We, as a campus, are failing at our task of promoting issues related to diversity. Our reliance on lectures and events do little to involve the campus and are becoming ineffective as tools to raise these issues. Unless school officials, student organizations and the student body as a whole make a more concerted effort to change this pattern of apathy, we will continue to languish in ignorance regarding issues of race, ethnicity and a host of other topics that should concern every student at this university.
It is glaringly obvious that we need to do much more to promote awareness of diversity issues. Last month, American Indian student Kyle Aragon left school after someone hit him with a beer bottle. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, he was hit above one eye and suffered an injury that required stitches. The ignorance that precipitated this attack-that the drunk who threw the bottle assumed he was affiliated with the Ho-Chunk casino referendum-is emblematic of the fact that we as a campus and city are still largely ignorant to issues of diversity.
In order to begin changing the way we as a campus look at these issues, we must change the way we talk about them. We have become largely dependent on events that have a speaker simply talking at the audience, an atmosphere that is hardly conducive to interaction. Events like these have their place in a community doing what it can to promote diversity. However, a more accessible, interactive and lively discussion that not only takes into account a wide range of opinions but encourages people to voice them would be a monumental step for involving students in a discussion of race, the culture of music, and issues surrounding social politics.
Fortunately for the students of UW-Madison, we have such an opportunity. It's called Hip Hop Generation: Hip Hop as a Movement Conference, a mixture of musical performance, speakers and most importantly, panel discussions on a wide range of issues.
Not only would students have the unique opportunity to interact with, critique and question prominent members of many sides of an issue, but those who are highly informed and ignorant alike would have the benefit of seeing starkly contrasted issues put forth, and be able to decide for themselves what issues of race, gender and sexuality mean to them.
Justin Liek, head of the conference, believes that HHG provides a rare opportunity for students seeking an open dialogue on controversial issues: \By attending the conference people can draw their own messages and formulate their own goals and be encouraged to seek out new information and think about things they never thought about before.""
HHG is exactly the kind of event that university officials should be promoting in light of events like the one involving Aragon. As Liek said: ""The conference is one of the most diverse events I've seen on campus. On a campus this white, it's something that needs to happen.""
It is a symptom of our greater apathy toward diversity that an event promoting diversity is suffering from a lack of funding. It's a shame that Hip Hop Generation struggles with groups on campus just so that they can put on the conference each year, especially when HHG provides such a unique and desirable event.
What is most important to realize is that everyone on campus could benefit from this event. Speaking with panelists on issues that we face every day-issues that many on this campus don't think about nearly as much as they should-would give all students the rare opportunity to attend an event that actually encourages them to think for themselves, rather than prescribing to some group's agenda.
It is clear that an event like Hip Hop Generation will only be as successful as those in attendance make it. The more people who attend and the more diversity of ideas and opinions present, the more effective this conference will be as a tool. Visit hiphopgeneration.org for more information and consider whether events that foster honest, open dialog should be a staple of the UW-Madison campus.
