Last night I had the opportunity to hear Cornell West speak.  As I listened to his words, I kept thinking about Roberta Singer’s commentary “Facing our white privilege” in The University News, which I read earlier in the day. I was struck by the fact that both Dr. West and Roberta challenged each of us to do some serious soul searching. Rather than defensively identifying the blatant forms of racism that we carefully avoid, perhaps we should own the more subtle ways in which our white privilege influences our thinking and behavior. Dr. West stressed the importance of “doing the right thing” rather than opting for the easier or more politically correct thing. As our university community struggles with emerging “racial issues,” doing the “right thing” challenges us individually and collectively to examine the ways in which our white privilege contributes to those issues.  Working for justice in attempting to deal with those issues cannot occur until we understand, own and address our personal contribution.

–James Allen