A LOOK BACK AT
70 YEARS OF INTEGRATION
kentuckykernel
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
EDITOR’S NOTE: PAGE 8 HAS PHOTOS THAT MAY BE DISTURBING
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
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kentuckykernel
LOOKING BACK, MOVING FORWARD ATTORNEYS ARGUE OVER DEATH PENALTY SOMERSET, Ky.—Attorneys argued before the Kentucky Supreme Court last week over whether to overturn a previous Fayette County court ruling which essentially barred prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against someone 18 to 21 years old. At issue is a 2017 ruling that left Efrain Diaz and Justin D. Smith, both charged in the murder of UK student and Kernel photo editor, Jonathan Krueger, ineligible to be tried with the possibility of the death penalty. Diaz was 20 at the time of the 2015 shooting and Smith was 18. It’s unclear when the court will announce its opinion on the case. Timothy G. Arnold, an attorney with the state Department for Public Advocacy argued on behalf of Diaz, Smith and Travis Bredhold. Bredhold was charged with murder in connection to a 2014 Lexington shooting when he was 18.
Arnold told the court that the county court decision should remain the same. The oral arguments before the Supreme Court are the latest development in a string of court hearings which have occurred since the death of Krueger in 2015. Krueger was shot and killed on East Maxwell Street in mid-April 2015. Diaz, Smith and Roman Gonzalez, Jr., who was 17 at the time, were all charged with first degree robbery and murder in connection with the shooting..
DANCEBLUE BLITZ WEEK IS HERE.
UK’s DanceBlue Committee will be hosting a week’s worth of events Sept. 23-27 to raise support for its fundraising efforts. Here’s the schedule:
Monday, Sept. 23: Why Do You DanceBlue? Students are encouraged to share their reasons on the DanceBlue chalkboard inside of the Gatton Student Center.
CONTACT
Editor-in-chief Rick Childress editor@kykernel.com
Sept. 24: Teammate Tuesday Interact with DanceBlue social media accounts to share which team you would be on for different aspects of the marathon.
Sept. 25: Wear It Wednesday Dawn your DanceBlue gear and check out the DanceBluetique in the Gatton Student Center for more merchandise.
Sept. 26: Throwback Thursday Use your social media accounts to reminisce on past DanceBlue marathons.
Sept. 27: FTK Finale Friday The last day for DanceBlue team registration. There will be a performance of the DanceBlue line dance outside of the Gatton Student Center at Blazer Plaza at 1:30 p.m.
KENTUCKY’S KICKING WOES
UK freshman forward Kahlil Whitney (left) and freshman guard Tyrese Maxey (right) goof around during UK basketball media photo day on Thursday, September 19, 2019. JORDAN PRATHER I STAFF
After a heartbreaking loss to the Florida Gators the week prior, UK kicker Chance Poore came into Saturday’s game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs just two-of-four on field goal attempts this season. Poore added another notch to his belt in Starkville, hitting a field goal late in the first quarter to put the Cats on the board. But Poore failed to get his next two attempts through the uprights, missing a 47-yarder in the second quarter and a 26yard chip in the fourth. Poore seemed to get dinged up during the play on the final attempt. Enter: Poore’s backup Matt Ruffalo who completed a 29-yard field goal attempt with 4:39 left in the fourth quarter. After the game, Coach Mark Stoops said Poore’s injury contributed to Ruffalo’s appearance in the game, but said he was toying with making the change anyway.
