Reason - Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, is quite satisfied that Erika Christakis—the Yale University professor who mildly defended offensive Halloween costumes—has decided to quit teaching. On Twitter, he wrote:
Yale faculty member at center of protests will leave teaching role https://t.co/vums1UlRAl Free speech is good. Respecting others is better
2 comments:
It's not a Constitutional issue.
Christakis was, and still is, free to say or write whatever she wants. That her speech might happen to call into question her judgement should really be no real surprise. College instructors have a further obligation to elevate the consciousness of their student charges. She deserves to be removed due to clumsy incompetence, insensitivity, and a marginally suppressed racism,
remaining incapable of comprehending why the validation and encouragement of students wearing blackface, especially in these times of escalating racial tensions, grossly exceeds the bounds of behavior deemed "a little bit obnoxious, a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive."
In 2000, Spike Lee made a film entitled Bamboozled, a satire built upon the premise of a modern minstrel show.
It is a film this writer recommends, that others might glean some appreciation
of the humiliation, pain, and stigma associated with the traditions of 'blackface'.
Erika Christakis might have benefited from a viewing.
She is correct about universities being considered 'safe places' for maturation. As to her dissembling blackface as merely "a certain regressive, or even transgressive, experience", we take issue.
Yale professors ought to know better---she deserved to go.
Post a Comment