While the rest of us wanted the position in order to help pay for school and survive, neither of them needed it for that. They wanted the position because it was a way of adding to their résumés. And in Abbie’s case, she had an older sister who had been president of the dorm some years earlier, and she wanted to keep the legacy going.
The two of them came from well-off families, and it showed. They weren’t only printing flyers and using Facebook; they had purchased things like cookies and pens with their names on them, as if they were running for mayor.
Which is part of the reason the residence staff was giving me some help, because otherwise I wouldn’t have been in the race. How do you compete with free cookies and pens?
The other issue the residence staff had was that neither Abbie nor Parker wanted to do anything to help the residents of color, and most of the staff were people of color who were former residents. I was basically the people’s champion.
That was actually what my campaign slogan for both student government and dorm government was: Frederick Joseph, “The People’s Champion.”
At some point during campaigning, Abbie and Parker found out that I was being helped by the residence staff, and they made a complaint to the administration together.
The administration called a meeting to decide not only whether I should be disqualified from running for the position but also whether there should be repercussions for the residence staff members who had given me help.
Yes, all of this because they were trying to help my broke ass print flyers and design signs.
The meeting included Abbie, Parker, me, the residence staff, the director of residence life, and two of the school deans. It was, to say the least, A LOT.
The meeting was set up in the style of a debate, to a certain extent, with the deans and the director of residence life basically acting as judges.
Abbie and Parker went first and made the point that they felt I was being helped because I’m Black, and the residence staff wanted them to lose because they’re white, and that was reverse racism.
“Reverse racism” is not actually a thing. But we will talk more about that in a bit.
While the entire moment was annoying, there couldn’t have been a better situation for me to be in. Not only was I a debate master, but by that time, I had also spent most of my free time studying and learning about race. I was ready to rip them apart. Little did I know, so was the residence life staff.
Before I went up to speak, the residence life team had the opportunity to make their case. They explained that there were no policies against helping provide resources for students. They also explained that helping to even the playing field in this case was in the best interests of the students in the building who were from minority groups, as I was the candidate most likely to care about and plan to help them.
They also mentioned the fact that the dorm had never had a person of color as president, but it had the largest number of students of color of all the dorms.
The idea that I was the only candidate who could understand the residents from minority groups didn’t sit well with Abbie and Parker. Both of them jumped up to speak to the fact that Abbie was female and Parker was gay. They then went on to say that maybe I didn’t get it because I was a “straight guy.”
Once they finished, I had an opportunity to speak.
You’ve probably seen people get dunked on before, whether in real life or on video. It’s embarrassing for the person getting dunked on, and one of the greatest moments ever for the person doing the dunking. It shows that one person has dominance in one moment, in front of everyone around.
That pales in comparison to what I did to Abbie and Parker that day. I obliterated them and left what was remaining as a testament to everyone around me that I am not to be messed with.
For a visual demonstration that comes close to what I did, go search for Shawn Kemp dunking on Alton Lister. It’s the only thing close. Don’t even read on until you do it.
Okay, I’m going to trust that you’ve done it, so let’s continue. Enter Frederick Joseph, attorney-at-law.
I started by addressing the fact that they used the idea of reverse racism. I explained that reverse racism doesn’t exist; if something is racist, it is just racist. To argue that something is an example of reverse racism would mean that the person with the issue knows that “normal” racism—aka racism—doesn’t affect them.
And the truth is, racism and racist systems in America don’t adversely impact white people. This is because all aspects of racism in America are rooted in white supremacy and are designed to negatively impact everyone except white people.
Abbie jumped up and said that this was “like affirmative action, which is reverse racism.”
I shot this down, too. I explained that affirmative action and programs like it were not reverse racism—which, again, isn’t actually a thing; they were created to correct the unbalance caused by racism and white supremacy. Then I explained that the term “reverse racism” actually became popular during the time that affirmative action was created because of a backlash by white people who were mad that programs were created to help people of color prosper.
I then went on to educate them about the fact that those programs don’t help only people of color—they also help other minority groups, such as women and people who are gay. So much for reverse racism.
At this point, Abbie smartly backed off the argument that what was happening was racist and instead argued that she and Parker also should have gotten help, then, since she was a woman and Parker was gay.
I actually agreed with her on this point and told her as much—but before she could get too excited, I pointed out that that was an argument for each candidate having a fair chance and equal resources. Which meant not giving out cookies and pens while others are drawing posters.
Oh, but I wasn’t done yet, my friends! I also added that thinking things like reverse racism existed actually demonstrated how ill qualified they both were to represent students of color.
Frederick drives the lane and dunks on two defenders! The crowd goes wild!
After the meeting, the administrators decided that the election in our dorm and all dorms on campus should be fair. This meant that candidates couldn’t receive disproportionate resources from staff; each had to be equally resourced with printing and the other things I was receiving. But “fair” also meant that candidates couldn’t campaign beyond the parameters set, which included no personally financed gifts, such as cookies and pens.
Abbie and Parker were pissed; their plan had backfired. Not only were they not able to use the one advantage they had over me (money), but I also let students know that my opponents had tried to stop our dorm from having its first president of color because they felt like the help I was given was reverse racism.
Not only did the residents of color get angry at them, but so did the white students who couldn’t believe that Abbie and Parker had tried to stop “our school’s own Barack Obama.”
This was the only time I didn’t mind the Barack Obama stereotype. Shout-out to the Obama Effect!
Some students even created a Facebook page called “You’re Still White,” which was filled with people discussing times that white people said they understood the problems of people of color because they were women or gay.