TUES 13 APRIL 2004
Wise: ‘Overclass’ needs to admit to racism
By Jessie M. WadellArgonaut Staff
Anti-racism activist and author Tim Wise spoke Thursday on the importance of questioning one’s own viewpoints about race and listening to diverse voices.
Wise, senior adviser to the Fisk University Race Relations Institute, spoke for more than two hours to about 75 people in the Agricultural Science Building.
ALAN ESPENSCHADE / ARGONAUT / Author Tim Wise speaks out against discrimination Thursday in the Agricultural Science Building.
“We think we know the truth (about racism) better than people of color know the truth,” he said.
Wise said this was true of ideas presented by Moscow Christ Church pastor Doug Wilson, but he did not think the ideas merited prolonged discussion.
“I don’t suffer fools gladly, and I don’t spend time on nonhistorians that claim to be historians,” he said.
Wilson and Louisiana minister Steve Wilkins co-wrote the pamphlet “Southern Slavery: As It Was.” In the pamphlet the two suggest slavery was a “harmonious” institution that has been misrepresented through history.
“We need to learn to listen and trust and believe that what people of color say is true,” Wise said. “When you’re the dominant group, you don’t have to listen.”
Wise interspersed his speech with results of studies and polls that support his opinions. He said 70-75 percent of white Americans believe people of color are treated equally in areas including criminal justice, education, employment and housing, according to a recent poll by the Gallup organization.
“White America is in denial,” he said.
Wise said racism is “so sick, it’s taken the ability of the dominant group to think clearly.”
Wise encouraged people to question what it means to be a member of the majority and to be able to take things for granted.
Those in the dominant group have to take responsibility, not because they did anything wrong, but because they inherited a legacy of racism and its consequences, Wise said.
“We want to use the assets, but we don’t want to pay the debts,” he said.
One of the privileges of the legacy is being part of the “overclass,” Wise said.
“You can’t have an underclass without an overclass, but we never use the phrase overclass,” he said.
Wise also spoke of the university trend of reducing multiculturalism to its least common denominator — food, fabric and festival — which does little to combat the underlying problems of racism, he said.
Wise was originally scheduled to speak as part of Black History Month last month at UI but had to reschedule due to flight complications.
The Office of Multicultural Affairs rescheduled Wise’s speech in conjunction with the Writing on the Wall project, organized by members of Iota Psi Phi, a multicultural service sorority.
For the project students built and demolished a wall of cinderblocks painted with discriminatory and oppressive words in a symbolic gesture.
Wise’s lecture inadvertently coincided with the announcement of the closure of the Office of Diversity and Human Rights.
Office funds will be reallocated to other diversity-related offices on campus.
Wise criticized the administration’s decision and said it further removes voices of students of color from administrative decisions.
“The administration has the audacity to say, ‘We think it would be better if this money was redirected to a different office so students can be better served,’ ” he said. “But were these students asked?”
“I agree that it is a concern to lose an executive-level voice for diversity,” said Francisco Salinas, director of multicultural affairs. “But I am hopeful that the administration’s stated pledge to keep a direct line to the president on diversity issues remains a priority.”
Wise received a standing ovation and fielded questions from the audience after his speech.
Wise will release his latest book, “White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son,” in January.
Jeana Johnson, a freshman psychology major from Boise, said she agreed with most of Wise’s speech.
“It’s very important for people to experience the learning process of white privilege,” she said. “It’s not something that’s going to be erased easily until we acknowledge that there is a problem.”
Wise’s biography and additional information can be found at www.speakoutnow.org.
TODAY
“Modern Technology to the Art of Reedmaking”Idaho Commons Whitewater Room
12:30 p.m.
Student recital
Scott Bradford and
Donnie Soderstrom
School of Music Recital Hall
8 p.m.
Ê
WEDNESDAY
Student Employee of the Year award ceremonyIdaho Commons
Summit Conference Center
3:30 p.m.
Union Cinema: “The Return”
SUB Borah Theater
7 and 9:30 p.m.
Student recital
Ryan Coles, trumpet
School of Music Recital Hall
8 p.m.
Borah Symposium Keynote re-telecast
Lech Walesa
UITV-8 programming
8 p.m.
THURSDAY
UI Retirees Association luncheonUniversity Inn-Best Western
11:30 a.m.
MMBB Seminar Lecture Series
Life Science South, Room 277
12:30 p.m.
UIRA Slide Show: “Birding in the Palouse”
Good Samaritan Village
2 p.m.
Work and Life Workshop
“Stress Management-Session II”
SRC Conference Room
3:30 p.m.
Union Cinema: “The Return”
SUB Borah Theater
7 and 9:30 p.m.
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