A Day of Absence and Day of Presence at Evergreen State
College in Olympia, Washington according to their website is something this
school does every year. They invite the campus community to participate in the
activities for two days. The idea is to address current issues surrounding race
at Evergreen and beyond. Where did they get this idea?
This idea originated from a play written by Douglas Turner
Ward, an African American playwright back in 1965. This was a time in our
country when African Americans were fighting for their civil rights, fighting
to be seen as equal. The play is a social commentary about how race relations
were in the U.S., especially in the South back then.
In the play the town wakes up to find all African American
citizens have disappeared from their town. The realization of this gives them
something to think about what all these people meant to their community and how
they would carry on without these essential members of their community. In
other words we all work together and build our environment no one person is any
better than the other. We each have a job to do and when that person is no
longer there their absence is felt by everyone concerned.
So Evergreen State College started their Day of Absence in
1970 with the help of a faculty member Maxine Mimms. She was inspired by the
play and thought it was a good way to bring the faculty and staff of color in
spending a work day away from campus as a grassroots action. From there it grew
to include all students, faculty, and staff at Evergreen. The idea was to
explore and celebrate the diversity, to initiate conversations about issues of
difference and in 1992 they added the Day of Presence which was to reunite the
college community and honor diversity and unity as a whole campus.
A day of absence doesn’t mean students and staff just don’t
show up and do nothing all day. There are events planned throughout the day on
and off campus that cover issues such as anti-racism work from a majority
culture or white perspective, educational and social programs designed to
address issues from people of color. No one is told where to go or what to do.
It is your choice on what to attend and be involved in.
The Day of Presence is a day to reunite on campus and to
share ideas with each other as friends, not adversaries. This concept is
designed to bring people together not to pull them apart. In today’s society we
have stepped back into the 1960’s when this play was written. Instead of
learning from our mistakes the young people today are carrying a chip on their
shoulders and not allowing themselves to be free of the burdens of society.
Society does not define who you are! The color or your skin does not define who
you are! The only thing, the only one that can define who you are on this
earth, what you will be and how you will leave your mark in this world, is you!
For me to stand here and say racism does not exist in this
country would be a total lie but to allow students to make demands that all
white people leave campus for a day and to comply with that is wrong. The idea
of this grassroots program is to open a dialog so these problems can be
addressed by all concerned and if these leftist students are feeling so
threatened by the presence of white people on their campus then perhaps they
belong in a school of people of color only which would be sad since back in the
1960’s people fought hard for desegregation.
Students take over the campus and the president of the
college claims he is grateful for the passion and courage demonstrated by this
mob of students who are pushing their weight around and bullying others into
doing things their way or no way. At the same time a professor who teaches at
this campus is forced to teach off campus for his own safety. Mr. Bridges, the
president of Evergreen State College, you are a big part of this problem. You
are so afraid of speaking out and standing up to these liberals that you are
forgetting about not only the rest of your student body but the safety of your
white faculty.
These students are talking about needing to feel safe on
campus and how they want to be able to learn in a supportive environment free
from discrimination or intimidation yet they are the ones causing the issue. They
are the ones causing people to feel as if they are in danger. They are the ones
who are discriminating and I don’t want to hear how people of color cannot be
racist because that is a bunch of bull and we all know it.
Mr. Bridges you allowed yourself to be bullied by part of
your student body and gave no thought to others attending your college or to
your staff. Not all students or staff of color stood with this group who
shouted down and cursed the faculty and administrators as they screamed for
social justice. You call this a passion I call it what it is, bullying and if
you don’t have what it takes to see to it this is not allowed then you, Mr.
Bridges do not belong in the position you are in and need to resign.
When these students leave your campus and go out into the
real world and get a real job they are not going to be able to stomp their feet
and get upset because someone in their work place offended them. The world
doesn’t work that way. There are some amazingly wonderful people in this world
and there are some amazingly dense people in this world who just don’t get it.
You cannot go around and stomp your feet, make demands, act like you are a two
year old and figure everyone is going to give into you because hey, that’s what
they did when you attended college. No sir, in the real world, which is what
you are supposed to be getting them ready for, life is very different.
You may have a boss you absolutely love, work well with,
even become the best of friends with and then again you may have a boss you can’t
please no matter what you do and you cannot always scream racial discrimination
and cry for your safe space, sometimes you just have to suck it up and grow up.
Bills have to be paid, food on the table, and responsibilities of life itself
rules what you do and don’t do with your life. You set the ground rules, you
set your goals and no matter what you do, do not allow anyone or anything to
get in your way.
If you are teaching these young people they can get their
way by screaming, throwing a temper tantrum, and resort to crying racism you
are not getting them ready for the real world. Most people could care less what
color your skin is. In today’s world there are mixed races wherever we look. It
is accepted in today’s society but I can tell you back when I was a kid it was
frowned upon and I could not figure out, for the life of me, why. Whether you
are white or of color you are still the same inside, as I have said before, we
all bleed red.
So Mr. Bridges to you I say stop giving in to these demands.
If you want this to stop on your watch then bring these students and the
faculty together and hash it out. Not scream it at one another, call for a
peaceful discussion and if it is otherwise the people who are involved in
causing chaos should be removed. Oh, I know you think I don’t know what I am
talking about since you are there and I am here but it does not take a rocket scientist
to realize if you allow this to continue it will continue to grow and there
will always be racial tension in your school and in the lives of these young
people attending your school.
The people of this great nation need to start standing
together no matter what your race is. We need to start teaching our children to
concentrate on improving their lives and not to worry about what others think
of them. Our young people need to be able to hold their heads up with pride and
work together to fix the mistakes of the past not keep them going and fanning
the fires so they never stop burning.
Peace comes from within. If you are not at peace with
yourself, if you do not see yourself as God sees you then you will not be able
to move ahead in this world and you will always be blaming someone else for
your misdeeds. Let’s all stop this craziness and as adults show our young
people just how important it is to work together to improve our country, to make
life better for all people. Life is too short to live with a chip on your
shoulder when there is so much to get done because that chip will weigh you
down and you will never get ahead.
May God Bless America and bring us all together.
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