Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Racism in America

Racism is alive and well, even among university faculty where you'd think the bigots would at least be circumspect. Circumspection, though, is only for the faint-hearted, not for brazen hate-mongers like a certain female professor at the University of Alabama named Dr. Grundy. The following is from a report at The Blaze:
Dr. Grundy, an incoming assistant professor of sociology ... at the University of Alabama, reportedly posted a number of racially charged tweets about her disdain of “black people” — and her comments have apparently left many people offended. Though Grundy made her Twitter account private after her anti-black tweets started to go viral, the information is now on the Internet for good.

In one tweet, Grundy refers to “black college males” as a “problem population.” She also rails against “black masculinity,” calling it “THE problem for America’s colleges.” The Boston Herald has more on some of her other posts:

Other tweets stated “Deal with your black (expletive), black people .... and “Every ... week I commit myself to not spending a dime in black-owned businesses. And [more and more] I find it nearly impossible.”

UA released the following statement on Sunday:
“While we recognize that Dr. Grundy has the right to hold and express personal opinions, UA does not condone racism or bigotry in any form, and we are offended by such statements.”
Several students also slammed the professor’s “exclusionary” comments and argued a college campus should emphasize tolerance to all people. It wasn’t clear if Grundy would face any disciplinary action for her remarks.
Pretty disgusting, isn't it? And to think there are those who still insist that racism is no longer a problem in this country. A segment of NPR's Smart Talk the other evening dealt with how much bigotry there is among whites, much of it unconscious, and certainly Dr. Grundy represents millions of people who hold views similar to hers. Does anyone think that those who voice such sentiments should be compensated by taxpayers to teach our kids?

A couple of things, though, about the article I quoted. I altered it. The school which employs Dr. Grundy is not Alabama, it's Boston University, and Ms Grundy is not white, but black. The story above reversed "white" and "black" as those words appeared in the original article. You can bet if Grundy were white, especially if she were a white male, she'd be fired, or at least required to take sensitivity training, but because she's a black female, well, we'll see what, if anything, happens to her. After all, racism is considered malign in liberal circles only when it's practiced by whites.