Can A White Kid Get An Award For Being A Distinguished African-American?

[goofyfish]

Apparently the answer is "no" in Omaha, Nebraska.

Officials disciplined students who papered their nearly all-white high school with posters advocating a white student from South Africa for the school's "Distinguished African American Student Award." (Full text here)

The brief on this is that a white kid at a high school and his friends were suspended because they put up posters advocating his consideration for the award. It is traditionally given to a black student. He is white. He is also from South Africa. So, is he not African enough just because he is white and not black? I’m pretty sure that all Americans are African-American, it just a matter of timing. They used the term "African-American" for the award, and he is, quite literally, an African-American - he should definitely not have been suspended. If they mean only black kids can get an award, they should call it the Distinguished Black Student Award.

In either case, it is a stupid award that should be abolished because it separates students into racial categories for no apparent reason.

:m: Peace.

 

[Bells]

True, such awards should be abolished because they do divide the community or school as this case may be.

Also, if the kid is from Africa and now resides in America, then he does qualify for the award. Unless the award states 'Black African-Americans', than he definitely qualifies for it. And had the award had the word 'black' in it, it would have been seen to be racist. So I guess in this instance political correctness is coming back to bite them on the arse. If the kid is from Africa and is now seen to be an American, then he's African-American. He's more of an African-American than a black individual who's family have been in the US for a couple of generations and have no real ties to Africa except for their distant heritage.

 

[Siddhartha]

A friend often jokes with me about the Black Music Awards you get annually, and what a massive hooha there would be if we started up our own "White Music Awards".

 

[15ofthe19]

Ernie Els is one of the most distinguished and successful African-American's on the planet, but I doubt he's going to get any recognition from any of the various afro-centric organizations that seek to divide based on race, thus completely missing the point of what Dr. King was trying to say.

 

[Dapthar]

You guys might want to look at this thread, since it is a discussion about the same article: Damn, this was really clever...

 

[SwedishFish]

yes he should be in the running for the award

 

[jps]

Although its true that this white student is technically an african-american, its obvious, given that the award was given in conjunction with MLK day and all, that the intent of the award was to recognize black students, who have historically been and continue to be discriminated against, for their achievments.
Having a white student running for this award clearly defeats the purpose of it.

 

[Nasor]

Although its true that this white student is technically an african-american, its obvious, given that the award was given in conjunction with MLK day and all, that the intent of the award was to recognize black students, who have historically been and continue to be discriminated against, for their achievments.
Having a white student running for this award clearly defeats the purpose of it.

The burden is on the school to make the rules clear and unambiguous. It isn't right to punish students for not 'reading between the lines.' If they only wanted black people to run for the award, they should have said so explicitly. Yes, obviously in this case the students were just trying to be smart-asses, but so what? The school administration left itself open to it by using such ambiguous, politically-correct langue.

 

[Mrs.Lucysnow]

They are afraid to say they only want black kids to run for the award. I think it serves no one to have separate awards for minorities in a multi-ethnic setting. Its divisive and worse patronizing because it assumes that blacks and whites cannot compete on the same playing field.

 

[Flores]

They are afraid to say they only want black kids to run for the award.

I agree with Lucy and Goofy. Hispanic is yet another nausiating term, just like African American. Let me tell you all my story. My parents are Egyptians by country affiliation and birth, and I hold an Egyptian passport, thus, I'm African....last I checked, Egypt lies in North Africa. I was also born in the US and hold an American passport. I would be literally African American then, yet my features and skin color seems to separate me from those here in the US who would usually call themselves "African American". To top the whole thing, I got married to a Hispanic. To my understanding, a hispanic is not a person from spain, but a person of central or southern American descend who lives in Northern America??? Somehow, you could be a tenth generation hispanic without ever knowing or experiencing latin America or Spain? My kids are thus.....Hispanic African Americans.....but they would never claim to be such, because they are simply AMERICANS yet the other day, my 4 year old daughter was told by a classmate that although he likes her to be his friend, that she is WHITE. Due to this confusion, I taught my daughter to travel everywhere with a white piece of cloth and a black piece of cloth. Whenever someone tells her that she is white, she hold the white piece of cloth next to her skin and ask them to tell her again if they think she is white. When her friends at school tell her that they are black, she hold the black cloth next to their skin and quickly they discover that they are not really black. We are all shades of brown, even the palest amongst us has a tinge of color and the darkest amongst us will never be totally black. I teach her the same concept about god, that he is not a man or woman, not old or young, not black or white, ect....just a creator of the universe and all man kind.

This whole name calling annoys and frustrates me....Why can't we all be called humans period....Why can't the blacks just say that they are AMERICAN period? Who the hell cares about Africa? For all I know, most blacks don't even know their country of origin in Africa. I don't see whites labeling themselves Russian American, Irish American, Italian American...We are all Americans. Why do they always like the US verses THEM approach?

 

[southernjanex]

I had a thought... February is Black History month. You hear alot of talk about anyone black. I was thinking, how come black people mention nothing of Abe Lincoln? He did wonders for the "African Americans", yet he recieves so little recognition. Is it perhaps because he was white?

 

[Mrs.Lucysnow]

What is even more strange Flores is that decendents of american slavery are so divorced from almost everything remotely african I wonder why the affiliation exists. Maybe its because they exist among so many hypenated americans that they cling to the continent, but they dont even know what tribe or aspect of african culture to aligne themselves with since so few are able to trace their african roots. I have always thought the 'hispanic' thing interesting too. Imagine how many 'hispanics' refer to themselves as Spanish when they are not spanish at all. The Spaniards were simply the main colonizers or their respective islands. Could you imagine a haitian referring to themselves a s'french'? Anyway the whole thing is a sorry sad state of affairs. Its a shame that race in this culture has produced so much confusion, such a search for identity, a striving to belong to something. If being an american had a solid cultural identity everyone would be incorportated into it and this problem wouldn't exist.

Check-out this link concerning Kwanza that highlights some interesting points:

http://www.martinlutherking.org/kwanzaa.html

 

[jps]

The burden is on the school to make the rules clear and unambiguous. It isn't right to punish students for not 'reading between the lines.' If they only wanted black people to run for the award, they should have said so explicitly. Yes, obviously in this case the students were just trying to be smart-asses, but so what? The school administration left itself open to it by using such ambiguous, politically-correct langue.

Its true, the students should not be punished for this, but the solution isn't to give an award intended to honor black students for their achievments in the face of adversity to a white student. It is to explain the situation and rectify the ambiguity.

 

[Cowboy]

Its divisive and worse patronizing because it assumes that blacks and whites cannot compete on the same playing field.

I agree, but what I think is even more insulting is that some people apparently believe that the white people in this school and/or community are so terrible that for a black person to simply exist in this location is some act of heroism.

 

[Cowboy]

I don't see whites labeling themselves Russian American, Irish American, Italian American...We are all Americans.

I see it all the time. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with knowing and honoring your roots, but it's a shitty basis for political policy which, at this point in time, seems to be more popular with non-white hyphenated-Americans than with white ones.

Why do they always like the US verses THEM approach?

Aside from misanthropes like myself, people are social creatures. They find a group with which they identify and then run their lives - at least in part - by the expectations and interests of that group.