Earlier today, a tipster spotted a questionable cardboard cutout next to the Community Impact table on Low. We think Community Impact does good work, but someone definitely should have looked twice at their marketing campaign.
By
Bwog Staff on
Sep 09, 2014 
28 Comments
Earlier today, a tipster spotted a questionable cardboard cutout next to the Community Impact table on Low. We think Community Impact does good work, but someone definitely should have looked twice at their marketing campaign.
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28 Comments
@Seriously Bwog, you are assholes. Maybe even worse than that, yeah I went there. Do you even know what CI does? I can’t believe I considered writing for you freshman year.
@B If your “tipster” had bothered to talk to those volunteers about the sign, they would have found that the sign was reversable, the other side being a lighter skinned girl, so yeah.. this is a pathetic attempt of faux “controversy”.
@Serpent That just means that CI is full of male saviors too!
/sarcasm
@I don't know man... this is demeaning to me
@Bwog Crap Shity Sensationalist Bwog! You’re getting TIPS now from “informants”? What are you? A college paper or CIA?
@This is a serious issue (Trigger Warning) Did you know that 1 in 5 cardboard cutouts will be inappropriately touched without their consent during their lifetimes?
@Anonymous Next week: tipster finds CI has a cutout of a white kid. Headline: race complex, why are minorities never represented in our marketing? Is CI afraid of color?
@Anonymous Hypersensitivity much? I love calling people out on their problematic shit as much as the next Columbian, but this seems genuinely harmless… def reaching with this one bwog
@Anonymous Why is it questionable? What, cardboard cutouts have to be white?
@Anonymous Way to completely strip the image of all context in a blatant effort to stir shit, bwog. First of all, the other side of the cutout was a white kid with the same shirt/hand up (which the tipster conveniently left out). More importantly though, the attempting-to-be-provocative “white savior” title not only devalues the well-informed, important, and varied work that happens at Community Impact, but is also just plain false– a huge portion of CI’s coordinators and volunteers (probably around half) are people of color, and so to class the entire organization as a bunch of white saviors is ridiculous. Smh bwog, this is a new low for you
@Anonymous How come you didn’t report on the portrayal of the other person on the other side? That’s not fair. But its BWOG. No one cares.
@Superpower I love how “anti-racist” people always reveal their implicit racism when they do things like this. How wonderful it is that you assume that all people who teach in that organization are white and that CI was specifically targeting white people to become teachers by telling them to”take up the white man’s burden” and not students of all races. That’s an utterly ridiculous and unfair assumption and also is blatantly false. That seems to indicate to me that it is you who is injecting racism into the situation, which you are doing because of your racist thoughts. I bet you’re one of those people who thinks colorblindness is evil because it would stop you from being able to treat people differently based on skin color.
Also, what is your solution to this? Should the white teachers not be allowed to teach? Should they all quit the organization and stop caring about it. Your Democrat politicians don’t want to reform law to help these children. Stop tearing down private efforts to help them succeed.
@Anonymous how are there so many white conservatives who comment on bwog who can’t see what’s wrong with this? first everybody trashing emma and now this. or are you all one person?!
@Anonymous Me thinks you should stop looking for ways to be offended and finish the fuckin Illiad, or don’t and just shut the fuck up.
@Hahn Chang As a former CI coordinator, for whatever my opinion is worth, I really do think Bwog is trying to create a controversy where one shouldn’t exist.
The coordinators and volunteers of Community Impact as a whole are really great folks that want to do meaningful work in our community. From my experience, CI volunteers, especially the coordinators, work really hard to be conscientious in their work and not fall into the savior trap.
Furthermore, CI coordinators really try to work with the folks from Morningside Heights and West Harlem to create programs and services that we as Columbia and Barnard students have the ability and resources to provide that community members want. Speaking from my own experience, my specific group had extensive (and ongoing) conversations with community leaders, school leaders, parents, and even the students on how to improve and re-align our program to best partner with them.
Also, CI is NOT full of white saviors. CI is definitely one of the most diverse groups (in terms of the programs we have) but also in the demographics for our coordinators and volunteers. They come from all four undergraduate schools, all socioeconomic classes, and racial identities. I know the title was an attempt at snark, but it is really damaging (and untrue) to categorize CI as a group of “white saviors”.
Finally, I want to address the actual cut-out. Community Impact works with kids. Many of the students that we have the privilege of working with are students of color. As someone who has worked with kids from these communities (many of them who were black and Latino), they do actually really appreciate having near-peers (ie. Columbia and Barnard students) as mentors and tutors. We, as Columbia and Barnard students, can have a role in helping these students improve their reading, learn conflict resolution skills, and explore the city without falling into a “white savior” complex.
CI must never grow complacent in their work and they must never fall into a “savior” trap. Nevertheless, I feel confident that CI is full of folks that really can analyze issues in a comprehensive way, listen and respond to the community’s needs, and provide meaningful service opportunities that benefit both Columbia/Barnard students and our greater community as a whole.
@rawr Cool story, bro.
@Han Fan Han you’re the best
@Anonymous Well put, Hahn. And good on you for actually trying to advance the discussion instead of buzzwording for the sake of a quippy headline or something.
I’d love it if people took up the standard, but I know when my hopes are going to be dashed.
@Hahn Chang is the best RA ever
@Anonymous I’m so triggered right now
@bwog, why ya always tryna start shit
@tbt http://columbiaspectator.com/news/2014/02/23/facebook-photos-show-kappa-alpha-theta-members-dressed-mexicans-other-nationalities
@Anonymous Are you suggesting these two things are comparable?
@use dem buzzwords bwog racial insensitivity white privilege rape culture trigger warning heteronormative
@Anonymous Bwog is really shitty this year. Stop trying so hard to be edgy activists and go back to being funny but informative.
@look again, tipster the other side is a caucasian student raising her hand.
@Anonymous So I’m fairly well versed in the white-savior complex and how it impacts teaching, but I do think that if this is a program that focuses on teaching students of color, it’s okay to have a cutout of a student of color asking to be taught.
It’s not saying “please white CU students teach me the way to speak and be and show me your wonderful white ways,” it just seems to be advocating a teaching program.