Various members of the BC community expressed concern and even outrage over a recent Black History Month special, courtesy of BC Dining. Among the featured meal offerings included fried chicken, cornbread, as well as other traditional black foods from Africa.
The problem with serving fried chicken during Black History Month is clear. Offering fried chicken and watermelon reinforces stereotypes that black people eat these foods. Black people eat fried chicken and watermelon? What a preposterous idea!
The intention of serving a wide sampling of foods at dining halls, and hosting a variety of ethnic food nights, is not to buttress the stereotypical black or ethnic diet. It is to provide the community with a diverse offering of foods from cultures around the world in order to expand the student body’s horizons.
BC students are intelligent enough to realize that the dining offerings on theme nights only represent a sampling of foods from the various cultures represented. Attendees of Greek night at lower do not assume that all Greeks eat falafel and dance in circles after dinnertime.
This situation of perceived stereotyping is an unintended but inevitable consequence of promoting diversity on campus. On one hand, ethnic groups want their cultures to be openly embraced and not only recognized. But on the other hand, as their cultures are embraced, their cultures must not be portrayed in a way that leaves them open to stereotyping.
Simple recognition is sometimes not enough. The Asian Caucus demonstrates my first point. Even though the University has raised enough money to endow an annual scholarship for Asian Americans, the Asian Caucus expressed outrage that their scholarship remains unnamed. Some concern over the issue is understandable, but an overall sense of gratitude would be a more appropriate response than outrage.
Back to the fried chicken. What if we made no effort to embrace black culture on campus? A number of African Americans would likely express outrage over the “lack of diversity” on campus. Some have already denounced the “Superfan Culture” as overly-white (whatever that means). A likely result would be some ALC-backed campus movement to address the “white bias” and “institutional racism” of BC Dining.
But when fried chicken is introduced in the dining hall, African Americans are suddenly the subject of stereotyping. While not all blacks eat fried chicken and other races besides blacks eat fried chicken, an African American who fancies fried chicken is hardly a needle in a haystack.
Those who took offense to this should also consider that the Black History Month dinner also included traditional African dishes from Nigeria, alleviating any concern that only stereotypical African American dishes were served. This fact further suggests that the dining hall only sought to offer a sampling of black foods, not an effort to stereotype the black diet.
BC students should be thankful that they have the opportunity to be exposed to cultures around the world. Students should be pleased that the University is interested in promoting cultural diversity by celebrating select dishes from their own cultures. Such interest hardly amounts to stereotyping, so students should not act as if it did.
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Lol, I think the dining hall just needs to have a “White People Night” that serves only cheeseburgers and hot dogs, then everyone will be stereotyped and things will be fair once again. Problem solved!
I would like to pose a question regarding your section on the Asian Caucus.
How do you know that members of the Asian Caucus are not grateful for the Asian American Scholarship? I am a member of AC and I have never been ungrateful for such a great opportunity.
Many at BC, not just members of the Asian Caucus, are perturbed by the fact that the Asian American scholarship has not been named. Not because they are ungrateful for the scholarship but because they believe the school administration did not do their due diligence in the naming process. MLK and Oscar Romero scholarship recipients had names to look up to, why not recipients of the Asian American scholarship?
Whether or not an issue of due diligence was the case, wouldn’t you be annoyed if someone didn’t perform their responsibilities? Or would you instead practice ignorance as you suggest in the article?
The mission of culture clubs is not to generate “recognition”, but to invite and educate students on culture. I can feel your concern about current racial issues at BC, but please do your research before you make an opinion. Otherwise in such a situation your opinion may just be libel.
Le Zhang
JCBC Vice President
Ahh, yet another stunning piece from the Observer. Precisely why I usually don’t waste my time reading this rubbish.
I get your point, but do you think you can get your point across without being racist yourself??
“an African American who fancies fried chicken is hardly a needle in a haystack.”
Thank you for this article, but you lack of knowledge of the history of the very stereotype you’re attempting to discredit is pretty apparent. The issue with the fried chicken/watermelon that makes it a stereotype and not a heartfelt gesture of appreciation is the fact that unlike other cultural, traditional dishes, fried chicken and watermelon is something that was ascribed to African Americans by whites post slavery. Your “needle in a haystack” comment makes it clear that despite your ignorance on the historical context of the stereotype, you still think it’s fine to assign a dish to an entire race of people based simply on outside perception.
