University of Virginia Library

Black Attitudes

The figures on black enrollment at the
University which are compiled each year by
Paul Saunier were released yesterday. To no
one's surprise they showed a substantial
increase over last year's black enrollment due,
in large part we think, to the efforts of Mrs.
Elizabeth Johnson and her staff. But the
figures also serve as a reminder as to how
painfully small the number of black students
at the University actually is. Blacks at the
University still feel helplessly isolated. John
Thomas, President of the Black Students for
Freedom, expressed his resentment over the
often subtle abuse black students have to
contend with in a letter printed on this page a
little more than a week ago.

Now that there are at least enough black
students on the Grounds so that a white
student cannot go for weeks without ever
seeing one, these now visible students are
tending towards separatism, a trend which
many of the more liberal whites on the
Grounds condemn. There were no real
instances, for example, of fraternity
discrimination during rush this year against
blacks, largely because very few blacks even
bothered to take a look at the houses. The
Student Council, at their meeting last week,
recommended that entering black first-year
students be allowed to request a roommate of
the same race.

This trend towards black separatism on the
Grounds is only natural, in our opinion. No
individual will seek the company of people
who will abuse and insult him. The trend
towards black separatism here will only grow
stronger in the next few years, we feel. Other
Universities with a more significant black
enrollment are already experiencing this
trend. It is tragic in a way, because it will
limit the already small opportunities white
students on the Grounds, many of whom
come from a background of essentially
segregated living, will have to discover how
much they have in common with their black
peers.

But one can only understand the desire of
the black students at the University to isolate
themselves from whites until they are strong
enough and respected enough to have
intercourse on equal terms. That time will
arrive only when the black enrollment at the
University reflects the percentage of black
students in the nation and state.

Until that time black separatism will serve
as a constant reminder to whites of their very
real failure to try and understand what being
black in America is all about.