Rushing for the panhellenic sororities this weekend, I found something very interesting going on.
One of the girls in my group was from Trinidad, an international student just like myself.
One day, talking about some random stuff before we get to one of the activities, she said something to me that left me astonished.
The night before, when coming to her dorm, some random girls (not belonging to the sororities) asked why, if she was an international student, she was rushing for a “white” sorority.
I was not surprised as I’ve heard similar things before.
What keeps surprising me, is how in the twenty-first century, in an American university like UT, there are still people narrow minded enough to make those kind of comments.
One of the things I don’t get about the States—and hopefully will never get—is this need to divide people in groups.
White, black (sorry, African-American), Hispanic, Indian (sorry again, Native American) and so on, in a country when you say “black” or “Indian” everyone turns to you and gives you a look of “you racist bastard, be politically correct.”
There has been so much discrimination in the past that the meaning of those words have been distorted.
But it is not only about words, it´s about the ideas behind it, and those girls who insulted this Trinidadian girl for rushing a “white” sorority are not a UT phenomenon.
I don’t know people who have always lived here, but this classification of people is ridiculous and nonsensical.
It’s a mixture of colors, so if you are white and are from South America, you are basically f’ed.
And, yes, it happens.
My sister is Colombian, but she is white and blond; but, as she comes from South America, she’s Hispanic I suppose, but I still wonder why she can’t pick both, because both of them are applicable to her.
Which makes me wonder, do Americans own the copyright of “white” so that they can be the only ones classified as so?
Why do people here remain so attached to something like that after everything that happened in the past?
Racial discrimination starts when you have to fill out a form indicating your race.
Is it actually accurate today?
What about multiracial kids? There should be another option called “white African-American.”
I think there’s one called “Other.”
If you are what many people refer to as “biracial” you are “other.”
What really concerns me about this is to see that discrimination is not really over.
Even at UT, where people are considered to be receiving a higher education; there is still this division between white and “others,” “others” being, of course, everyone not white.
If that happens in college, I don’t see why people should get surprised at segregation and racism at high schools.
The more I am here, the more I think that the idea of “melting pot” does not really exist. People tend to stick together with others just like them.
Carolina Medelin can be reached at colaya@ut.edu.