May 12, 2008, - 9:58 am

Single White Token: Their Version of “Diversity”

By Debbie Schlussel
I can only imagine the Craig’s List classified ad Morehouse College took out:

Multiple Brothers Seeking Single Cracker Token for Brief, Meaningless Fling; No Strings

On Sunday, Joshua Packwood, will graduate as the first White valedictorian ever in Morehouse College’s 141-year history. Morehouse President Robert Franklin said,

He happens to be Euro-American and brings much-appreciated diversity to our campus.

Yup, that’s their definition of “diversity”: One white guy ringer in 141 years. And listen to how the honky was initially treated at this “diversity-appreciating” school:

morehousecollege.jpg

It’s a Black Thing; You Wouldn’t Understand

Packwood still laughs when he remembers his first day on campus, wandering the grounds in pajama pants and getting stares from black classmates who wondered if the freshman wasn’t a wayward student from Georgia Tech, Georgia State or perhaps Emory University.
After convincing the photographer to take his student ID, Packwood headed to his room in Brazeal Hall. Shortly after, his roommate arrived with his mother. Four years later, Packwood still can’t get over the irony: After years of being one of a few blacks at majority-white schools in Dallas, Phillip Smithey had come to Morehouse to get the “black experience.”
Instead, he was sharing a room with the only white guy in his class.

Sounds like a comical, reverse-Spike Lee movie. And we already know what they think of White people, as enunciated by Lee, the school’s racist, most famous graduate.
It’s interesting. When government investigators go to majority White institutions, they look at things like the number of minorities working there, the number promoted to higher positions, and the historical number of minorities there. Any organization found to “historically” discriminate against minorities gets a Justice Department and/or EEO lawsuit slapped on ’em.
So where’s the lawsuit against Morehouse?
Yes, this is only the first White valedictorian, and the school has had a few–a scant few–White students attending the school, aside from him. And it’s not like White guys are falling all over each other to go to Morehouse.
But these are the same answers that certain White-dominated organizations and institutions make. And they still get the Justice Department and the EEOC on their tails. Certain sciences, for example, don’t attract a lot of Black Ph.D. candidates. Certain universities and companies in those fields won’t–due solely to that reason–attract qualified minority candidates. But that excuse won’t work when they’re slapped with litigation.
They’re encouraged to do minority “recruiting”–lowering of standards and qualifications and increased spending on finding candidates–and universities are encouraged to spend on minority-only scholarships.
So, where are these things at Morehouse? And why is there only the 1st White valedictorian in 141 years in 2008?
Hmmm . . . Must be “discrimination” and “racism.” Time for the Justice Department to investigate this new “much-appreciated diversity” of ONE.






14 Responses

The word reparations seems to come to mind when speaking of black only colleges.
Jim Gregory, the white quarterback that was drafted to play for Grambling and was not exactly loved by all. A movie by Bruce Jenner was made(I never saw it, google it up). I don’t know why anyone would subject themselves to that type of treatment but he did. I seem to remember another more recent quarterback(white) that they purposely snatched up just to play quarterback. ISN’T THAT RACIST?

samurai on May 12, 2008 at 11:26 am

Yes, Blacks are so much more “tolerant” than those eeeeevil Whiteys.
With a name like Packwood, you can bet that more than a few of the tolerant Blacks called him “Peckerwood”, most likely to his face, and got away with it.
WHAT “Racism”?
WHAT “Oppression”?

