Compton Cookout Cancelled

Racism is a toxin that has polluted this country for too long. One area that is most infected is education.


It was once illegal to teach an enslaved African how to read. Public education was created to educate the formerly enslaved, but segregation forced Black people into "separate and unequal" schools until the mid-20th century. To maintain that order, Blacks were regularly lynched.

The vestiges of institutionalized racism in higher education continue. And today, they aren't any more apparent than at the University of California at San Diego.

The campus has the lowest percentage (1.3%) of African American enrollment in the nine campus UC system, and has a hostile atmosphere after a series of disgusting racist incidents.


Photo: Urban Report

Last month, a fraternity decided to have an off-campus party mocking Black History Month. The "Compton Cookout," promoted racial stereotypes and degraded Black women.

Female invitees were asked to be "ghetto chicks," meaning wearing gold teeth and cheap clothes, starting fights and having "short, nappy hair." They were also encouraged to use a "limited vocabulary."

Watermelon, chicken, malt liquor and a purple sugar-water potion called, "dat purple drank" was publicized. (Hot sauce not included)

Days later, a group of students on the campus' Student Run Television Program (SR-TV) spoke in support of the racist event referring to the members of the UCSD Black Student Union (BSU) who protested as "ungrateful niggers."

Then a female student left a noose hanging in the campus library. She was suspended after confessing, saying she "didn't think leaving a noose was an issue," according to a campus official.

Besides resorting to slave era stereotypes to degrade their classmates, these students likely thought it would be funny, a way to live out their ghetto fantasies.

The noose has long been a symbol of intimidation and fear to oppress Black people and keep 'uppity Niggers' in their place. That place being one of subordinance.

Hollywood films have long reinforced such plantation-era images of Blacks as watermelon-eating, chicken stealing, ignorant coons. From the mid-1800s to the mid-20th century, white actors -- and later Black actors -- would dress up in Black face, putting coal and soot on their faces to appear Black, while depicting Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Bucks.

The noose has long been a symbol of intimidation and fear to oppress Black people and keep "uppity Niggers" in their place. That place being one of subordinance.

Considering the Civil Rights Project found that public schools are more segregated today than there were in 1952--when U.S. apartheid education was outlawed--those students probably haven't met any Black folks in real life and thought it was an appropriate way to portray Black people.

Anti-racist activist Tim Wise said during his Black History Month presentation at Laney College that white supremacy permits the dominant group to offend people without experiencing the pain.

But as stupid as their actions were, it is inconceivable that a college student wouldn't know that nooses were used to lynch Black people after emancipation. Then again, nooses are used to intimidate Black people today. It was just over three years old that the case of the Jena 6 erupted after students hung a noose at a "whites-only tree."

Unfortunately, this is the type of environment students of color must survive and thrive inside in a post-Proposition 209 environment. In 1996, California voters eliminated affirmative action in higher education admissions.

The behavior of these students illustrates why effective Ethnic Studies classes should be mandatory.

The campus' BSU has held a numerous protests in response, holding the university accountable.

"The University is allowing the African American students to be racially demoralized by a group of students on this campus," the BSU said, adding that the broadcast was at taxpayers-expense.

The behavior of these students illustrates why effective Ethnic Studies classes should be mandatory. If the university really wants to address racism in higher education, it will work allocate resources to ensure that more Black and minority students enroll -- and succeed.

Until then, keep your chicken and liquor for your own mental plantation. Black students want education for liberation.

Besides, watermelon ain't in season.

Note: This column originally appeared in the Laney Tower newspaper as a part of the "Back to Black" column series.

Don't Hate Haiti Because It's Black

An estimated 200,000 people have died after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that devastated the island nation of Haiti on Jan. 12. One million people are homeless, according to the U.N. and untold numbers of children are now orphaned.

This natural disaster is rooted in the economic and military intervention by those who hate to see Black people free.

As abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a U.S. Minister to Haiti said once, the "revolutionary spirit of Haiti is her curse, her crime, her greatest calamity and the explanation of the limited condition of her civilization."

Although the U.S. was in the infancy of its own freedom, slaveholders feared the revolutionary spirit would infect the slaves of its own shores. In fact, uprisings led by enslaved Africans increased following 1791, the beginning of the Haitian Revolution. Evidence shows that freedom fighter Denmark Vessey even expected forces from Haiti to back his slave revolt.

When Haiti won its independence from France in 1804, it became first Black Republic in the world and second republic in the western hemisphere, after the U.S.

France refused to recognize the Republic governed by its former slaves, and forced it into debt by making Haiti pay reparations. Freedom really isn't free.

Britain, France and the United States imposed an economic embargo until Haiti paid the same country that it previously provided free labor for. Instead of thanking Haiti for opening the doors for the Louisiana Purchase, the U.S. sided with its former colonial British masters to economically enslave Haiti. Still, Haiti survived.

And after nearly a century of stability, the U.S. intervened in Haitian affairs both economically and militarily. Soon after the taking control of Haiti's central bank, the U.S. began its first military occupation of Haiti under President Woodrow Wilson.

The U.S. later withdrew, but has had a love-hate relationship with Haitian dictators-those who supported neo-slavery of the Haitian people.

The urban area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, had a poor infrastructure before the ground shook. Millions recently had migrated to the capital for jobs in sweatshops.

In 2004, U.S. Marines kidnapped Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide due to his plans for reform.

Haiti was already a tragedy before the earthquake. Instead of sending aid, the U.S. sent troops with guns.

The media rexaggerated claims of violence and looting, when people were just hungry. The portrayal attempts to reduce sympathy for Haiti and justifies the militarized response as necessary to keep the "savages" in line.

It also sets the groundwork for the continued occupation of Haiti. It is reported that Haiti is the "most impoverish nation" in the hemisphere, yet the country is rich with gold, silver, bauxite and uranium. And Bloomberg News Service recently reported that the earthquake has uncovered petroleum reserves.

The Haitian people must be in charge of their own relief and recovery efforts. Haiti must have sovereignty and self-determination. Venezuela recently forgave Haiti's debt. The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the U.S. should do the same. The U.S. has a historical obligation to allow Haiti to lead and benefit from rebuilding efforts. If they don't have food, water or medical training, U.S. troops need to leave Haiti now.

Douglass once said, "Haiti is black, and we have not yet forgiven Haiti for being black."

We don't have to forgive Haiti for its beautiful Blackness. Give reverence and continue to give relief (even after the cameras leave).

But don't hate Haiti because it's Black.