Too many white people at UVA Multicultural Student Center

[Metaphor]

Video of this event has been making the rounds on Twitter

https://www.theamericanmirror.com/b...l-center-this-is-a-space-for-people-of-color/

A new Multicultural Student Center opened at the University of Virginia last week, and it’s already breeding intolerance and racism on campus.

“Leftists at the University of Virginia are dictating who is and who isn’t allowed in the new Multicultural Student Center,” Young America’s Foundation posted along with a video to Twitter on Wednesday. “’Frankly there is just too many white people in here, and this is a space for people of color.’ This kind of racist intolerance is NOT multicultural.”

The video shows a black female student offering a condescending public service announcement to folks at the Multicultural Student Center. It includes the Twitter handle @WafaFlofa_Flame transposed over the woman.

“EEEEEEE …. Public service announcement. EEEEEE … Public service announcement,” she said, hands clasped. “Excuse me. If ya’ll didn’t know, this is the MSC and frankly there is just too many white people in here and this is a space for people of color.

“So let’s be really cognizant of the space that you’re taking up, because it does make some of us POCs uncomfortable when we see too many white people in here,” she lectured.

“It’s only been open for four days, and frankly there is the whole university for a lot of ya’ll to be at and there is very few spaces for us, so keep that in mind. Thank you,” the student said.

The comments drew applause and a holler of support from an accomplice recording the video.

A number of students were asked about the incident afterwards and there seems to be general agreement: white people make POC uncomfortable

https://www.yaf.org/news/uva-has-a-race-problem-students-say-too-many-white-people/

I address the following to all white people on the board.

When did you first realise that you did not have a culture and that culture is something only non-white people have?

When you take up space in a multicultural centre pretending you have a culture, why do you think it's okay for PoC to have to enact the labour of calling out your problematic existing-while-white behaviour?

 

[Derec]

The Leftist ideology states that being white is bad, and that so-called "POCs" are superior. Which is why white woman Rashida Tlaib insists that she is not white, visual evidence to the contrary.

 

[zorq]

Quote from UVA: “In order to foster the diversity of experience and ideas that make UVA a great and good place to study and work, these centers are open to all members of the university community.”

The girl that so many right wing media outrage outlets are concerned about is wrong. Yet... here we are putting words in her mouth that she never uttered to make her look more wrong. Where is the quote where she said, "White people don't have a culture"? It doesn't exist. That just makes you look wrong.

Apparently the the purpose of the previous Multicultural Student Center at the UVA was to give students who hail from cultures that only represent a minority of students on the campus a designated place to interact. This new MSC was intended to be used by all students, but with a special invitation to the users of the previous MSC. It is easy to imagine that the girl in the video didn't get the memo about the new MSC.

...And for that we must figuratively destroy her on the internet and ignite the rage of a million conservative culture warriors! Onward virtuous heroes! We must write angry things on the internet because one black female college student didn't understand the purpose of a vaguely named university room and because she feels uncomfortable around lots of white people! Young people are NOT allowed to make mistakes!

 

[Metaphor]

Yet... here we are putting words in her mouth that she never uttered to make her look more wrong. Where is the quote where she said, "White people don't have a culture"? It doesn't exist. ​

She did not say those words, which is why I did not say or imply she did.

What she did do is conflate non-white people with 'multiculturalism', or, if I'm being generous, she was implying that the cultures--and the feelings--that people of colour have are important enough that excluding white cultures and white people is a no-brainer.

That just makes you look wrong.

​

​

I was mocking her conflation of culture with non-white skin colour.

Now, if UVA wants instead to segregate white people from people of colour and create exclusive spaces for people of colour, it ought to change the name of the lounge to "PoC lounge" or "non-white lounge".

Apparently the the purpose of the previous Multicultural Student Center at the UVA was to give students who hail from cultures that only represent a minority of students on the campus a designated place to interact. This new MSC was intended to be used by all students, but with a special invitation to the users of the previous MSC. It is easy to imagine that the girl in the video didn't get the memo about the new MSC.

