Hall 1 The Black Island of USC: What It Means to Be African-American at an Elite University By: Paxton Hall
There is no debating that the University of Southern California is an elite university. Whether you look at the caliber of students admitted or the jobs and opportunities provided to students post-graduation, USC’s students and faculty have access to resources directly correlated with success. Situated in a Los Angeles neighborhood named University Park, USC is considered a part of an overwhelmingly minority community. When examining USC’s student population to a further extent, however, the contrast of demographics when compared to University Park as a whole makes it clear that the students and their surrounding community are nothing but different on an unmatched racial and financial precedent. After having spent eight months as a half black, half white, student at USC, I am cast into a role on campus where my presence is considered an anomaly. The contradiction formed by attending a primarily wealthy and white college, situated in the middle of an economically disadvantaged community of color, has shown itself to create unavoidable issues. When black USC students attempt to find equilibrium between seeking monetary goals and a vision for an all-inclusive society, they are faced with a constant struggle to find a place of satisfaction. Because I deviate from the norm at USC by not being entirely Caucasian, I am most often defined by my other half of color, in the sense that judgments of my personality, interests, financial situation, and even academic prowess are most often considered a direct result of me being black. This stark reality affects nearly all students of color at USC, but seeing that I am not representative of all people of color, I will address the issues that have affected me, a black student, while attending the University of Southern California.
Hall 2 If looking for a community in Los Angeles that is a melting pot of different ethnicities and cultures, University Park nears the top of the list. According to the Los Angeles Times Mapping Portal, University Park is considered the 29th most ethnically diverse neighborhood of Los Angeles’s 265 total neighborhoods (“University Park”). Delving into the statistics even further, University Park is 7% African-American, 47.7% Hispanic/Latino, and 25.5% White. In comparison, the University of Southern California’s student population is 5.46% AfricanAmerican, 13.87% Hispanic/Latino, and 40.85% White. Immediately, the inconsistency of demographic make-up within University Park is made clear, especially when considering that University Park’s resident population is upwards of 25,000 people while USC’s student population surpasses that with 38,000 students (“University of Southern California”). If you are a person of color at USC you are considered a minority, but if you walk ten minutes or so off of campus towards any other area of University Park, you would be considered a part of the majority. African-American students at USC are confronted with the realization (along with Hispanics/Latinos) that they are more likely to see a person of their same ethnicity during a walk to downtown than they are to see on campus, where they presumptuously spend the majority of their time at. At times, it can be disheartening to know that black students at USC are of the smallest racial group and therefore automatically put at a lesser advantage when seeking to find a sense of community in the college setting. What further exasperates this lack of belonging is that African-American students at USC have a considerably tough time connecting with black people in the surrounding communities of University Park. The feeling I encounter when I see another African-American outside of USC’s fenced campus in University Park is excited on one hand, but empathetic and bitter on another. It is refreshing to see someone that you can relate to and is aware of what it means to be black in
Hall 3 Los Angeles, but at the same time you know that this person will struggle to attend USC without significant financial aid, will struggle to have the opportunity to get a job that pays as much as your’s will upon graduation, and will struggle daily to fend off poverty that plagues a significant amount of residents in University Park. The total annual cost to attend USC is $59,883 (“University of Southern California”). The median income of University Park is $18,553, making it the second poorest neighborhood of Los Angeles’s 265 total neighborhoods (“University Park”). As black students at USC, we are given an excellent opportunity to be successful, but unlike our white counterparts of greater number, we are forced to develop an awareness of our place in society as an exception. Edward Williams, a Howard University graduate, said it best, “Young, successful black men in our society are just as easily defined by their accolades as by their status as an outlier” (Williams). At USC we barely fit in on campus, very rarely fit in off campus, and are reminded of this constantly by our campus’s unique configuration in the middle of an underprivileged community. While people of our same color in University Park are struggling to put food on the table our biggest worry is oftentimes getting an A on an exam, showing just how evident disconnect can be. In addition, black USC students are led down a path to enter a workforce that has historically made minority success difficult, yet if they take an effort to speak out against this, they risk further limiting an already limited career. To put it quite frankly, the money to be made is not in social activism but in other fields such as engineering, finance, or business. As a black student at USC you have an awareness of the struggles that African-American University Park residents face, but if you desire to make a significant change, you would have to enter the social activism field knowing that you will unlikely make as much money as if you pursued a traditional job and worked your way up the corporate hierarchy. USC, as most other colleges,
Hall 4 operates with the belief that if you keep quiet, stay out of trouble, and work hard, you will have a rewarding career and be able to provide for your family without any worries. Black students cannot force themselves to believe in this because American universities are tailored towards the white population and as stated in the Journal of College Student Development, “the successful Black student is likely not only to seem ‘atypical’ but is also inclined toward and experienced in taking less common paths to goals than the successful White student” (Black Student Life 539). For African-American college students to find success, skills must be developed that revolve around resourcefulness and creativity to attain sought after results. At USC there are very few paths for black students to follow to achieve ultimate success and even fewer means to get help along the way because of the lack of belonging we have to deal with while living in University Park. While a college degree guarantees us an opportunity to strive for a respectable job, if we are ever to hold a dominate place in government or the corporate world, there will be considerable opposition. This opposition has led to over the last 200 years of American history only one African-American male President, one African-American male Attorney General, one African-American male Secretary of State, and two African-American male Supreme Court Justices. Five of the Fortune 500 CEOs are African-American men (Williams). Attending USC as a student is already putting one into an elite category within American society, but to become a leader within this elite group of people as an African-American calls upon a mindset that cannot be taught in the classroom. There is no pattern to follow as a college student for high level African-American success. America’s current president, Barack Obama, the first African-American to hold such a position in American society proved to serve as a symbol of optimism in the black community and an example of high level African-American success. For many Americans, this created a new