Managing editor Jacob Eads editor@kykernel.com News/features editor Sydney Momeyer
news@kykernel.com
Asst. news editors Addison Lander Emily Laytham Natalie Parks Hailey Peters Sports editor Erika Bonner sports@kykernel.com Asst. Sports editor Mohammad Ahmad Opinions editor Brianna Stanley opinions@kykernel.com Asst. Opinions editor Sarah Michels Photo editors
Jordan Prather Michael Clubb
Lead designer
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Social media editors Lauren Campbell Sarah Simon-Patches KENTUCKY KERNEL OFFICES 340 McVey Hall University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506
ON THE COVER Lyman T. Johnson, the first African American to attend the University of Kentucky PORTRAIT PRINT COLLECTION (UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY)
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Tuesday, September 24, 2019
HOW UK IS CELEBRATING 70 YEARS OF INTEGRATION By Emily Laytham news@kykernel.com
With 70 years of racial integration under its cap, the University of Kentucky is celebrating progress – and potential – on campus this year. Several events have been planned for UK’s commemoration of 70 years of integration, including film screenings and guest lectures. All events are intended to highlight diversity at large and at UK. The commemoration kicked off in August with a sold-out event featuring Trevor Noah, comedian, author and host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” There, Noah discussed educational opportunity and equity. But many events are still to come. On Oct. 11, the National Pan-Hellenic Council will host a step show in the student center; On Oct. 13, Black Voices Gospel Choir will perform over brunch; On Nov. 6, Swedish film “Force Majeure” will be played in the Worsham Cinema, followed by a reception; and On Dec. 6, Harvard Professor Sarah Lewis will deliver a lecture on racial bias in photography in the Worsham Cinema. A complete list of scheduled activities is available on myUK. The celebration, organized by UK’s Office of Institutional Diversity, is nearly a year in the making. It is the first campus-wide celebration of integration since 1999, the 50th anniversary of Lyman T. Johnson’s enrollment at UK. In 1949, Johnson, 43, made history when he enrolled at the University of Kentucky as a graduate student. Johnson was
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able to attend UK after he legally challenged a Kentucky law prohibiting black and white students from attending the same institutions. Office of Institutional Diversity Vice President Sonja FeistPrice said this anniversary is “an important opportunity for reflection and making plans for a more diverse and inclusive community.” “The University is making important strides in creating a truly diverse, inclusive campus – what we call a community of belonging,” Feist-Price said. “In recent years, our campus has become more diverse in terms of numbers of students, but we’ve also made progress in terms of retention, graduation rates and student success.” For proof of progress, FeistPrice pointed to recent accolades like UK’s 2019 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, which the university has now been awarded three years running. “But we are not satisfied,” Feist-Price said. “An anniversary like this one serves as an important reminder of our progress, but also what is left to do.” George Wright, a distinguished alumnus and visiting professor at UK, has witnessed the evolution of inclusivity on campus firsthand. Over the past half a century, Wright has moved to and from UK’s campus in various capacities, including as an undergraduate student in the late ‘60s, a master’s student in the ‘70s and a professor in the ‘80s. Wright said support for black students in 1968 was sparing. “The metaphor would have
Comedian and author Trevor Noah joins the Dean of the UK College of Education Julian Vasquez Heilig for discussion at Memorial Coliseum on Friday, Aug. 30, 2019. The event commemorates 70 years of integration at UK.. MARK CORNELISON I UK PHOTO
been, ‘we’re going to put you out there in deep water when you go to college, and you’re going to sink or swim,’” Wright said. “I don’t think it’s that way now. Now it’s, ‘we’re going to help you be successful in swimming.’” Wright said that success may come from resources like the MLK Center, which provides social community to students of color. Wright said the anniversary of racial integration at UK has also led him to reflect upon smaller developments for black life
on campus, too – including the simple right to exist quietly at an institution of higher education. “A lot of times, I’m going somewhere, and nobody is paying any particular attention to me – which is appropriate – and I’m saying, isn’t it amazing that, back then, my mere presence would have been a source of negative attention?” Wright said. Integration is reciprocally beneficial to UK, according to FeistPrice. Initial arguments for racial integration focused on morality; now, 70 years later, Feist-Price said institutions like UK “rec-
ognize that we are stronger and better because of the rich diversity that exists throughout our campus community.” Wright agreed that diversity helps both UK’s community and its individual students. “The University of Kentucky has given me virtually every kind of recognition one can give,” Wright said. “I’m appreciative of that, and they ought to be proud of the fact that I’m one of them… Now, I think people would say ‘that’s George Wright’s school, as much as it is anyone’s.’”
A HISTORY OF PROTEST BY NATALIE PARKS
Seventy years of integration have not passed without struggle. Lyman T. Johnson’s historic admittance, celebratory in its own right, was merely the first step in bridging racial inequality in education – an ongoing and divisive battle at UK. Since 1949, UK students, faculty and administrators have repeatedly fought to make their voices heard on the community and university level. While not an exhaustive list, the dates listed below represent instances where student activism led to changes on campus. Special thanks to Terry Birdwhistell for information and sources, including the publication “50 Years of the UK African-American Legacy”, a history of black students at UK which was published in 1999.
