When I was studying abroad in Ireland during the fall semester of 2008, I composed a lengthy research paper which, turns out, was pretty ok. It was one of three that was posted by the program on World Learning's website.
Here's the link. Check it out.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Last Regular Column
This is the final "Stuff Tufts People Like" column published in the Tufts Daily during the Spring semester of 2009. There is a commencement issue, to be published May 17 (commencement), with one more column from yours truly in it, but this is the last thing most readers will see from me.
The Bubble
Published: Tuesday, April 21, 2009
If you spend most of your time at Tufts and rarely venture off campus for anything more than a latte at Starbucks or a movie in Davis Square, you might become convinced that there no longer is a world outside the gates of our Medford/Somerville campus. Even if you regularly visit, shop and dine all around the Boston area, it’s easy to forget what real life away from Tufts is like. It happens to me on occasion. I get stuck in a routine: wake up, go to class, club meetings, anti-bias rallies, party on the weekend, then repeat ad nauseum. It can be difficult to keep in touch with what happens in the “real world” when we’re so insulated inside the Tufts Bubble.
Likewise, people can forget societal norms and the way things tend to work elsewhere when they are at Tufts for long stretches. When I go home for a weekend or for break, I’m often surprised that my friends do, in fact, say words like “fag” without a second thought about the impact it might have. After freshman year, I got in a serious argument with a good friend of mine over his use of that word because after living at Tufts, I knew that it promoted societal bigotry and heteronormativity (a word that, honestly, I have never heard outside of Tufts).
Then, as I became re-attuned to the norms of my hometown, I started thinking that if he wanted to use “fag” as an insult after I had laid out my arguments against it, I really had no place to tell him otherwise. Unlike Tufts, the real world — in my experience, at least — doesn’t have a bias awareness team; there is no thought police, and so slurs which really hurt people are occasionally uttered.
I’m not sure that I made the right decision to overlook future uses of the word, but I was concerned that I was starting arguments for the wrong reasons — I was never personally offended by the word “faggot,” but I still thought I should try to stop it from being used, for whatever reason. Doesn’t it feel good to accuse someone of bigotry? I enjoyed it, I really did. The moral indignation and self-righteousness just flowing through your veins — you feel empowered, like you’ve grabbed the higher ground and you’re not giving it up. In that moment, it feels good to be angry because you’re right, the “other” is wrong, and you’re fighting the good fight.
This is what occurred with many of those at the anti-bias, anti-drunk-freshman rally on Thursday. Even people from outside Tufts came and basked in the glow of righteous indignation emanating from people at the rally who take any and every opportunity to get angry and offended, regardless of whether they themselves have been specifically targeted. It becomes like an addiction — if you’re not decrying racism or sexism or whatever the -ism of the day is, you start to feel adrift and without direction. But that doesn’t justify the idiotic behavior being exhibited.
The real anger we have all seen in the pages of the Daily and at the rally wasn’t, in my opinion, over the alleged racial violence that occurred two weeks ago. It was about puncturing the Bubble. Let’s admit: Most of us are very proud to tell people that we go to Tufts, and when something like this happens, it betrays the image most of us have of our school. We think we go to a progressive, unbiased university that is not only not racist, it’s anti-racist.
So, when I write a column that questions the campus’ reaction to a particular incident that seems extremely clear-cut to some, I become a target. I’ve been ridiculed for my opinions in any number of ways and called terrible names that I won’t repeat in print, but the only comments that bothered me were those that suggested that there must be some unknown reason belying my opinions, whether it was my own race, my lack of education or sheer ignorance. I was told to take classes, read books, and even invited to meet by some readers, all in the interest of enlightening me and/or converting me to buy into every bit of liberal orthodoxy that Tufts represents to these individuals.
Want to know a secret? I have read books. I’ve taken classes that deal very explicitly with racism and discrimination, and I can’t control my whiteness any more than the Korean Students Association students who were involved in the fight can control their race. The fact that I have a different point of view doesn’t mean that I don’t know or understand the issues, and this assumption that I must be unaware of critical race theory because I don’t buy into it really bothers me.
This punctured my Tufts Bubble. I foolishly thought that, while Tufts has many viewpoints and a variety of backgrounds represented on campus, mutual respect exists which makes discussing and acknowledging our differences so fruitful and beneficial. I also was under the (apparently ridiculous) impression that no one’s view would be disregarded or given less credence because of his or her background — even if that background is straight, white and male. It turns out that I was wrong.
