Dierdree Glassford

Liberal Arts Major

Living in a country where Trump is an actual candidate for president, where threats of a wall being built to keep out immigrants from a nation built on immigrants is an actuality, where there have been more shootings than the number of states, where people are still being judged by the color of their skin, gives one pause to ask what are we and how can I respond accordingly. In this country, as well as on this campus, there is a screaming need of empathy, understanding, and progress that is needed for the very social justice all Americans deserve.

The issues surrounding racism in our society have become so evident, yet still there are people that are ignorant to the real problems of the issue, and how certain things can be construed in such a way that people do not feel safe in their own communities. Racism is here, it is the elephant in the room that is continually being ignored. Why is that?

This and other relevant questions were raised on February 24th when a panel of 3, consisting of faculty and student leaders alike, gathered together in order to open up a dialogue on the topic of race, the difficulties facing people of color and minorities, and how it effects our day to day lives.

Hosted by Herb Adams, SMCC Professor, the panelist included Angel Christian, a US History professor, Lana Lee, an administrator and advisor for Path To Graduation and a Social Justice Freshman Interest Group instructor as well as an ally to people of color, and lastly Carlan Whitehouse, a passionate and determined education major. The panel touched upon issues of unnecessary violence towards people of color, police brutality, the #blacklivesmatter movement, racism on SMCC campuses, white privilege, and incarceration ratios of minorities. The discussion delved into the realm of heavy as SMCC students struggled with their internal contradictions of wanting to help and not comprehending the breath and complexity of racism.

The panel received 6 questions, graciously asked from the resonate voice of Mr. Herb Adams himself. As Herb introduced the panel, and opened up the audience to what was in store, the safe space of Jewett Auditorium continued to fill with over 70 students and faculty.

Carlan Whitehouse spoke of being a white male in society today, admitting matter of fact that, “It was a luxury handed to me at birth, not to have to address race.” He continued to say how “that elephant” of racism dwells here at Southern Maine Community College. Whitehouse learned much about the #blacklivesmatter movement by researching, striving to understand more about the everyday experience of people of color, especially as students. He states that he learned to take his own experiences right out of the situation, shutting up, and listening. In a show of support and in a struggle to spread awareness, literature was placed around the SMCC campus on bulletin boards and in classrooms. Carlan, as well as some of his peers, were extremely angry to see that these pieces of literature, posters and flyers, were either ripped from the walls completely, crumpled and thrown in a corner, or vandalized to support the vandals own personal views.

How do we make a difference, how do we start to see a change? Whitehouse’s response was to not just witness these things happening, and much worse, and be a bystander. Respond, commune, and get real. Work together to not only raise awareness, but to make a difference.

Angel Christian, originally from Mississippi, states that she was lucky to grow up in a time where there were freedoms and a cultural diversity. She did know people though who grew up when this was not the case. She wonders how hard it was to be able to vote, and stated how people are wanting to see the times go back.

In a time when our country prides itself on being the land of the free and the brave, the question is then raised, how are we to feel free and be brave if race is still such a prominent issue in society?

Whitehouse spoke up, talking about how he sat down with three of the criminal justice professors last winter, asking what are they doing to prevent the Michael Browns, and Sandra Blands? In the end he was disappointed. “It was the same redirection you hear a lot,” Carlin said continuing “that although he didn’t want to blame them personally, and he respected them as people with very distinguished careers, they had never heard of implicit biased before, they had talked about how they discussed these things in class, but they were not able to point to any specific curriculum that focused on it.”

Whitehouse spoke up, talking about how he sat down with three of the criminal justice professors last winter, asking what are they doing to prevent the Michael Browns, and Sandra Blands.​ In the end he was disappointed. “It was the same redirection you hear a lot,” Carlin said.

Speaking about society as a whole, Carlin touched upon how​ such approaches could contribute to the illusion of “racism without racists​ – ​n​obody’s a racist, but there is a hell of a lot of racism. This is the type of thing we can’t just pass off, but we need to go into and examine to see what we can do better.“​

It has been 50 years since Martin Luther King’s death, 2 generations have grown into adulthood since, and the question is posed. Is Doctor King’s kind of discussion about civil rights and equality still relevant today?

“Of course it’s still relevant,” Christian spoke up, “ I think that civil rights will always be relevant, we will always have people that will experience some type of struggle and will seek out support from the larger society. So now we can think of race, as that is our topic, but we can also think about gender equity, transgender, we can’t forget that we are talking and it often feels like it revolves around black and white, but we can’t forget about the rest of the minorities. Like the Native Americans, who had a very difficult struggle to gain rights, gaining their rights after African Americans and after women, collectively. Again, it’s always going to be something that we can hopefully all strive towards and to fight for.”

Whitehouse stated a very real and raw truth for many. “I believe his most off quoted remark, about his dream that his children be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. I have heard and read in many, many different ways, folks that wished that he hadn’t said that, at least in that specific way that the rest of the establishment could take it and run with it. A lot of people use it to support their idea of colorblindness.”

SMCC and the Central Maine campuses are probably the most diverse campuses in the CC system, in terms of both religions and race and many other standards. Certainly we try to address the issues and all that they imply: what are we doing right, what are we doing wrong, and what needs to be done?

“Diversity is a fact. It’s important that it goes beyond diversity training. We can all see that our campuses are diverse. You all can see that. It’s how do you value that, how do you seek multicultural competency and I think that this is a good start, but that is something that we can improve on tremendously.” Lana Lee stated in response to this panel question. Lee also brought up how there needs to be more faculty training, more immersion of the subject matter into classrooms, that it is a culture change, and we need to see it start to take form here at SMCC, and in our own communities.

The panel captivated listeners, as people listened in, and asked questions, and eventually it was opened up to the audience for a Q&A session and a reaction piece based on the boards from a prior event. The question came up about privilege; what it meant to have it and did it fluctuate depending on different circumstances? If there was a way to encourage white people to be less awkward and uncomfortable talking about the race issue, which has proven to be not only a difficult subject to swallow, but a necessary one. Many audience members spoke up, talking about how if you do not feel uncomfortable, then there is no progress being made, that the only progress that can be made will happen outside of your comfort zone.

Other suggestions touched on how to establish not only a better understanding, but also a better more accepting and knowledgeable community for cultural diversity in and around our campuses, and in the world. One spoke up and said that as educators it is a high responsibility for them to make changes that will affect progress in a positive direction. More current events being taught in classes and a focus on multicultural competence in the criminal justice system were also brought up.

Become a friend, sit with someone new, break the segregation, and use your privilege, knowledge, and power, to help others without that same level of privilege.

It can start simple, but it needs to start somewhere. One student, an immigrant who is from Africa, stated that he believes that the problem of race needs to be solved in the continent where it originates. He spoke of having the strength to lead a peace movement. He spoke about how people need to fight for their rights, where it originates, because otherwise there will be no change. “We black people need to go back to Africa and fight for the freedom of our own people in our own lands. We need to go home and fight for the freedom of our people.”

Many people tend to forget that this land, this country, America, the beautiful, was built on the backs of immigrants. We are a community of immigrants, and we are diverse in such a beautiful way. In order to understand and grow and progress, we must take a stand where we are lucky to call home. We must make a difference for the culture of our society, grow more knowledgeable, become active, and not bow down to our feelings of discomfort. Only then will we be able to start to change the harsh reality that has taken over our country. We have an ability to make change, will we?