Where are all the black people?

First off, that’s black in the Cambridge sense, which officially means “people who self define as Black.  Black shall be an embacing term covering those students who, by virtue of not being white, are at risk of racist discrimination and prejudice.”

So today I attending my first general meeting of the BAC (Black Student’s Campaign).  They discussed and made action plans for quite a few issues that face them on campus.  They ranged from how to get colleges to server Halal food for Muslims in the dining halls, to outright racism on campus.  I must say, I was surprised by what I found.

They spoke about how only 3% of non-white students receive A averages, vs the 21% of white students that receive that grade.  Tha’s fairly shocking.  Then I find that only 3% of the undegrads are non-white, and there are literally only a handful of non-white profs.

This raises atleast one question in my mind.  Is England a”white” country?  Certainly not every country is as diverse as the US.  Probably none other.  But is Nigera a “black” country?  And if you go to london, you will surely see tons of minorities.  So should the higher end schools like Cambridge reflect this?

Also, apprently muslims go through alot here.  I don’t drink.  So I miss out on alot of the bar stuff, I guess.  But when you can’t go in the bar, and hall is cut off because they won’t serve Halal food, that cuts off most of your social interaction.  Add to this, fresher’s week (read orientation for you yanks) is all about drinking.  Once again cutting them out.  This really blows.  But the BAC is in action and made some good proposals today.  Hope to see things get better.