<p>Well…I’m feeling like stirring the (melting) pot a bit. </p>
<p>One of my relatives, who is white, was the only white person in his class at Howard Law School in the early 1960s–before the Civil Rights Acts were enacted. There was one (African-American) woman in his class. They were first year moot court partners because nobody else would partner with either of them. Heck, most of the other students wouldn’t even TALK to them. And it stayed that way throughout law school.</p>
<p>And if you think some parents were stunned when they discovered their white child had an African-American roommate, well, lets just say that not a heck of a lot of Howard students tried to hide their feelings when they saw a white guy on campus in the early sixties. Some of his professors didn’t like the idea either. </p>
<p>It did get pretty funny sometimes–after he graduated, the local paper kept printing he went to Harvard Law, because every reporter assumed Howard had to be a mistake. He’s been invited to join just numerous organizations of prominent African-Americans and African-American attorneys, asked to fill out forms to be included in the equivalent of Who’s Who among African-Americans, etc. Everyone ASSUMES that each and every person in his Howard law school class was African-American. </p>
<p>Anyway, while I would certainly agree that it was one heck of a lot easier to be a white person than a black person in the US of the early sixties and that the men in my relative’s law school class probably had good reason to distrust whites, that didn’t make it any easier for him at the time. The message he was given over and over again was “We don’t want you here. LEAVE.” I am reminded by that when someone said white students used the prhase “our” campus. My relative heard a gazillion times that this is “OUR” school. Some professors said --in front of him–that a black --that was the PC term back then–institution like Howard should not educate a white person. Some felt that it was perfectly okay to use any method short of actual violence to try to get him to withdraw. </p>
<p>Just a reminder that racism isn’t just practiced by people with fair skins. </p>
<p>(In the unlikely event any of you know the identity of my relative, please don’t post it.)</p>