A day to remember Martin Luther King - At Deerfield Academy, students react to speaker
BY CRIS CARL STAFF WRITER
DEERFIELD - A speaker on civil rights touched a nerve among some white Deerfield Academy students during the school's observance Monday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.
Ewuare Osayande, an author and political activist from Philadelphia, spoke to an auditorium filled with students on the topic, exploring many areas of current and historical injustice.
Following his nearly hour-long speech, Osayande called for questions and was met by challenges and loud reactions from a number of students who objected to the speaker's characterization of white privilege.
''Is this the way you treat a guest?'' asked Osayande, who fielded direct questions calmly.
Osayande, whose speech was titled ''America Must Change - In Pursuit of Racial Justice and the Legacy of Dr. King,'' addressed numerous political and social injustices and hypocrisies he said African Americans face.
For example, Osayande commented on the creation of King's birthday as a holiday by President Ronald Reagan, who simultaneously restored federal tax-exempt status to schools that practiced segregation.
Osayande also spoke about misconceptions he believes the general public has fostered about King as well as concepts of the civil rights movement. Of the 1955 bus boycott in Alabama, Osayande said, ''It was as if we could locate a beginning of the (civil rights) movement, so therefore we can locate an end.''
But he noted the civil rights movement had been in place long before and since that boycott. ''This is not the work of presidents but of the people,'' he said.
Osayande spoke about slavery and the impoverished community that grew out of emancipation, the effects of ''white privilege'' on people of color and issues of affirmative action. ''We fought for the right to eat at white restaurants, but most African Americans couldn't afford to eat in them,'' said Osayande.
He said that in King's absence, society has relegated African American progress to ''tokenism.''
''The power structure hasn't changed, and the people who called the shots then are still calling the shots today,'' he said, noting poverty could be erased very quickly if society determined its importance. ''Bill Gates could wipe out poverty literally overnight with just the money he has.''
Students' questions focused on the feelings of being attacked or judged because they are white. Osayande explained that was not his intent, and he urged students to try standing in the shoes of an African American, looking realistically at what that experience might be.
''I thought what he had to say was very important,'' said Liana Hunter, a senior who added she knew students would be discussing the speech for weeks to come.
Andrew Marsh, also a senior, said he felt the speech wasn't presented in the best possible way, saying that Osayande had loosely strung together controversial facts. ''It made the tone more accusatory than compelling.''
Senior Reggie Snipes, who is black, said that in his four years at Deerfield Academy he has made numerous friends, many of whom come from towns that lack racial diversity.
''They're not exposed to other people's cultures much and they tend to take speeches like this personally,'' said Snipes, following a heated talk with a close friend on the topic. ''It's important that people just take this as a learning experience.''
Cris Carl can be reached at
ccarl@gazettenet.com.
http://www.dailyhampshiregazette.com/cspstory.cfm?id_no=11800492005
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