Students who gathered for a small discussion Tuesday about race in America agreed there is a racial divide and only a conscious effort over time will change things.
"I think many of us in the classroom are really interested," said Leslie Alexander, a professor of history who led the discussion. "Witnessing a presidential campaign in which you see a woman and an African American both as viable candidates saddling it out for the Democratic nomination."
About 15 people attended the event, hosted by the College of Humanities at Dulles Hall. Alexander told participants at the beginning to be respectful of one another and to not be afraid to voice their opinions.
"There's a desperate need to have this kind of conversation," she said. "There are so many issues regarding race that we just tend to talk around or avoid it all together in American society."
Alexander passed out a sheet with some questions about what it means to be patriotic, the attention given to Barack Obama's reverend, Jeremiah Wright, and the speculation of whether black women would vote for Obama or Hillary Clinton.
"There's a third option no one seems to consider: What if they vote about the issues (instead of race or gender)," Alexander said.
The attendees watched Youtube videos of news clips including the speech in which Michelle Obama said this was the first time she was proud of America.
Most students said they think the incident was taken too literally and that the media portrays things as more polarized than they really are.
The group then talked about figures such as television host Bill O'Reilly and radio personality Don Imus.
"They're more entertainment figures than news reporters. They make me wonder about their objectivity. But if there wasn't a market for that, their shows wouldn't survive," one student said.
Students were also given an international perspective about the way other countries might view the United States if Obama or Clinton won.
"Over here (in the United States), it'd be hard for me to view things (in the United Kingdom) but we'd probably be impressed to see there has been a good deal of progress within the U.S. to have two very controversial candidates," an international graduate student from the U.K. said
"I thought it was great," said Jack Moore, a sophomore in journalism. "It could be a weekly thing, there's so much to talk about. We didn't get to everything on the topic sheet. The atmosphere was really conducive to conversation about the issues."
"We might try to do something again in two weeks as a follow-up and maybe attract a little bit bigger of a crowd," said Mike Hemmelgarn, a recent graduate who helped organize the event.
Michelle Fehribach can be reached at fehribach.4@osu.edu.
2008 Woodie Awards
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
JJ OSU
JJ
posted 5/20/08 @ 9:03 PM EST
"Save the planet, save the world."
This is not the time to pride yourself as the next President of the U.S. There's gonna be a lot of work! I feel bad for the next President of the U. (Continued…)
Amanda
posted 5/20/08 @ 10:47 PM EST
This was a really well-written article. I found it to be very informative of the event and wish I could have attended such a discussion. I wish events like these were a little more publicized because I think a lot of people would benefit from gathering together and listening to the ideas people have to offer. (Continued…)
barga.24
Robert Barga
posted 5/21/08 @ 12:07 AM EST
Why does it seem that so many people think that we have race issues in this country? Frankly, I do not get it. There are studies on race, forums on race, and even a call for a race dialog (which a certain candidate then did not have). (Continued…)
grad student
posted 5/22/08 @ 12:29 PM EST
I did not know about the race forum, but I most likely would not have had time to attend. It seems that perhaps this thing can solve the true race problem: which is we aren't allowed to talk about it. (Continued…)
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