2008 Woodie Awards
Middle passage re-enactment cancelled
James Alton Croker III
Issue date: 4/12/06 Section: Opinions
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Due to the serious concerns raised in response to the proposed Middle Passage Reenactment, the Diversity Council must cancel the event, with regrets. While I accept these concerns relating to emotional responses and the possible outbreak of violence at this proposed event, I firmly believe this demonstration had real merit, as it would have sparked increased discourse and would have positioned the various diversity-aimed elements of the university system to better tackle the inherent bigotry present in our school's social culture. I am certain many are unaware of the facts surrounding this proposal, and as Director of Diversity Affairs for Student Government and chair of the Diversity Council, I feel it is necessary to provide an account as to why the demonstration was proposed and what it was we had hoped to accomplish.
This event was developed to be a direct response to the Facebook issue. While I appreciate the value and understand the necessity of forums and writing resolutions of condemnation in response to the blatant hate speech presented, they do not, in fact, address the real issue exposed by the incident: namely that there exists at this institution a culture of inherent, clandestine bigotry and racial insensitivity in how we relate to one another, despite a true commitment to fostering diversity from the administration and the existence of several dozen diversity aimed organizations. Like others, I was thoroughly offended by the statements made by a few that characterized "some" Black people as "crickets, turds and douche bags," but the question is, "Why?" Not just because they are racist; I deal with racism everyday. What offends me more than asinine comments like those is a situation where a person can make these types of statements and there is no legitimate recourse. Some are certainly wondering what does this have to do with an interpretive representation of how African peoples were packed in the hulls of slave ships and brought across the water. Well, in my opinion, quite a bit.
This event was developed to be a direct response to the Facebook issue. While I appreciate the value and understand the necessity of forums and writing resolutions of condemnation in response to the blatant hate speech presented, they do not, in fact, address the real issue exposed by the incident: namely that there exists at this institution a culture of inherent, clandestine bigotry and racial insensitivity in how we relate to one another, despite a true commitment to fostering diversity from the administration and the existence of several dozen diversity aimed organizations. Like others, I was thoroughly offended by the statements made by a few that characterized "some" Black people as "crickets, turds and douche bags," but the question is, "Why?" Not just because they are racist; I deal with racism everyday. What offends me more than asinine comments like those is a situation where a person can make these types of statements and there is no legitimate recourse. Some are certainly wondering what does this have to do with an interpretive representation of how African peoples were packed in the hulls of slave ships and brought across the water. Well, in my opinion, quite a bit.