​

It's also easy to imagine she doesn't realise white people have cultures. For example, I am one of the people she would have in mind for her stunning and brave speech, as I am white. But I guarantee you that she has no interest in my particular European ethnicity or culture, though it would be for more of a minority at UVA than her background, since she seems to be American and I am not.

...And for that we must figuratively destroy her on the internet and ignite the rage of a million conservative culture warriors! Onward virtuous heroes! We must write angry things on the internet because one black female college student didn't understand the purpose of a vaguely named university room and because she feels uncomfortable around lots of white people! Young people are NOT allowed to make mistakes!

​

I trust if a white person had said she doesn't feel comfortable around so many people of colour you'd also find forgiveness for the folly of youth.

 

[zorq]

She did not say those words, which is why I did not say or imply she did.

Eh, you implied it with your questions.

What she did do is conflate non-white people with 'multiculturalism', or, if I'm being generous, she was implying that the cultures--and the feelings--that people of colour have are important enough that excluding white cultures and white people is a no-brainer.

If you were being generous you might have presumed the alternative that I proposed. That she didn't understand the purpose of the room.

​

I was mocking her conflation of culture with non-white skin colour.

You mean you were mocking the ASSUMPTION that you made that she was conflating culture with non-white skin. If that's how she actually feels, then she deserves the mocking, but there are other ways to interpret her little speech.

Now, if UVA wants instead to segregate white people from people of colour and create exclusive spaces for people of colour, it ought to change the name of the lounge to "PoC lounge" or "non-white lounge".

That's unlikely to happen.

Apparently the the purpose of the previous Multicultural Student Center at the UVA was to give students who hail from cultures that only represent a minority of students on the campus a designated place to interact. This new MSC was intended to be used by all students, but with a special invitation to the users of the previous MSC. It is easy to imagine that the girl in the video didn't get the memo about the new MSC.

​

It's also easy to imagine she doesn't realise white people have cultures. For example, I am one of the people she would have in mind for her stunning and brave speech, as I am white. But I guarantee you that she has no interest in my particular European ethnicity or culture, though it would be for more of a minority at UVA than her background, since she seems to be American and I am not.

I don't think you can guarantee anything about this particular young woman. I don't think you know much of anything about her interests or personality.

...And for that we must figuratively destroy her on the internet and ignite the rage of a million conservative culture warriors! Onward virtuous heroes! We must write angry things on the internet because one black female college student didn't understand the purpose of a vaguely named university room and because she feels uncomfortable around lots of white people! Young people are NOT allowed to make mistakes!

​

I trust if a white person had said she doesn't feel comfortable around so many people of colour you'd also find forgiveness for the folly of youth.

I have forgiven plenty of my elderly family members for that exact attitude, so why not? Isn't it odd that these relatives don't get international publicity in niche media outlets every time they expound on similar attitudes that you feel the need to draw attention to in this girl?

 

[Metaphor]

Eh, you implied it with your questions.

I did not imply she said it. I implied she seems to think white people don't have culture, or their culture doesn't count.

Now I don't know that her being uncomfortable with white people rather than her thinking white people don't have any culture is somehow a more generous conclusion to draw.

If you were being generous you might have presumed the alternative that I proposed. That she didn't understand the purpose of the room.

Even if she didn't know the purpose, she sure felt emboldened to tell white people off for taking up space.

I don't think you can guarantee anything about this particular young woman. I don't think you know much of anything about her interests or personality.

She definitely seems to have been born and raised in America, if her accent is anything to go by. Which probably means her shared culture with white Americans is more similar than white Americans' culture is to mine.

...And for that we must figuratively destroy her on the internet and ignite the rage of a million conservative culture warriors!

​

...destroy her? In what universe has she been 'destroyed'? Indeed, she appears to have suffered no formal or informal repercussions for her act.

The fact that she could openly call on people of a certain race to leave a shared space, and get applauded for it, shows to me rather than fearing she might be 'destroyed', that she is the embodiment of a certain kind of privilege.

I have forgiven plenty of my elderly family members for that exact attitude, so why not? Isn't it odd that these relatives don't get international publicity in niche media outlets every time they expound on similar attitudes that you feel the need to draw attention to in this girl?