1967
According to “50 Years of the UK African-American Legacy,” the Campus Committee for Human Rights, led by Bill Turner, “sponsored Bitch-In sessions to address ‘social change and the Negro at UK’.” The Kernel reported that off and on, 2,000 students attended a three-hour session in April. “This was the first organized effort to address minority concerns,” according to 50 Years. Black students frustrated with the progress of these sessions broke off and formed Orgena.
1967-68
The Kernel reported that beginning in December 1967, students marched outside of Memorial Coliseum “to protest segregation in basketball recruiting and the Negro’s role on campus.” Twenty-five students marched outside of one Kentucky-Florida game, mostly members of Orgena. 50 Years says that “as a result of the demonstrations, Coach Rupp contacted the (Black Student Union) leadership and asked for their assistance in recruiting black players. BSU agreed to assist, met with prospective recruits and encouraged them to attend UK.”
1968
Activists focused on the “white image” of UK, which black students felt prevented both black faculty and black students from coming to UK. Orgena changed its name to Black Student Union because of political concerns. Their first president, Theodore Berry, asked “for fundamental changes in University recruitment policies and wanted the curriculum to be more relevant to the needs of black students,” according to 50 Years. BSU’s central movement petitioned for an African-American history course. At a February meeting with administrators, history department chair Professor Carl Cone said “the course would be too specialized for general interest.” BSU subsequently provided a petition signed by 900 students, both black and white, expressing interest in the course. The first official African-American history course was taught the following spring. Today, African-American Studies has both a major and minor. Bill Turner, president of UK’s Campus Committee for Human Rights speaks to a crowd of thousands at the committee’s on-campus “Bitch-In” on April 12, 1967. KERNEL FILE
2015
In November of 2015, UK students began a hashtag campaign highlighting racism on campus after seeing racial tensions escalate at the University of Missouri. Two dozen black students then met with UK President Eli Capilouto to discuss issues of racial discrimination on campus. A follow-up Call to Action Town Hall in the spring of 2016 focused on harassment cases, feelings of exclusion, the effectiveness of the Office of Institutional Diversity and the fresco mural in Memorial Hall. The conversations begun this year led to the eventual addition in 2018 of Karyn Olivier’s “Witness” to the atrium of Memorial Hall as the university’s effort to add context to the mural.
2019
Black Student Union President Tsage Douglas leads chants as the protestors prepare for President Capilouto’s arrival to the Main Building on Tuesday, April 2, 2019, in Lexington, Kentucky. NATALIE PARKS I STAFF
After unsatisfying meetings with administrators in the fall of 2018, the Black Student Advisory Council and other student groups occupied the Main Building on UK’s campus overnight in April. The BSAC had a list of five demands, including the removal of the Memorial Hall mural, that they wanted met. The occupation led to a public meeting with President Capilouto, where students emphatically and emotionally spoke about their struggles as black students. Four out of the five demands were agreed upon in some way, but the mural remained a contentious point. As of the fall of 2019, the mural remains covered but there will be no mandatory classes in Memorial Hall in the spring of 2020. Professors and events can still choose to host events there.
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Tuesday, September 24, 2019
WHO WAS LYMAN T. JOHNSON? BY SYDNEY MOMEYER
This year marks 70 years since one man changed higher education in Kentucky forever. This year marks 70 years since Lyman T. Johnson won his suit against the University of Kentucky, and officially desegregated UK’s graduate school. In the years before 1949, UK’s graduate school was completely segregated. If a black student wanted to attend graduate school, they were required to go to Kentucky State College at Frankfort. Much of the black community viewed Kentucky State College as unequal to the level of education white students were receiving at UK, Johnson said in a 1987 interview conducted by Doris Weathers for the University of Kentucky’s oral history project. But black students had no other options for graduate school in Kentucky.
