Alabama University - #1 in football,
thanks to your African American athletes; last in social justice, thanks to your white students & culture.
75
Alabama has changed a great deal since
I lived there and went to a segregated school
where the all African American Faculty provided
an excellent education.
Keep the changes coming
but try not to use the word "Racist".
6
I don't even care about these race issues. People cry about this nonsense every day and it's tiresome.
24
It seems to me that Mr. Riley resigned because he felt that he did not have the support of the University leadership that ostensibly hired him to foster the appearance of diversity, Unfortunately racist attitudes die hard. The last thing a racist wants to admit is that he/she is racist.
20
The student body is 80% white.
The football team is 80% black.
The Alabama coach, Nick Saban is the highest paid college coach in the country @ $7.5 million/year.
Imagine how quickly change could happen if he were to use his unbelievable power to speak out on an issue such as this.
But, sadly, no...even in 2019, the labor of black bodies still creates the income and generates the revenue needed to prop up a system designed to create a new chapter in the antebellum mythology, which stifles true diversity and still sees persons of color as interlopers, servants, and exceptions.
It is well past time for Alabama to join the 20th century.
99
This mess is a bit hard for me to grasp.
Of course a black American academic is going to have made comments that referenced “the police and the American flag as fixtures of a “systemic history of racism”. Truer words were never spoken. Those of us who were born white. MUST eventually reach a point where we understand that our country and the flag that represents us were BORN with the evil stain of racial intolerance. It is a sad, disgusting and repulsive part of our DNA whether we accept it or not. And it will continue to infect generations of people to come if we don’t just admit our culpability and take whatever steps we can take to redress the legitimate concerns of our black brothers and sisters who first arrived, destined to be treated worse than animals, to a life of slavery in the colony of South Carolina in 1619. As long as this reality of pain, suffering and brutality is rejected and denied by those of us who have never been it’s victims...we will all continue to suffer in ignorance and venality.
68
I am no college age - as I just crossed 70.
But I did graduate from Caltech many years ago.
Sure, it's a technical school and I am an engineer - some of these social issues - we hardly talked or even knew.
But i an beginning to think that anything happens that tarnishes a black person on a faculty is taken as an assault on the whole population.
This quote from a professor no less caught my attention :
“..I do believe we’re at a critical point,” she said, “where the question is being asked: At what point are we going to tip this over, or is it going to stay where it is? The fight is a pretty formidable fight.”...
I cannot believe that departure of a black man - on some solid grounds - suddenly becomes a tipping point.
And the article keeps repeating student body is 80% white while black population if Alabama is 27%
Are we not mixing things here??
27% of population does not mean 100% of blacks qualify for admission. And 80% is not that far from 70-30 break.
I think - progress on social issues is best when it comes in doses and not in a jolt.
And the fact that there are so many black students - over last 5 decades - from zero that is - to me, it's a great sign of progress.
27
I am no college age - as I just crossed 70.
But I did graduate from Caltech many years ago.
Sure, it's a technical school and I am an engineer - some of these social issues - we hardly talked or even knew.
But i an beginning to think that anything happens that tarnishes a black person on a faculty is taken as an assault on the whole population.
This quote from a professor no less caught my attention :
“..I do believe we’re at a critical point,” she said, “where the question is being asked: At what point are we going to tip this over, or is it going to stay where it is? The fight is a pretty formidable fight.”...
I cannot believe that departure of a black man - on some solid grounds - suddenly becomes a tipping point.
And the article keeps repeating student body is 80% white while black population if Alabama is 27%
Are we not mixing things here??
27% of population does not mean 100% of blacks qualify for admission. And 80% is not that far from 70-30 break.
I think - progress on social issues is best when it comes in doses and not in a jolt.
And the fact that there are so many black students - over last 5 decades - from zero that is - to me, it's a great sign of progress.
4
I am no college age - as I just crossed 70.
But I did graduate from Caltech many years ago.
Sure, it's a technical school and I am an engineer - some of these social issues - we hardly talked or even knew.
But i an beginning to think that anything happens that tarnishes a black person on a faculty is taken as an assault on the whole population.
This quote from a professor no less caught my attention :
“..I do believe we’re at a critical point,” she said, “where the question is being asked: At what point are we going to tip this over, or is it going to stay where it is? The fight is a pretty formidable fight.”...
I cannot believe that departure of a black man - on some solid grounds - suddenly becomes a tipping point.
