Will FSSA Walk the Talk?
October 29, 2006
If you haven’t heard the news by now, the Gallaudet Board of Trustees terminated their contract with Dr. Jane Fernandes at a special Board meeting earlier today. The protest is over. At least for now.
Many people of color I have spoken to have expressed mixed feelings about the protest. Many of us have felt the Gallaudet FSSA leadership used and exploited our community. Kristi Merriweather wrote it best in her blog entry “A Fictitious Protest for Fictitious Reasons.” I encourage everyone to read it. It’s time for our community to sit down and seriously think about and discuss these issues which are far from over.
Does the FSSA really care about racism and diversity? Will they really work to end white privilege on campus? Or did they just say this, as many of us suspect, to simply give the protest credence and win people over?
Was this protest really about a flawed process or was it about discontent with the result (Dr. Fernandes)?
Let’s be honest. Had Ron Stern (the least qualified and most popular candidate of the finalists) won, this protest would not have happened. Period. People of color would have continued to be told to “hush up” as they did at the beginning when Dr. Andersen was eliminated. People would have said, “Flawed process? What flawed process? Stern is great!”
Will the FSSA and Gallaudet leadership walk the talk? Or will they prove to be the hypocrites many people of color see them as?
We shall see.
Entry Filed under: Deaf, Deaf Community, Race/Racism Issues. .
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1.
rayni | October 30, 2006 at 11:11 am
Unfortunately, not everyone cares about racism and diversity as much as they care about effective leadership.
So the real question is now… who will be chosen? And will they be the best person to address the issues of racism and diversity on campus?
I am not sure what will become of the FSSA now, I always saw it as more of an adhoc thing.
2.
ruby | October 30, 2006 at 12:18 pm
You have strong valid discussion about this. I am concern about what true motivations of FSSA. They will just let it go whenever their fraternity brother, two of final three candidates, will be selected. They do not care to support the diversity in first place which they do not want to admit. Evidence is that their actions were chao last May.
3.
Carl Schroeder | October 30, 2006 at 2:48 pm
FSSA will walk ASL!
4.
Gil | October 30, 2006 at 4:02 pm
I share these concerns. Now that the FSSA have gotten their way and Jane has been terminated, will they truly confront these many issues like racism? Like many other POC, I suspect they were just using this to further their cause.
As for Carl’s comment… don’t you care about racism? That’s a lame comment to post on these serious issues.
5.
rayni | October 30, 2006 at 5:42 pm
There are certain people on the fssa who are really pushing the issue, i believe with their strength the issues will be addressed. But please tell me…
how do you dissolve racism? How do you dissolve a bred belief or systematic discrimination? Its going to take a village, not just a person or an organization to tackle this….
6.
Lonamstven | October 30, 2006 at 6:41 pm
even as a white person, I could already see low numbers of people of colors involved in FSSA (except for LaToya Plummer and Leah Katz-Hernandez). Thanks for speaking up the truth. I’m not afraid of lstening the truth from people of colors. that’s just me. In fact, it was a white person who told me in Ohio (that’s where I live) that the students of colors were the first to protest but was told to “hush” up. Looking back, they were RIGHT in the first place. My only suggestion right now is to ask FSSA to share leadership with people of colors and see what their answers would be. And , let me know via email.
7.
testing_the_truth | October 31, 2006 at 12:15 am
Kristi only ridiculed herself with her fictious post. The removal of Jane Kelleher Fernandes from the position is only a first step toward genuinely reforming Gallaudet University. The Agents of Colonization and their Byzantine power structure must be uprooted next. Otherwise they will grow back on our heads blocking any further progress.
The Board respectfully asked the students to continue with ‘cleaning up’. So why not do that?! The Board declared that the best interest of the school was the removal of the designate. Therefore whoever worked for the designate, often with undignified methods, worked against Gallaudet interest! Therefore, consequences are expected to take place.
We have every reason to celebrate, but we need to keep in mind: the empowerment of the Deaf community at Gallaudet is not yet complete until reforms — based on self-determination and cultural autonomy — are not worked out and are not implemented. Only the success of reforms can crown our efforts with a sense of genuine achievement.
8.
JJ | October 31, 2006 at 7:30 am
I’m already seeing it happen. Look how everyone kept claiming the protest was about the flaw process, racism and diversity. And now look what people are saying now that JFK is out of the picture. Has anyone said anything about tackling the issues like racism and diversity on campus? I haven’t seen one single blog or press release mention this. I do feel they simply used us and now will discard our issues. It makes me furious!
9.
Teresa Luna | October 31, 2006 at 3:06 am
No question. Had any one but JFK been selected, this protest would not have happened. It was all about JFK. They did not like or want her. Then they added more issues, like you said, like race and diversity to make themselves look good. I do not believe majority cared about it. Just make themselves look good.
10.
I Agree! | October 30, 2006 at 12:05 pm
You said everything that’s on my mind, Chris! ~Beto
11.
Deaf Tex Mex | October 31, 2006 at 8:41 am
I believe there are some within the GUFSSA that DO care about these issues. But you’re probably right that the majority do not. Remember, the Gallaudet majority is white. Why should they care about issues like diversity and racism when it doesn’t directly affect them?
12.
Gomez | October 30, 2006 at 1:49 pm
Hey Chris! Welcome back, Amigo. Was wondering where you disappeared to. As usual, find your blog posts very thought provoking. I heard there is talk of Dr. Davila possibly becoming the interim President. Keeping my fingers crossed!
13.
Who cares? | October 31, 2006 at 8:12 am
So what if fssa used your community to further this cause? Doing so benefited you, your community and every single Deaf person all over the world! Fernie was evil. And now she’s gone. That’s all that counts. Celebrate and be happy!
14.
Frank in NY | October 30, 2006 at 11:57 am
I just wanted to say how brave I think you and Kristi are for speaking up on these issues. It takes guts to stand up and call people on their bullshit.
15.
It's Not Over | November 2, 2006 at 10:52 pm
The protest is over but the issues are not. A lot of the actions of the SBG and FSSA deeply divided our community.
Will be itneresting to see what happens next.
16.
Gally Class of '07 | November 5, 2006 at 1:26 am
Sorry but I don’t think racism is that big of an issue. There are bigger, more important issues like audism that the FSSA and Gally needs to focus on. If we have time, we can focus on other issues like racism, sexism, heterosexism, and so on. But audism should come first. Then if we have energy we can focus on other ones.
17.
I love Gally | November 3, 2006 at 1:29 pm
The FSSA is in a position of power right now. There is a lot they can do if they focus. Unfortunately, they are so disorganized that I don’t think much will become of them.
18.
Gil | November 17, 2006 at 1:53 am
I disagree. All issues are important and should be worked on equally. That’s what fighting for social justice is about. It’s not about fighting for just what benefits YOU.
19.
gwl | November 19, 2006 at 11:10 am
“One Step Up”, this chanting is void.
“Two Steps Down” is a fact, period.
The more steps the protest makes, Gallaudet will collapse for sure in the eyes of the world.
The ONLY WAY TO SAVE GALLAUDET is for the protest to back off and let JK lead! She does not forbid ASL, period! It is no use to repeat that over and over.
Quit accusing JK for being an audist. She is open to any language use by all deaf students. Stop poking at her and return the presidency to her and no one else! So the world would go back to being contented with Gallaudet. As you continue poking at her, the big organizations will start to come along and put a stop to the barbarism and bring decency back to Gallaudet!
Heck away all you the ole’ grumpy bats for trying to drag the deaf world back to the dark days!!
Also that anti social justice FSSA, back off!