“This was the case until I came down the pipe in 1948,” Johnson said of when he filed his case against UK. According to a 1949 article in the Kentucky Kernel, Johnson sued UK after two failed attempts to enroll in the school’s graduate program because of his race. The university, citing a Kentucky law, held the stance that black and white students should not attend the same school. Johnson argued that there was no school that hosted only black students that had equal levels of education to UK. In 1948, he took his stance to court. “Back in the 1940s, there were a bunch of young educators, mainly, but civil rights leaders in particular, beginning to grow out of the young man into the middle age,” Johnson said in his 1987 interview. “We were concerned about how to get some black people into the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville or any other all-white colleges and universities as a matter of right on their part.” In his interview, Johnson tells a story of something he experienced in segregated society. One day, he and his daughter were walking home, and she had to use the restroom. But since Johnson and his daughter were black, they were unable to simply walk into a store so she could. He said a white man could walk into any store or hotel they wanted if they were in the same situation, but he and his daughter couldn’t. It was situations like these that inspired him to challenge higher education in Kentucky, despite many telling him to give up. “I am not going to let anyone convince me that I was wrong for raising hell about it,” Johnson said. According to Johnson, he challenged UK on the basis of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. This case established that institutions may separate people based on race, but the separated institutions must be equal to one another. By April of 1949, Federal Judge H. Church Ford ruled that UK must admit black students to the university. “Judge Ford said the testimony showed facilities at Kentucky State College at Frankfort were not equal to those at the University,” the Kernel reported. He ruled that until there was an equal program in Kentucky that black students could attend, UK’s graduate program must desegregate.
Lyman T. Johnson, the first African American to attend the University of Kentucky. PORTRAIT PRINT COLLECTION (UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY)
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“Until the state shall establish a graduate school substantially equal to the graduate school at the University of Kentucky, it must admit Negroes on the same basis as whites,” Ford wrote in his ruling. Johnson, and other black students, were now legally permitted to enroll in UK’s graduate program. Though the ruling was a success for black students across the state, there was still much fear of retaliation from students and teachers attending UK at the time. Because of this fear, Johnson started school in the summer of 1949 as a 43-year-old graduate student, a time of year where fewer students would be on campus. “A lot of times when something is occurring for the first time, people don’t quite know how to react on either side,” George Wright, a UK alumnus and now Texas A&M professor said. “Notice I didn’t necessarily say people were hostile, but it’s hard in a lot of instances for folks to reach out to, quote, ‘the other side.’” Wright has been brought to UK this school year as a visiting professor of history. His presence on campus is part of the celebration of the school being integrated for 70 years. Back when he was still in graduate school, Wright wrote his doctoral thesis on Johnson, whom he met in the early 1970s, around 25 years after Johnson had challenged UK in a legal battle. He wanted to find out about the history of black people in Louisville, where Johnson lived and taught high school history, economics and mathematics. In Wright’s interviews with Johnson, he found that not only did Johnson never graduate from UK, but he never intended to graduate from the program he was enrolled in, the master’s program of history. Instead, Johnson’s goal was simply to
Lyman T. Johnson, the first African American to attend the University of Kentucky. PORTRAIT PRINT COLLECTION (UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY)
make it possible for future black students to be a part of the graduate program. “And it was the same in a lot of the states, such as Texas where I have lived for many years,” Wright said. “The first black student admitted to law school there did not intend to graduate.” Wright said Johnson came and took courses to “open the doors for other students.” The intention was never to graduate, but to pave the way for prospective black UK students. “Ironically, 19 years later, I enrolled at as a history under-
graduate major at UK,” Wright said. “I wasn’t the first, but you see, he had opened the doors for us. I would eventually go to graduate school in history at UK. He had opened the door for people like me and for many people that I didn’t even know.” Though Johnson never graduated from UK, Wright said Johnson was given an honorary degree by the school 30 years later. Johnson died in 1997, but his legacy at UK still lives on. In 2015, the university named a dormitory after him, Lyman T. Johnson Hall, located on Hilltop
Avenue across from the William T. Young Library. Johnson’s legacy can also be found among awards and scholarships available to students in his name, such as the Lyman T. Johnson Diversity Fellowship. Now, 70 years later, UK is honoring what Johnson did, even though they were on the other side of the lawsuit so many years ago. “We recognize this year-long event as a commemorative anniversary of 70 years of integration rather than a celebration,” Vice President of the Office for Institutional Diversity at UK
Sonja Feist-Price said. “This time of remembrance allows us to reflect on our journey... For African Americans, this journey began with Mr. Lyman T. Johnson; however, his impact transcends race/ethnicity and speaks to the rich diversity, inclusion and belonging we currently have and seek to enhance.” In the fall semester of 2019, UK has 2,011 enrolled black students into both the undergraduate and graduate programs. “Mr. Johnson would encourage us to continue pushing the wagon up the hill,” Feist-Price said.