Further, your condescending attitude that students should be grateful that BC wants to serve some fried chicken to promote diversity is comical at best, disappointing at worst. I assure you, there are plenty of other ways of celebrating cultural diversity, in particular, Black History Month, than serving fried chicken and watermelon. But if you honestly think that that culturally enriching meal has made you more culturally aware and more embracing of diversity, then by all means, make sure you go back in line and get seconds!
But chances are, it hasn’t.
White people are always opening their mouths here at BC and spewing out things that show just because you go to an elite institution, some people certainly haven’t learned a damn thing. Oh, and before you go thinking that I’m making a racial remark against you, I’m Polish and Italian, a thoroughly white European-American. I’m just ashamed of my fellow white students being so ignorant when it comes to issues of racial diversity.
You see, there’s no reason why this should even be an issue for you, Jesse. Celebrating cultures that are distinct is a wonderful learning experience, and has plenty of benefits. As a psychology major, I’d like to point out that we inherently are distrustful of people of the “out group” (we have biases for identifying and interpreting those who look different than us), which makes learning about others and their differences (AND SIMILARITIES) so important. They’re not “favoring” one group, because, as you pointed out, the dining services does try to celebrate the food from multiple cultures.
The problem lays in, as others have pointed out, fried chicken and watermelon come from the time of slavery and minstrel shows. But then, I suppose if they had the servers in the dining hall done up in black face, I guess this wouldn’t be ‘racist’ but a celebration of diversity as well, wouldn’t it? Just like the nameless Asian American scholarship— which in itself signifies to a lot of hard working Asians on campus that there simply isn’t anyone who is a good enough role model to fit the bill (according to the administration, at least).
Before you go opening your mouth about an issue which, fundamentally, you don’t seem to understand or have researched, take a step back and think about writing something else. It’ll save you from a lot of embarrassment, and most likely, the impending heat that this article is going to bring to you and the observer (which will be deserved).
This article is shameful. As a white caucasian I am just ashamed to go to a school where people write articles like this. With a black brother and a hispanic boyfriend and as a social worker I just can’t stand the ignorance and self-righteous behavior of many white students here. It’s out of control. Can’t wait to be out of this. When ignorant articles are written like this it would be better just to take your 200,000 dollars for this education and flush it down the toilet because you have not learned sh*t!
“Among the featured meal offerings included fried chicken, cornbread, and other traditional black foods from Africa.”
Fried chicken and cornbread are traditional black foods from Africa? I learned something new today.
I really don’t know if I’m being too optimistic by hoping the evident stupidity of this article is an attempt at sarcasm.
I find your lack of knowledge and blatant ignorance shameful to your BC education.
To say that fried chicken, corn bread, and watermelon are samples of TRADITIONAL AFRICAN CUISINE is absolutely disturbing.
That aside, if you know anything about American history you would know that those foods are not just foods, but rather symbols of oppression, racism, and hatred. To say that those foods are just foods is like saying a noose is just a rope and the sign “white only” just a sign.
Regarding your comment about the Asian American Scholarship. If you did any research at all, you would know that the scholarship was student found. No one from the university just threw money the Asian students’ way. Also, why should we remain silent when our heritage is being ignored? By not naming the scholarship is the university essentially saying that there are no outstanding Asian Americans worthy of honoring?
Please do some research before you write your next article.
Ripping unreliable facts off of wikipedia is not a mark of true journalism.
Check yourself my son, at the very least for the sake of your own dignity.
“Precisely why I usually don’t waste my time reading this rubbish.”
Yanira, your statement is clearly false given the fact that you took the time to read this piece.
“Ripping unreliable facts off of wikipedia is not a mark of true journalism”
Shannon, last time I checked the BC dining menu was not found on wikipedia.
This is an opinion piece. You may not agree with Jesse’s comments but please do not go after the integrity of Mr. Naiman or The Observer. Calling him an idiot and claiming that he has wasted his tuition money is hardly a proper debate.
Ian,
The word ‘usually’ means often, or frequently. Perhaps Yanira (like many people) read this particular Observer article because it was brought to her attention (as it was to mine) that the Observer had published yet another particularly inflammatory article – something that seems to occur more and more frequently this year.
Shannon, most likely, was not referring to the BC Dining Menu – more likely Mr. Naiman’s references to ‘traditional African cuisine’. I don’t think she, or anyone else, ever contested that these foods were served during Black History Month.
I will most certainly ‘go after’ Mr. Naiman and The Observer. When the editor-in-chief of a newspaper has on multiple occasions shown to hold racist, ignorant opinions – and find those opinions worthy of publishing, and the paper continually publishes these, along with other racist, sexist, bigoted articles, excuse me if I don’t think that paper has much integrity at all.
