2008 Woodie Awards
Club deals race card too quickly
Frederick Russell
Issue date: 5/27/08 Section: Spin Cycle
The controversy involving ASCSM President Matthew Kaidor and his apparent joke of a club, the Caucasian Culture Club, has sparked many debates around campus.
In Issue 4 of "The San Matean," the article "Controversy over Caucasian club" first introduced Kaidor's intentions to start the school organization. Kaidor said, "There exist a set of double standards…it's not ok for another group of people to peaceably assemble if it's called the…CCC."
What makes this constant diatribe of fairness and double standards so invalid is the fact that, if the club's name was European Culture Club, there would be no real controversy over the matter.
The word "Caucasian" by definition is a poor attempt at classifying humans into racial categories. As explained by Kaidor in the article, a Caucasian person is someone whose descent dates back to the people of the Caucus Mountains.
In no discourse of the club has the fact that these descendants include natives of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, West Asia, parts of central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
Clearly, true Caucasian descendants display a wide range of skin colors, many of which would not be considered "white" by societal standards, therefore the club's purpose of serving those that are "white" could not possibly be met by calling it this.
If the CCC is instated, it will be a collegiate club, meaning that it is being formed in the spirit of education. Since the group's name is not based on any scientific, historical, or logical information, the CCC would be contrary to that ideal.
Middle college student, Alice Guan was mentioned in the article as stating that "white" is not a culture. Neither "white" nor "black" are cultures, which is why naming a group using these titles is not only extremely ignorant but wrong. When someone calls them self white, where exactly are their ancestors from? Europe is by no means the only place in the world that has people of pale skin i.e. "white." Latin America, Africa, and most Asian countries all have people that should rightfully be considered "white."
In Issue 4 of "The San Matean," the article "Controversy over Caucasian club" first introduced Kaidor's intentions to start the school organization. Kaidor said, "There exist a set of double standards…it's not ok for another group of people to peaceably assemble if it's called the…CCC."
What makes this constant diatribe of fairness and double standards so invalid is the fact that, if the club's name was European Culture Club, there would be no real controversy over the matter.
The word "Caucasian" by definition is a poor attempt at classifying humans into racial categories. As explained by Kaidor in the article, a Caucasian person is someone whose descent dates back to the people of the Caucus Mountains.
In no discourse of the club has the fact that these descendants include natives of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, West Asia, parts of central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent.
Clearly, true Caucasian descendants display a wide range of skin colors, many of which would not be considered "white" by societal standards, therefore the club's purpose of serving those that are "white" could not possibly be met by calling it this.
If the CCC is instated, it will be a collegiate club, meaning that it is being formed in the spirit of education. Since the group's name is not based on any scientific, historical, or logical information, the CCC would be contrary to that ideal.
Middle college student, Alice Guan was mentioned in the article as stating that "white" is not a culture. Neither "white" nor "black" are cultures, which is why naming a group using these titles is not only extremely ignorant but wrong. When someone calls them self white, where exactly are their ancestors from? Europe is by no means the only place in the world that has people of pale skin i.e. "white." Latin America, Africa, and most Asian countries all have people that should rightfully be considered "white."
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