collegiatetimes.com
April 24, 2018
COLLEGIATETIMES
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903
NEW COMMUNITY TO FOCUS ON ‘AFRICANAMERICAN EXPERIENCE’
your views [letter to the editor]
LTE: Black people’s use of the N-word is not hypocritical
D
ear Editor of the Collegiate Times,
On April 16, the Collegiate Times published a deeply flawed and misleading opinions piece entitled “Society’s use of the N-word demonstrates hypocrisy,” by Mackenzie Gleysteen. She argues, among other things, that the intention behind white Americans’ use of racial slurs matters more than the social impact of the slur, that Black people are largely responsible for the continued use of the N-word and that Black people should take responsibility for educating their non-Black community members. Below, we deconstruct the five main arguments of the original piece and invite readers to engage critically with campus discourse about race and the topic of slur reclamation. In doing so, we will often refer to the N-word as “the slur,” and we capitalize the B in “Black” to acknowledge the unique political and cultural aspects of Blackness in the United States.
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The slur has always been a tool of white oppression over Black bodies.”
ANTHONY WU / COLLEGIATE TIMES Ujima, a new living-learning community centered around learning about the African-American experience, is set to be housed in Peddrew-Yates Hall.
MEG CONNORS AND SANSKRITI NEUPANE managing editor and assistant news editor
During the 2018 Black A lu m n i Reu n ion on Friday, April 13, Virginia Tech President Tim Sands announced a new livinglearning community (LLC) for students “interested in understanding, supporting, and learning about the African-American experience,” according to a VT News press release. The LLC, which is set to open in time for the fall 2018 semester, is called Ujima, and is designed for about 70 students. Ujima will be housed in Peddrew-Yates, which is named after Irving Linwood Peddrew III, the first black student to enroll at Tech in 1952, and Charlie
Lee Yates, the first black student to graduate from Tech in 1957. The announcement of the Ujima LLC comes several weeks after a petition signed by “Concerned Black Alumni Accomplices, and Allies” criticized Sands’ initial reaction to the recent incident involving the women’s lacrosse team, and called upon the university to offer “a Residential L ea r n i ng Com mu n it y that centers the leadership development of students who identify as Black and African American. According to Tommy Amal, who is assistant director of the Student Success Center, chair of Tech’s Black Male Excellence Network and a leader in creating Ujima,
the recent announcement of Ujima has been a work in progress for about a year, although discussion has been going on for longer. “I would say over the past four or five years, is what I was told, there’s been this idea from different groups within the black community here on starting a livinglearning community that focused on black issues and black community,” Amal said. After discussing the idea with students, Amal brought it to the attention of Frank Shushok, senior associate vice president of student affairs, who helped bring the idea to fruition. “I had a good relationship with Frank Shushok and ran the idea by him, and he (said) it’s something we should
pursue so we spent probably about a year really going back and forth with the idea and tossing it around and trying to figure out how we could really make something like that happen,” Amal said. Although work had already begun on Ujima, the recent petition accelerated the process, with the community now set to open next semester. “Personally I think that it did (accelerate the process) … so what I think ended up happening is that you have alumni who saw some issues, alumni who had been here in other years where there was a fight to start these initiatives, and I think when thing after thing
Argument No. 1: Racial slurs develop new meanings over time and, regardless, the context of the slur matters most. Using the words “hypocritical” and “double standard” to describe Black Americans’ use of the slur requires assuming that Black and white people share an identical American experience which, as Gleysteen specifically mentions in the first paragraph, does not reflect a historical or social reality. Gleysteen focuses only on the intent of the speaker when the impact and context of the slur plays an equally if not significantly more important role. In fact, Gleysteen believes one should “consider the context” in which the slur is used; however, Gleysteen only focuses on the individual aspect of context and fails to account for the historical aspect. For instance, by saying that “over time the word has re-emerged and is used with a different meaning by the descendants of the very people who had to endure the cruel term decades before,” Gleysteen both implies that the slur disappeared and that the undefined “descendants” did not have to endure the slur themselves. The slur never disappeared. Black students on our campus today “endure” the slur used against them in the same violent way that the author reserves simply for the far-right and neo-Nazis. The slur has always been a tool of white oppression over Black bodies. White people cannot separate themselves from this context and its impact when they use this slur, regardless of their intent. However, Black people, like other marginalized groups, can attempt to reclaim
LLC / page 3
N-WORD / page 2
Hungry Hokies: The search for the best sandwich around Blacksburg Are you like any red-blooded American who wants nothing more than a good sandwich? If so, our writer has you covered. MEGAN MAURY CHURCH
lifestyles staff writer
What do we expect from a good sandwich shop? The basics: fresh ingredients, a side of something potato (chips, salad, etc.), a pickle wedge and a “wow factor” to make it stand out from the rest. There are plenty of restaurants dedicated to sandwiches in the Blacksburg area; here are the details for a few of them. NomNoms The owner of NomNoms, a local Virginia Tech alum, is a sandwich enthusiast who was tired of having to travel to Roanoke for a good lunch. So, she opened her sandwich shop on South Main in the old Long John Silver’s building in March 2017. The deli locally sources its
ingredients; its breads come from Blacksburg Bagels and Carter’s Specialty Breads. The shop prides itself on never using a freezer or microwave on its ingredients.
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Do you like Bruegger’s Bagels? If so, try Hello Bagel on South Main Street.”
It’s the local ingredients that really make these sandwiches stand out, in addition to the unique crafting of each creation on the menu. The McGregor, nom nom and the tuna salad are all fantastic. The deli’s vegeta r ian options, though limited, are high quality. Everything
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comes with a pickle wedge and potato chips in your flavor of choice. NomNoms also delivers and will bring an oven-hot sandwich right to your door. Hello Bagel Do you like Bruegger’s Bagels? If so, try Hello Bagel on South Main Street. It’ll keep its doors open on a nice day and you will be greeted by the scent of fresh bagels and cinnamon in the parking lot. This locally owned business makes its own bagels every day, ensuring freshness. You can get a sandwich on a bagel or on another type of bread. It has a classic bagel menu, a breakfast featuring plenty of sausage, eggs and cheese, and a lunch menu with classic sandwiches SAMMIES / page 4
MEGAN MAURY CHURCH / COLLEGIATE TIMES A bagel sandwich from Hello Bagel, April 15, 2018.
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