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Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Review of Kentuckian yearbooks reveals photos of students in blackface By Jacob Eads news@kykernel.com
In 1959, UK students were fresh off a National Championship basketball season, they went to the Student Union for lunch, frequented Keeneland for the races and even watched as the Wildcats “thrashed” Mississippi State’s football team 33-12 on Homecoming weekend. You could say it was a good year. The Kentuckian yearbook commemorated good times at the University of Kentucky for more than a century, but some of them also contain unsettling images of UK students — pictures of them donning blackface and Ku Klux Klan robes. A review of dozens of archived Kentuckian yearbooks revealed that photos of UK students publicly engaging in racially insensitive behavior were published yearly for most of the 1950s. The Kernel found at least one instance of students wearing blackface in the 1952, and 19541960 yearbooks. An earlier investigation conducted by the USA TODAY Network concluded that no such pictures existed in UK yearbooks during the years 1930-1942, 1944-45, 1947, 1949-51, 1953, 1962-1966, 1972-73, 1968-69 and 1986. The Kentuckian was UK’s perennial yearbook established in 1906 and published annually until 2014. The Kernel and the Kentuckian were both previously overseen by the Board of Student Publications, but were editorially separate. Copies of archived Kentuckian yearbooks can be accessed at the UK Libraries. The Kernel also owns multiple published
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copies of the Kentuckian. English professor Gurney Norman, who was the editor of the 1959 edition of the Kentuckian during his senior year at UK, said it’s important to review these pictures in the context of their era. “The pictures don’t begin to indicate the rampant level of racism that prevailed in the country and in Kentucky and at UK, in as late as 1960,” said Norman. “It was a white world, as far as official institutions were concerned. It was not unusual that someone would wear blackface as a joke.” Norman also worked on the Kentuckian’s staff in 1957 and 1958. UK Historian Dr. Terry Birdwhistell echoed Norman’s sentiments about the campus’s racial climate in the 1950s. “Considering the climate at the time, the band still played ‘Dixie’ up through the mid to late 1960s. I think there was a lack of One woman can be seen in blackface on this photo collage of sorority and fraternity recruitment found in consciousness and sensitivity to the 1953 Kentuckian yearbook. JORDAN PRATHER I STAFF issues of race on campus,” Birdwhistell said. campus’s increased attention to But however painful, Norman issues of race can be seen in the said the unearthing of these “ancontent we find in later editions cient” images should serve as a of the Kentuckian. challenge to all of the UK com“I think the thing we can be munity to further the dialogue proud of is that if you look at the about social issues on campus. “In a way, it’s good that some- Kentuckian in the late 1960s and one of the 20 journalism majors 1970s, you just see a complete helping to put the yearbook to- change in the representation of gether...included those imag- African Americans in the yeares, because it’s always relevant book, and the sensitivity to racial when anything has us talk about issues, and the yearbook taking race in American culture,” Nor- on really hard issues in the Kenman said. “To me it’s more than tuckian,” said Birdwhistell. This year marks UK’s 70th anjust a casual notice of imagery in an ancient book. To notice this niversary of integration. Norman now needs to be part of the on- said this year will serve as an opgoing discourse in the country portunity for all UK students to about social justice in all of its “do fresh thinking and to know “Sex rears its ugly head,” reads the caption below this photo found in the history of the integration of the 1954 Kentuckian yearbook. The events that led to this photo are forms.” Birdwhistell noted that the the University of Kentucky.” unknown.
opinions
editorial
We’ve come so far but still have much to go
“We uncovered no insensitive or racist images” reported the Courier-Journal in February of this year, referring to their review of past Kentucky yearbooks. You can imagine our surprise, then, when one of the Kernel staffers leafed through the 1953 Kentuckian, UK’s now-defunct yearbook, and came across smiling students in blackface. It didn’t stop there. Throughout the rest of the day, the Kernelites uncovered 12 photographs of students in blackface in our available copies of the Kentuckian. There were also several instances of students proudly waving (and in one case wearing) confederate flags or otherwise appropriating cultures and sporting insensitive insignia. Most of the offensive images were between 1952 and 1960. The Kentuckian and the Kernel had offices across the hall from each other for much of the 20th century. They were, however, editorially independent from one another. Despite this, the Kernel staff feels a responsibility to address these images.
It’s horrible that this happened, but it’s good that we can talk about it now. The presence of these images was not something of which we were aware before this week. This doesn’t mean that they haven’t offended and hurt others who have come across them. Within the context of the time they were taken, the pictures would not have been the result of editor’s slipup. This kind of behavior was relatively normal in southern universities of that time. The first Kentuckian in which we found blackface was 1952, only three years after UK’s first black student, Lyman T. Johnson, won his legal battle for enrollment at UK. Johnson, who received an honorary Ph.D. in 1979, sums up our feelings well with his statement: “It’s remarkable that so much has changed in the space of thirty years – from the time I forced my way into the university on a court order to the day the university gave me an honorary degree.” A lot has changed. The racist images in the Kentuckian at least, if noth-
ing else, serve as a reminder of how far we’ve come, even if we still have so far to go. They remind us of the reasons that students protest and campaign for individual rights, throughout history and now. We can only hope that the next 20 years of dialogue brings even more understanding, equity, and justice to our campus. The 1962-63 Kernel editor, Jack Guthrie, wrote an editorial that was instrumental in UK’s decision to integrate our sports teams. When asked to give comment on the racist yearbook photos, he remarked that “the country had to find [itself], and we are still finding ourselves.” He also charged young journalists with “continuing to call out any injustices you see, not just racism but any other.” We do not condone these images, but we acknowledge them as a relic of a less aware time. They only strengthen our commitment to journalistic integrity and creating a meaningful dialogue from which we, as a student body, can grow.
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Tuesday, September 24, 2019
70 years later, we still aren’t fully ‘integrated’ MOHAMMED AHMAD Columnist
We have a long way to go. The University of Kentucky is not living in a post-racial society. Convincing ourselves that we’re past racism is a lie — a big, blatant lie. As UK celebrates the 70th anniversary of Lyman T. Johnson’s enrollment into the university, we need to realize that UK has a racist legacy we haven’t fully addressed. What racist legacy? Where’s the racism? How is there still discrimination? We’re all Americans. We’re all the same. Why’s everything always about race? Blacks, Latino, Arabs, Asians and many other minorities get an education at UK just like their white counterparts. If you’re white, these questions and thoughts might be swirling in your head. If they are, then congratulations. You have unintentionally admitted that you have white privilege. Pat yourself on the back and brace yourself. You’re about to get an ugly, pain-
ful history lesson. I’m a Palestinian-Muslim, a student of color, who is graduating from UK in about three months. I want you to know that my fellow classmates of color and I do not have the same experience as white students on campus. I’m not convinced that UK has fully “integrated.” Yes, students of color go here. But we aren’t fully acknowledged, recognized or accepted by all whites on campus. UK wasn’t built with us in mind. Black students still didn’t receive the same benefits as their white classmates immediately after Johnson’s admittance. They were dehumanized. Full “integration” didn’t really happen until 1967 when UK football player Nate Northington integrated the SEC. Let me give you an example of such dehumanization: I was in the Kernel office recently and saw a 1954 edition of The Kentuckian — the now defunct UK student yearbook — sitting on a chair. Immediately curious, I skimmed through the book. Amazingly, I found an image of several boys wearing blackface during what appeared to be a fraternity and sorority event. That wasn’t the worst part
though. The worst part came when I tipped off my fellow Kernelites and advisers about my painful discovery. They decided to search through more yearbooks. The result? They found more racist pictures, including KKK-esque costumes and outfits. “Why is it such a big deal?” some might ask. “Why can’t you just let it go?” If that’s how you feel, this is my response: Stop, sit down and listen. You don’t just get over something like that. That’s not something you forget about. White people won’t understand the weight of that disgusting imagery. That right there is privilege. You know what else is privilege? Having many students that look like you everywhere you go on campus, and because of this not feeling isolated or questioning whether you belong. Having faculty and administrators that look like you and believe in you. Having whiteness as the norm and not being expected to act any differently. Having people listen to your problems and struggles without feeling invalidated. Not having a constant worry of facing microaggressions. Those are some of the many privileges white students at UK
have. The reason I reference these privileges in reference to blackface is because those pictures are true symbols of this university’s legacy towards students of color. For some reason, people only want to talk about Northington, Johnson and many other successful blacks who came through UK under the guise that all UK students are now seen and treated equally. But they’re not. The same people that talk about these esteemed figures don’t want to address the fact that blackface, while it still unfortunately exists, has now mostly manifested into microaggressions and covert white supremacy. That’s how racism works. It’s a virus. One minute it’s Jim Crow, the next minute it’s microaggressions. Once a host is infected with this virus, the effects are damaging and hard to cure. These racial tensions recently boiled over during the Black Student Advisory Council and Basic Needs campaign’s occupation of the Main Building back in April. Those students voiced the same frustrations that I’m voicing now. If that wasn’t enough to show white students and faculty what we go through, then this article
should wake them up. I also encourage my fellow brothers and sisters of color to boldly write about what kind of hell we’ve been catching. White people, when we tell you we’re frustrated, listen. When we’re sad, comfort us. When we fall, help us up. Stop acting defensive, fragile and annoyed with us. The more you belittle our problems, the more you’ll continue to benefit from white privilege. If you’re tired of hearing about white privilege, then imagine how tired we are of being institutionally oppressed. Stop celebrating Johnson and Northington as symbols that UK is fully integrated. Stop using Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as an excuse to be colorblind. Stop whitewashing black history. Stop ignoring people of color. Stop expecting us to carry this weight on our own. Stop silencing us. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t celebrate these giants. We absolutely should. But we also need to recognize the barriers and evils that are holding us back from making even more progress. Step up to the plate and do your part, white people. You can do better — so, do better.