OldSchoolW on May 12, 2008 at 11:52 am

“And we already know what they think of White people, as enunciated by Lee, the school’s racist, most famous graduate.”
Let’s see…..the attached article says the Packwood’s “…. popularity got him elected dorm president as a freshman. His looks and physique made him a fashion-show favorite. His intellect made him a Rhodes Scholar finalist. His work ethic landed him a job at the prestigious investment banking firm Goldman Sachs in New York City. He also drew attention with his looks… some Atlanta University Center coeds took to calling him “Tom Cruise.” His photo album on Facebook shows a smiling Packwood posing with dozens of young, black women who fill his page with notes. As Morehouse embraced him, Packwood became an unlikely ambassador for the school.”
Damn! It sounds like he really was a hated figure on campus! Poor guy. And the pitiful White token was only able to get a gig at a loser company like Goldman Sachs. Yeah, he never should have gone to that ol’ racist colored college where he was hated so much. His life is in shambles.
And why is there only the 1st White valedictorian in 141 years of Morehouse history in 2008? Um…okay. That’s a weird question. Last I looked, the valedictorian award was not based on race but on who was best in the class when it came to GPA performance over their college career. Could it be that the young Black men who attended Morehouse and became the valedictorians were indeed the best in their class, even over the number of Asian, Indian, and White students who also attended the school? While I was living in Atlanta, I remember a Black Morehouse student scored the highest MCAT score in the state of Georgia that year, and a year or two later, another young Black male student there became a Rhodes Scholar. Having lived in Atlanta for a number of years, I was on Morehouse campus frequently and recall meeting some fantastic young men. One student told me point blank that he was going to be President of the United States one day after he served in at least 10 years in the Marine Corp. As I Googled his name recently, I found out that this same student did indeed serve in the Marine Corp during the first Persian Gulf War and is now working on his PhD. Another student told me he had been accepted into Med school and wanted to specialize in pediatric neurosurgery. And our campus tour guide had just returned from a summer internship with Morgan Stanley in NYC. Wow. These are the stories you never hear in the media about young Black men most of America doesn’t even know exist. We love to devour stories about the latest Black thug, rap entertainer, or athlete, but not these guys, who quietly go about achieving excellence. I would describe my experiences there with the Morehouse students as meeting a lot of “Preston Burke” type guys….very confident, slightly arrogant young men who believed they were the absolute best and could conquer the world. The school has a reputation for pumping out some pretty bad boys, so I can imagine the competition for valedictorian is intense.
Let’s see now…..”The House” is being attacked on this site, a place that for 141 years has provided a college education for young Black men (Yes, Spike Lee is a graduate, but on the flip side, Morehouse is only HBCU in the country that I know of that had a “Young Republicans Club”) And with all the absolutely wonderful things we see going on around the country now with Black men regarding crime, prison population percentages, fatherhood, school dropout rates, and the like, I suppose schools like Morehouse that actually try to educationally prepare young Black men for the future are no longer needed and are worthy of attack in some undeclared “race war”, where scoring is acheived by racial “one-upmanship” based on who is the more hateful discriminatory. How low we have sunk.
FYI – White students who attend predominantly Black colleges are indeed eligible for “minority only” scholarships because they are considered a minority population on those particular campuses.

JibberJabber on May 12, 2008 at 12:32 pm

“And we already know what they think of White people, as enunciated by Lee, the school’s racist, most famous graduate.”
And of course, Lee is the spokesman for Morehouse, because he’s . . . black.
Schlussel, who instilled such bigotry into your empty soul?

Audacious on May 12, 2008 at 1:42 pm

And people wonder why I’ve been worried about myself as a black person.
Crap like this.

Squirrel3D on May 12, 2008 at 1:47 pm

Kind of reminds me of the diversity of Hussein supporters. When white vote for Hillary, they are being racist, but when blacks vote for Obama, they are obviously doing it because of his merits. Whites need to leave race behind them. Blacks are doing it already; 90% + just happen to see his obvious superiority which is of course irrelevant with regards to race.

c f on May 12, 2008 at 3:35 pm

How racist can Moorehouse really be though? They have a white valedictorian. Obviously his professors did not downgrade him for being white. And you slammed the President for saying that the white student brought some much appreciated diversity. He is admitting that his school is not diverse and he is proud to have a student that helps them in that category. Good grief. This story doesn’t seem worthy of your derision.

