The Insult Of Overprotecting Minority Students
Ralph Ellison saw it that way.
The thing is, claiming to be insulted or "wounded" by words is now a way to unearned power over others. Overprotection is the best pathway to grievance for all the grievance hunters -- who are really power-seekers with a PC veneer.
About Ellison's take, NYU history and education prof Jonathan Zimmerman writes in the LA Times:
In a 1967 interview, the African American novelist Ralph Ellison denounced the commonplace idea that blacks had been permanently "damaged" by slavery, segregation and institutional racism. Instead, Ellison insisted, blacks' survival in the face of discrimination and hatred demonstrated their strength and character."Any people who could endure all of that brutalization and keep together, who could undergo such dismemberment and resuscitate itself ... is obviously more than the sum of its brutalization," Ellison said. "I am not denying the negative things which have happened to us and which continue to happen, but I am compelled to reject all condescending, narrowly paternalistic interpretations of Negro American life and personality from whatever quarters they come, whether white or Negro."
Ellison would be appalled by our current moment on American campuses, where the damage thesis has returned with a vengeance. From Yale University and Ithaca College to the University of Missouri and Claremont McKenna College, black students and their allies are claiming that racist behavior -- and administrators' weak response to it -- are harming minorities' psychological health. They insist that overtly racist comments as well as "microaggressions" -- smaller, day-to-day slights -- take a psychic toll.
"I have friends who are not going to class, who are not doing their homework, who are losing sleep, who are skipping meals, and who are having breakdowns," wrote one student at Yale, where a professor's email about Halloween costumes triggered protests.
...If we let ourselves be governed by feelings, we'll go down a rabbit hole of competing grievances and recriminations. The question will no longer be who is right or wrong or what's most worth rectifying -- in any objective, demonstrable sense -- but who is experiencing the most pain and trauma.
In the process, we'll demean minority students in the name of protection. As Ralph Ellison reminded us nearly half a century ago, the idea of damaged black minds condescends to people who are much stronger than the accumulated slights they have suffered. I support the minority students standing up to the racism that still surrounds them. But I won't patronize them by "validating" everything they say simply because they feel it. Neither should you.
Damn straight, Mr. Ellison. This current grievance culture reminds me of the story of the Princess and the Pea. Of course, it's all fostered by the lawyer's guild.
Canvasback at November 24, 2015 12:11 AM
Send the 'troubled' ones home to receive medical care on their parents dime/time with college until a doctor says they are 'cured' and it will stop.
Bob in Texas at November 24, 2015 5:44 AM
Ellison touches on something... if blacks cannot overcome (despite the fact that they have), if they cannot survive without privileges and special favors, then that implies that they are too weak to ever be productive citizens. If that is true, why should society support a permanent underclass? If it were true, the nation would be better off to simply drive blacks into exile. Obviously that's an absurd conclusion, and when a premise leads to a absurd conclusion, the premise is highly suspect, to say the least.
The latter-day activists have turned that around, though. They recognize the problem with the above -- and they explain it by concluding that white people are inherently, genetically evil. The theory goes that since whites are inherently evil, they are morally obligated to accept second-class citizenship and give up their time and wealth and aspirations to support minority groups. The problem with that is: it's a religion that offers no hope of salvation. Such religions are ineffective, because the parishioners will just say, "well, if we're condemned no matter what, then we may as well party down." Or they just walk away and find another belief system, one that holds out hope instead of blanket condemnation.
So, you so-called civil rights activists, what now? Y'know, MLK laid out a path for you, but you have rejected that path out of hand. Now, the path that you chose instead has come to a dead end. You're in the weeds. What next?
Cousin Dave at November 24, 2015 6:52 AM
Well, according to another Amy, white women are the world's worst mothers.
So it probably all balances out in the long run.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at November 24, 2015 9:41 AM
I must admit Gog, "...very efficient, goal-oriented sex." doesn't inspire jealousy in me. And "what sane person alive today would choose to live in Paris over Pyongyang? Or London over Lagos? Or Texas over Tehran?" is another gem.
I take it The Daily Currant is another joke paper and none of that was written by Amy Chua.
Ben at November 24, 2015 10:23 AM
That was a hoot Gog!
Obviously Nigerians are successful due to their email funding abilities.
Bob in Texas at November 24, 2015 12:31 PM
"...if blacks cannot overcome (despite the fact that they have), if they cannot survive without privileges and special favors, then that implies that they are too weak to ever be productive citizens."
Some have. The majority have not, and are used as justification for endless wealth-redistribution schemes.
Asians and Jews dominate the sciences, absent Affirmative Action. We are not allowed to say why that might be the case, and we may not speak of anyone as if they did not have that ability.
Of course that's stupid.
Fred knows this.
Radwaste at November 24, 2015 7:56 PM
Black people lately appear to be enthusiastically engaged in demonstrating that the old racists were right all along. May I modestly suggest that this isn't a good idea.
Alan at November 24, 2015 9:56 PM
Leave a comment