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Gifts for all occasions in the Galleria! Subscribe to the "What is the Deal?" mailing list. September 28, 2003 What is the Deal with a Caucasian Club? By Jan A. Larson Much has already been written about Oakley, California high school freshman Lisa McClelland's effort to form a "Caucasian Club" at the ironically named Freedom High School. This shouldn't be news, but there are two conflicting positions at work that caused this seemingly insignificant event to make national headlines. The first position is reflected by the statements of Darnell Turner, the first vice president of the local chapter of the NAACP. Turner denounced the club taking the stance that a Caucasian club would create racial division. This position defends the right of minority groups to create exclusive clubs, hold exclusive beauty pageants, hold exclusive graduation ceremonies, etc. in the name of maintaining their heritage and identity but would deny the same to the "majority," i.e. Caucasians. The second position, also wielded by minority "leaders," demands an all-inclusive society with respect to any institution, organization, group, etc. that may not have been traditionally open to minorities or in which minorities are underrepresented with respect to some particular measure. This position drives such policies as affirmative action and challenges such things as the relative number of African-American college football coaches or the percentage of the African-Americans that are incarcerated. It is disingenuous to support the right of groups to assemble for the purposes of heritage and identity and yet oppose the formation of such a group simply because the heritage and identity of that group is European American. Just as disingenuous is to demand inclusiveness for minorities but yet defend the exclusion of the majority. Freedom High School currently has Black Student Union and Latinos Unidos clubs on campus. According to school policy, all student clubs are open to all students, but as a practical matter, I'm willing to wager that few, if any, members of either group have ethnicity other than African-American or Latino, respectively. In a perfect world, Lisa McClelland would have not concluded that it was necessary to form a Caucasian Club. Obviously she, being of mixed race, didn't identify with any of the ethnic clubs on campus. Her motives appear to be pure and she is not advocating that her club be exclusive of anyone. My question is, why are there ethnic clubs in high schools in the first place? Wouldn't everyone be better served by having clubs based on common interest rather than race? Race-based clubs only foster the divisiveness that minority leaders maintain they wish to overcome, result in national headlines and spawn editorials. The undeniable double standard with respect to racial exclusivity is perhaps best reflected in the comments of Freedom HS junior, Charnae Mosley, a member of the Black Student Union, "There's no need for a Caucasian Club because they are not a minority." I'm not going to harshly criticize a naïve teenager, but Mosley's comments demonstrate a prevailing attitude among many minority individuals that believe that they are somehow entitled to privileges that should not be afforded to others. I find it ironic that so many clamor for "diversity" in America, but yet diverse groups insist on remaining separate. The goals of diversity are not achieved unless the barriers that separate groups and individuals are broken down. My ancestry is Swedish. The last of my ancestors to immigrate to the United States did so in 1902. I've never been to Sweden and have no particular desire to go there over any other place in the world that I've yet to visit. I don't speak Swedish and neither did my parents. I'm not a "Swedish-American," I'm just an "American." I'm sure the Swedish people are fine, upstanding people, but I am not one of them. Maybe in another 100 years, the descendants of today's American minorities will no longer hyphenate their ancestry and will not see a need to form ethnic clubs. Maybe they will all be simply "Americans." Maybe, but first someone needs to turn up the heat on the great American melting pot. -- Send feedback to the author. The "What is the Deal?" column will appears weekly on the Pie of Knowledge website. Guest submissions are welcome and encouraged. To submit an article to "What is the Deal?" click here. To subscribe to the "What is the Deal?" mailing list and receive early notification when a new column is available, click here. The Pie of Knowledge will never, ever divulge email addresses to any third party for any reason unless so ordered by a court of law. Contributions to the Pie of Knowledge are greatly appreciated. 
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