There is an epidemic of racism in the student senate. There, I said it. How do I know that? I was elected to the Senate by campaigning to address and confront issues of racism that existed there, but once I served in the Senate it became clear to me that racism was too well entrenched in the system to be dislodged in one year. Now first, it should be said that racism, like all systematic oppressions, is a constant pervasive force in our society. Like standing still on a conveyor belt, any organization that doesn’t actively confront racism will ultimately allow it to flourish. Even so, I encountered serious racist behavior on a regular basis in the Senate, and it appears that things have not changed.
That’s why I am so disturbed by the Senate’s recent actions to discipline Senator Nate Gulley for his accusation of racism among his fellow senators. This seems to be presented under the false belief that racism only matters if it explicitly violent or is perpetrated while wearing white hoods. Racism, in fact, is any behavior that supports and perpetuates a white supremacist power structure. We have an ethnic studies program on campus; ask them if you don’t believe me.
Given how broad racist behavior can be and how prevalent it is, if someone is making an accusation of racism and it’s anything less than turning on the fire hoses and releasing the dogs, then chances are it will take a lot of understanding and work to realize what is going on. It would be my hope that the Senate could engage in a mature discussion exploring what issues are involved and how best to address them.
Instead, within a week of Senator Gulley’s accusations he has been brought up on charges of defamation and conduct unbecoming of an elected representative. While I have not been involved in campus politics this year, I still have heard talk of the current senate’s racism – snickering when a student speaks with an accent or making statements like “MEChA is taking over the Senate.” And the current charges against Senator Gulley fall perfectly in line with the history the Senate has of swift retaliation used to squash any discussion of racism before it can begin. That history goes at least as far back as my awareness of the UO Student Senate, and in all likelihood, since its conception.
In a Senate meeting the 2003-04 year, the ASUO vice president Eddie Morales asked senators to internally question what role racism played in their decision to vote down a motion by a senator who was a person of color and then enthusiastically endorse a near identical motion made by a white senator. The following day there was a cover article in the Emerald full of voices discussing how he “played the race card” and how inappropriate it was that he “used racism as a political weapon.” The message was clear – don’t talk about race.
The following year, a PFC senator was accused of being biased and almost forced to abstain in a vote on the Multicultural Center’s budget based on the fact that they were a person of color. The message was clear – white voices are more neutral on race issues and people of color should be left out of the conversation.
That same year, a Senate resolution condemning the use of Indigenous sports mascots faced surprising opposition without any clear rationale. One senator explained to me that he didn’t think the resolution was a problem but was upset that he might be considered racist if he voted against it. He didn’t like having to choose between either taking an anti-racist stance or defending a racist position. The message was clear – things are better when race issues stay below the surface so that senators’ racist beliefs can remain invisible.
All of these incidents, including the charges against Senator Gulley, act to systematically enforce the concept that analyzing racism, addressing racism, and speaking out against racism will not be tolerated. Accordingly, it becomes a far worse crime to accuse someone of racism than to make a racist statement or act in a racist manner.
When Senator Gulley accuses other senators of racist behavior, it’s important that those claims be investigated. Instead, he is literally on trial for making such claims before anyone has even asked him what motivated them. In my tenure, students were afraid to speak up or address Senate racism while their funding was on the line. They had to wait until there was a Senator willing to speak up. But if the Senate goes down this road, even Senators will cower in fear as the powerful anti-anti-racism machine stands ready to discipline anyone willing to talk about racism. And that is conduct unbecoming of elected representatives.
Tobi Hill-Meyer was a student senator during the 2004-05 school year