And the article keeps repeating student body is 80% white while black population if Alabama is 27%
Are we not mixing things here??
27% of population does not mean 100% of blacks qualify for admission. And 80% is not that far from 70-30 break.
I think - progress on social issues is best when it comes in doses and not in a jolt.
And the fact that there are so many black students - over last 5 decades - from zero that is - to me, it's a great sign of progress.
3
Just finished reading White Privilege, by Robin Diangelo (a white woman) who thinks those of us who call ourselves white need to get over ourselves. Rather than compare Alabama to UGA or Auburn or Ole Miss or, for that matter,Yale or Stanford, I think I see now what Mr. Riley was getting at. White is a default, and some people panic when they feel it is vulnerable. Not since the Civil War have we confronted race so starkly. Are we a land of many equal peoples, some of whose history has been overwritten? Or is American history white with a lot of footnotes? At least Alabama is honest enough to preserve the quarters of the slaves who served early presidents. Now, they might consider honoring accomplished black women and men not just through statues and plaques but in their curriculum and social institutions.
10
Sounds like Mr. Riley was just speaking the truth, the student body needs the university to communicate with them. Instead it’s being alienated.
16
had a white dean made the comment there would have been an uproar. I fully agree on the police
8
The irony is that college campuses are the most politically correct and minority-welcoming institutions in the country. Some people still insist on seeing racism everywhere.
27
@Thomas
You're not listening. The students and faculty are speaking and you're not listening.
But then, you don't have to. That's how privilege works. It's not something you ask for, but, as one of the students said, you couldn't possibly understand how someone else experience the world but you can develop empathy by listening. And not presuming that your experience, and your interpretation of what you see, is universal.
61
@Thomas
"Some people still insist on seeing racism everywhere."
Because our eyes are open.
Racism and unconscious bias are everywhere, and you would be more helpful if you didn't deny it out of ignorance. If you walk through life with white skin, racism is not directed at you. But if you have white skin and open your eyes, it's there. Everywhere you look.
35
Nobody but the school administration and Mr. Riley know why he departed. Privacy laws require that discretion.
But that doesn't stop people from assuming his was fired for being politically vocal and black.
The Times hasn't bothered to mention this is all speculation. That would undermine the perennial theme that we live in a white supremacist state.
28
Live in the southern USA for a while and you know how racist it really is. I lived in Memphis where students there told me the civil war had nothing to do with slavery. They still talk about the civil war in the south like it’s very recent history.
How can white ppl possibly begin to know the struggle of African Americans?
27
Asking someone to prove they are not racist reminds me of the old NYC question, “what do you say to your racist friends?”
A student that believes all white people are racists asks someone to prove they are not racist. Irony can be pretty ironic.
36
I went to the Breitbart link to find the tweets.
The most offensive thing he said was to say that he Republicans are the party Neo-Nazis and the KKK. After Trump who is still love by her of he party called Neo-Nazis and the kkk at Unite the Right "fine people," most Republicans did not contradict him. It seems he has a point.
It is also a fact that most U.S. police departments are formed to chase down escaped slaves.
I don't think be should have resigned until Trump resigned. Trump says much wise things all the time.
14
The statements attributed to Dean Riley are not very bright, but he should not be fired for uttering silly things
2
I wonder how the life of a typical African compares to that a typical black American?
If you find racism everywhere, then you make yourself a victim everywhere; you set yourself up to feel others are abusing you.
Be the adult you want to be. Create the jobs you want. Create the schools you want. Create the movies and restaurants and books you want. You are free legally, but if you socialize yourself otherwise, you'll imprison yourself in a culture of victimization. Life needs you to act, not wait for others to help you out.
29
The University of Alabama does not have a “racial past,” as this article euphemistically says. It has a “racist past.” It also clearly has a racist present. And probably a racist future as well.
39
All you have to do is spend a day in white Alabama to know they’re many generations away from not being racist. They still have white and black areas, they’ve just removed the signs.
17
And the South still wonders why the rest of the country cracks jokes and looks at them with disdain.
16
@Nick
I wonder, too. How has California escaped a similar characterization? I see racist words, acts, suspicion, in daily life. Same in NYC, where I've lived the longest.
White people, it's long past time to call it out when another white person feels comfortable talking smack about brown people in your presence. Don't let them get away with it.
