The Council's Misuse of Race

Yesterday morning I opened The Harvard Crimson to yet another article on the impeachment process of the recently elected Undergraduate Council Vice President John A. Burton '01. Over cereal and orange juice, I perused quote after quote from disgruntled council members, Burton supporters, council President Fentrice D. Driskell '01 and Burton himself.

"So, what do you think about this whole council thing?" a voice from behind my newspaper questioned. Considering whether I really wanted to put down my paper and engage in conversation about this topic, I shrugged and in a half-hearted voice responded, "I don't know."

"I think that it is ridiculous about this race stuff. Why can't it be about anything other than race?"

The oft-mentioned race card reared its ugly head at that moment. The race card, a term recently popularized during the O.J. Simpson trial, has become one of the main points of contention in this impeachment debate. It is alleged that Burton is the newest victim of racism. One friend said to me, "these Harvard students couldn't handle a black student body president and vice president. They were just waiting to do something."

That "something" came in the form of two articles of impeachment signed by 10 council members. The Boston Globe, in a mocking article, wrote that "those defending the accused, however, see the work of a vast right-wing conspiracy with racist overtones, seeking to overturn an election that replaced a conservative administration with a liberal one."

The "playing of the race card" has implications that have not been lost on students. Several council members report disgust at how this impeachment process has been framed in terms of race. Others counter that the vicious attack on a black student by a group of white men cannot be ignored. Admittedly, the council has not always seemed a friendly space to minorities. I have often said that women and minorities are not fairly represented in the council. Yet this is not clearly a racial issue. I am sympathetic to council members who state that the question is not Burton's race but his competence.

What is most troubling is the concept of "the race card." Race is not something that can be shuffled and dealt like a game of Go Fish. To bring up race in this context diminishes the saliency of the issue. We live in a society in which race is still a real and immediate problem. Of course there are naysayers, who respond that we now live in a color-blind society in which issues of identity, most specifically race and ethnicity, are no longer relevant.

These individuals need a reality check. Race continues to demarcate not only the bodies of individual Americans, but of American society in general. Thus, it is problematic that amidst discussions of affirmative action, the lack of minority tenured Faculty and race baiting, we as Harvard students toss around issues of race so lightly. Whether or not race is at the heart of the impeachment process of John Burton is a trivial question. Race is not ridiculous, but "race games" on the council are.

Last Sunday, in addition to the normal 60 or so council members, large numbers of black students, members of the Harvard chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, attended a long and unwieldy council meeting on the constitutionality of the impeachment process. The word race was not mentioned once during the meeting, but its influence was felt in every section of the room. Some council members uttered disparaging words under their breath; others sighed in exasperation. But more than anything else, I experienced a keen sense of disappointment. I keep thinking that there must be more important things for Dr. Counter to attend to. I understood why he and other black students were present, but I was upset that they deemed their presence necessary.

Burton has said that this debate is all about "lemonade and buttons." To a large extent, he is correct. Questions of campaign spending and student group relations have been framed in such mundane terms. Perhaps Burton has a simplistic view of his "offenses," perhaps not. But this discussion should not involve race. It has been said that the council plays too many political games. My hope is that they refuse to deal the race card.

Kamil E. Redmond '00, a Crimson editor, is a history and literature and women's studies concentrator in Eliot House. She is a former vice president of the Undergraduate Council.