Growing up, my closest and best friend was black, or at least half black. I lie, for he was not just a friend; indeed, he is my brother in everything but parentage. Life was hard for him, and one hardship he faced was being black in a very white community. I remember as children that anytime he saw someone who was black like him, he grew happy and excited. It meant something to him to see others who visibly resembled him. So, even though I am one of those evil, right-wing Trump supporters, I think I have a more relaxed view regarding the need for diversity in a community. I have a vicarious experience, that is, I grew up with someone who very naturally wanted to be around people who looked like him, and I know that it is comforting for people to have role models and leaders who, through some accident of nature, possess the same characteristics as themselves.
However, saying all that, acknowledging the very real and natural desire in a person to congregate with those who look similar, I have a nagging fear that something isn’t right. I had been considering these things when I overheard two friends engaged in an energetic agreement, which is to say, they were both strongly opposed to a wall celebrating certain students of color on our campus. I thought this odd, for I myself had no such opposition. The next day I was able to question them regarding the whole affair, and to ask a few other acquaintances as well. There seemed to be three points of opposition: 1) It was felt that this wall promoted black students at the expense of all other non-white students, such as students with Asian or Hispanic backgrounds; 2) that this was segregating black students, treating them as outside of our community; and 3) that the wall was propagandistic, the phrase, Tokenism, being used, that it was only a way of disguising the lack of diversity on campus.
I was a little nonplussed. I would have thought that celebrating these students would have been a good thing, but I was told that the wall actually demeaned the students, that it highlighted their skin color over everything else.
This is a Christian campus, and Christians believe that we are one before God. We believe that God created us all, that no one, no matter what color, is less a child of God than any other, that God makes no consideration of Jew or Gentile, free or slave, man or woman. We are one, brought together in Christ, before God. Yet, I fear something has gone wrong; if God has torn down these divisions, are we then to rebuild them? I never saw a problem with my friend wanting to be with people who looked like himself, and I see no inherent problem with the celebration of these students. As a child, I went to conventions held by the Sons of Norway where I was forced to eat lutefisk. This was a celebration of our heritage as Norwegians. So, I ask myself, what is the difference? As far as I know, there was no division created by these Norwegian meetings. So, why is there a division created in our student body in this particular celebration of black students and their culture?
I can only guess, but I think part of it is that there is a perceived focus on the skin color of these students. I have not been to a Sons of Norway convention in many years, but our Norwegian culture is one that is sharable. I can tell you the stories and offer you the cuisine of my ancestors; anyone can take a part in that celebration (Pro tip: politely decline the lutefisk). No one can change his or her skin color, and if melanin is the only thing we are celebrating, then only some can celebrate.
Tale Told 
Sir! I take exception to your racially charged article., largely because in it you make certain extraordinarily erroneous remarks that must not go unchallenged.
P.S. For further Norse decorum, please understand that to a sensitive Viking, there has not yet been devised a way to “politely decline the lutefisk.”
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Sir! I take exception to your racially charged article., largely because in it you make certain extraordinarily erroneous remarks that must not go unchallenged.
In it you say, for instance, that you attended a Sons of Norway “convention” in your misspent youth “where [you] were forced to eat lutefisk.”
Sir, in most metropoles fortunate enough to have a Sons of Norway lodge, a liberal spirit indeed prevails. By this generosity of nature the true Norwegians offer within the same feast Swedish meatballs for impure spouses, half breeds, lesser Scandinavians, curious visitors, those allergic to lye and other infidels. For more than half a century now, no Norwegian has been convicted of force-feeding lutefisk to anyone! (The lawsuit had literally nothing to do with this.) Whether you choose to eat the food of the gods or clog up your digestive tract on meatballs, the price is the same.
P.S. For further Norse decorum, please understand that to a sensitive Viking, there has not yet been devised a way to “politely decline the lutefisk.”
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