Same with femme harassment and misogyny. Enough! Sick of it. Not another generation should have to suffer this bullying, dismissive, ignorant behavior.
14
Why doesn’t the NYT publish all the anti-white tweets and emails Mr Riley sent instead of glossing over and minimizing only one?
27
I checked out Mr. Rileys comments. I'm a73 year old white man. I find them to be true and accurate. Why was he let go? Racism perhaps???
35
Have all the Black athletes on the football team resign and leave the university and you will see how fast things willl change.
28
I don't think a more ironic sentence can be written in the context of systemic racism at Alabama:
“Because I’m a black woman, I live it out each day,” said Cameryn Blackmore, a political science researcher, instructor and doctoral student.
What would her ancestors - presumably slaves - think of her status and achievements?
Perspective, please.
35
@Cognitive Diss I don't think that because the extent and severity of our nation's racists institutions have improved (i.e., declined) over the past two centuries that we should sit back and consider the work to be done. We still have a long way to go. Actions and advocacy, like those done by Ms. Blackmore, are to be applauded. We could all stand to close our mouths and listen to the experiences of women and men like her.
42
@Cognitive Diss
If you think that social status based on individual achievements in any way negates the injustices visited upon people based on their race, you have a lot to learn, including about the meaning of the word "ironic."
57
@Cognitive Diss
Perspective is that none of those things can or will insulate her from the ignorance and resentment of many on the Alabama campus, who will question why she is at "their" school.
As to what her ancestors would think, probably the same as yours, that they are proud of what she has been able to accomplish.
The question you should be asking is why her ancestors were prohibited from using their own skills, intellect, and talents to discover and pursue their paths as agents of their own lives instead of being made fodder for Euro-American fantasies of recreated English aristocracy is the antebellum South.
25
I am shocked, shocked, to discover that conservatives haven't been drawn to this episode and deemed it a 1st Amendment issue, in a manner concordant with other examples of uncomfortable speech that they have sought to protect in these grounds.
11
so...if anyone points out the institutional racism that obviously exists in america...(especially alabama)....they get fired...good to know.
77
Institutional means a formally established system with rules and consequences for compliance or failure to comply. Where is this? The system of Jim Crow and racial segregation was legally ended in the mid-1960’s. This institutionalized racism assertion is as real as Trump’s fake news, hyperbole and nothing more.
There are a lot of people who hold to racist attitudes and a legacy of inequities from institutionalized racism. Those are real and provable, but fixing them requires real efforts which cannot be addressed by addressing systems which no longer exist.
13
Good to know, but scary!
@scum
I wouldn't defend his firing but please, he didn't point out anything. He was just using the buzzwords of the moment to get a rise out of people, and he succeeded.
5
Black people not only have to suffer the indignities of racism, but we also are punished if we don’t suffer them in silence.
98
@Ardyth Or, act and live a dignified life, providing services to those you feel won't be racists against you. You are free in the USA. You are not free to demand others treat you specially.
10
@David
You proved Ardyth's point so perfectly, without even realizing it.
45
In the era of cancel culture, the beast does not care who it devours.
6
He has a right to his opinion, and compared to what the Commander in Chief has said, it is absurd that he should be fired.
That said, it's a shame that all police should be demonized because of the racist bad apples. What about minority officers? Are they too to be vilified? And to claim the American flag is "all bad" for blacks - only in America is a national flag considered divisive rather than uniting everyone. You don't see this in other countries - who needs foreigners burning our flag when we're already doing it to ourselves?
8
Maybe it's just my own impression as a sports fan, but it seems to me that the major motivation of a lot of universities in the (former?) Jim Crow South to de-segregate was to be able to field competitive sports teams. From a moral perspective, I just don't see much of an attempt to bring the truth of the legacy of slavery into the light of day. So just what are they teaching students? Something like "hey, we're winning the SEC this year!"???
11
Reality Check nothing fair in this world today. The differances in race just a another problem assocaited with lost unity of family circle . Parents need to ensure there children given time develope on own course naturally. Making time or doing time is key to family circle. Million things can go wrong by introducing our children to early in there process devolpment to things change them for ever.Great educator once trained me loose lips sink ships in life dont be so freely to speech your thought to those who use your words own personal gain an your lost.
Having attended college in the state of Alabama, the only sentiment that I can pass on is; head for the nearest exit and, upon reaching it, keep going.
There are no states with lower overall educational or civil life standards. Let Pharaoh go.
