Almost 50 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech to over 200,000 people from the Lincoln Memorial, calling for an end to discrimination and separatism and advocating for racial equality in America.
In 1954, the landmark decision Brown v. Board of Education established that separating public schools for black and white students was unconstitutional, paving the way for equality in education.
This weekend, CSU East Bay, a university located in the heart of one of the most ethnically diverse and rich areas in the state and country, will be graduating thousands of students in five different ceremonies based on their academic college.
Yet, two very different ceremonies, in addition to the main commencement ceremony, will occur on campus – the Black and Latino graduations.
These segregated ceremonies aim to celebrate the achievements of each ethnic group, yet what they are truly doing is holding a ceremony that promotes exclusion rather than diversity.
The Black and Latino graduations embody a pre-1954 America in which people of color are separated and excluded from the white population.
Unfortunately here at CSUEB, it is now students who are segregating themselves.
The Black and Latino graduations are ceremonies that marginalize ethnic minorities, as separating minority graduates re-establishes the idea of separate but equal.
At The Pioneer, we take pride in the diversity of our school. We represent a rich diversity that is a true rarity in the state and the country.
According to the Chair of the Black Graduation Committee, Taren Williams, these ceremonies aren’t meant to separate students, rather they are meant to celebrate their achievements within their own culture.
“The most significant aspect of the Black Graduation Ceremony is the preservation and celebration of a culture,” said Williams. “This commencement ceremony is not about black people graduating, it is about much more. Not too long ago, it was unheard of for black people to attend college, let alone obtain college degrees. Today we celebrate not only for those who did, but for those who wanted to, but did not have the opportunity.”
Instead of isolating cultures with separate graduations, the main commencement ceremony, by the very nature of our campus community, recognizes the multitude of diverse graduates on East Bay’s campus.
We believe students should be celebrated for their individual academic achievements with their fellow classmates of all colors, and not simply labeled as a “Black graduate” or a “Latino graduate.”
In 2004, UC San Diego hosted 1,183 separate but equal graduations representing groups like “African-American Left Handed Gay Jews” and Muslims who divided themselves into Shiite and Sunni graduation groups. Further highlighting the acute debate over the continued funding of these groups, “Near-sighted vespa riding fans of the Clash” and the “Dissident Albino Samoans.”
Is this the level of ridiculousness we want marking such an important occasion? If any school offered a “White graduation,” would people not find that racist, and similarly absurd?
Graduation is a time of celebration; a time for students to celebrate their own accomplishments, the obstacles they have overcome and most importantly, it is a time for the students to celebrate who they have become.
Having separate graduation ceremonies takes away from unifying East Bay’s many cultures. While this university claims to be committed to celebrating cultural diversity, these separate recognition ceremonies completely betray that goal.
Instead of having separate graduation ceremonies based upon students’ nationalities, let us fully acknowledge the many ethnicities East Bay houses during the main commencement ceremony.
We should be celebrating how our ethnic diversity on this campus helps bring us together, not how it divides us.