Is a "White Student Awareness Committee" racist?

Alright, here's the deal. I created a WSAC on thefacebook, which is an online thing for college students. You can create groups, I'm guessing similar to myspace. I created it because of there is a Black Student Awareness Committee, and I figured if they can do it, so can we. There are other reasons as well.

They finally realized it, after my joke of an organization, which is just a group on an online community, almost has as many real members as their real organization. Here's is the bio of the group:

Description
Are you Caucasian? Do you need confirmation to make yourself aware of this fact? If so, this group can provide that service! We welcome members of all races. After all, confirmation from other races would be much more convincing.
-don't wanna step on anybody's toes...-

Group Info
Welcome to WSAC! There is already the BSAC (Black Student Awareness Committee), the AAO (Asian American Organization), the ICA (Indian something or other), and some other one, as most people know about, and quite frankly I feel left out. Don't you?
I hope this group doesn't offend anybody, it's just meant as a joke.

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I am putting people against WSAC in red, people for in blue.
The argument starts with this:

Makeda Amarna Pinkney wrote
at 11:59am:
Though I applaud you for making an attempt to make people aware of the white race, it is imperative that you change your slogan because it is clearly a copy of the bsac slogan. I understand freedom of speech, but we have white awareness everyday. All of our history classes are white awareness and white appreciation. Now don't get me wrong I am not downing whites but you need to understand the basis on which such ethnic organizations are formed. There is not a uab recognized white awareness group because they are not the underrepresented minority, and if white people stop going to school here then maybe they will, but until then there will never be a wsac.



My response:
Nicholas David Jordan Simmons wrote
at 1:47pm:
This group is a joke, it says it's a joke, anybody in here will tell you it's a joke. I'm not trying to offend anybody. My slogan was 'clearly a copy of the bsac slogan' typos and random capitalization included, but has since been edited. Our history classes are no more white awareness and appreciation than they are black, middle eastern, hispanic or any other race. I know I've learned just as much about Nat Turner, Eli Whitney, and definitely MLK Jr. as I have Chrstopher Columbus and Alexander Graham Bell. There is no White Awareness Month, no White History class, no White Entertainment Television, or any other specific venue for us. Does the simple and unrelated fact that we are a majority preclude us from having awareness of ourselves? I understand that you are not downing whites, any more than I am downing blacks or BSAC in this group. It's a joke. Take it as one. I also understand the entire process of creating an official organization at UAB. It's no different for any organization, ethnic based or not. There is not a UAB recognized white awareness group, because nobody has taken those steps. I personally won't take those steps because I don't want to be viewed in a racist manner that I don't feel is an accurate portrayal of me or people who would be in such a group. I don't want people to see my name next to a 'white' organization because of the unfortunate negative connotations of such a thing. I can also understand how we might be the majority at school at UAB. I do see, however, that the demographics of the city of Birmingham is 24.07% White, 73.46% Black or African American. I agree with your last statement that there will probably never be a WSAC at UAB, and I feel that regardless of whether or not we ever become an 'underrepresented minority' it will be that way. This group isn't racist, I for sure am not racist, and I can say that every individual I have ever met in this group is not racist. It's just a joke, I understand where you might be coming from, and we can agree or disagree. The above points are mine and I would like to think they speak for the group as well. If you want to talk more, send me a message.



Danielle Kimbrough wrote
at 4:14pm:
Although, you may think of this group as a joke, it is totally offensive in every way. First of all, why did you choose to model your group after BSAC? I am very sure that you are unaware that you are degrading us by doing so. Let me commend you for quickly removing our slogan from the group. I am afraid that your demographics are very wrong. I am not sure what exactly you consider the "Birmingham area". Even so, what difference does it make. We live in a white society everyday. There is no need for White Entertainment Televison, White Class, or White Awareness Month. Because 80% of the televison networks are "white" networks, 11 months out of the year are "white" awareness months, and every history class is "white" class. Maybe you are the exception, but Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks are the only black people in my history books. You fail to realize that there are so many other Black Americans who have contributed to this society. But, yet, you are proud that you know the 3 names that you mentioned. You will never know how it feels to be the minority in this world. Maybe if would have had that experience, then this group would have never been created. You say the only reason that there isn't an official "white" organization is because no one has taken those steps, but if you are so proud to be "white" then why haven't you taken those steps? Although you may not think that creating this group is racist, it very much is. I challenge you and everyone in this group to come out to BSAC's meetings, forums, and events. I would absolutely love for you to participate in our knowledge bowl, since you know so much "black history". I hope to see you at our next meeting, Thursday, November 10th @ 7pm in HUC 411.



Jonathan Thomaston wrote
at 7:00pm:
I saw nothing in his argument claiming that he "[knew] so much black history". What would you do if we came out and won your knowledge bowl? I think that would be a pretty crazy occurrence. What about the rest of the months of the year and the other television stations makes them "white" awareness months and "white" networks? The group originated from our disgust at the BSAC's barbecue. Last year on the Rast Lawn, the BSAC had a barbecue that lasted from early in the afternoon until 9 o'clock. I don't know if they aren't aware that other people live there, but regardless of that fact, they shouldn't have been playing music that could be heard on the OTHER side of Rast until 9 p.m. This is college, people do study, and a party for recruitment for a club should not replace the studying environment that most students seek in their dorms. It took an African-American gentleman calling the police for the party to stop. If it had not been for the police, it probably would have continued on into the night. Explain the point of that cookout and the lack of respect for hundreds of students (on into the thousands if you count the Blount Hall residents that were affected), and I will give you some credit.


