06-18-2021, 12:08 PM
(06-17-2021, 05:42 PM)Dill Wrote: Does the severely reduced Evergreen State example show that? That school had a traditional “Day of Absence/Day of Presence” ritual from the early ‘70s, based on the play in which Black people disappear from a Southern Community leaving a gaping hole in its labor/culture. On the “Evergreen Day of Absence” minorities were invited to off campus workshops to discuss racial issues. White people attended workshops on campus to reflect on the absence of their peers. Participation was voluntary, followed by a “Day of Presence” in which all the community came back together to celebrate unity.
In 2017, after Trump’s election, a student faculty committee of some 200 people decided that that year they would invert the ritual and whites would be invited off campus. Also, there was recognition of multiple identities. E.g., some could identify as both white and black, attend workshops on both sites. (Here is how the change in form was presented to students: http://www.cooperpointjournal.com/2017/04/10/day-of-absence-changes-form/.)
One white professor objected to the proposed racial role reversal in a campus email, saying “phenotype” should never determine who should be allowed to speak or be on a campus. Though the policy only “encouraged” people to follow the reversal, he characterized it as “force.” Some students later disrupted one of his classes shouting “racist,” a video of it went viral, and the professor, in turn, went on Tucker Carlson (bad move for a professor accused of racism). The amplified protest drew far right groups to campus to protest. Students counter protested, some barricading a building demanding the administration act.
There's a hell of a lot to argue with in both your posts, but in the interest of trying to keep things focused and civil I'm only going to comment on this particularly poor argument. There is an enormous amount of difference between students who are ethnic minorities choosing to participate in a day of absence and in telling the white students that they are not welcome on campus on a particular day.
One involves a choice being made by a person and the latter involves a condition being forced on a person. It's honestly like you'll bend over backwards and deploy the most twisted logic to defend racism when it's directed at white people. A little self examination would tell you why the backlash to your point of view is only growing.
