Segregation: Where there's smoke, there's fire

Meeting adjourned, we headed out the back door. There were some sideways glances, a little rustling in coat pockets, a subtle lingering. A group of us, a few familiar with each other, most just having met for the first time, watching to see who would make a move and unveil the others. And then a pack of Marlboro Lights appears.

"You smoke?!"

Smiles of relief and laughter as everyone eagerly lights up; new brethren discovered, ice broken.

Smokers, being a scrutinized minority, prefer to indulge their quick 'n' sick habit with like-minded folk. Sure, you non-ies can stand and talk with us, yet you feel out of place because you don't like smoke. Simple enough.

But then smokers that meet each other become friends. Clique-y friends. Are smokers friends because they all smoke? Or is it because smoking fosters conversation and through conversation you get to know someone that you might not have known?

Restaurant sections are designated smoking and non-smoking. Those alike sit together. Self-segregate.

During the recent affirmative action hoopla, there were some signs that said ending affirmative action would be a return to segregation. The word that tripped me up was not segregation but return.

Unlike restaurants, there are no signs in residence hall cafeterias saying where certain types of people should sit, but there just as well might be.

The University is not a United Colors of Benetton clothing ad: People with gleaming skins of different colors dressed in a multitude of (equally) fabulous different sweater hues, standing together, smiling.

There are, of course, lots of people here with great clothes and great skin. But we stand apart. Smiling.

Activists and administrators alike are so bent on getting a diverse group of people through the starting gate that no one pays attention to the finish line - or even the first leg.

Does it matter if there is a higher percentage of certain minority groups if the majority of campus is going to self-segregate? Affirmative action won't make all racial divides diminish, but it might mean the Black Greek Association would have more members.

Diversity in the classroom is useless if it doesn't carry over to the social realm. I don't learn much from my peers while in class - I spend 15 hours a week there. We glean the crux of our college education from the quality of friends we make and the organizations to which we donate our time. In the classroom, we are mixed. Outside, many not-always-unconsciously (and happily) self-segregate.

Affirmative action is being defended by any means necessary - but then the ball gets dropped, the follow-through forgotten, or nervously ignored.

Jim Crow laws are gone and campus still plays Separate but Equal. I'm surprised activists haven't continued their small-scale civil rights movement by calling forced integration. The Nite Owl could provide bussing between Indian and white parties. President Bollinger could order in DPS, which would escort Asians attempting to sit at an all-black table in the cafeteria. Sororities would have themed (interracial) date parties.

Too bad you can't legislate morals and attitudes.

I wonder, eyeing a beautiful and articulate man one of my classes, if it's the fact my skin is several shades lighter than his (rather than my hair being messy, contributions to discussion weak or whatever the day's self-esteem crisis may be) that would deter him from asking me out.

Yes, my social circle is largely white, although I didn't intend for it to be like that. Nor did I intend for it to be notably multi-racial. I will not pursue a friendship with someone simply because they are of a different racial group or religion than mine - as if choosing friend is like filling out a stable.

Should I have just marched over to one of the tables of minority-X women my first year in East Quad - pinnacle of diversity that it is - and sat down? I felt uncomfortable. I sat elsewhere. Everything is set up for us to learn together, live together - and we just can't do it.

Being white, I'm not really "allowed" to talk about race. I'm not "allowed" to chastise minorities for self-segregating. I can only observe, call up my white friends; go out for a smoke.

- Emily Achenbaum can be reached via

e-mail at emilylsa@umich.edu.

Emily Achenbaum

Diamond in the Rough