Have your relatives been filmed asking people of a certain race that isn't theirs to leave a shared space so that your relative can feel more comfortable?

 

[laughing dog]

I would like to thank the OP for bringing to light another person saying something stupid in public.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I would like to thank the OP for bringing to light another person saying something stupid in public.

Should we move this thread to the Politics of individuals belonging to Multicultural Clubs at Universities forum?

 

[Toni]

Not sure why Metaphor doesn't bring articles about racism in Australia here on this forum?

Here's one: https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2019/03/25/racism-in-australia-tim-soutphommasane.html

i at a Sydney Ideas event, Professor Soutphommasane called for an end to a false equivalence in public discourse between racism and anti-racism. Observing the challenges in calling out racism, he said there is a tendency among Australians to view race issues as being primarily about “harmony”, as opposed to the task of dealing with discrimination.

“We struggle to name racism, even when the rest of the world is talking about it, even when there is permission to talk about racial discrimination,” said Professor Soutphommasane.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Most people I know are stupid. And even if they're smart, they say dumb things. That includes minorities and white people, though minorities usually say wiser things in my experience. In any case, what value does it bring to the world in bringing up an ANECDOTE of something stupid that someone says? What point is trying to be made by using an ANECDOTE to push some kind of political AGENDA? People are stupid. If I made a thread every time a white person says something stupid, we'd be up to so much shitposting by now... BUT please, OMG, there are minorities DYING because of racism in the world right now. DYING! And yet again, we have to deal with one of these whining threads that leads into semantic arguments like this: you implied she said this, no I didn't, I implied she thought it. OMG. People are DYING!

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Yet... here we are putting words in her mouth that she never uttered to make her look more wrong. Where is the quote where she said, "White people don't have a culture"? It doesn't exist.

I did not imply she said it. I implied she seems to think white people don't have culture, or their culture doesn't count.

First, that is a really dumb distinction to make in a thread that already borders on being valueless.

Second, that is a presumption on your part. I note the word "seems" which is a sneaky way to pretend to have objectivity. No, it DOES NOT SEEM that way. It seems [TO YOU] that way because you lack information. As has been posted, apparently there was some previous building in its place which was more focused on minorities and this substitution from one building to the next along with a message that the older people would be more welcomed at the new place may have played a role in her thinking. So, while she was perhaps saying something stupid--and actually not very nice--she does not SEEM like she thinks what you claim she SEEMS to think. Nice try, though.

 

[krypton iodine sulfur]

'Too many white people' does not equate to the idea there should be no white people.

The multicultural center has a purpose which is rooted in the needs of cultural groups beyond the culturally dominant group. 'Culture' is a vague enough term that what this means specifically won't be agreed upon by everyone; however, if the center ends up a space which merely replicates the ordinary population dynamics found in the university in general, it likely isn't serving its purpose.

This new multicultural center is a replacement for their old one. An article states the mission behind the formation of the old center was 'to create a space to support underrepresented groups while cultivating an inclusive and diverse University community'. I don't have reason to believe that mission has changed with the new location, but perhaps the dynamics of the shiny new center have changed from the old one. For students who relied on the old center as one of the few shared spaces on campus where they could feel more comfortable and at ease, or perhaps more sense of belonging, I can appreciate how feeling like that space is effectively being lost for them would be bad.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/u...-students-boosts-cross-cultural-collaboration

 

[krypton iodine sulfur]

Apparently the the purpose of the previous Multicultural Student Center at the UVA was to give students who hail from cultures that only represent a minority of students on the campus a designated place to interact. This new MSC was intended to be used by all students, but with a special invitation to the users of the previous MSC. It is easy to imagine that the girl in the video didn't get the memo about the new MSC.

I don't think it actually did change. In the 2016 UVA article I linked above, it states both:

"...the students’ mission to create a space to support underrepresented groups while cultivating an inclusive and diverse University community..."

and

"Even though it’s called the Multicultural Center, it is absolutely open to anyone. We want to make sure everyone is welcome in this space."