The Bubble
Published: Tuesday, April 21, 2009
If you spend most of your time at Tufts and rarely venture off campus for anything more than a latte at Starbucks or a movie in Davis Square, you might become convinced that there no longer is a world outside the gates of our Medford/Somerville campus. Even if you regularly visit, shop and dine all around the Boston area, it’s easy to forget what real life away from Tufts is like. It happens to me on occasion. I get stuck in a routine: wake up, go to class, club meetings, anti-bias rallies, party on the weekend, then repeat ad nauseum. It can be difficult to keep in touch with what happens in the “real world” when we’re so insulated inside the Tufts Bubble.
Likewise, people can forget societal norms and the way things tend to work elsewhere when they are at Tufts for long stretches. When I go home for a weekend or for break, I’m often surprised that my friends do, in fact, say words like “fag” without a second thought about the impact it might have. After freshman year, I got in a serious argument with a good friend of mine over his use of that word because after living at Tufts, I knew that it promoted societal bigotry and heteronormativity (a word that, honestly, I have never heard outside of Tufts).
Then, as I became re-attuned to the norms of my hometown, I started thinking that if he wanted to use “fag” as an insult after I had laid out my arguments against it, I really had no place to tell him otherwise. Unlike Tufts, the real world — in my experience, at least — doesn’t have a bias awareness team; there is no thought police, and so slurs which really hurt people are occasionally uttered.
I’m not sure that I made the right decision to overlook future uses of the word, but I was concerned that I was starting arguments for the wrong reasons — I was never personally offended by the word “faggot,” but I still thought I should try to stop it from being used, for whatever reason. Doesn’t it feel good to accuse someone of bigotry? I enjoyed it, I really did. The moral indignation and self-righteousness just flowing through your veins — you feel empowered, like you’ve grabbed the higher ground and you’re not giving it up. In that moment, it feels good to be angry because you’re right, the “other” is wrong, and you’re fighting the good fight.
This is what occurred with many of those at the anti-bias, anti-drunk-freshman rally on Thursday. Even people from outside Tufts came and basked in the glow of righteous indignation emanating from people at the rally who take any and every opportunity to get angry and offended, regardless of whether they themselves have been specifically targeted. It becomes like an addiction — if you’re not decrying racism or sexism or whatever the -ism of the day is, you start to feel adrift and without direction. But that doesn’t justify the idiotic behavior being exhibited.
The real anger we have all seen in the pages of the Daily and at the rally wasn’t, in my opinion, over the alleged racial violence that occurred two weeks ago. It was about puncturing the Bubble. Let’s admit: Most of us are very proud to tell people that we go to Tufts, and when something like this happens, it betrays the image most of us have of our school. We think we go to a progressive, unbiased university that is not only not racist, it’s anti-racist.
So, when I write a column that questions the campus’ reaction to a particular incident that seems extremely clear-cut to some, I become a target. I’ve been ridiculed for my opinions in any number of ways and called terrible names that I won’t repeat in print, but the only comments that bothered me were those that suggested that there must be some unknown reason belying my opinions, whether it was my own race, my lack of education or sheer ignorance. I was told to take classes, read books, and even invited to meet by some readers, all in the interest of enlightening me and/or converting me to buy into every bit of liberal orthodoxy that Tufts represents to these individuals.
Want to know a secret? I have read books. I’ve taken classes that deal very explicitly with racism and discrimination, and I can’t control my whiteness any more than the Korean Students Association students who were involved in the fight can control their race. The fact that I have a different point of view doesn’t mean that I don’t know or understand the issues, and this assumption that I must be unaware of critical race theory because I don’t buy into it really bothers me.
This punctured my Tufts Bubble. I foolishly thought that, while Tufts has many viewpoints and a variety of backgrounds represented on campus, mutual respect exists which makes discussing and acknowledging our differences so fruitful and beneficial. I also was under the (apparently ridiculous) impression that no one’s view would be disregarded or given less credence because of his or her background — even if that background is straight, white and male. It turns out that I was wrong.
Shout out? What what!?
So, in the wake of the previous column, I got called out in an "anti-bias rally" that happened a few days later (in response to the original incident, not my column--at least ostensibly). See below the article from the Tufts Daily.
