“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.

What happened in Ferguson has brought issues of segregation and classism in STL to light. While these issues are not as apparent or severe at De Smet Jesuit, they definitely exist.

The lack of diversity among the staff and student body has created division that will take more than “Mix It Up” lunches to fix.

Only 10% of the current student body is of minority descent, a lack of diversity evident at large school events such as masses and assemblies.

However, the biggest indication of a divided student body is at lunch. Nearly all of the African-American students sit together, and the table has earned the indefensibly racist nickname “Little Africa.” If you’ve never actually sat there, you would think these students sit together because they look a like—you’d be wrong. “It’s not a table full of black kids because anyone can sit there. There aren’t any rules or anything,” senior Alik Shelton said.

No one likes to be uncomfortable or be the outcast in any setting, let alone school. So why not eat lunch with a group guys who live near you, talk like you and most importantly feel the same way you do at school?

There have been attempts to change the status quo with the “Mix It Up” lunches, but students didn’t seem to favor them. Because, again no one likes to feel uncomfortable and meeting new people is definitely uncomfortable.

What we are learning from the events in Ferguson, is that uncomfortable discussions have to happen if we want to make progress.

There are still many heads to this monster.

The Multicultural Awareness Club (MAC) is a minority student-run club that focuses on embracing the many cultures throughout De Smet and combating things like the epithet “Little Africa.” With such a small number of minority students one would think that they would all participate in a club that directly helps them. The meetings usually consist of the leadership board, no more than 10 other student members and a member of the administration.

What message are we sending to the rest of the school? If we can’t support ourselves, how we do we expect support from anyone else?

Kudos to administrators for taking strides toward improving diversity by holding open forums, creating a new Magis Scholars mentorship for minorities, attending MAC meetings and currently developing a diversity committee.

“Diversity has to be an issued dialogued about as a community. The hope of the diversity committee is to get a bunch of people together and ask the question. What should we be doing?” said curriculum director Dr. Joseph Klug.

There needs be another group besides the MAC and administration working toward more diversity—the students.

It’s time for the De Smet Jesuit community to combat the fear of the unknown and become true “Men and Women with and for Others.”