I think many students on campus – both white and of color – are SICK of trying to engage in thoughtful conversations on these issues. FACES, Dialogues on Race, ALC, and other groups have hosted numerous panels and discussion throughout the year – to which all students, and specifically members of The Heights and The Observer, were invited. One can understand, then, the considerable amount of frustration and disappointment when yet another racist article (the second in this issue, if you include the piece by the editorial board, which, according to Mr. Naiman himself, reflects THE OFFICIAL STANCE OF THE NEWSPAPER, referred to the ALC as a ‘special interest group’ whose interests did not reflect that of the student body) appears after all our attempts at proper debate and thoughtful exchange. And perhaps the time has come for us to stop using the word ignorant, seeing as attempts have been made to educate those at The Observer about the problems with their articles. Maybe it’s just racist.
I think that while you, Jesse, may have been trying to argue that some issues of race and ethnicity can become overly-politicized on campus, you went about writing this article in the wrong way. Many of your statements were insensitive (but who cares right? This is an opinion piece isn’t it?) and worse, overtly racist.
Do you really think that fried chicken or cornbread in the dining hall represent an effort by BC to promote diversity on campus? You state that the dining hall offers a “diverse offering of foods from cultures around the world in order to expand the student body’s horizons.” Can you explain to me how your horizons were expanded by eating fried chicken at the dining hall during Black History month? More likely, serving these foods reinforced stereotypes that most BC students will never challenge and some (like you) will even support– despite not understanding their origins or implications.
I don’t mean to personally put you down, but attitudes like yours are the reason why I discourage friends and relatives from applying to and enrolling at Boston College. As much as I want to fight for a well-rounded and multicultural education here, I’m tired of having to justify and prove the worth of a non-Eurocentric curriculum and an anti-racist community. Have a nice spring break.
Meg,
You could be right about Yanira’s readership habits when it comes to The Observer and it may have been wrong of me to contest that. You are not correct when it comes to Shannon’s wikipedia reference. I scanned wikipedia and found nothing that fits into this article. Fried chicken as traditional african cuisine is not located on that website. I am on staff at The Observer and I know first hand that wikipedia is generally not a source used by the writers.
I don’t know how the rest of the student body feels but the ALC most certainly does not reflect my interests at all. This proposed mandatory diversity class for freshman is utterly ridiculous. There are plenty of good organizations that promote racial discussions at BC, but the ALC has interests that do not represent myself or many other students at BC.
Ian,
Instead of passive aggressively arguing against the holes in a comment, I challenge you to defend the article and the Observer’s decisions to print such opinions.
Please, go ahead.
“The AHANA Leadership Council is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all AHANA Leadership students at Boston College. As part of the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC), ALC works to ensure that the interests and needs of AHANA students are voiced and heard.”
The core values of the ALC are as follows – Service, Respect, Community, Justice, and Excellence.
Good to know that equality for all students, service, respect, justice, and excellence aren’t among your “interests”, Ian.
Ian,
Assuming that you are a white male, given your standpoint on this article and comments left underneath it (and please forgive me if my assumption is incorrect), I really think you need to sit down and speak with a person of color on this campus just to enlighten yourself and draw attention to your blatant privilege and entitlement. I feel that there are a lot of generalizations and misunderstandings thrown around here (on both sides), and fortunately for yourself, you don’t have to deal with being part of a disempowered race or ethnic group, so I wouldn’t expect that you would have any interest in learning about diversity or what really goes on in the mind of an Asian man or a Latina women, because, really, what’s it to you? For the sake of the human race though, try to put yourself in our shoes. And by try, I don’t mean doing secondary research and reading some DuBois, actually chill with some people of color and see what you find, because for the most part, we, people of color, have adapted to this homogeneity of white folks, but I don’t think that it has gone the other way around, if you feel me. In addition, I think some of the students of or allies of students of color who have posted here need to consider themselves privileged in a sense that they endure tremendous empathy and passion for such an issue, however, we cannot expect everyone to have this same passion. This is where we need to step up and teach. The world won’t get no better if we just let it be, so don’t sit around expecting for everybody to have the same opinion as you; use your knowledge that you all of spoken so highly of to make a strong and meaningful argument as to why your concerns are important.
Lastly, (mostly for Ian-and I know this is a biased response, but hey, what’s intelligence without bias?), please don’t come off as passive aggressive towards me until you have actually allowed yourself the vulnerability to understand where people of color are coming from, and if you blow this off and think I’m making a ridiculous request, then that’ll only allow me the legitimate argument of your ignorance.