Rally goers: We will not be silenced
Ben Gittleson
Published: Friday, April 17, 2009
Around 200 people gathered on the Tisch Library patio and steps midday yesterday, decrying hate crimes and bias incidents against all groups and demanding that the administration take substantive action to prevent racism and hatred from continuing to pervade the Hill.
Under a sunny sky, students, administrators, faculty members and others spoke against the prevalence of discrimination, stereotyping of and biases against Asian-Americans and other minority groups. A large percentage of attendees wore red clothing to mark the rally, which had the goal of raising awareness of what many presenters said were often seemingly invisible acts of hate.
An altercation in the early-morning hours last Thursday between members of the Korean Students Association (KSA) and a freshman spurred the organization of the event. The administration is conducting a judicial investigation into the alleged bias incident, which many rally participants yesterday labeled a hate crime.
"If this was truly an isolated incident, we wouldn't have given it too much thought," said Jenny Lau, the incoming president of the Asian American Alliance, during a speech yesterday. Lau, a junior, explained the rally's aims and said the incident was representative of a much greater problem.
"As students, we have the right to feel respected and safe on ... campus," she said, calling on the administration to include the study of Asian-Americans in the curriculum. "The Asian-American voice is only one example of many voices of people who have been ... marginalized."
Last Thursday morning, a drunken freshman shouted racial slurs at a group of 13 Korean students practicing in the main lounge of Lewis Hall for their weekend culture show, KSA members at the scene said; the freshman told the Daily in a statement that he yelled obscenities, but he did not mention uttering racial epithets or being drunk.
The racially charged alleged remarks came after violence broke out between the KSA members and the freshman, according to KSA members. Both parties said the other side started the scuffle.
The Daily is withholding the freshman's name because the administration has not taken any action against him.
Yesterday's rally did not focus primarily on the details of the event itself, but rather on the wider implications of what many speakers called hate incidents that occur too frequently.
KSA Co-President Young Jeong spoke on behalf of two members of his group who were in the Lewis Hall lounge on Thursday morning.
"'F--k you ... Go back to your country,'" he told attendees the freshman had said that night. "Imagine these words being thrown at you."
"We are not here to ask for retaliation or revenge or any kind of punishment," Jeong, a senior, said. "We are here to raise awareness ... to give voice to those who have been silenced."
Senior Lecturer of American Studies Jean Wu denounced certain online discourse, including comments on TuftsDaily.com, that suggested rally organizers and supporters are "addicted" to reacting to bias incidents and hate crimes, she said.
The remarks the freshman allegedly made, she explained, cut deep.
"For Asian-Americans, these words are not the garden-variety putdown," she said.
University President Lawrence Bacow's chief of staff, Michael Baenen, attended the meeting in Bacow's place.
"Expressions of bias are insidious ... they are always hurtful, they erode community and they are not what we want Tufts to be about," he said. "I don't think any of us, especially those in Ballou, thinks we are where we want to be."
But later during yesterday's event, Lau chastised Bacow for sending a representative in his place and Baenen for not using a stronger term than "bias."
Reached later for comment, Baenen said that Bacow had been on the Boston campus attending meetings with overseers of the School of Medicine. Those meetings had been planned months in advance, Baenen added.
Boston City Councilor Sam Yoon, the city's first Asian-American councilor, spoke at the rally, too. He said that he had experienced hateful speech when he was on the campaign trail.
"This is not an isolated incident," said Yoon, who is running for mayor of Boston. "It's something that's endemic in our society."
Asian-Americans have long had to face stereotypes of them as passive, defenseless members of society, although other groups have had to endure hate, as well, Yoon said.
"When injustice or racial hatred happens to one of us," he said, "it happens to all of us."
Seniors Sofia Nelson and Jen Bailey told the crowd about similar incidents that have occurred in the past few years, saying the fact that they were attending yet another rally against bias was disappointing.
Nelson also railed against what she called "unacceptable" media coverage of the incident, particularly calling out Daily columnist and junior Will Ehrenfeld's Tuesday article, "Stuff Tufts People Like: Alleging bias." She criticized the piece in an op-ed she co-authored with senior Sarah Robbins that appeared in yesterday's Daily.
Nelson expressed anger at a decision by Daily editors to insert the word "allegedly" at certain points in her article that dealt with the particulars of last Thursday morning's events.
"Nothing about this incident is alleged," Nelson said yesterday. "I know what happened."