18
I am fairly comfortable that making claims about folks based simply on the color of their skin is racist behavior.
I am distinctly uncomfortable that the degree or even existence of racism should depend on the target having a particular color of skin.
Dr. Riley made racist tweets and he should have known better.
9
Just get their football team to strike, that’ll get everyone’s attention.
7
This resignation is a surprise as generally, if you are black, you can insult and denigrate whites without any repercussions because "of your history of racism and repression' while, if you are white, any negative comments about blacks are forbidden. For example, I note that 75% of all murder victims and 90% of all apprehended murderers are black in the USA, even though blacks only comprise 13% of the population (Economist 9/13/14 issue). Perhaps if they focused more on education and less on crime there would be a higher percentage of minorities attending Alabama University!
14
"The past is never dead. It's not even past".
--William Faulkner
Requiem for a Nun
1951
8
Jim Crowe Laws happened in my lifetime. I'm a white man living in NYC. I can olnly imagine what a Black man and woman have gone through because of their color including today. It's not a matter of whether one agrees or not with Mr. Riley. These are his feelings. We all need to respect them. If the University had him resign they Should be Ashamed of themself. How can they be a proud house of Learning after that?
7
I appreciate you covering this a great deal. I ask that you not link to Breitbart; it's not a credible source, and could simply have been described (with the context that it is Breitbart) rather than linking to it. Without such context, we are led to believe it's a credible journalistic source. Plus, I don't want to give them clicks.
7
This is a favorite rhetorical pose of the right: "You calling me out on my racism is as bad as my racism." Or another one: "You condemn me for being close-minded, but you're close-minded to my (racist) beliefs."
Trump will certainly go down in history for his blatant racism, but perhaps of bigger historical significance is the way he's emboldened his red-state followers to flagrantly display their own racism.
If I were a rich man, I would set up a fund for thinking people trapped in red states to come join us in the blue. A huge swath of America right now is unlivable; we should build a wall around that.
18
People named Riley generally have Irish heritage.
All Americans should be proud of the American flag.
5
Pointless to fire people like Riley. He represents the first generation of African Americans who can safely tell America that it’s made life for people so identified not just difficult but dangerous for centuries. They are not going to say good things about people that they see as white and thus racist nor about the conduct of this country’s institutions with anything but resentment and mistrust for a long time. Riley’s freedom of speech is necessarily painful to experience, but it’s real. Might as well get used to it, the alternative is censorship for all.
6
America was deeply racist and remains deeply racist. I'm not sure why tweets pointing that out were considered inflammatory. It's almost as if Conservatives are the real snowflakes. They melt when confronted with the heat of truth.
15
So we DON'T have systematic racism in America?
Good to know. I was worried that the whole slavery, segregation and oppression thing might have been real. Appreciate you all whitewashing that right up. (sarcasm alert)
14
It's Alabama.
What is expected other than racism in the deeply red, religious, superstitious, south. It's akin to finding water t the bottom of the ocean, you can't see it from land but you know it's there.
Remember in 1980 Reagan was careful to begin his campaign close by in Philadelphia, MS (MS Burning)talking states rights. He and the GOP have ridden Nixon's Southern Strategy (based on reliable racism and religious fanatics) to victory in the deep south and elsewhere.
These students were smart enough to get into college but not smart enough to leave the south
6
America’s systemic racism has ousted an astute critic of that system. Where? In Alabama, a state that openly and legally practiced apartheid until just 50 years ago. Why? For naming the police and the flag as “fixtures” of American racism. Riley’s ouster Identifies U of A as another such fixture.
7
I would include the national anthem and the U of A in his list. Bad move by the University of Alabama!
3
The schools of the SEC: where all white marching bands, cheerleading squads, and student sections root for all black football teams.
And they're really proud of themselves for some reason.
5
Something I think is important to address: his title is Dr. Riley, not Mr.
3
Old tweets... and old comments on nytimes.com? The internet and social media are a trap. I strongly encourage the nytimes.com to disable comments. Nothing good comes from this. Eventually, someone will track me down after the commenting system here was hacked to get my email address and then find something I wrote 5 years ago. Like the new chinese social credit system, it will be used to deny me a job or some government benefit. Turn off comments!
And really... why does anyone with any self respect still live in Alabama?
