Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 19, 1994 TAG: 9403190044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RENEE SHAFER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Hopson is a black student, one of only 28 out of a population of Jackson 1,699 students at the private college in Salem. "I wanted [the white students] to see a serious black male who knew what he was talking about and was a professional. I was hoping that they would see the seriousness of what he was saying," Hopson said.
And Jackson came through for her.
At 28, Jackson, the oldest son of a man he refers to as "my father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson," has a clear sense of what his responsibilities are to the black community. "For some white students out here today, they are coming to terms for the first time with an African American who can think. And I can think," Jackson said.
Jackson presented the keynote speech at Roanoke College's second annual Honors Program Conference, entitled "The Faces of Racism Today." The two-day, student-run conference began Thursday morning with a workshop led by Mary Simpson, a Roanoker who shared her experiences as a black woman, wife and mother. The conference ended Friday morning when Jackson spoke at a forum entitled "Making a Difference: The Politics of the Disenfranchised."
Jackson called the problem of racism a battle with "the enemy within" - which is closer to home than many students may think.
"In 1994, you cannot have a majority white student body and call yourself educated," Jackson said as he began an argument in support of aggressive affirmative action.
"Schools should apply the same standards to their student body that they do to finding ball players and athletes," Jackson said. That does not mean recruiting students who are not qualified; it means opening doors at places such as Roanoke College and the University of Virginia that, he said, have historically "locked out" women and minorities.
"The majority of people are not white; the world doesn't look like Roanoke College," Jackson said. "It is pluralistic. It is black, brown, poor, non-Christian, female, young and doesn't speak English. We must train our people to be prepared to live in that kind of a world."
"The difficulty that Roanoke College has is that we tend to be too homogeneous," said Bobbye Au, professor of English and director of the honors program. "We don't have enough minorities in our student body, not just blacks but Asians and Hispanics . . . to raise these issues on a day-to-day basis."
Roanoke College has three minority faculty members out of a total of 93 - a black, an Indian and a Spaniard. The college has 71 minority students. Blacks make up the majority of those, with Asians (20) and Hispanics (19) close behind. Three American Indians make up the last of the minorities represented on campus.
"We have been trying to improve our minority admissions," said Teresa Thomas, director of media relations. Last year, Roanoke received 175 applications from minorities. This year, that number has increased to 270 - a result, Thomas said, of active recruiting on the college's part.
"Fewer minorities are graduating from high school that plan to go on to college," she said. "The good news is that, if you are a minority and want to go to college, there are a lot of schools like ours that want you."
Jackson also turned a mirror on the audience, asking them to look for the enemy within themselves. He encouraged minorities to use their experiences with racism to make themselves "better, not bitter."
"The best man doesn't always win. You have to run harder and longer to win the race - that means you cannot afford to walk around with your pants down around your ankles and your gym shoes untied.
"Malcolm X wore a suit and tie every day of his life. He didn't wear an X on his head or on his chest."
by CNB