EDITORIAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS: THE BELLY OF THE BEAST BY Phil Seahorn March 11th, 2015 TRUE STORY: on the very first day of my attending Washington University in St. Louis (considered the “Harvard
of the Midwest�) I got a police escort form the time I left the bus port until the time I got to the school book store to buy books for my very first semester. Now, this resulted in the very first person to ever say anything to me on campus. It was an old black lady working at the bookstore counter. I looked at her as I handed my money to her for the books that I was going to purchase for my first semester class. She took the money, then held it firmly in her hand, not letting go. She looked me straight in the eyes, and said, in this EXACT cadence:
DO.YOU.KNOW.WHERE.YOU.ARE? That whole exchange took me quite by surprise, as we both stood there, me holding the money and her holding onto the other end. She looked at me, and said that phrase again, in the exact cadence as before. I looked behind me at all the rich white folks, students and their parents, looking annoyed at what was going on.
Then it hit me, an electric ephiphany.I softened my grip, looked back at the line of irritated rich white folks, and turned back to her. “Yes, ma’am,” I said with a ear to ear grin. “I’m in the belly of the beast.” That old lady, and quite a few other black folks that worked at the campus, became mentors to me in my years at Washington University. And it was for a very good reason. Not since the 1970’s had I experienced the level of racism and classism I experienced at Washington University. So it is very little wonder that the news and the Internet have been burning up with stories of the racism at one Oklahoma campus and one fraternity. More and more of the stories online and in the news are emerging of the level of the racism, and the extent in which it is still going on. It is also very ironic that the very fraternity that was reported on, SAE,is the very same fraternity which caused problems for me on Washington university’s campus, and is making so many headlines that people like Rush Limbaugh and others are weighing in on this problem of institutionalized and generational racism that exists on college campuses in the U.S. The fraternity in the news had already caused Washington University to make headlines back in 2011 with a stunt pulled on black Washington University students when one of the frat boys approached a group of black kids and asked them racially charged questions, complete with the word nigger.
That made national news, but was suppressed even by local affiliates in the St. Louis area.Why? Because that was (and I use that word on purpose) powerful Washington University was back in 2011 in the ‘Lou: they could suppress any bad press locally. Not anymore, as this editorial, posted online and on Facebook, can attest to. Social media has finally caught up to the sick and twisted racist shit going on campuses in the U.S. And from what I have been reading, this is only the beginning. What really surprised me was just how virulent the social media outlets are going after this story, and as well they should. It seems that the other “Harvard’s” around the country, the ones that will produce managers and captains of industry to a diverse America that will be COMPLETELY different from the all white (and now, Chinese) subcultures of the very rich and privileged, are still practicing these racists actions. A conversation with a fellow employee at Washington University’s call center where I worked for four years shed some light on this. She said that all the boys on campus firmly and steadfastly believed that money would get them out of any racist or otherwise shenanigans that they have and will pull. She also explained why female Washington University students would
be so dumb and ignorant as to go jogging in Forest Park at one in the morning: they had money and where protected. Because of these two factors, nothing would harm them. That changed in 2012 when Washington University students were specifically targeted for robberies around the Delmar Loop area. Although the conversation changed a little toward the rich kids seeing the reality around them, it didn’t change their attitudes much. And the lives of the rich kids at Washington University were very, very confined to the campus and nearby Delmar Loop, Galleria, and Richmond Heights, where I had an apartment. They called this “THE WASHINGTON UNIVERISTY BUBBLE “And indeed it was for the students. In all the years I worked and attended college there, I never saw ONE student, let alone faculty, outside of that bubble. So it leads me to ask the same questions I would ask the students at Washington University: in a country that will become more and more diverse, how will they survive in this country with the attitudes they have toward minorities and the poor? What I have come to the conclusion is this: just like the Washington University students living in their bubbles, that is how these poor bastards will be living in this country FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES. Now everybody has heard of” gated communities”. But a “gated life’? I knew from my experiences at Washington University that I was given a “fly on the wall” look at rich folks, their kids, and the future of these mostly fucked up people. Fucked up in the sense that they (parents as well as kids) have absolutely NO IDEA what’s coming down the pike for all Americans in the coming years. And these assholes honestly believe that their money will protect them. As my experiences at Washington University have taught me (and people are STILL pushing me to write a book on those experiences), the hazing and racist shit going on at these campuses, and the increased new media attention it is getting, will reveal shit so twisted, so vile (being made to drink frat brother’s vomit as a way of bonding with fellow members), so heinous and yes, racist, that it will make the institutions of higher learning in the U.S. look like real life
versions of
Arkham Asylum.
And unfortunately, Washington University in St. Louis is right up there with them.
p
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