This weekend, while everyone was enjoying Spring Fair, the Johns Hopkins University resurrected Jim Crow, if only for a while. And if we looked hard enough, we could have seen that the closed door policy of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library was an answer to why there is no Department of African-American Studies, why Baltimore employees of JHU are allowed to flounder in poverty, why few African-Americans are given professorships and why there is a pitifully underrepresented African-American student population: African-Americans do not have an academic demeanor.
You might be wondering what I'm referring to. About three years ago, the MSE decided that it would open its doors to all members of the community. This way, the academic resources of JHU could be shared by everyone, not just those who have $30K to throw around every year. It would seem as though JHU was making attempts to reach out to the community. But then Spring Fair 2002 rolled around, and it becomes obvious that the seemingly beneficent gesture made by the MSE was only PR.
When Spring Fair is not going on, most of Baltimore is dispersed around the city. They are hard at work, or, as Sick Transit showed us, wholly unable to make the long journey from downtown up to Charles Street. Furthermore, the surrounding neighborhood of JHU is populated mostly by students.
The library doors are open but most likely as a way to facilitate the entry of students from other nearby Baltimore colleges, like Loyola, MICA, Towson and Goucher. It is unreasonable to assume that JHU anticipated a flood of non-college students using JHU resources, most likely because the non-student population of Baltimore is not concentrated in Charles Village. MSE opening its doors to the "community" is like owning a business in Northern Sweden and implementing the strictest antidiscrimination hiring policies; what different does it make if the only people available to hire all have blond hair and blue eyes?
Then Spring Fair rolls around. This is a time when ALL of the Baltimore community-which is over 85% African American-actively comes to the JHU campus. The MSE then closes its doors, saying that only JHU students are allowed to access the library. As soon as the MSE is given the opportunity to allow Baltimore residents to enter the library, when non-student Baltimoreans are actually in a position to use JHU resources, the MSE slams its doors.
Would Baltimoreans distract JHU students? Does the library think that they are too uncouth, unruly and untamed to enter a library? Does the library think that Baltimore's residents do not know how to behave in an academic environment? What other conclusion can be drawn? "We just don't want a crowd of people using our bathrooms," the MSE staff will probably say.
And even if this is true, what does this imply? That Baltimoreans are incapable of behaving appropriately for the five minutes it takes to use the bathroom? That they are too animalistic and will make a mess? If Spring Fair patrons were believed to be able to "behave," then why not let them use the bathrooms? Shame on you MSE.
Let me repeat myself. Baltimore's population is over 85 percent African-American, and when the time comes that they all come to JHU, the MSE closes its doors. It would seem as though that when so many members of the community are at JHU, keeping the library open to the public would be a good way to inspire people to return. They would get to see the resources that are supposedly open to them every other day of the year, resources that they do not have in their own communities because of poor funding. But rather than recruit new patrons, the library slams the door. I wonder if Baltimore were over 85% white if the same decision would have been made by library staff. I wonder if the population were over 85% white the MSE would have deemed the population able to act in an appropriate manner in the library.
This blatant racism and stereotyping should not be tolerated. It is our responsibility as conscientious, sensitive students to show the MSE that we do not approve of its slamming the door in the face of Baltimore and the African-American community. That is why, on Saturday, May 4, 2002, at 12 p.m., I encourage all students and student groups that stand behind me to meet in front of the MSE in protest. Please send all letters of support to LeslieBear@hotmail.com.
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