United Minorities Council kicks off Unity Week with workshop on racism

Young, old, Jewish, Asian, black, white and Latino students and staff members discussed the causes and consequences of racism yesterday in a three-hour interactive workshop that kicked off United Minority Council's third annual Unity Week. Grinnell University American Studies Professor Kesho Scott, a former Black Panther, led the workshop, "Unlearning the Isms." According to Scott, when "96 million people of color in the United States" are marginalized, it is also dehumanizing to the white majority who do not know the experience of their own country. Such ignorance provokes racism, Scott said. "Everyone knows what Ellis Island is, but how many people know about Angel Island?" she said, explaining how Asian Americans entered the U.S. through Angel Island as the Europeans did through Ellis Island. "How about the 19 million Spanish-speaking people, the 9 million French-speaking people? Who are they?" And because academia has been "male-centered, white-ethnic-centered and classist," much of the progressive movement is not included in mainstream textbooks, Scott said. "That's why people can't name the 17 Asian groups in America or tell you how they have impacted American history," she said. Scott emphasized that unlearning racism is not just a "black and white paradigm" because all people of color experience racism. Highlighting some symptoms of racism, she said oppressed groups can react with "horizontal hostility" across ethnicities, beginning with people thinking "I've been more oppressed than you." Minority groups can also unite in "bashing white people." Both symptoms impede unlearning racism and working toward a society that can really "live up to its democratic ideals of inclusion," Scott said. "We can't make large, sweeping societal changes over night," she added. "But we can change how we behave every day, which will either reinforce or detract from the progressive movement." College senior Rajeev Ramchandran, who participated in the workshop, said individual changes must accumulate before leading to real change. "It's all in numbers," he said. "Institutional change starts when more minorities speak up, accumulating power to address issues like racism." Scott, who has held similar workshops for Fortune 500 Companies, will also present a keynote speech on the effects of racial attitudes on the college experience at the Christian Association Tuesday at 4:30 p.m, as part of the Unity Week celebration. With the theme of "United We Stand, Divided We Fail," the week will continue Wednesday afternoon, with eight out of the UMC's 12 minority groups exhibiting their ethnic foods at the food bazaar on Locust Walk from noon to 4 p.m. In the evening, the UMC and Greenfield Intercultural Center will hold a forum on labor organizing from 7-9 p.m. at the GIC. In the face of an increasing trend of college students becoming labor organizers, the panel will discuss the changing world of labor unions, GIC Director Valerie De Cruz said. "My hope is that Penn students who are studying the global economy would be interested in the condition of the environment for workers who produce goods that we consume," De Cruz said. Mai Ngyuen of the Philadelphia-based Women Organized Against Rape, will lead an interactive discussion on the "Importance of Community Activism" at the GIC, from 12:30-2 p.m. Thursday. And a film and discussion entitled "Struggle of Poor People in North Philly" will be shown at the GIC, from 7-8:30 p.m. A coffeehouse at the Christian Association Friday from 8:30 p.m.-12 a.m. will raise money for the Penn Students for Community Involvement's Poverty Awareness Week. The week concludes Saturday with a community service project, where members of the UMC and PSCI will distribute clothing and food in Kensington, Pa. UMC President Temitope Koledoye said the UMC has made strides toward expanding its role at the university by gaining a seat on University Council. The group has also received several requests from various student organizations wanting to join. "One of my goals for the UMC this year was to bring the UMC to the forefront, establishing it as an integral campus organization," Koledoye said. "And I think we're definitely moving in that direction."

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