Was anyone else troubled by the photo of Appalachian State football fans on the front page the NY Times website today? There's a different story featured on the front page now, but the photo is still heading the article.
Why do these students think this is okay?
Cenus says Boone, NC is 3.4% Black. In other words, there are 461 Blacks out of 13,472 residents.
Apparently the racial makeup of the school (PDF) is about the same as that of the town ASU is located in.
3% of the ASU students are Black, though most of the student body comes to ASU from North Carolina counties outside of Watauga County, where Boone is located.
The state of North Carolina is 21.8% Black, as of 2005. Of course it's possible that Black enrollment at UNC schools is low across the board. This is not the case, however. The following is the percent Black students enrolled at all of the University of North Carolina schools in 2002 (PDF).
- Appalachian State Univ. - 3%
- East Carolina Univ. - 14%
- Elizabeth City State Univ. - 79%
- Fayetteville State Univ. - 77%
- North Carolina A&T Univ. - 92%
- North Carolina Central Univ. - 89%
- North Carolina School of the Arts - 10%
- North Carolina State Univ. - 10%
- UNC Ashville - 3%
- UNC Chappel Hill - 11%
- UNC Charolotte - 17%
- UNC Greensboro - 20%
- UNC Pembroke - 20%
- UNC Wilmington - 5%
- Western Carolina Univ. - 5%
- Winston-Salem State Univ. - 83%
The numbers show that one other school, UNC Ashville, scores as low on racial diversity as ASU. Two others come close (UNC Wilmington and Western Carolina Univ). Most of the UNC schools do much better.
Do white football fans do blackface at other UNC schools? I cannot say. Nor can I say what it's like to be Black at any of these schools. But the numbers are suggestive, and I still want to know why these students think this is okay?
Photo credit: Chuck Burton/Associated Press
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