As much as people would like to think and argue that racism does
not exist anymore at UCLA, Bret Polish believes it does.
So he did something about it.
Answering his personal mission to fight racism, Polish founded
the White Identity Development Group last week, with the help of
Jose Lara.
The group’s mission is to facilitate dialogue and increase
awareness of racism among whites on campus, said Polish, a
third-year history student.
The idea was to provide a space so that white people could come
to terms with the privileges that they are born with, explained
Lara, a fourth-year student studying history and Chicana/o studies
and involved with the Student Retention Center.
The group’s two founders said that being white comes with
certain privileges.
Such privileges include no harassment from the police and better
education and employment opportunities, according to Polish and
Lara.
But Polish said he believes that not all whites recognize the
fact that they have these privileges, whether subtle or
obvious.
This could be due to their lack of awareness of racism or their
refusal to admit that not everything they have or achieved is based
upon their own merit, Lara said.
“There is no doubt that (U.S.) history slanted toward my
(and other whites’) favor,” Polish explained.
It seemed odd and unusual to the two that there are no clubs
which help whites embrace their race and “whiteness”
when there are numerous other groups which help people of other
ethnicities struggle with race and racism.
As of now, the main focus of the club is “to provide a
safe place where white people can work with each other on issues of
race before branching out (to other races) to become
allies.”
Members of all races are welcome to join the group.
For Polish, this group is a personal answer to his being
complicit to racism when he is treated better or feeling superior
to other races.
“For example, once when I came to a class with the
majority of people being of color, I had an assumption that I would
do better than the rest,” Polish admitted.
Other whites in the class felt that way too, he added.
For Lara, helping Polish out with this new student group is a
worthy cause because he feels that there is racism here at
UCLA.
“Once a professor in a discussion seminar called me out
because I was the only Chicano in the class. He asked me about the
validity of Chicano history and from that point on, he picked on
me,” Lara said.
Currently, Polish and Lara are working on getting the
group’s name out and recruiting members by setting up signs
on Bruin Walk and distributing fliers.
The White Identity Development Group plans to meet on
Tuesdays at 6 p.m. in Conference Room #2 of the Student Activities
Center.