Widespread allegations of racial profiling swept through campus amid a recent on-campus scare involving a man who walked into CFSU and pointed a fake gun at a rally crowd. The events of NIU, whose campus is located a little more than 50 miles away from Loyola's Lake Shore campus, have yet to recede from the memories of students or the nation. Loyola sociology Ph.D. candidates Megan Burke and Monica Edwards noted in their discussion on Inequality and Violence: Race, Class and Gender that these events are "not isolated to our campus, but systemically connected to race, class and gender."
Burke and Edwards worked together in the spirit of "The Season of Nonviolence." The Season, which began on Jan. 30, (the 60th anniversary of Gandhi's assassination) and will continue until April 4 (the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination), is marked by a series of speakers and events Loyola sponsors that expose a history of violence but highlights the possibilities of using nonviolent means in order to solve problems.
At the onset of the discussion, Edwards said, "You can't talk about school shootings without talking about all of the other pervasiveness of violence. … Any conversations of violence [have] to be talked about in conjunction with issues of inequality because of the relationship between inequality and violence." In the case of the NIU shootings, as with most cases of non-violence, people naturally frame the problem around the individual, according to Edwards; but do we ever frame the problem in a broader symbolic, cultural and institutional context?
The history of violence in the U.S. can stem from the "obvious example of slavery," according to Burke, who contested that "Slavery was based on the ability to use the threat of violence, the threat of force to maintain a deeply seeded racial hierarchy in order to benefit some over others."
Other problems such as segregation in U.S. schools - deeply connected to housing - is not a new concept to Chicago, which is consistently listed as one of the top three most segregated cities in the U.S. by the U.S. Census Bureau. Elizabeth Taylor, an editor with the Chicago Tribune, regards Chicago as "the quintessential American city," because of its history of immigration and politics, as well as race and class struggle. Chicago suffers from a history of segregation, according to Loyola professor of Chicago politics and Cook County Commissioner Michael Quigley, who summarized the role of race as it is related to the consolidation of power as both "neat and compartmentalized."
A practice such 0as racial profiling "institutionalizes inequality and then creates in part the conditions that permit violence," according to Burke, who went on to explain how even pointing a non-functional gun at somebody is not only an indicator of a violent culture, but systematically contributes to the progression of a violent culture. She said it is a mutually reinforcing system.
Burke and Edwards implicated even the Dixie Chicks, as their controversial song, "Good Bye Earl," exemplifies violence toward women and illustrates how women are often socialized as victims of violence, and men are usually socialized to be more comfortable with violence. Movies such as Tough Guys are, according to the speakers, a prime example of the clear difference in social standards for men and women when regarding violent acts.
Burke, who believes in coming up with creative nonviolent solutions to problems, said that too often it's easier to use violence instead of nonviolence. She believes that the real challenge ahead is not only recognizing the problems, but embracing new solutions and adapting new ways of thinking.
For more information and a calendar of upcoming events, visit www.seasonsofnonviolence.org.
Be the first to comment on this article!