"O Come All Ye Black Folk": A Satire of Affirmative Action, or The Venting of White Frustration

The Primary Source, Tuft's on-campus publication of conservative thoughts and opinions, recently published an issue that included a so called satire of affirmative action policy titled, "O Come All Ye Black Folk". As Robinson, the president of the student government, stated "if the satire was meant to focus on affirmative action, 'It did a poor job." (http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/12/12/tufts). This 'carol' did not seem to address many issuses regarding affirmative action or the University's policy regarding affirmative action. The carol has the line "Fifty-two black freshman.” (http://unc0mm0n53n53.wordpress.com/2006/12/17/o-come-all-ye-black-folk) at the end of every verse, like it is or should be shocking that there were 52 black students admitted to Tufts with the freshman class. This is appaling. As I see it, it should be shocking that of out the over one thousand admitted freshman, only 52 students admitted were black. The carol conveys a sense of frustration from white students that these students were admitted. The carol also makes the assumption that none of the 52 black admitted students deserved to get into Tufts, but were only gained admission due to affirmative action. I don't know how the editors or publishers of The Primary Source could possibly print a line saying "No matter what your grades are, F’s, D’s, or G’s,Give them all privileged status" (http://unc0mm0n53n53.wordpress.com/2006/12/17/o-come-all-ye-black-folk) without realizing that the statment is not based on fact and, above all, is a direct affront on the intelligence of every colored person at Tufts. If The Primary Source wished to satirize the University's policy of affirmative action, they should have used more fact and less racism.