Posted Novemeber 11, 2003

Everyday Anomalies:
Black Student Resistance at Predominantly White Universities

by

Anaya McMurray

C

ultural politics are ever present when dealing with a diverse group of people. At City University [1] the school authorities have recognized a struggle or culture clash between the dominant and minority cultures that comprise City's student body. Certainly these authorities understand the enormous impact social environments can have on learning and seek to find ways of minimizing these struggles. However, before an effective solution can be enacted, it is important for all parties concerned to understand why these struggles take place. In order to further examine cultural politics at City, I will discuss the social and political environment created amongst Black students as a result of their minority status in society as well as at City University.

                  According to McDermott and Gospodinoff (1979) ". . . the differences between people are as much a resource for mutual exploration and celebration as they are a resource for conflict . . . . [W]hen circumstances are such that people must understand each other, they will find a way" (p.216). Since it is not impossible for Black and White students to appreciate and celebrate each other's culture, why are there so many instances where cultural politics may lead to an uncomfortable environment for one or both of the two groups? Due to the different living experiences, Black and White students at City may often have very different purposes for attending City. For example, it is possible that many White students come to City because they are interested in keeping the power they have already attained through their social positioning as well as acquire new power. Black students on the other hand may often seek to use their City education as a means to gain economic mobility.

                  The differences in the ways Black and White people are socialized not only have a huge effect on their purpose for attending City; it also affects each groups' perception of themselves, the "other" group, and the environment in which the groups interact. When Black and White City students are put together in an environment with different purposes and various perceptions each group is likely to try and find ways to advance their agenda over another. Due to the largely disproportionate number of White to Black students, the dominant culture (in this case, the White students) have more power than the minority culture (in this case, the Black students). Though both groups are a part of negotiating a reality, it is easier for the dominant group to impose their culture on the minority group. Often this imposition is naturalized and therefore justified in the eyes of the dominant group. Tatum (1997) concludes, "Because rationalizations have been created to justify the social arrangements, it is easy to believe everything is as it should be" (p.24). 

                  In order for Black students to cope with and resist the dominant culture, they must form a strong group identity. Fordham and Ogbu (1986) contend that Black Americans create an oppositional social identity as well as an oppositional cultural frame of reference. A collective identity among Black students has most likely been formed prior to college and is reinforced by their minority status at school. "Along with the formation of an oppositional social identity, subordinate minorities also develop an oppositional cultural frame of reference, which includes devices for protecting their identity and for maintaining boundaries between them and White Americans" (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986, p. 181). The devices used by Black students at City University to put boundaries around their group identity are signs, symbols, and rituals. ". . . [I]t is in the small rituals of ordinary daily school life that the real work of creating community (or of resisting it) occurs" (Quantz & Magolda, 1997, p. 222). Though Black students participate in large ceremonies or rituals each year, they create solidarity through daily rituals enacted to cope with and resist aspects of the dominant culture.

                  For example, on any given day during the school week you can walk through the student union building and you will most likely see White students studying, eating, or engaging in small talk over business or social meetings. A few members of a minority group may be mixed into this equation on occasion. However, if you walk through this building between two o'clock p.m. and five o'clock p.m. Monday through Thursday, you will most likely see a large number of Black students, occupying the eating area directly in front of the pool tables. Even more specifically, you will find these students occupying the three tall tables next to the wooden divider and spilling over toward the middle of this section as needed. In an environment where it is not likely that you see Blacks students together in more than couples or trios it is extraordinary for this number of Black students to come together without any planning. Black students don't consciously synchronize their watches and discuss meeting in the student union in large numbers; it is simply done. Though the timing and or place seem to change from year to year, none of the Black students seem to miss the cue and this phenomenon continues.

                  The initial strangeness of seeing so many Black students in one place would likely catch your attention; it would also be hard to miss this group of students because they won't be participating in the rituals of the dominant culture. Arguably, at times they blatantly violate these rituals. This group of Black students carry out rituals distinctive to their group identity. In addition to eating, they could be using a unique language, speaking very loudly about the latest injustice a member of the group has dealt with, or singing songs in multiple harmonies.