4
I think the message here is get off of social media before it hurts you, too
5
So Mr. Riley is acceptable at the University of Alabama only if he thinks and speaks like a a white guy? Why would anyone, especially a minority, go to the university of Alabama?
8
Jamie Riley's tweets are not particularly inflammatory and hardly cause for his resignation.
On the other hand, reflexive endorsement of proportionality does not necessarily promote diversity but simply exacerbates the opposite.
4
Could you imagine what they would have done to the dean who resigned if he had *gasp* criticized the Confederate flag for being a symbol of racism and Jim Crow?
The University of Alabama hiring a vice president for diversity is like when companies employees are upset and they publish an employee opinion survey and name someone employee ombudsmen, it is window dressing (wouldn't be surprised if the new VP for diversity was a member of a white citizens council, given that in Alabama and other places down south they see white people as the oppressed ones).
Doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened here, the Alabama governor and state legislature sees claiming that the police and the American flag are images of racism is 'unpatriotic' and 'anti white', and demanded he be gone. Face it, the only candidate that would make the legislature happy with who was black would be Ben Carson or Clarence Thomas, not someone who actually thinks we have a problem with race in this country.
10
I'm always amazed at institutions that decide to increase diversity, are actually successful, and then are totally surprised that diverse populations demand changes in their (racist) structure. I see it again and again in health care, non-profit organizations, and in colleges. There is no denying that these changes are necessary, difficult, and inevitable. Congratulations to these students for standing up, and I urge the University, faculty and other students to listen very carefully, then change.
17
Freedom of speech requires tolerating hyperbole and resentments as well as reasonable discourse. Riley was simply expressing sincere feelings about reality and should have been tolerated. The pressures upon educational institutions to not upset anyone are enormous but when they do so they fail to educate.
3
One addendum is that these tweets were before he was hired at UA, so either he was hired with knowledge of said tweets or his social media was not vetted during the hiring process of a VP for Student Affairs and that falls at the feet of President Bell, which explains why there is silence as to the reason.
Of course it could be another, not named reason for the termination. That might strain ones credulity, being that Riley was separated one or two days after the said tweets were shown by Breitbart News.
2
I returned home yesterday from a week-long trip to visit the history-changing Civil Rights sites in Alabama; Birmingham, Selma, Montgomery. The University of Alabama should consider funding field trips to The Legacy Museum in Montgomery. Board trustees, the president, administrators, faculty, staff and students should be required as a term of their employment/enrollment to see and hear the history presented there. It is direct, straight-forward, relentless. And true.
9
These days, I fear that we are going to be self-censoring ourselves all the time. EVERYTHING one says seems to have a bias bent according to someone in the crowd. We should not just look at one word or one sentence but the entire history and character of the person.
4
Actually the University of Alabama (where my daughter is a student) installed a prominent and difficult to miss (right next to Denny Chimes/Quad on the way to the stadium) civil rights marker in 2017. It is a tribute to their first black student and her nearly 40 year struggle to obtain a degree at Alabama.
7
@JD A marker is nice (and long overdue), but it’s for show.
A racist decision to push out a dean for an historically accurate critique of racism is about substance. The substance here is protecting status quo racism.
8
Shhhhhhhh ... don’t ruin the narrative!
5
I wonder how the debate among University of Alabama trustees, alumni and students would be influenced if the players of color on the football team, which is about 65% people of color, were leading the protest. If practice was called because the players were sitting in at the President's office or flooding the student senate, would that change the stonewalling tactics of the administration?
41
@BCNYC
I'm a white northern grandma, and I really do believe this is sad but true...
2
When I moved to Alabama a decade ago, from New Mexico, people were amazed I spoke such good English.
In 2016, then-candidate Trump had many of his first rallies in this state because of the support he got from then-Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions.
I believe Trump has opened the gates of barely-contained racism and with it a meanness of spirit that would deny water to a thirsty man.
Because African-Americans are still a real minority of the population at just 27%, they lack the political clout to produce real structural change. Hence the flagship university has an 80% white student body.
From my own experience, I see segregated populations, with African-Americans living in certain areas and whites in others. It's not mandated, it's just the way it is.
As for a beautiful campus, the University of New Mexico is quite impressive. What's more impressive is the ethnic makeup of its faculty, staff and student body, with its mixture of white, black, Hispanic, Native American, and Muslim populations--though you've probably never heard of the Lobos football team.
I think "Roll Tide" has become more than a football rallying cry. I believe it's a mantra that harkens to the past as well as a prayer for the return of the good ole days.