Op-ed: Identity, power, and equity in education This will be my sixth year at the University of Kentucky. Much has changed since I set foot on campus on my first day of undergrad — not only at UK, but across the United States. Now, more than ever, there is better awareness of prejudice and discrimination. As a Wildcat, I have been proud of the strides our university has made to incorporate more diversity and inclusion for marginalized students. Even so, this pride comes with a bit of hesitation. We still have much further to go. I graduated from UK with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. As a first-generation Chinese-American student from Ap-
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palachia, this was not a feat I was destined to achieve. From my research in education, I know that the retention rates for first-generation college students, students of color and students from Appalachia are far lower than the rates of students from more privileged groups. My research focuses on these achievement gaps and, of course, ways to reduce them. I hope that my work helps to encourage social justice and equity in education. Equity is a term that is too often used incorrectly. In short, equity means fairness (not sameness). Equity in education has an even deeper meaning. A 2002 study in the American Educational Research
Journal, describes equity as “the inability to predict [achievement] and participation based solely on student characteristic such as race, class, ethnicity, sex, beliefs and proficiency in the dominant language.” As an educational researcher, the “inability to predict” something is frustrating, especially two of the most important variables in my field (i.e., achievement and participation). True equity might be a statistician’s nightmare. Nevertheless, we include controls for gender, ethnicity/ race and social class in our fancy statistical models that, still yet, yield statistical significance. Now, I’m learning more about how to
combat and understand inequity. Specifically, there are four dimensions of equity to address in education: access, achievement, identity and power. I argue that our community’s work thus far has only targeted two of those dimensions: access and achievement. Access ensures that students have the resources to participate. At our university, this might look like good quality curriculum and instruction. From an equity standpoint, this might include scholarships for first-generation college students or a basic needs fund. As a university who
See OP-ED on page 11
OP-ED
able to “become better persons in their own eyes, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 not just in the eyes of others.” Seeing yourself in your just accepted the largest curriculum is important. class of first-year students ever, students’ access to By this, I don’t mean slapping photos of students of opportunities is growing. A second dimension color on posters. I mean of equity encourages truly seeing yourself and achievement. Our uni- your own identity flourish versity thrives off the in your courses. I mean achievement of its stu- the ability to make strong dents, so much so that it connections between your emphasizes academic suc- own background and cess as one of its pillars of class content. I mean the academic excellence. This freedom to explore your cultural identity in a space too, we are improving. That leaves me to de- that is safe to do so. Finally, the last dimenscribe the two pieces of equity that are often ig- sion of equity involves nored, however crucial power. Power is ability they are to equity: iden- to partake in social transtity and power. Identity formation at every levrequires that students see el. This means allowing themselves in their curric- voices to be heard and ulum, and, as the Ameri- being open to new knowlcan Educational Research edge. This means actually Journal study states, are listening and relinquishing power to resident ad-
visers, the Black Student Advisory Council, and a basic needs campaign, all of whom highlight a need. To uplift power, it must be relinquished from those who hold the most of it at the classroom, departmental, and university level. Like other educational systems across the U.S., our university falls short in educational equity. But let us be the first flagship university to expand its views on equity beyond access and achievement. Let us flourish in our identities and power to impart true social change. Xiao-yin Chen is a graduate student in the Educational Psychology program at UK. Her research focuses on first generation students, underrepresented minorities, achievement gaps and social belonging.
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Tuesday, September 24, 2019
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