Hall 5 vision of what it meant to be black, especially among aspiring college students such as myself who someday hope to gain positions of power in a country that has previously not allowed so. Witnessing Barack Obama achieve such a high status in America opened a door of inspiration for black Americans to strive for their dreams and in turn hope that because a black man became president, he would in turn help the black community achieve their own ambitions. Over time, it became shockingly apparent that under Obama’s presidency the black community in America was actually retrogressing, despite a member of their community serving as president. A study conducted by The Center for American Progress and PolicyLink reported that, “there are more African-American adults under correctional control today – in prison or jail, on probation or parole – than were enslaved in 1850” (Alexander 190). This is not to mention that, unemployment in America is 7.8 percent overall, but more than 17 percent for AfricanAmericans and to further exemplify the hardships people of color face, nearly one in three African-American and Latino children are at risk of hunger (Leon). With issues such as these still prevalent in the twenty-first century, it is made clear that despite Obama’s notable position, he merely serves as a symbol of hope rather than a symbol of action for the black community. African-Americans can strive to be like him, but when it comes down to change taking place, one must seriously consider whether being in a historically celebrated position, even that of the President, can bring progress to struggling communities. This creates a dilemma for African-American students at USC as they question whether their success will be at the cost of less fortunate black people and in the process are faced with a difficult choice. They can choose to pursue a life that is filled with popularity and wealth (like that of a CEO or Congressman), but only while knowing that people of their same color will likely not benefit from them having this position, or, they can pursue an inglorious life of a social
Hall 6 activist that will do good in the black community but will lack the riches and spoils that could have been gained with their college degree. This decision becomes problematic at USC for black students because we are constantly reminded that racial equity is not a reality due to our relationship with University Park, but at the same time USC is constantly pushing us to earn the highest wages and acquire the most prominent jobs possible. Black USC students are presented with the reality that they will not only represent themselves in the future, but also the African-American race as a whole under any stage that is significant for the country’s future. By graduating from USC, African-Americans will instantly be cast into an upper echelon of black people who have the chance to encourage opportunity for all, and it is vital that this class of people creates a new awareness that change can be made, but only by sacrifice. Whether this sacrifice is mentoring young African-American men who have aspirations to go to college or creating a social entrepreneurship venture that invests money into the black community, there has to be a desire within to help fellow African-Americans. As a future member of USC’s African-American graduating class of 2017, it is not acceptable for us to disregard the community we come from if we find success, and money cannot be our only motivating factor (Williams). Edwards Williams clarifies this point by emphasizing that, “wherever we go, whatever we do, and whoever we become, everyone will watch us. We owe it the little black boys to give them something to strive toward and we owe it to our communities to continue to defy the common stereotypes.” As an African-American USC student, we are burdened with the reality that there are underprivileged neighborhoods like University Park all over America, but we are also fortunate enough to realize that we can do something about it with the skills acquired from a college degree.
Hall 7 The experience gained by attending USC as a black student creates an awareness for societal equity that many college graduates lack. When some look at the neighborhood of University Park and deem it as having a wealthy college surrounded by a poor community that has nothing to offer, students of color at USC have to take offense because they have had an inseparable connection to people of color for hundreds of years, whether they are aware of it or not. Economic success granted by a college degree should never be an escape from the people that you are connected to, and with a dash of selflessness and hint of courage, the duty of black USC students can change from their white counterparts in the sense that they will uplift neighborhoods such as University Park rather than ignore them upon graduation. There are so few black students in college that those who are fortunate enough to attend have to leave a trail for others to follow so that the next generation of black high school students will have the opportunity to go to a college such as USC and feel as though they can be integral parts of the college graduate and the black community.
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Works Cited Alexander, Michelle. "All-In-Nation: An America that Works for All." What Will America Be? Mass Incarceration and the Threat to the American Experiment. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <https://reserves.usc.edu/ares/ares.dll? SessionID=A215556416P&Action=10&Type=10&Value=76863>. "Black Student Life." Journal of College Student Development September/October (1999): 538550. Print. Leon, Wilmer. "President Obama's Second Term: Symbolic or Ironic?" Truthout. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13987-president-obamas-second-termsymbolic-or-ironic>. "University Park." Mapping L.A.Web. 7 Apr. 2014. <http://maps.latimes.com/neighborhoods/neighborhood/university-park/>. "University of Southern California." Forbes. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://www.forbes.com/colleges/university-of-southern-california/>. Williams, Edward. "The Weight of Being a (Young and Successful) Black Male." PolicyMic. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://www.policymic.com/articles/11599/the-weight-of-being-ayoung-and-successful-black-male>.