The Third World Transition Program

How do you define racism? If you answer that question in a literal sense, racism is “the belief that people of different races have different qualities and abilities, and that some races are inherently superior or inferior.” In today’s day and age, most of us (hopefully) know and believe that this is not true, that every man and woman was created equal, that no one group should receive privilege or favor. Why then, one might wonder, is there such a difference, such a disparity, between minority students and Caucasian students on the Brown campus? Despite being here nearly only three weeks, I have come to make several observations that have left me scratching my head and wondering about privilege at Brown.

August 28th – that was the first day of the Third World Transition Program (TWTP) for entering freshmen. My pamphlet of pre-orientation programs that came in the mail described it, amongst several other options, as:

[Promoting] inter- and intra-racial understanding on campus… [Helping] entering students identify and increase their awareness of issues encountered by minority students in a predominantly white institution.

The program was listed as open to all students. It offered the opportunity to move into your dorm room a few days earlier than most others, to discuss pressing social issues, and to meet people from all over the USA and the rest of the world. Pretty tempting offer, no? Unfortunately, upon arrival, I noticed something that made me uneasy. The attendants were literally all minorities, minus me and a few others. Apparently every student that Brown classified as a “minority” received an actual invitation for TWTP in the mail, something completely different from the small pamphlet sent to me. In terms of building inter and intra-racial understanding, I got the impression that they were only trying to do so between minorities, ignoring the fact that Brown is, as mentioned in the program’s description, a predominantly “white institution,” and belying their claim of “[breaking] down the barriers that separate us in order to build understanding and community.” If it is open to all students, who is “us”? While this program had the right intentions, it seemed that it missed its own point and instead was almost segregating.

The four-day program covered the topics of “isms,” that is, racism, classism, sexism, imperialism, etc. Each topic provoked the attendants to think about how they felt in the situations created by the Minority Peer Counselors (MPCs), friends and coordinators. For example, one exercise prompted the audience to form a “color spectrum,” lining themselves up according to the color of their skin. “How does this make you feel?”, the MPCs asked. They then instructed everyone to rearrange the line in order of what they called “white features.” Once again, they asked how everyone felt. It could have seemed that having white features was supposed to be bad or almost shameful. Perhaps I missed the point of the exercise, but I could not help but feel a sense of belligerence and animosity towards being “white” or having said features.

The term, “Third World,” raised many red flags during the event as well. Popular perception of the term conjures images of poor neighborhoods with emaciated children, muddy streets, and dilapidated houses. This became another source of confusion for me as I heard them define it as such:

During the Cold War, the United States was the first world (or, if memory serves me right, “Western Imperialism,” according to Dean Bergeron), the Soviet Union the second and everyone else the third as to not have to fall into the category of one or the other, as to have them retain their own identities.

Ignoring the fact that calling everyone else the “third world” ironically puts them into one classification, does not everyone have their own identities regardless? Ironically as well, a majority of students at TWTP live in America and are US citizens. Then again, who is not from the “third world”? I am French-Canadian by heritage, but third generation American. Where do I fall into the picture? I still have my culture and my traditions, but am I not “first world”?

Why were “minorities” specifically invited to this event? Why wasn’t everyone else equally invited, especially when the goal was to build understanding on campus? If, as according to the Third World Center’s website, “the general aim of the program is to raise awareness of the many barriers that continue to challenge minority students’ ability to thrive in a diverse environment,” why were so many excluded? Who can be an MPC? Who can seek the help of an MPC? Who is welcomed at the Third World Center? I do not wish to send the wrong idea, as the TWTP did raise my understanding of cross-cultural issues, opening my eyes to racism that exists here today and making me notice what privilege exists in the world. It allowed me the opportunity to be a minority; something my small, Massachusetts town could not offer. I honestly and confidently can say that this would have been a valuable program for everyone on campus. How do you define racism?