Many of my White classmates who have been teaching for years have not been made aware of this cultural phenomenon that takes place in many domains. One of my classmates even suggested that Black students purposely sitting together rather than mingling with members of the dominant culture is reverse racism. This remark made it clear that while this educator, who speciously claims not to see color among her students, may be very well intentioned, she may not always be in touch with the needs of the Black students she teaches. Though it may seem admirable to concentrate on individualism and downplay racial membership, this may not be the best policy. "People of color learn early in life that they are seen by others as members of a group. For Whites, thinking of oneself only as an individual is a legacy of White privilege . . . . The view of oneself as an individual is very compatible with the dominant ideology of rugged individualism and the American myth of meritocracy" (Tatum, 1997, pp.102-103). Having the choice of whether or not to see race is in itself a privilege afforded to the dominant culture. Black people think of themselves in racial terms because that is how the rest of the world thinks of them (Tatum, 1997). West (1993) states ". . . Blackness has no meaning outside of a system of race-conscious people and practices" (p.39). Since we are clearly in a race-conscious society, by ignoring a student's race, any educator can easily misunderstand the coping mechanisms used by members of subordinate groups. Tatum (1997) contends, "We need to understand that in racially mixed settings, racial grouping is a developmental process in response to an environmental stressor, racism. Joining with one's peers for support in the face of stress is a positive coping strategy" (p.62).

                  "In short, Blackness is a political and ethical construct" (West, 1993, p. 39). Though all students of color are potentially invited to participate in these rituals, membership status does not ultimately depend on your color, but rather on if you can, and are willing to properly enact these rituals that define Blackness. Those students who choose not to participate, who have been excluded, or who assimilate a little too well into the dominant culture are often labeled "miscellaneous" or "random" therefore losing the status of "authentic Blackness." Though in many cases involving K-12 education, academic achievement can mark a student as not being "Black enough," that is not the case at City. Realizing what is at stake, most students want to do well and support their peers in doing so also. However, if efforts are not made to include yourself into these daily rituals you can easily become lost among the crowd of White faces.

This could pose a problem for some Black students who have not grown up around other Black people. Since City University recruits middle to upper class Black students on a regular basis, many of these students have grown up and gone to school in suburban areas where they have been among the only Black students. It is surely a lot easier for these students to assimilate into the dominant culture if that is what they are used to. These students could experience what Kondo (1990) refers to as a fragmentation of self. This fragmentation of self occurs when one is trying to compromise between the boundaries one places on themselves and the boundaries placed on them by others.

Though many Black students are struggling with fitting into the norms within the Black community, some Black students are adamantly trying to distance themselves. Realizing the negative stereotypes that accompany Blackness in America, some Black students may simply choose to become "raceless," and distance themselves from any acts that might label them as part of a specific race, in this case the Black race (Tatum, 1997).

                  Often, I wonder what my college experience would have been like if I had attended an HBCU (Historically Black College or University). Though many people would like to think that their sense of self is autonomous, I believe that I would be a totally different person had I been in an environment for four years where my racial group was the majority. This environment may have afforded me a somewhat easier experience with issues of race while presenting new issues that I haven't had to deal with as a Black student at a predominantly White college. Though this paper concentrates on social and political issues as a result of minority racial status, cultural politics can easily exist where there is racial hegemony. Though people who belong to a racial grouping may share similar experiences with the world, they are still very different people and will therefore still participate in negotiating a reality that will benefit them. Cultural politics are not only apparent between the dominant culture and minority cultures (specifically Black students), but it is also an integral part of a complicated social structure amongst the Black students of City University.

Black City students have adapted a way of life, which includes rituals that subconsciously permeate their group identity and create solidarity through resisting the rituals of the dominant culture. This healthy resistance is necessary in coping with the every day social constraints placed on minority groups in America. Though cultural politics may cause problems among various groups, it doesn't have to. Once issues of power and resistance are acknowledged, steps can be taken to understand and minimize struggles between dominant and minority groups.