Or perhaps hypocrisy is the better word choice. A frat house at the University of Tennessee has been suspended because several (white) members painted their faces and dressed up as the Jackson 5 to attend a Halloween party last week (report). Black students complained, calling it insulting. The national fraternity (this was ) suspended the local chapter’s charter, meaning it would no longer be recognized by the school. Bad rednecks!
On the other hand, and this is where I start to get a little annoyed by the whole thing, beginning in January UT will have a semester long program to “celebrate Africa’s cultural, entertainment and educational contributions to non-African cultures around the world.” So I guess during this program students of all races will be paying tribute to these artists.
A few guys getting out ahead of time, on their own initiative, is no good though. The administration is “distressed.” I could be wrong, the article doesn’t particularly go into detail, but I didn’t read anything about the students who dressed up as the Jacksons doing anything, or behaving in any way, that is insulting or mocking. I kind of thought part of ignoring race is that people of any group should be able to idolize, or honor, people of any other group. Would a black student dressing up as, say, Bruce Springsteen be just as distressing?
For all the good they want to do, I think for our society to truly get over this issue will require a tad less sensitivity on the part of some people. Another instance of the campus PC police going overboard.
BillSaysThis 