Black students explained the importance of having a community on campus due to being marginalized by the majority student population on campus. Black students explained that they did not feel that they were part of the campus and not welcomed because they were very few in numbers. If Black students feel that non-Black students target them negatively, they will not feel welcomed on campus. PWIs are not able to control the actions of non-Black students, but they can provide a safe space on campus for Black students so that they can create a community environment where they will feel that they can belong.
According to Smith (2016):
In the athlete-student stereotype, Black males are believed to be on campus as athletes exclusively to entertain through sports and not as students with academic merits. Linking to the stereotype of Black men as individuals to be feared, the athlete stereotype holds Black male physicality as a defining characteristic viewed in a “positive” manner when used to create school spirit. (p. 11)
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This phenomenon is what shapes the internal structure of the Black student campus community, which results in Black athletes being at the top of the hierarchy of the Black community because they play a role in enhancing the school spirt but they are not rewarded for being contributors to the culture of the Black community on campus. This issue not only led to the stressors of the Black student athlete to comply, but it made Black students who were not athletes feel that they were not valued because they were not seen as directly enhancing school spirit. It also caused a rift between Black students who were athletes and those who were not athletes.
A student (Pitt - Assata – female - sophomore) described the hierarchy amongst the Black campus community as the athletes being at the top of the hierarchy, the students who were members of Black Greek organizations being just under the athletes, and the other Black students being at the bottom of the hierarchy.
Whiteness as property explains how racism results in White people feeling that they have a sense of ownership and privilege that should be provided exclusively for them. The dynamic described by (Pitt - Assata – female - sophomore) was an example of Whiteness as property, because the Black campus community hierarchy structure is a reflection of how White members of the campus community view Black students. Another example of Whiteness as property on a more individual level was a situation that (Duquesne - Shaharrazad – female - sophomore) shared. When (Duquesne - Shaharrazad – female - sophomore) explained how when a Black male football player was invited to a party by a White female student who instructed the Black male student not to bring any Black females or other Black students to the party who were not athletes, she was exercising her White property rights. In this instance, she wanted to use her position of White dominance and privilege to tell the Black athlete that he could come to the party,
but he was expected to exclude other Black students if he wanted to enjoy what the White students had access to and what they could offer him at the party.
Harris (1993) described how the objective of Whiteness as property is to exclude Black people:
The right to exclude was the central principle, too, of whiteness as identity, for mainly whiteness has been characterized, not by an inherent unifying characteristic, but by the exclusion of others deemed to be “not white.” The possessors of whiteness were granted the legal right to exclude others from the privileges inhering in whiteness; whiteness became an exclusive club whose membership was closely and grudgingly guarded. (p. 9) The situation explained by (Duquesne - Shaharrazad – female - sophomore) was a prime example as to how the White female student exercised her Whiteness as a property, because she understood that Black students were excluded from the party and that she had the ability to decide who would have access to the party and who would not based on race. In this particular instance, it was not legal authority that compelled the White female student to decide to exclude Black female students but a cultural practice of excluding Black students.
In Clark’s (1995) critique of Professor Derrick Bell’s thesis on the permanence of racism, he explained how Black progress, which is minimal, is based on satisfying the interest of White people. The incident described by (Duquesne - Shaharrazad – female - sophomore) showed how the permanence of racism was based on the interest of White people, the White female student who expected that Black females not be permitted access to the party by the Black football player, ultimately provided the Black male athlete with a superficial sense of belonging amongst the White students at the party. The Black male athlete was required to fulfill the White female student’s
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interest at the expense of Black students in order for him to be one of the few Black students accepted by the White students.