Two students delivered spoken-word pieces during the latter half of yesterday's presentation, poetically expounding on race and stereotypes in America. A Harvard University lecturer and a lawyer from the University of Massachusetts Boston also spoke.
Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Coffin, who delivered a short speech, said that he was proud of yesterday's rally, even though it came during the biannual diversity-focused Telescope event that yesterday brought admitted students to campus.
"I want prospective students to see Tufts in action," he said.
Over 40 student groups co-sponsored the event, which was organized by members of the KSA and other students encouraged to act after last week's incident, according to Kim. Part of its title, "We will not be silenced," became a refrain during the rally.
A number of Greek organizations came out for the event, including a couple Alpha Omicron Pi sisters who handed out stickers reading, "Hate is not a Greek value."
Estelle Davis, a senior, wore red and stayed on the patio after the event. She said she attended yesterday because the conversation that arose after last week's incident was "an incredibly emotional, personal experience" for her.
"This points to ... a lack of understanding about the way race and power structures work at Tufts," she said, calling on the administration to act by altering the curriculum and hiring more diverse faculty. "It's more than just talking about it ... Not just saying racism is bad, but saying that we understand that this is part of a deeper issue."
Rally goers: We will not be silenced
Ben Gittleson
Published: Friday, April 17, 2009
Around 200 people gathered on the Tisch Library patio and steps midday yesterday, decrying hate crimes and bias incidents against all groups and demanding that the administration take substantive action to prevent racism and hatred from continuing to pervade the Hill.
Under a sunny sky, students, administrators, faculty members and others spoke against the prevalence of discrimination, stereotyping of and biases against Asian-Americans and other minority groups. A large percentage of attendees wore red clothing to mark the rally, which had the goal of raising awareness of what many presenters said were often seemingly invisible acts of hate.
An altercation in the early-morning hours last Thursday between members of the Korean Students Association (KSA) and a freshman spurred the organization of the event. The administration is conducting a judicial investigation into the alleged bias incident, which many rally participants yesterday labeled a hate crime.
"If this was truly an isolated incident, we wouldn't have given it too much thought," said Jenny Lau, the incoming president of the Asian American Alliance, during a speech yesterday. Lau, a junior, explained the rally's aims and said the incident was representative of a much greater problem.
"As students, we have the right to feel respected and safe on ... campus," she said, calling on the administration to include the study of Asian-Americans in the curriculum. "The Asian-American voice is only one example of many voices of people who have been ... marginalized."
Last Thursday morning, a drunken freshman shouted racial slurs at a group of 13 Korean students practicing in the main lounge of Lewis Hall for their weekend culture show, KSA members at the scene said; the freshman told the Daily in a statement that he yelled obscenities, but he did not mention uttering racial epithets or being drunk.
The racially charged alleged remarks came after violence broke out between the KSA members and the freshman, according to KSA members. Both parties said the other side started the scuffle.
The Daily is withholding the freshman's name because the administration has not taken any action against him.
Yesterday's rally did not focus primarily on the details of the event itself, but rather on the wider implications of what many speakers called hate incidents that occur too frequently.
KSA Co-President Young Jeong spoke on behalf of two members of his group who were in the Lewis Hall lounge on Thursday morning.
"'F--k you ... Go back to your country,'" he told attendees the freshman had said that night. "Imagine these words being thrown at you."
"We are not here to ask for retaliation or revenge or any kind of punishment," Jeong, a senior, said. "We are here to raise awareness ... to give voice to those who have been silenced."
Senior Lecturer of American Studies Jean Wu denounced certain online discourse, including comments on TuftsDaily.com, that suggested rally organizers and supporters are "addicted" to reacting to bias incidents and hate crimes, she said.
The remarks the freshman allegedly made, she explained, cut deep.
"For Asian-Americans, these words are not the garden-variety putdown," she said.
University President Lawrence Bacow's chief of staff, Michael Baenen, attended the meeting in Bacow's place.
"Expressions of bias are insidious ... they are always hurtful, they erode community and they are not what we want Tufts to be about," he said. "I don't think any of us, especially those in Ballou, thinks we are where we want to be."
But later during yesterday's event, Lau chastised Bacow for sending a representative in his place and Baenen for not using a stronger term than "bias."
