Posted: Friday, November 16, 2007 12:00 am
OSU students cite feelings over recent racial issues
By THERESA HOGUE
Gazette-Times reporter
Kwanzaa is a celebration focused on family and the community. It also honors some of the vibrant African traditions that have been carried to the United States. For some students of color at Oregon State University, the annual Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration is a chance to relax, enjoy each other's company and share a meal.
The Kwanzaa holiday is normally celebrated at the end of December, but students are on winter break during that time, so this pre-Kwanzaa party in November gives students a chance to celebrate together.
This year, a series of racially tense events has made the pre-Kwanzaa celebration more meaningful. It occurs just days after Saturday's demonstration at Reser Stadium. Sign-toting protesters who marched in a circle had hoped the messages they carried would encourage dialogue about racial insensitivity on campus.
Instead, they were disheartened when, on Monday, someone found racist epithets spray-painted on a rock at Corvallis High School. Police investigated, but no suspects have been identified to date.
At Thursday's event, some students said they need a break from the intensity.
Teri Young, a senior in international business and a Corvallis native, said she was looking forward to an evening of fun.
"This quarter has been stressful," she said. "There's been a lot of frustration and hurt. (Pre-Kwanzaa) is a good event to put that stuff aside."
Young said many people have approached her to ask her reaction to "Blackout Reser," in which some white OSU football fans painted their faces black as a school spirit event.
Although these students said they were doing so only because black and orange are OSU's school colors, the spirit event fell flat with some students of color. The blackout event put them in mind of the "blackface" minstrel shows of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In such shows, white comics and musicians lampooned black people.
Young said that she tries to answer questions honestly, and she appreciates students' willingness to create a dialogue about race, but it's not always easy.
"It's tiring repeating myself and feeling like a spokesperson," she said. "(But) If I don't answer someone's question, that doesn't help the situation," she said.
For Young, the answer is communication.
"Hate comes out of misunderstanding."
Damon Mosely, a senior in exercise and sports science, has never attended a Kwanzaa event before, but said he's started learning about the holiday, and was planning to perform with other members of his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, during the evening.
"I'm always in the Black Cultural Center, and I'm trying to interact with as many minorities as possible," he said, because the minority population on campus is so small. However, Mosely is from Klamath Falls, another predominately white community, so he's become accustomed to standing out.
"I learned how to interact with other cultures" as a young man, he said, so his transition to OSU wasn't difficult.
For Donella Daggett, a junior in human development and family sciences, coming to OSU provided a vast contrast to her years living in the Bay Area. She said she doesn't see many white students willing to engage in dialogue about race, and said that after participating in the protest in front of Reser last weekend, she felt like she was getting stared at when she walked around campus.
"You are used to getting looks," she said. "But I wondered if it was because I look like I do, or because I stood up at the protest."
Lisa Limongan, a junior in exercise and sports science, is on the staff of the Lonnie B. Harris Black Cultural Center. A Portland native, she said that it's impossible to escape issues of race.
"It's not just on campus, it's everywhere," she said. "But by being positive, you can influence others."
But cultural nights like Pre-Kwanzaa help provide students a safe space to congregate, and celebrate.
"Events like tonight bring students together," she said. "It's a dinner, and dinner is a place where the family gets together."