Racism is alive and well in 2011, so the Garden State isn't exempt from ass-backwards ignorance. A Rutgers UniversityPh.D student invited other white students in her "Race, Ethnicity and Inequality in Education" class to a "whites only" viewing of Disney's Song of the South, in which Uncle Remus (seen above) helps to illustrate the ideal master and slave relationship.
The student welcomed her "fellow non-racist racists" to come with "strawhats and other Darkeyisms," before volunteering to buy a "watermillyum" if enough people agreed to show up. However, she reminded the selected bunch to be wary of who they brought with them, as she might blurt "racist things at the TV."
Of course students were pissed off when they got the email, but what's truly alarming is that nobody called her out on it. Even worse, the English department remained quiet as well, electing not to formally address the email. Now that this story has gotten out, they have to respond with some damage control, but everyone needs to realize that not speaking up against racism is basically condoning it.
Get the entire fuck outta here with that.
UPDATE: If you take a look below, it appears as if the English department did respond. Why didn't Jezebel mention that? Regardless, this whole situation is terrible, and further proof that we don't live in a post-racial society.
[via Jezebel]
Follow @ComplexGuide.
Greg Trevor December 14th, 2011 at 11:13 AM
Actually, the university DID respond -- both to the incident and to the writer for jezebel.com. In the response to jezebel.com, the Chair of the Rutgers English Department pointed out several serious inaccuracies in the story. So far, jezebel.com has chosen NOT to include any of this response, which is below. It is in the form of an email from Rutgers Professor Carolyn Williams to Anna North of jezebel.com. The complete text is below. Dear Anna, Thank you for your inquiry. (I am a Jezebel reader.) The article in the Daily Targum is erroneous in many respects. Most important, it is not true that we "failed to address racism," as the title and substance of the article claims. The offending email was written on September 28. On September 29, our Director of Graduate Studies was informed, and on September 30 she wrote to the author of the email. On that same day (September 30), the author of the offending email apologized to her fellow students and to the Director of Graduate Studies. The party certainly did not take place. On October 3, the author of the email apologized to the entire class. Many meetings between faculty and students, faculty and faculty, students and students have taken place to discuss what happened, with one outcome being the plan to set up a Civility Forum. Faculty members worked hard to help the organizers shape the structure, timing, and content of the Forum; the Targum article seriously underestimates this participation. Yes, the students were in charge, and we think that is a good thing. Our Forum took place on December 7. Furthermore, we did issue an official response. I will copy it into this email. I am hopeful – and I do believe -- that we have learned throughout this process. As you will see in the response, below, we are committed to restoring our community as one free from bias in any form. Sincerely, Carolyn Williams Chair, Department of English Rutgers University Dear colleagues in English -- faculty, staff, graduate students, The Department of English, like the rest of Rutgers University, finds bias acts unacceptable. Despite our best efforts, a bias act did occur this fall in the context of one of our graduate classes, and it disrupted our community. We have spoken to the African American students and other students hurt by the act, both as a group and individually; and we have sought counsel from African American faculty, with whom our students have also been in dialogue. A group of our graduate students planned and spoke at the Civility Forum, which was very well attended last week, and which has helped us to register the severity of the problem, and to begin to move toward restoration of our community. Thus, going forward, the Department will continue in its efforts to create and sustain a safe learning environment for all. Moreover, we expect that all members of our community will help to create the most productive environment possible, an environment comfortable to everyone and free from fear, in which the pursuit of knowledge and the articulation of thought will be fostered and encouraged. To this end, hurtful language and other acts of bias or hate will not be tolerated. The Civility Forum hosted on December 7th provided a good opportunity for us to come together to discuss the difficult issues that have arisen this semester. We wish to thank the organizers of the Forum for their leadership in this important respect. We will continue the dialogue as long as it is productive for the parties who have been injured and for the student community within the Department of English. A meeting to discuss further ways of exploring these issues has already been scheduled. If anyone witnesses or experiences an incident of bias or hate within our Department, please come to speak with one of us immediately. If you do not wish to report it to us, you may speak with Dean Cheryl Clarke, who coordinates the Bias Prevention Education Committee at Rutgers New Brunswick (cclarke@rci.rutgers.edu, 848-445-4088); Anne Newman, Director of Student Conduct (732-9329414); or Judith Ryan, Director of Compliance (848-932-2406). We have attached the Bias Incident Report Form to this email, which includes the contact information and web sites for these key people in the University, any of whom would be glad to talk with you and will make sure your report receives prompt attention. You may also file a report online, anonymously or not, at http://www.bias.rutgers.edu/ Since Wednesday’s Forum, we have been in touch with many people across the University who have been extremely helpful and have given us good advice about ways of moving forward. We will continue to seek guidance from outside and from within our own community. With this guidance, the Executive Committee of the Department, as well as the Graduate Executive Committee, will begin work early in the new year to articulate policy, which will be discussed with the Department as a whole; further events will be planned; and we will continue the dialogue begun at the Civility Forum. We are absolutely committed to practicing critical pedagogy in a welcoming environment, free from bias in any form. Finally, if you wish further clarification and details on what our department is doing to restore our environment, we strongly encourage you to contact us. Sincerely, Carolyn Williams, Chair Rebecca Walkowitz, Acting Director of Graduate Studies Department of English
the pontificator December 14th, 2011 at 06:23 PM
"post-racial society"? seriously, complex? do, racialized (people from the middle east, asians, african-americans, latinos, etc. etc.) people really need further proof that they live in a racial (read: racist) society? come on son. while i do agree that dip-shits like the above mentioned abound, and this "event" is deplorable, and [insert any Disney movie here] is racist... but how naive are you to think that we live in a post-racial society or suggest that racism is a thing of the past? get [partially] fuck outta here with this type of sloppy writing.
scathach December 18th, 2011 at 03:10 PM
If there was an all-black or all-Hispanic event at my school, as a white person, I could care less. In fact, I would make it a point to avoid it. Why are whites the only race that cannot congregate among themselves, while other races can?