It is an expression of fear and a declaration of strength. It is an act of aggression and protection. It affirms and effaces, existing in a state of zigzagging contradictions and blameless, backtracking explanations, where language is simultaneously deprived and endowed with meaning and where victims are made the aggressors and aggressors the victims. It has many iterations, most recently, most interestingly and most particularly the infamous "wah hoo wah" affair, which after all this time still echoes faintly and tauntingly around the area behind Collis Center, bastard words bereft of intoners to claim them as their own.
You will fault me because I will use the "wah hoo wah" incident as evidence of a larger problem in the Greek system, but I must do it anyway. What surprised me about the taunting episode was not that it happened but that people found it necessary to substantiate or defend the actions of the perpetrators. Most of these arguments characterized the taunts as "words" or as "silly and immature," while going on to point out, if not censure, the over-sensitivity of those offended. But, strangely enough, words have meaning. And meaning is subject to interpretation. The mere fact that one person interpreted the actions of the alleged Psi Upsilon fraternity brothers as offensive should be a cause for universal alarm (how long we remain alarmed is irrelevant). It appears, however, that the immediate reaction of some members of our "community" was indifference, or, more frighteningly, summary forgiveness. Lone "anonymous" walking under the shadow of multi-storied Psi U, swaying brothers raining down vicious epithets and no consideration --not even momentary -- of her. Interesting
In my final analysis of all of this, what is most surprising to me is my lack of surprise at the incident itself. Don't think I would expect that sort of behavior from students here. No, just the opposite. I have come to expect, in fact demand, a silent intolerance, a tacit, esoteric bigotry that does not necessarily pervade the whole Greek system but is especially virulent in some parts of it. What I mean, in other words, is that there are some houses in the Greek system that are more friendly toward minorities -- particularly blacks--and there are other houses that are less friendly. This is a palpable, but, alas, tacit and esoteric fact. It is esoteric in the sense that the only ones capable of understanding it are the aggressors and the victims; often times, as in the case of the Psi U brothers, the aggressors themselves do not even understand the egregiousness of their actions. It is palpable in the sense that one can feel it -- the bigotry -- but not necessarily see it.
Allow me to explain. There are two types of racism these days: "invisibility racism" and "sight racism." Invisibility racism occurs when one group, often times a majority, pretends that a smaller group of another race does not exist. Members of the larger group may acknowledge the existence of the racially different smaller group but they will never accept the existence of the smaller group. Sight racism happens when you look someone in the eye and you can see that they hate you. I can't explain this. Maybe the eyes alight on you and then turn down suddenly. Or maybe the person looks directly at you and then tucks in their bottom lip, as if you're five years old and just broke a vase in the living room. Or maybe they snigger through a smug, self-satisfied visage. It depends on the person and on the situation. What we can say about both types of racism is that they are never verbal. Never spoken or blatantly demonstrated. You just feel it. The racism that happens here -- and everywhere else in America -- is a brilliant combination of invisibility and sight (the ubiquity of racism does not excuse Dartmouth, however). So, actually, you never really know what to expect on any given day. Keeps you on your toes, as it were.
This is why the "wah hoo wah" imbroglio is so profoundly surprising and interesting. It's almost like the tried-and-tested ingenuity of invisibility and sight racism was passed up for their heavy-handed and politically incorrect predecessor: public taunting. Wow, that takes us back, right? This is the sort of stuff I'm not used to. This whole "wah hoo wah" thing forced me, in fact, to talk to my parents, as I was hoping they could give some advice on dealing with overt racism (my mother grew up in 1960s Birmingham and my father grew up in Depression-era southeastern Texas). Well, come to find out, they forgot how to deal with it they've become so used to covert racism. So, I'm back to square one. Like "anonymous," I will be powerless to defend myself, in the remote possibility that another house decides to start chanting.
What is also interesting is that when one Greek house messes up, all the other houses try desperately to distance themselves from that one bad house. Ostensibly, after wagging a finger at the house and its wayward members, they manage to do so. Then, everyone takes finals, goes home, forgets, comes back, and the vicious cycle begins again. Don't you realize, oh noble houses of the moment, that when one part of the Greek system commits a wrong, the whole organization is tainted?