Reached later for comment, Baenen said that Bacow had been on the Boston campus attending meetings with overseers of the School of Medicine. Those meetings had been planned months in advance, Baenen added.
Boston City Councilor Sam Yoon, the city's first Asian-American councilor, spoke at the rally, too. He said that he had experienced hateful speech when he was on the campaign trail.
"This is not an isolated incident," said Yoon, who is running for mayor of Boston. "It's something that's endemic in our society."
Asian-Americans have long had to face stereotypes of them as passive, defenseless members of society, although other groups have had to endure hate, as well, Yoon said.
"When injustice or racial hatred happens to one of us," he said, "it happens to all of us."
Seniors Sofia Nelson and Jen Bailey told the crowd about similar incidents that have occurred in the past few years, saying the fact that they were attending yet another rally against bias was disappointing.
Nelson also railed against what she called "unacceptable" media coverage of the incident, particularly calling out Daily columnist and junior Will Ehrenfeld's Tuesday article, "Stuff Tufts People Like: Alleging bias." She criticized the piece in an op-ed she co-authored with senior Sarah Robbins that appeared in yesterday's Daily.
Nelson expressed anger at a decision by Daily editors to insert the word "allegedly" at certain points in her article that dealt with the particulars of last Thursday morning's events.
"Nothing about this incident is alleged," Nelson said yesterday. "I know what happened."
Two students delivered spoken-word pieces during the latter half of yesterday's presentation, poetically expounding on race and stereotypes in America. A Harvard University lecturer and a lawyer from the University of Massachusetts Boston also spoke.
Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Lee Coffin, who delivered a short speech, said that he was proud of yesterday's rally, even though it came during the biannual diversity-focused Telescope event that yesterday brought admitted students to campus.
"I want prospective students to see Tufts in action," he said.
Over 40 student groups co-sponsored the event, which was organized by members of the KSA and other students encouraged to act after last week's incident, according to Kim. Part of its title, "We will not be silenced," became a refrain during the rally.
A number of Greek organizations came out for the event, including a couple Alpha Omicron Pi sisters who handed out stickers reading, "Hate is not a Greek value."
Estelle Davis, a senior, wore red and stayed on the patio after the event. She said she attended yesterday because the conversation that arose after last week's incident was "an incredibly emotional, personal experience" for her.
"This points to ... a lack of understanding about the way race and power structures work at Tufts," she said, calling on the administration to act by altering the curriculum and hiring more diverse faculty. "It's more than just talking about it ... Not just saying racism is bad, but saying that we understand that this is part of a deeper issue."
Alleging Bias
This article discusses the issues surround an altercation, the events of which can be learned about here. This is the one that made me famous (sort of), and also probably the most hated guy on campus, for a little while at least. Check out the comments (and myriad op-eds in response).
Published: Tuesday, April 14, 2009
By now, everyone on campus has heard about the alleged “bias incident” that occurred in Lewis Hall last week involving a dance group from the Korean Students Association (KSA) and a drunk freshman. Personally, I got multiple e-mails from friends and one from Dean of Students Bruce Reitman, and an invitation to a Facebook group (which at last count had 1,824 members), and I came across multiple Facebook “notes” about the situation.
I’m not going to rehash the story. It’s been told many times, with input from both sides. My question, though, is this: What makes this a bias incident? Was there “bias” when the drunk kid started imitating the dance the KSA was doing? Maybe — they were, after all, practicing a dance for a cultural show and not just an average, mainstream dance for an average, mainstream show; if TDC were rehearsing and the incident proceeded similarly, I don’t think it would be called a bias incident, and I doubt people would be quite so up in arms about the situation in general, but I’ll get to that.
Was it a bias incident because of what the kid said? He allegedly employed racial slurs to verbally abuse the dancers after the physical altercation had ended, calling them names and telling them to “go back to China.” I suppose this makes what up until then would have been considered merely a fight or, depending on which side you fall, assault, into an incident of racial bias. I know what you’re thinking: Well, duh. But think — what do the kid’s words after a fight have to do with the apparent motivations for the fight?
Before the violence began — we’re not sure who made the situation physical, although I’m inclined to believe the KSA members as they corroborate each others’ stories and they were sober — there was no mention of race or ethnicity. According to the Daily, the freshman allegedly called the dance “gay,” but most of us have been in groups where using that word as a placeholder for “stupid” or “bad” is common. That doesn’t make it acceptable, but it happens all the time, and the student body doesn’t get up in arms over something like that. In any event, no epithets were uttered, and no racial threats or comments were made before the violence began.
