Ty Schwoeffermann: Too Much Whitey on this Campus
Much as I loathe to bring attention to anything Ty Schwoeffermann writes, especially since I regard him as a racist hack*, it is hard to ignore his excruciatingly shrill guest commentary in today’s Ol’ Dirty.
Schwoeffermann starts out in typical style with an opening sentence filled with glaring factual errors and legal inaccuracies:
When the Brown v. Board of Education verdict forced public schools to desegregate on May 17, 1954, the national conscious officially reconciled the half decade of Jim Crow laws.
A “half decade” of Jim Crow laws? If Schwoeffermann is trying to make the point that we need more African-American history classes using himself as an example, well then, I guess he’s doing a bang-up job right off the bat.
Before abolition, people of color were forced to fight against white supremacy. Today, the struggle has changed; we still fight against white supremacy, but now we want equal academic opportunity. Such as the opportunity to study of fields of interests in a public institution.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Is Schwoeffermann equating the perceived lack of ethnic diversity in academia to more than 200 years of slavery? Oh yeah, I guess he is. Subtle.
People of color cannot relate to teachers at a Eurocentric university because they view history and politics completely differently.
Wow, speak for yourself Ty. I’ve taken a few classes on Asian history taught by Caucasian professors and found that I could relate to them because: 1. They are nice, intelligent human beings; and 2. I’m an open-minded person who can accept and interpret information relayed to me by an individual who may or may not be of the same gender identity and/or ethnic background.
Academics disagree about the interconnection of imperialism, slavery, nationalism, capitalism and democracy. Academia has heavily rejected alternative narratives that inspire resistance and revolution.
Has Schwoeffermann ever taken a class in history at this school? You cannot go a term taking a history class without being hit upside the head with stories on violent and peaceful resistance, revolution and dissent. For example, this past fall term I was assigned to read noted journalist and Communist activist John Reed’s “Insurgent Mexico,” which followed the exploits of Pancho Villa and his revolutionary army. Even my International Communication class through the J-school spent a considerable amount of time on pirate radio in South America. I’m also pretty sure that academia has not rejected the narratives of the French, Russian and the numerous Chinese revolutions.
It is the responsibility of flagship institutions to allow opportunities for people of color to work in the academic arena… A teacher of color will help white students see that people of color can in fact reach the top of academia.
To quote Olly from an e-mail conversation earlier today in response to the above excerpt (and which I am counting on his generosity to include in this blog post):
Wonderful. Hire people based on their skin colour in order to demonstrate that they can reach ‘the top of academia’. What’s wrong with this picture?
And the last word from Schwoeffermann:
Our school seriously lacks diversity in its faculty and in its academic subject matter. More teachers of color will help replace the culture of whiteness at this university.
Ty, do you know what would help replace the “culture of whiteness” at this university? If you actually took a moment to do your reading and pay attention in any one of the numerous classes available through the Department of History.
*Since it’s in vogue to throw around allegations of racism these days, I may as well join in.
