“You’re in HISP, what’s the excuse for other black people?”, “Are you gonna date a black guy? You know, bigger d**k?” , “So what are you?” , “It’s so nice to not have to be ‘politically correct’ while out of class,” “N****r.” These are but a few things that I have overheard or have been said to me during my time in HISP. My name is Neil Mewton, I’m a senior, and I was in the HISP program for my freshman and sophomore years.
Those were some of the worst years of my life, and while many factors would contribute to that being so, one of the main reasons I was so unhappy was because of the rampant racism I encountered in the program.
With all this talk about the project, many people (mainly white HISP students) have made efforts to defend the program, and in turn themselves, from accusations of racism. It is this sort of fervent and willful blindness that has allowed the toxic culture within HISP to last for so long. The infamous science project is not an isolated incident, and is merely a reflection of what happens when unchecked racism and elitism are allowed to run rampant.
The HISP program advertises itself like a travel brochure: Your child can visit a racially diverse place school while not having to directly interact with said racial diversity. This selling point allows the program to maintain an elite feel, while simultaneously patting itself on the back for its proximity to diversity.
My dad’s initial observation while attending a HISP meeting before enrolling me: “The program very much presents itself as a private school within a public school. You know, your white kid can be exposed to lots of different cultures, so that they will be better people in the long run. And while wanting your kid to be exposed to other cultures is fine, it reeks of that liberal insincerity that we all know.”
That “liberal insincerity” is a main driving component of my experiences of being black in HISP. Many kids will just nod their heads along with whatever a black kid will say, without actually absorbing it and changing themselves for the better. It is purely for looks and self-validation.
My time at HISP, as mentioned before, was not a good one. Being one of the only black people in the program, it left me without anyone to truly relate to when trying to talk about racism. More often than not, discussions about race would spring up, and I’d feel intimidated about speaking up and voicing my thoughts for fear of being labeled or avoided due to my seemingly, “radical” beliefs. Every black person, when talking about race, has to do so in a half-honest way. Our true thoughts and feelings are often vilified and looked down upon, because racism is something they cannot fathom. Stories and anecdotes are often written off as being incidents rather than socially accepted behavior, when in reality, it gives the true heart and emotion of what it means to be black in an all white program, and ultimately society.
In those moments I would speak up, I’d feel those stares, and would remind myself to dial it back, as to comfort the audience before me. Because once you point out a student’s racist comment, you are immediately turned into the quintessential “raging black SJW”. I have already lost before I even open my mouth.
All of this, and so much more, is what triggers my reaction to HISP kids crying out about how the lack of black students in HISP not being the program’s fault. If it’s not HISP’s fault, then whose is it? Apparently, a common consensus is that it is black people’s fault. This blame shifting is the core of all their arguments, and is the flimsy soap box they make their case on.
The fervent and staunch defending of the program, all their attempts to absolve themselves of the blame, set up black and brown people as pins for them to knock down with their arguments while offering no solutions in response. They go on and on about how all the ‘woke’ white teachers in HISP would never allow racism to exist in it..That all these claims and experiences that black and brown people have are simply them being over-emotional and wanting free handouts. They wipe their hands clean of responsibility while allowing the victims to bleed out for the sake of their image.
Because the problem with HISP is its lack of diversity and clear racial divide. It is the fact that it favors wealthy neighborhoods and schools, that it doesn’t actively seek out low-income students. And when you confront them with all of this, they shrug their shoulders and claim “we’ve tried to help them, but they don’t want to come”.
HISP has had years to figure out a solution to this problem. Years to lobby against State Proposition 209, which effectually prohibits recruitment of black and brown students, and yet, they seem more preoccupied with maintaining their image of racial diversity rather than actually striving to become diverse.
You cannot claim to be a multicultural program, while having the diversity of an inbred Austrian prince. It is your duty to live up to what you claim to be. Stop making excuses. Stop pinning the blame on everyone else. This is your program, your students, your responsibility.
My reasoning for my argument is the clear racial divide and economic divide in the program. I understand the limitations that have been imposed, but the HISP program has had years to figure out a work around, and it’s not illegal to actively seek out black students or even low income students. I wanted to break away from my intelligible previous paragraphs and go into a rant. My purpose was to clear the fog about what I hear is excuses constantly.