Living in a culture of Denialism:

Sitting outside a bar on a typical Thursday night, I began talking to Sam, a student at BSU, who considers himself Chinese and Chinese-American. He explained to me that he and his family moved to Northern Idaho from Hong Kong when he was a teenager and lived very close to a leader of the Aryan Nation.

Of course, I was interested and curious. Who was this guy? How did he respond to his Chinese neighbors?

Sam said, “He was a good guy . just different.”

What?

“He had interesting ideas,” Sam replied, then whispered, “he hated black people.”

After chuckling a little at Sam’s response, I whispered, “Its OK. I’m black.”

Rather shocked, he said, “But you look white!”

After explaining my heritage, he nodded and said, “You’re lucky. It’s good you look white.”

You would think I would consider this statement offensive. But I’ve had it said multiple times to me since living here and elsewhere, talking amongst international students or simply living outside of the U.S. Though Sam is not an international student, I understand where he comes from and how he may think this is a positive statement.

What strikes me most is not only did Sam demonstrate the thoughts and feelings of our national neighbors, but he whispered it. He learned enough about the U.S., or at least Idaho, to recognize that we do live in this “White Man’s Mecca” and that people don’t want hear about it.

Hear this! 95.2 percent of Idaho’s population is white and 12.5 percent are non-white. Do we really think there isn’t any conflict especially when Idaho is nationally known for the small hate groups and not for the “growing metropolis?”

Don’t get me wrong. Boise State is evolving with the growing demographic, but there’s still a lot of work.

According to Campus Climate Executive Summary of 2005, more than 80 percent of students, staff and faculty reported they were treated fairly, but the remaining 15 percent who disagreed were part of the non-dominant population.

There is a fear amongst us and I believe it’s growing. It’s interesting to talk to people about the concepts of isms and hear their voices grow soft and their eyes wander to faces in the crowd. Heaven forbid anyone hear their concerns of equality and freedom in our country, let alone Boise.

I have to agree with a white, gay American male student who wished to remain anonymous due to the concern of his educational and administrative career: “Most people don’t want true freedom; they want rules that give them just enough of a choice to make them feel as if they are not restricted.”

But how are we not restricted when we remain silent? So many things are going wrong with our country. So many rights we have are in the process of being taken away.

The fact is, silence is the universal code of agreement. If you listen to someone preach hate, victimize or spout restrictive “rights” in the name of morality and remain silent, do you agree and accept it?

JESSICA HENDERSON
Opinion Journalist

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