I don’t particularly like the idea of “black” or “Latino” student unions…I am Hispanic myself but have never felt the need to join an organization to justify that any further. I imagine that if I lived in a city that was 0.7% Hispanic, or if I went to a university with 20 Hispanics out of 15,000 students; I would feel differently.
But I see these groups more as “special interest” groups than “our racialist” groups. Some such as Nation of Islam or MEChA of course are more radical in their racial views. I am talking about more mainstream, NAACP type groups. Most are organized by people who feel their are certain issues that specifically relate to their group on a campus or in a community. Are these feelings reasonable or unreasonable?
While the census and popular ideas about “race” have us think of people in terms of “black”, “white”, “Hispanic”, “Asian” and so on, comparing these groups is like apples and oranges. “Blacks” for the most part are a specific group of people in America, people whose ancestors were brought over as slaves, lived in the south for a long time before migrating to other areas, and then only after the civil rights movement of the 1960’s became fully enfranchised in much of the country. That experience bonds these people together to some extent whether the rest of us like it or not.
To me “Hispanics” are just any group of people with some Spanish or Latin American cultural roots or connection, not really a “Race” as some of us are white as rice, others" black" as any African-American. However hispanics tend to be lumped into a “Race” so over time a racial identity has developed with some people. I know a few people like MEChA have a radical Mexican-American agenda, but most Hispanic or Latino groups are more interested in cultural affairs. Perhaps some people oppose the idea of the country becoming multicultural or having more than one language - but strictly speaking - how is that a “racial issue”?
Asians likewise represent a group that came to this country under specific circumstances and may share some cultural traits, but its such a broad group that frankly I don’t see much common ground, other than being defined as “Asian” by the majority. And I don’t hear much of Asian-American groups outside of a few settings.
However “whites” or “Caucasians” range from people who came on the Mayflower to new immigrants from Eastern Europe. Contrary to what some minority polemicists like to say, there is no single “white experience” in this country’s history. Basically, all the other groups were defined by the powers that were as “separate” in some way, leaving whites as any people who are not defined as part of some “minority group”. When people like Jews or Italians came to this country, they were not readily seen as white. Some crackpots still don’t see Jews as whites. Arabs or Hispanics are usually listed as “white” on the census but are not treated as “whites” by many people.
So it’s really hard for most people to say what being “white” is about, without broad and contradictory stereotypes (ie. “redneck”, “WASP”, “blue collar ethnic”). I suppose a “white” identity" can be based on a common Western Civilization, if anything at all. But that would actually exclude even many nationalities we consider “white”.
So while it sounds only fair that we have a Caucasian Club to match, say a Hispanic Club or Black Club, it’s really hard to equate these different groups role in society. What causes would a “Caucasian Club” to take up? If it is primarily a social group, and the membership isn’t limited to whites, why not just have a general social club?