Spring Break
The "Good" Black and the H-Bomb
Debbie McCoy (OC), Special Contributor
Issue date: 2/10/03 Section: Black History Month
"GIVE ME YOUR I.D."
After verifying that I don't have a criminal record, the officer barks to his colleagues, "NOT THE ONE, NOT THE ONE." I ask what has just happened and he grunts that a house in Cambridge was just robbed by a black person. He turns around and gets into his car (I didn't forget the part about his apology for being rude...I received no such courtesy). As I turn the corner onto Memorial Drive, I see that a State Trooper was also ready to greet me should I have been the robber.
Why, though, wasn't I the robber? Was it simply HBS that saved me from having to prove myself, my actions, who I was and why I was driving around in a new car in Cambridge?
I considered writing an article to the HARBUS about the incident last year. Depending on my mood, there is everything and nothing to write about. It is completely legal for officers to question someone and in fact, most people are pleased to have a police force that is actively trying to catch criminals. At this level, the incident is about nothing.
Why, then, is this about any way? I want to know why showing a Harvard identification card exonerated me from all possible guilt in the eyes of the police officer that pulled me over.
Speaking of Harvard and some of the recent hubbub about legacy admittance and underrepresented ethnic groups at Ivies, you may have noticed a dapper young black man gracing the cover of the January 27 issue of Newsweek. This tie-wearing would-be college student is covered with a suggestive caption, "Do We Still Need Affirmative Action?" This question draws me back to 1992 in Los Gatos, California. The day after acceptances for The University of California at Berkeley were received I was glowing! A classmate quickly shot me down, casually noting, "You just got in because you're black and part Hispanic." I most likely received an admission invitation from Berkeley because I was fifteen when I was a high school senior and was in very strong academic standing at a school known for its rigorous curriculum and competitive student body. Most college students aren't sixteen when they arrive to college. Nor are they tie-wearing men like the one pictured on the Newsweek cover. Affirmative action policies often benefit a broad group of underrepresented groups and help address the 400 years of de facto affirmative action that has been afforded to many white Americans. As for me, comments such as the one I received from my high school classmate compelled me to attend Howard University, a Historically Black University.
After verifying that I don't have a criminal record, the officer barks to his colleagues, "NOT THE ONE, NOT THE ONE." I ask what has just happened and he grunts that a house in Cambridge was just robbed by a black person. He turns around and gets into his car (I didn't forget the part about his apology for being rude...I received no such courtesy). As I turn the corner onto Memorial Drive, I see that a State Trooper was also ready to greet me should I have been the robber.
Why, though, wasn't I the robber? Was it simply HBS that saved me from having to prove myself, my actions, who I was and why I was driving around in a new car in Cambridge?
I considered writing an article to the HARBUS about the incident last year. Depending on my mood, there is everything and nothing to write about. It is completely legal for officers to question someone and in fact, most people are pleased to have a police force that is actively trying to catch criminals. At this level, the incident is about nothing.
Why, then, is this about any way? I want to know why showing a Harvard identification card exonerated me from all possible guilt in the eyes of the police officer that pulled me over.
Speaking of Harvard and some of the recent hubbub about legacy admittance and underrepresented ethnic groups at Ivies, you may have noticed a dapper young black man gracing the cover of the January 27 issue of Newsweek. This tie-wearing would-be college student is covered with a suggestive caption, "Do We Still Need Affirmative Action?" This question draws me back to 1992 in Los Gatos, California. The day after acceptances for The University of California at Berkeley were received I was glowing! A classmate quickly shot me down, casually noting, "You just got in because you're black and part Hispanic." I most likely received an admission invitation from Berkeley because I was fifteen when I was a high school senior and was in very strong academic standing at a school known for its rigorous curriculum and competitive student body. Most college students aren't sixteen when they arrive to college. Nor are they tie-wearing men like the one pictured on the Newsweek cover. Affirmative action policies often benefit a broad group of underrepresented groups and help address the 400 years of de facto affirmative action that has been afforded to many white Americans. As for me, comments such as the one I received from my high school classmate compelled me to attend Howard University, a Historically Black University.