Nicholas David Jordan Simmons wrote
at 7:10pm:
I'll change the name to something other than WSAC if it offends you so much. BTW, I got my statistics from Wikipedia. If my demographics are wrong, so are the U.S. Census Bureau's demographics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham,_Alabama

You can also look at
http://birminghamal.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm
or
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/01000.html
or
http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=11804.

I can find more if you wish.

WSAC isn't modeled after BSAC, the only relationship it has with BSAC is the "student awareness committee" part of the name. I have to disagree with your comment that 11 months out of the year are "white awareness months." I do remember in grade school learning about the "African American of the Day" for Black History Month, but do not recall ever hearing the same thing said for any individual of any other race. I also don't believe that every history class sticks to white people. I definitely disagree with you that MLK Jr and Rosa Parks were the only people in history books. I would almost guarantee that there are others in your history books, especially if they cover the time up to King Jr. and Rosa Parks. Just because I named only three people does not mean that they are the only ones I'm familiar with. I could name others. I don't pretend to know as much as there is to know, or even know as much as anybody else, but I am not ignorant. I don't want to get into an intellectual war with anybody about this, especially with the internet at our fingertips, it would be easy to appear all-knowing. Besides, this is just the internet. I've got nothing but respect for people in BSAC, and am sorry that our feelings can't be reciprocal. I do know what it feels like to be a minority. It's what it feels to be white boy living in Homewood. I've also traveled to other countries, so I do have an idea. I went so far as to obtain a request by an organization for recognition by UAB, but decided not to fill it out, for the reasons I explained in my previous comment.


Makeda Amarna Pinkney wrote
at 9:00pm:
Jonathan, in response to your comment about the barbecue last year, we have a 2 barbecues every year and they are always on the rast-blount quad, and they always last for about 3-4 hours and we usually have music lasting the entire time, however, due to the fact that the barbecue had to be rescheduled to the week of finals we were forced to turn off the music when quiet hours began, at 8pm, in respect for those who were trying to study. We were not at all trying to be a nuisance, we were only trying to give students a little bit of a break before finals. We apologize if we kept you from studying hard. But on another note, we encourage you to come out to our meetings, we are not a secret, closed, society that is only accepting of black students, we are open to everyone. When you come to the meetings you should voice your opinion on where we should hold events and what you feel would be more considerate. We will listen because without student service fees, that you and ALL students are paying, we would not be able to do the things that we do.



Andrew Baxley wrote
at 9:10pm:
Well the music may have been cut off at 8 but everybody stayed out on the Rast lawn for awhile after that. The music may not have been on but there was plenty of noise to distract anybody from being able to study. Like Jonathan mentioned, a certain African American had to call the police to come and make everybody leave. And if I am paying for your organization to have those little events, I feel that I have the right to be in a WSAC group and it not be considered racist by people in the group that I fund. This group is open to all races, just like the BSAC, and to call it racist is an ignorant statement.



Danielle Kimbrough wrote
at 11:39pm:
First of all, NO policemen ever came to our BBQ last year and shut it down. I am sure that you never complained about other events that occured in the area. You may not know that you are being racist, but it is clear by your ignorant comments that you are. I don't understand how you think that this group is a joke. How dare you degrade an organization such as the BLACK STUDENT AWARENESS COMMITTEE. We excel beyond all expectations. How could you offend an organization that brings so many positive things to this campus? What events have you attended? I'm sure, NONE! If you are so proud of your race, then I challenge you to move forward with trying to establish this on campus. I am positive that it will never pass. You should never talk about things that you don't know about. I promise you, BSAC is NOT the group to mess with. On behalf of the Executive Board of the BLACK STUDENT AWARENESS COMMITTEE, we would love to chit chat with the creator, officers, and any members who feel so passionately about this. We feel you have a lot to learn about our culture. It is imperative that you learn to live PEACEFULLY in this society with us, because we are here to stay, just like you. And finally, for future references DO NOT refer to us as BLACK SAC -- strictly BSAC or the BLACK STUDENT



Andrew Baxley wrote
at 11:54pm:
HAHA. Wow. Where to start? First of all I never degraded your organization. I am proud of your accomplishments on campus and commend you for it. And where did u get BLACK SAC from? I've never heard anybody even use that. Also, we never tried to mess with the BSAC. You are the one who is getting all pissy about something that should be taken as a joke. And where do u come from threatening somebody? Violence is not the answer. And what's with all this "it is imperitive that you learn to live PEACEFULLY in this society with us" stuff from. Who said we were not living peacefully. I haven't seen anything that would make me think otherwise. And with the whole making the WSAC an offical organization thing, the reasons for not have already been mentioned in an earlier conversation. So yes, you are right. The WSAC will never be an organization.

See next post for more comments...

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That's it so far. I know it's a lot to read. But seriously, have you ever met people so ignorant? They tell me the U.S. Census Bureau is wrong (they may not be perfect, but they aren't wrong about Birmingham, AL demographics. I live here.) They tell me their history book has only two blacks in it. :rolleyes:

Give me a break!