guarantee that the wealthy Indian kids don't have the same challenges as the Vietnamese boat people. Do all African Americans feel that they share the same struggles simply based on skin color?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have none of you been on an Ivy graduation recently? Why do multicultural events bother you? Do you mind when the frats (which are often extremely racially and economically segregated) have their own graduation events? Is it racist for your (mono-ethnic) family to have an all-white graduation party?

Graduation is a happy time and everyone celebrates any way they want to. Harvard is not the only Ivy to have multicultural graduation events. The largest ones are Asian. There are Lavender and Native American and First Generation and Black and Latino graduations at many schools. Its just a chance for each community to get together and honor each other.

Thank you for being a voice of reason.

This times a million. I find it interesting, having attended an SEC school whose white greek system was fairly racist and exclusionary, I find it funny to see the uproar.

So, your reasoning here is that because White people have the greek system and are racist and exclusionary, it is reasonable to accept that minorities can behave the same way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some universities (particular in CA and TX... similar to the demographcs of young people there) are majority-minority, and soon whites will be a minority number-wise. I guess no one will mind when Whites have their own ceremony then?

The argument that whites will be in the minority is idiotic. Whites are only in the minority if you only consider 2 races: white and non-white. However, as a single race, Caucasian Americans (whites) are and will always be the single largest group at these colleges. You need to check your us vs. them mentality.

Actually your argument is idiotic.

The grad school that I attended is currently majority Asian. I believe there are other colleges that are not majority White.

I'm Asian, but honestly, what does happen when the white students at a majority Asian college decide to hold a 'White Commencement'? Will everyone be as accepting? Interesting to consider, IMO.

We never had an Asian Commencement at any of my schools, and I honestly find it a bit strange. Yes, I had Asian friends, but I also had plenty of non-Asian friends, and got support from them also. My 'community' was not wholly Asian.

And, the idea that minorities have certain struggles, and therefore deserve their own celebration doesn't ring true to me either. Every individual has their own struggles. I don't like being lumped together with every single other Asian, and I can guarantee that the wealthy Indian kids don't have the same challenges as the Vietnamese boat people. Do all African Americans feel that they share the same struggles simply based on skin color?

That's nice but the Asian experience (especially in the education system) is not anything close to that of African Americans. Sometimes you need to open your mind and look at an issue from another person's perspective. Your perspective seems to be typical of someone wanting to "fit in" and not make any waves. I understand that and some black students approach college the same way. However, that's not everyone's experience.

[Anonymous]

"Donning of the Kente." Google it and you might be surprised.

William & Mary, Tech, UVA, W&L, VCU...many schools do it. Even NOVA does it.

[Anonymous]

Stanford has the Asian American Celebration:

The Asian American Graduation Celebration dinner brings together families and friends to recognize the achievements of our graduating students. This event is one of the few ceremonies where parents and families are recognized for their contributions to the success of the graduate. Graduating students and their families are presented with gifts of appreciation during the program.

https://a3c.stanford.edu/programs/asian-american-graduation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some universities (particular in CA and TX... similar to the demographcs of young people there) are majority-minority, and soon whites will be a minority number-wise. I guess no one will mind when Whites have their own ceremony then?

The argument that whites will be in the minority is idiotic. Whites are only in the minority if you only consider 2 races: white and non-white. However, as a single race, Caucasian Americans (whites) are and will always be the single largest group at these colleges. You need to check your us vs. them mentality.

NP here but you are misinformed. Whites are already a minority at many if not all of the UC colleges. Asians as a group are the majority. Now you could argue that perhaps we should parse Chinese from Filipino and so on but regardless they are the majority. It should be pointed out that this is only the case because UC colleges are race blind in their admissions. I hop you feel a but silly saying that whites will always be the largest group at these colleges.

Why would I feel silly? I specifically stated "Caucasian Americans" and you validated my point by suggesting parsing the Asian population into country of origin. So, according to my original statement, Caucasian Americans outnumber students from Japan, China, Korea, The Philippines, etc. when taken separately.

Um...no. Those stats are for asian americans of chinese, korean, etc. descent. Parsing those would be like parsing whites into those of german, irish, italain descent. Now do you feel silly?

You're entertaining the thought of being in the minority while knowing you will always have the power. That's quite a privilege.

Actually I am a minority. Be careful about your assumptions.

Indian?

DP here - I'm Indian. Am interested in hearing why you assumed the PP was Indian!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This threads never fail to remind me that White Fragility is alive and well!

Why would you assume all of the posters who don't love the idea are White? I'm not a fan and I'm biracial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me laugh. Some people are always mad when they aren't invited to a party. I went to Harvard and we had an AA graduation party (non-university sponsored) and it was fun. This one isn't any different from what we've been doing for at least the past 30 years. The only difference is that the media picked it up and (given the current environment) figured they could get a few extra clicks.

To the OP, the media thanks you for playing the game.

What 'game' exactly? It's interesting that Harvard is doing this, and it's fair that people have an opinion.

How is the bolded unreasonable? Of course people are mad when they aren't invited to a party.

I also think that having a non-university sponsored party for any group is different from something sanctioned by the college. Not sure what the case here is. Is this sponsored by Harvard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stanford has the Asian American Celebration:

The Asian American Graduation Celebration dinner brings together families and friends to recognize the achievements of our graduating students. This event is one of the few ceremonies where parents and families are recognized for their contributions to the success of the graduate. Graduating students and their families are presented with gifts of appreciation during the program.

https://a3c.stanford.edu/programs/asian-american-graduation

A lot of colleges have a special celebration for Asian students. Has been this way for decades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me laugh. Some people are always mad when they aren't invited to a party. I went to Harvard and we had an AA graduation party (non-university sponsored) and it was fun. This one isn't any different from what we've been doing for at least the past 30 years. The only difference is that the media picked it up and (given the current environment) figured they could get a few extra clicks.

To the OP, the media thanks you for playing the game.

What 'game' exactly? It's interesting that Harvard is doing this, and it's fair that people have an opinion.

How is the bolded unreasonable? Of course people are mad when they aren't invited to a party.

I also think that having a non-university sponsored party for any group is different from something sanctioned by the college. Not sure what the case here is. Is this sponsored by Harvard?

LOL. Is this the first party you weren't invited to? If that's the case, then you've lived a charmed life. Ask a minority or lower income student at an Ivy League school how many events they weren't "invited" to. They will laugh at you.

[Anonymous]

When are they going to announce the “Harvard White Commencement?”

Wouldn’t this “party” or “celebration” be considered racist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When are they going to announce the “Harvard White Commencement?”

Wouldn’t this “party” or “celebration” be considered racist?

Depends...will they be wearing the sheets or not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The article also mentions that Latin American students have had a separate graduation ceremony for the past 3 years.

Is this common at other schools?

Why do yo care?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great way to bring people together!LOL

+1. So ridiculous.

Is it only ridiculous because black students are doing it? Because the Asian and Latino students (among other groups) have been doing it for several years.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When are they going to announce the “Harvard White Commencement?”

Wouldn’t this “party” or “celebration” be considered racist?

Hello Mr. "why can't I say the n-word?". We were waiting for you to show up. What took you so long?