“South of the Border” Party at Santa Clara University.. WTF?

At first, the “South of the Border Party” thrown by Santa Clara University students didn’t strike freshman Nadine Rasch as offensive.But students came dressed as Latino janitors, gardeners, gangbangers and pregnant homegirls.

“I realized they’re making fun of me, because my dad worked so hard so I could have these opportunities, and they’re making fun of people for that,” said Rasch, 18, a finance major from Guatemala, who did not attend the party.

Photographs taken at the private, off-campus party and splashed on Internet sites reveal a crude and narrow portrayal of Latino life. One student hammed it up before the camera with a stuffed balloon on her belly, under her blouse. Another posed for a close-up shot of her puckered mouth, thickly lipsticked and lined in black. One student wore a janitorial costume complete with the long rubber gloves commonly used to clean bathrooms.

Student leaders organized a protest march that was joined by 250 people. The campus has held meetings and plans a forum next week.

Unofficially, students have jumped on the blogosphere to trade everything from thoughtful comments on race relations to arguments and insults.

Santa Clara isn’t alone in witnessing this vein of partying with negative, racial overtones. Parties mocking African-Americans have been reported at Macalester College in Minnesota, Clemson University in South Carolina, Trinity College in Connecticut, Whitman College in Washington and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

-San Jose Mercury News

I don’t even know where to begin.

It isn’t hard for me to imagine this party being planned with harmless intentions. Mexican themed PROBABLY just meant sombreros, salsa music, tequila and Coronas for all. Even so, the fact that this party turned into a blatant mockery of Latino janitors and gardeners comes as a huge shame to me, especially coming from Silicon Valley.

I am not so nieve to believe that we all don’t have private stereotypes or occasionally spout off a racist joke. I even recognize that that sadly, most stereotypes about are rooted, to a degree, in truth. But under no circumstance is it cool to publicly make fun of people for what they do to make a living and support their families. This is ESPECIALLY true if you are some well off white kid whose parents are putting you through private school. These kids have likely known worlds more privilege than Latino immigrants and have no right to bag on any ethnicities, especially if they couldn’t possibly have the slightest clue of discriminatory experience. (Yes I realize that in itself is a generalization..but I stand by it.)

When I was taking DOC at UCSD (required GE’s on race, history, and society), I know there were many white kids that couldn’t stand sitting through lecture and doing the readings. They’d roll their eyes at a class that basically told them all the fucked up things that WASP’s have done to every other ethnic group in the relatively short history of the United States.

Similarly, I’m sure that NOT ALL, but a good number of indifferent white students at SCU are probably rolling their eyes and yawning at the reaction this incident has stirred from the campus and community. Once again, another example of the media making a huge deal out of nothing and demonizing the racist white man when most of the students had nothing to do with it. “It’s not like people never make fun of whites.” “No one would be making a big deal out of this if Hispanic kids threw a party with negative white stereotypes.”

They would be right to feel indignant if we lived in a vacuum, unaffected by history. The fact is, white people have never and will never have to deal with the same difficulties or stigmas as ethnic minorities. No white stereotype could possibly have nearly the same sting, given their societal and economic standing, as one that targets a black or Latino or Asian.

Santa Clara University is a Catholic private school whose student body is comprised largely of white upper class students. According to an NBC News Video, the party was attended by 5 members of the women’s volleyball team, and at least one member of the men’s basketball team. To me this incident is very revealing about society and higher education, as the very people who exhibited such racist behavior are likely going to be excused and go on to very successful positions in life.