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The last two weeks at the UW have been filled with discussion about racism on the UW campus. The distress expressed by minority students is well deserved and they are correct that the usual mantra of hiring more administrators and counselor or holding seminars to discuss the problems is not going to help. I do not think “talking about it” will bring much change.
We need a better effort to see what can be done now.
A huge part of the problem is Seattle itself. Whether is is called gentrification or black flight, this city has undertone a precipitous decline in its African American population, For those who have lived here more than a decade, it is shocking to drive through the Central District and see an almost complete replacement of the community that had been here since my wife and I arrived 40 years ago. While there has not been any intentional ethnic cleansing, the effect is very disturbing to me,
This problem is not restricted to Seattle outside of our campus. I drove an African American colleague from Texas around the campus yesterday , He was startled by the almost total absence of black faces. How is it that we can get around state laws when we fill our athletic rosters but we attract so few African American students form outside the State?
Finally, I also feel it is important to not see this issue as one where the white UW is helping the black community. I have two specific suggestions: