W&L is one of the most racist places i have ever been. My visit there really opened up my eyes. I was like they had never seen a person of color before. Even the other bball players treated me like i was some ghetto child, they even had the nerve to leave me in lexington during the middle of the night. And to me being in Lexington at night, is scarier too me than camdem or philly. Minorities stay away from this place if you have any other choice.
It has taken me a while to figure out how I want to respond to this... I'm also a non-white person and so I feel a degree of kinship with other non-white people in that regard. However, I went to Washington and Lee and while I wouldn't say that my experience was 100% awesome/pleasant/perfect/etc., I feel like I need to defend it...
I agree, there are students there who come from a sheltered, ignorant place. At times this can come off as overt racism. At the same time... there are two potential factors that at least deserve consideration in dealing with those people. One, I honestly believe that a lot of these people really HAVEN'T ever seen a person of color before. I mean, not in a literal sense (surely they've SEEN Condi Rice or Alberto Gonzales or whomever) but in a real sense of interacting with that person on a regular basis. And two, It's easy for me to say, "Well, they should just get over it and treat me like a person," when I have no idea what kind of background is informing their behavior. From what I gather from a fair share of my classmates, it's not uncommon for an older generation of southerners to have certain attitudes about people of color. They attempt to pass this down to their children or grandchildren and, not having interacted with anyone to tell them any different, those children go on to believe it.
I'm not trying to defend people who then use this as an excuse to hate, merely trying to offer an explanation.
I would never suggest that someone go to Washington and Lee if they weren't ready to deal with a fair share of ignorance and - potentially - racism. However, if you're strong enough and willing enough and... whatever.. I feel like it's critical for more people of color and white allies to go to schools like Washington and Lee. Most of the students there really are open to other perspectives if you can figure out a way of communicating with them. I would never deny that part of my experience there was miserable, but I learned a lot and I think I taught a lot too. I don't know. I feel like we can't just get to a place, say, "this isn't how it should be" and then leave and hope it gets better on its own.
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