In a sterile environment where the individual is denied the opportunity to form new relationships and identities, and where there is a constant stripping away of self-worth and confidence, the only security is to join a group that can defend and protect you. Throughout higher education we found that Hispanic, Jewish, Polish, Italian, Muslim, Arab, Vietnamese, and Haitian student associations have organized themselves in their own separate groups. . . I think Blacks are more sensitive to the lack of community in the university because black culture evolved in part in response to the enormous brutality and hostility of the white population. American black culture has many roots in Africa, but it s American component has been shaped by the problems of being a despised and powerless minority. Blacks had no way to defend themselves as individuals from economic, social, and political oppression by whites.
Few individuals can survive in the face of such abuse.
For that reason black culture developed strong values of community and of sharing and feeling they developed a culture of survival or soul. That s why when Blacks come to the university, the first thing they notice is that it lacks caring and sharing people. We knew that in the next generation leadership would come from the children of the poor. This was not altruism. It was a form of social insurance.