I began my college study while in the military in Europe. For me it was a full day of work at the office, followed by 3 hours a night, 4 nights a week at the University of Maryland Extension campus in Wiesbaden, Germany.
I noticed that the classes were attended by mostly older White students with me being the only 17 year old and the only Latino. It was in the History and Political Science courses that I was exposed to racist comments, especially about African Americans, from the other students in class discussions.
There was a time that I witnessed an argument between our professor on leave from Harvard and what appeared to be the more extremists students about the issue of race. It began to open my eyes as to the question of race relations in our country.
Previous to that, I relied on my upbringing and the view that being discriminated against was normal and the will of God. The class discussions sent me on a 5-year journey to find out for myself where I stood as a minority in America.
I began reading the U.S. Constitution as it was written before its Amendments and discovered that our founders did not include race or the institution of slavery in the language of the document. Rather, “the Constitution refers to slaves using three different formulations: ‘Other Persons’ (Article I, Section 2, Clause 1), ‘such persons as any state now existing shall think proper to admit’ (Article I, Section 9, Clause 1), and a ‘person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof’ (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3).
The covert language in the Constitution helped to set the tone for the 236 year history of race and ethnic disparities in the United States. With the exception of the Civil War period, the process of the growth of the country from east to west lend little opportunity to challenge the status quo.
It was not until the return of the soldiers from World II that civil rights movements began in earnest. That effort led to major changes in institutions, among them colleges and universities, as they were provided with increased funding by the federal government along with diversity requirements.
The 21st Century ushered in major changes in our demography and the political landscape of the country. This in turn has caused fear on the part of the ruling class and their supporters that their traditional power was being eroded by a combination of a new generational majority and minorities reaching demographic thresholds that commands significance.
Those in the power structure that saw this coming began crafting court challenges designed to diminish the progress of minorities.
Going after higher education is a serious matter because there is a strong correlation between low income and the students coming from these communities. For many families, education and socio-economic progress are the only avenues to the American Dream. Closing the doors to, especially the best and most selective universities, diminishes this opportunity.
More importantly, the action by the Supreme Court represent only the beginning of a long list of attacks on the relationship between growing minorities and American institutions. The struggle is far from over in higher education as other restrictions on admission, educational finance and academic support are coming.
The experience with racism that began in a university classroom abroad eventually led to a period of terrible anger. Much of the energy generated by these feelings was brought home to the Chicano Movement.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of LaVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to news@lavozcolorado.com.
