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Sunday, June 9, 1996

Ceremonies honor each culture, past and present

I took my graduation pictures a few weeks ago with a kente stole draped over my gown. My announcements have an African logo on the cover. On June 15, 15 of my loved ones will watch me receive my diploma as I walk in the African Graduation Celebration.

"Are you walking in the regular graduation?" a co-worker asked.

"No."

After telling another friend about African Grad, she replied, "When is the UCLA graduation?"

"I don't know."

Another friend asked, "Why don't you do both?"

I don't really want to. I just don't have any desire to stand before over 10,000 people and hear myself introduced as a member of the Letters & Science graduating class. I finally got sick of everyone bugging me and decided to see about walking in the mainstream graduation. I found out that since I'm going to summer school, I would have to petition to participate. Too much hassle, I decided. Then I won the Chancellor's Service Award and thought maybe I should go. No, why bother? My spirit is at African Grad.

You may ask, "What is the point? Don't we all go through the same general education requirements, eat at the same Cooperage, get the same SBAR statements and degree progress reports? Aren't ethnic graduations detrimental to the spirit of diversity that UCLA, one of the most diverse institutions of higher education, represents?" And finally, "If every subgroup had a graduation, we'd have a couple hundred little graduations, and that would be ridiculous."

These types of questions are what I would argue most students think with regard to African Grad. So, please let me educate you about the value of ethnic graduations. But first, let me make it clear that I don't think ethnic grads need to be justified any more than the existence of ethnic organizations. I am writing this sincerely to educate everyone about it because I think a lot of people don't understand it and may be afraid to question it for fear of being called racist.

When I came to UCLA, I experienced a severe shock of "Oh my God, there are no black people here!" I grew up in East Oakland, and my high school was predominantly black. There, I was student body president and an honor student. I had no experience with marginalization, much less direct racism. When I came to UCLA and realized that I could go to all of my discussions and be the only African student, that I could walk across campus for five to 10 minutes before seeing someone who looked like me, I went through a culture shock. On top of that, I went through the mainstream "adjustment" shock of attending huge lectures, being a number instead of a name and dealing with roommates from hell.

The African community at UCLA became my support system. Through African Student Union programs like the Big/Little Brother/Sister Mentorship program, I gained an instant network that helped me get through UCLA. This network has become my surrogate family and through it, I received academic counseling, career connections and advice, financial help and friends. I eventually became chair of the African Student Union. So for me, the best part of UCLA has not been meeting my Letters & Science requirements, it has been my experiences with the African community.

Although I have friends and associates of other ethnicities, I do not have any Bruin spirit. When my ex-boyfriend played football, I would spend every other weekend at the Rose Bowl resisting the giddiness. I remember going to a "Beat 'SC" rally where my ex was speaking and wondering why I didn't have the patriotism that everyone else felt. The funny thing is he didn't even have it. He felt he was being pimped by UCLA and the NCAA, and couldn't wait to go pro.

I had no desire to go to any Homecoming Parades; I even felt out of place at Mardi Gras. I did love the games because half the football and basketball teams are black and therefore, there were people I knew to root for. I am not saying all of this to degrade or put down the Bruin experience, just to express that it is not monolithic.

I felt at home when I attended African Student Union programs, black fraternity and sorority parties and the Jazz/Reggae festival. Obviously, African Graduation Celebration, which consists of African drummers, the Black National Anthem and individual messages from the graduates being read as they walk across the stage, will appeal to me more than the mainstream grad, that to me is devoid of any culture other than European. And that's OK. The fact that I choose to primarily associate with Africans doesn't make me a separatist or less of a Bruin. I'm just not interested in the mainstream experience.

In addition to feeling more connected with the African community, I am obligated to recognize and commemorate the collective struggle for education that my people have fought. African people were legally denied literacy and formal education for most of our history in the United States. After we were "freed," we were bound to an unequal Jim Crow educational system. And even now, we are subject to institutional discrimination that ranges from unequal funding of school systems to racist tracking. For the African community, our degrees ride on the backs of millions of slaves and current relatives. African Grad recognizes that without working together in history and today, none of us would even be able to come to UCLA.

Aside from the political and historical justifications, African Grad is a communal, cultural celebration. It is an effort to segregate and break down the mainstream. It's not like we go to our graduations and secretly plot to take over "the man"; we are just celebrating our successes. Anyone who feels threatened by 250 African students coming together to thank friends and families and to pat themselves on the back for accomplishing such an awesome goal must have something to lose through our success. Whomever has something to lose, conversely has something to gain from our oppression.

Now, before I end, I must discuss one of my greatest Bruin pet peeves: people who participate in ethnic graduations who aren't members of that ethnic group. Please let me preface the following by making it clear that this is not directed toward people of African descent who may not "look black." No, the following is dedicated to those who consciously choose to perpetrate, as if being black were the same thing as wearing a wig.

A person named "Betty" will be participating in African Grad this year. This person's participation is disgusting because she believes that because she grooves and has sex with the brothers, that she's a sister. Her definition of "how to act black" comes straight from Martin Lawrence.

The worst thing about it is that this person is from an ethnic group that has been severely oppressed in this country and abroad. Why she chooses to deny her heritage is beyond me. I would be like a fool walking in the Asian Pacific Islander or Raza Graduation knowing that my people have their own struggle and celebration. Congratulations to the graduating class of 1996!

Robinson is graduating with a bachelor's degree in Afro-American studies. She is a spring 1996 Viewpoint columnist.