 

[TSwizzle]

It came across as a prank actually. It is a really competitive thing to get your stuff to "go viral" and I guess she has somewhat succeeded. It's just another non controversial, click bait news story that trots out some silly shit seen on Tw@tter followed by quotes from the people that respond. Social media is a cesspit.

 

[Metaphor]

First, that is a really dumb distinction to make in a thread that already borders on being valueless.

It may SEEM that way to you, but I've learned that people can be very....careless about responding to my posts and about ascribing to me things I have not said and actions I have not taken.

Second, that is a presumption on your part. I note the word "seems" which is a sneaky way to pretend to have objectivity. No, it DOES NOT SEEM that way. It seems [TO YOU] that way because you lack information. As has been posted, apparently there was some previous building in its place which was more focused on minorities and this substitution from one building to the next along with a message that the older people would be more welcomed at the new place may have played a role in her thinking. So, while she was perhaps saying something stupid--and actually not very nice--she does not SEEM like she thinks what you claim she SEEMS to think. Nice try, though.

The idea that she may have been mistaken about the purpose of the space is, in fact, not relevant to my OP (though I don't believe she was mistaken, since the UVA never seems to have had a space exclusively delineated by race). The incident is an illustration of the zeitgeist on university spaces (and increasingly, in the corporate and governmental worlds). The fact that this student's request for white people to leave not only doesn't get her ostracised but got applause is shocking for how not shocking it is.

 

[Metaphor]

'Too many white people' does not equate to the idea there should be no white people.

"Too many black people" does not equate to the idea there should be no black people.

This new multicultural center is a replacement for their old one. An article states the mission behind the formation of the old center was 'to create a space to support underrepresented groups while cultivating an inclusive and diverse University community'.

Excluding people based on their race isn't inclusive and it reduces diversity.

 

[Metaphor]

Not sure why Metaphor doesn't bring articles about racism in Australia here on this forum? ​

Not sure why Toni needs to publically speculate on the posting choices of a person who has never told her what she should be posting as a new thread?

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

It came across as a prank actually. It is a really competitive thing to get your stuff to "go viral" and I guess she has somewhat succeeded. It's just another non controversial, click bait news story that trots out some silly shit seen on Tw@tter followed by quotes from the people that respond. Social media is a cesspit.

I did not even look at the video and so I did not pick up on social cues etc that could have led me in that direction. BUT now that you mention it, isn't it weird that she had her friend video the whole thing? So there is certainly some evidence of this hypothesis...

 

[laughing dog]

First, that is a really dumb distinction to make in a thread that already borders on being valueless.

It may SEEM that way to you, but I've learned that people can be very....careless about responding to my posts and about ascribing to me things I have not said and actions I have not taken.

Second, that is a presumption on your part. I note the word "seems" which is a sneaky way to pretend to have objectivity. No, it DOES NOT SEEM that way. It seems [TO YOU] that way because you lack information. As has been posted, apparently there was some previous building in its place which was more focused on minorities and this substitution from one building to the next along with a message that the older people would be more welcomed at the new place may have played a role in her thinking. So, while she was perhaps saying something stupid--and actually not very nice--she does not SEEM like she thinks what you claim she SEEMS to think. Nice try, though.

The idea that she may have been mistaken about the purpose of the space is, in fact, not relevant to my OP (though I don't believe she was mistaken, since the UVA never seems to have had a space exclusively delineated by race). The incident is an illustration of the zeitgeist on university spaces (and increasingly, in the corporate and governmental worlds). The fact that this student's request for white people to leave not only doesn't get her ostracised but got applause is shocking for how not shocking it is.

Really, "Ostracised" ? Should she have a big R sewn onto her clothes? Moreover, you have no clue what happened to her afterwards.

BTW, did you notice the comments at the end of the article you cited? It is not as if this oration/stunt was criticized.

It

 

[Half-Life]

Imagine if this was a white person who went up there and said, "This is a space for white people and quite frankly, there's just too many people of color here." Student probably would've been expelled from the school and the university would have to dole out a huge apology about how "we treat all students equally and cherish everyone."

But since a black girl said it, her racism gets a pass. And yet people on this forum still insist that white people are not oppressed.