With these facts in mind, I find it hard to call what happened a bias incident; there was bias, and there was a conflict, but they seem somewhat disjointed. I’m really disconcerted by the focus on comments that were made at the tail end of the incident as a whole when a lot occurred beforehand that’s worthy of our attention. All signs point to serious physical violence with injuries sustained on both sides. And then — afterward — a drunk freshman allegedly said something stupid and yes, offensive, inappropriate, “biased” and totally unacceptable. I’m not here to defend this kid who, for the record, I don’t know and have never met. I don’t know any of the people involved, for that matter.
The real issue here isn’t racial insensitivity. It’s not “bias,” no matter how you define the word. We should be talking about violence and resorting to violence as a solution to our problems. My biggest worry is not a stupid comment that was obviously hurtful enough to raise a ridiculous furor at Tufts. Tufts people love an uproar, but apparently we also like overlooking the real issue. There’s no evidence the attack was motivated by racial anger or “bias,” but it’s obvious that both the freshman student and the five KSA members thought it totally acceptable to use violence to solve their dispute. I don’t want to discount the danger and perniciousness of racism, but it’s more worrisome to me that violence has so pervaded our school and our society that we find a racial slur more notable than a serious violent conflict.
Published: Tuesday, April 14, 2009
By now, everyone on campus has heard about the alleged “bias incident” that occurred in Lewis Hall last week involving a dance group from the Korean Students Association (KSA) and a drunk freshman. Personally, I got multiple e-mails from friends and one from Dean of Students Bruce Reitman, and an invitation to a Facebook group (which at last count had 1,824 members), and I came across multiple Facebook “notes” about the situation.
I’m not going to rehash the story. It’s been told many times, with input from both sides. My question, though, is this: What makes this a bias incident? Was there “bias” when the drunk kid started imitating the dance the KSA was doing? Maybe — they were, after all, practicing a dance for a cultural show and not just an average, mainstream dance for an average, mainstream show; if TDC were rehearsing and the incident proceeded similarly, I don’t think it would be called a bias incident, and I doubt people would be quite so up in arms about the situation in general, but I’ll get to that.
Was it a bias incident because of what the kid said? He allegedly employed racial slurs to verbally abuse the dancers after the physical altercation had ended, calling them names and telling them to “go back to China.” I suppose this makes what up until then would have been considered merely a fight or, depending on which side you fall, assault, into an incident of racial bias. I know what you’re thinking: Well, duh. But think — what do the kid’s words after a fight have to do with the apparent motivations for the fight?
Before the violence began — we’re not sure who made the situation physical, although I’m inclined to believe the KSA members as they corroborate each others’ stories and they were sober — there was no mention of race or ethnicity. According to the Daily, the freshman allegedly called the dance “gay,” but most of us have been in groups where using that word as a placeholder for “stupid” or “bad” is common. That doesn’t make it acceptable, but it happens all the time, and the student body doesn’t get up in arms over something like that. In any event, no epithets were uttered, and no racial threats or comments were made before the violence began.
With these facts in mind, I find it hard to call what happened a bias incident; there was bias, and there was a conflict, but they seem somewhat disjointed. I’m really disconcerted by the focus on comments that were made at the tail end of the incident as a whole when a lot occurred beforehand that’s worthy of our attention. All signs point to serious physical violence with injuries sustained on both sides. And then — afterward — a drunk freshman allegedly said something stupid and yes, offensive, inappropriate, “biased” and totally unacceptable. I’m not here to defend this kid who, for the record, I don’t know and have never met. I don’t know any of the people involved, for that matter.
The real issue here isn’t racial insensitivity. It’s not “bias,” no matter how you define the word. We should be talking about violence and resorting to violence as a solution to our problems. My biggest worry is not a stupid comment that was obviously hurtful enough to raise a ridiculous furor at Tufts. Tufts people love an uproar, but apparently we also like overlooking the real issue. There’s no evidence the attack was motivated by racial anger or “bias,” but it’s obvious that both the freshman student and the five KSA members thought it totally acceptable to use violence to solve their dispute. I don’t want to discount the danger and perniciousness of racism, but it’s more worrisome to me that violence has so pervaded our school and our society that we find a racial slur more notable than a serious violent conflict.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)