Blacks forced to immerse themselves in a white-based curricula lose touch with the cultural complexities of the unique black experience.

Those were the sentiments expressed by representatives of BROTHERS, which is sponsoring the panel discussion “Are Blacks Better Off in White Institutions,” and campus organizations such as the Student Association, Campus Activities Board, Black Student Union, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Minority Relations Advisory Committee.

Questions stemming from Plessy vs. Ferguson and Brown vs. Board of Education will be the panel’s foundation. The cases dealt with racial segregation and equality.

“We only listed these two topics on the agenda because we know they’re going to stimulate discussion on a variety of related issues,” said Mike Bonds, discussion mediator and BROTHERS member. Bonds believes there is a discrepancy between the number and quality of black cultural programs available in an integrated educational setting.

“A black child today grows up studying white authors, pioneers, and cultural leaders in integrated schools without any exposure to Afro-centric history and culture,” Bonds said. “Whereas if that same black child is educated in a black school he would still study white history and leaders, but he would also be exposed to issues dealing with the black experience.”

Programs such as urban bussing and desegregation are designed to push children toward interracial interaction. But in reality the programs are not working, said Chris O’Banner, BROTHERS president.

“The system that is presently set up doesn’t benefit the minority organizations as a whole,” O’Banner said. “If we want to bring black performers and speakers to NIU, we are criticized and have to justify ourselves. But programs catering to whites have easy access.”

Van Amos, program coordinator for the Center for Black Studies, said blacks must adhere to the norms of the “dominant” culture just as any oppressed group. “The interaction process has led to blacks being pushed toward white culture, but not the other way,” Amos said.

However, Admasu Zike, faculty advisor for the Center for Black Studies, had a different perspective. “Simply the fact integration provides a place where different cultures can interact makes it positive,” Zike said. “If it (BROTHERS) feels that blacks can obtain a better quality of education through segregation, it has to be able to support that contention.”