FernR on May 12, 2008 at 7:28 pm

A old friend of mine (and a mentor of mine when I was in JROTC during my high school freshman year)went to Morgan State, which is also a HBCU. He’s now an Army Officer, and recently returned from Iraq. He didn’t graduate as valedictorian, but he said that he made the best decision of his life by going there. And as a fellow graduate of a HBCU (Howard), I couldn’t agree with him more.
What Packwood accomplished should be commended, and not being made as a political statement.
HBCU’s motivates young black youth to get serious about their lives, what they plan to do with it, and where they’re going. As a person who grew up a Marine Corps brat and didn’t grow up with a lot of black people, it was the first time where everyone on campus looked like me, and with that, gave me enormous confidence in myself. It instilled within me that I can do anything. The Professors are there for you, and you are surrounded by people who are just as motivated as you are. I enjoyed the HBCU experience, pledged Alpha Phi Alpha, and moved on with my life.
The point is that people shouldn’t come down on HBCU’s. The black community has enough negative stereotypes to deal with (no thanks to those minstrel rappers 50 Cent, Lil’ Wayne, and countless others, as well as those hypocritical idiots Al Shaprton and Jesse Jackson). HBCU’s are one of the few things that we can talk about with pride.
BTW, Spike Lee is not THE most famous alumni of Morehouse. That distinction goes to the late, great (and fellow Alpha brother) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

IceCold06 on May 12, 2008 at 7:30 pm

“And why is there only the 1st White valedictorian in 141 years in 2008?”
I can answer that question, Debbie.
Morehouse College is a historically black college. It is a “historically black college due to legalized enforced racial segregation. The institution of enforced racial segregation was not caused by African-Americans.
I think this perspective is missing from your column.

There is NO Santa Claus on May 12, 2008 at 11:42 pm

Audacious and 3dsquirrel are too stupid to recognize they own hypocrisy calling critics of a BLACK ONLY COLLEGE racists and empty souls.lol Too bad affimative action was killed off, eh?

samurai on May 13, 2008 at 1:06 am

Whites shouldn’t be going to a black school. There was nothing wrong with ‘separate but equal’. Striking that down was a mistake, it ruined MY school.

John Harper on May 13, 2008 at 9:26 am

Samurai I dunno what your talking about cuz I don’t support affirmative action. What I was trying to say was that I’m so worried of myself these days as a black person.
I say that becuase the so-called Rev. Wrights of the world are coming out and trying to hammer down what they want people to think all blacks are. I’m sure IceCold understands how I feel.

Squirrel3D on May 13, 2008 at 1:57 pm

Squirrel 3D,
Believe me, you’re not by yourself. A whole bunch of us are worried about ourselves as Black folk with all the mess going on now. And Rev. Wright’s antics sure haven’t helped (what was with that left-brain right brain nonsense he was spouting about Black kids and learning??). It used to be we had to fight against White folks defining who we were…now it’s so-called Black folks in the guise of being our “leaders” and “reprentatives” who are trying to narrowly define us a people.
Sometimes I feel like the quote from a character in the play “The Colored Museum”: “Being Black is too emotionally taxing….I think I’ll just be Black on weekends and holidays!”
Even though we are probably ideologically on different sides of the fence, we must keep striving to do what we can among Black folk to save and enlighten who we can to keep the next generation of Black kids from falling into utter ruin. As Galatians 6:9 says, “Be not wary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap…IF we faint not”

JibberJabber on May 13, 2008 at 7:02 pm

Hey Debbie, just stopping in to tell you that you’re are a miserable human being.
But I’ve also got a few questions. What exactly were you trying to accomplish here? Was there any point you were trying to make other than to display your vitriolic hatred towards anyone who is different than you and successful? What could possibly be objectionable about this story, and why did you assume there was some sort of prejudice against the white student when every shred of evidence points to the contrary?
You seem to be arguing that Morehouse and other historically black colleges are somehow biased against white students, but the very article that you comment on contradicts this assertion. I realize that critical thinking is probably not your forte, and the issue itself was probably only a thin veil for you to attempt to appear victimized and for you to irrationally lash out at a world that you think has somehow slighted you, but surely you could have picked a better example to act as your smokescreen?

membername on June 7, 2008 at 4:21 pm

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