As long as the Crimson Tide rolls on, there's hope that Alabama will rise again.
19
This perfectly illustrates the great demographic divide in America, even in Alabama. The whole racial divide in America is a divide in the Boomer generation, above all. As they more and more rapidly die off, to be replaced by Millennials and even more progressive kids behind them, every single political issue is going to be resolved in the direction of progressivism--race, above all.
10
He absolutely should not have been forced to resign over those old tweets.
But I could name a hundred people forced to resign or otherwise damaged by 'gotcha revelations' and ensuing harassment by the language police of the far left. When you create a poisonous environment, some of those suffocated will share your values and beliefs.
You can't just impose pre-emptive speech sanctions on those you don't agree with.
54
Please name those hundred...
OK, I'll settle for twenty five...
Five?
5
We white people need to listen carefully and try to understand how the world looks and feels from the point of view of someone judged almost exclusively by race. This is an important opportunity for us to observe, imagine and discuss -- a chance to change our country that we never before had. Anger is to be expected, but let's try to put it aside to find a way for all of us to move forward and come together.
22
The pervasive “outrage/ cancel culture” takes another victim. When every past tweet is fair game for scrutiny and public condemnation of perceived “unacceptable” opinions, racial views, political views, etc., eventually it’s going to take someone down who is venerated by folks who are typically on the giving end of the outrage, not the receiving end (and yes, in general, this means folks more on the liberal side of the political divide). How about more dialogue and less outrage? How about more understanding and fewer demands for career-ending retribution for something someone said in their past that is now forever memorialized online? People need opportunities to learn from mistakes. But our current outrage culture demands beheadings instead of rehabilitation.
29
It is urgent that this country and its citizens move beyond slogans to nuanced understanding of complex matters. It sounds so simple and obvious, but too many of us have great trouble with even moderate complexity. Here's the American flag, in five easy steps:
1. In any large country that has lasted over centuries, there will be triumphs and failures, including acts that were acceptable at the time but atrocities today. Just as in any large enough group of individuals, there will be thieves and murders. Nothing surprising about that.
2. As with most other countries in the world, this country had slavery, and enduring racism thereafter. The US was better than some, worse than others. No surprise there, either.
3. As a result, the American flag and other national symbols stand for a multitude of things, some noble, others despicable.
4. Taking away another person's interpretation of a symbol they venerate is despicable. If the American flag means freedom from tyranny and you nearly died defending it, no one gets to tell you it stands for slavery and oppression.
5. No matter how much you love a symbol, you cannot force another to interpret it as you do. Just as they must respect your interpretation and mythology, you must respect theirs, provided, of course, neither are factually absurd. Everyone has the right to their own credible mythology, provided they respect that of others.
----
Any questions?
19
@NLG
Very well said. The idea that some object (e.g. an American flag) must mean one thing (what I say it means) and those that revere that object in some way must endorse that one thing is ridiculous.
1
@NLG
That's all fine for the head of a company or most other high profile positions, but not for the dean of a university. Let him point out real examples of discrimination or make suggestions for change, but students at an American university deserve a dean who doesn't hate American.
3
Great defense of intolerance. Any questions?
1
The University of Alabama administrators who do not think that systemic racism exists within most police forces and other institutions in America do not understand what systemic racism means. They need to go back to school, they need to listen to and understand the victims of this racism.
13
@MEM
Just because systemic racism exists doesn't mean it is present specifically in one particular instance.
Another Alabama university was recently sued for racial discrimination - by one of its white professors - over disparity in pay. https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2019/07/23/dr-marshall-burns-sues-tuskegee-university-over-age-discrimination/1803253001/
Yet another Alabama university was sued back in 2014, and several times prior to that, for racial discrimination and won. https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/local/alabama/2014/06/14/white-professor-sues-asu-reverse-discrimination/10514315/
There's plenty of racism to go around in Alabama, and nobody has a monopoly on it in their universities.
1
I read the tweets. Breitbart found them and publish them. Example: “Are movies about slavery truly about educating the unaware, or are they to remind Black people about our place in society?”
Mr. Riley was making provocative points that presumably made the White administration feel too uncomfortable, especially on a campus that memorializes the Civil War. This is interesting, in that describing Mexicans as rapists is just “politically incorrect” and “telling it like is.”
This country has a terrible history of racism and a host of other toxic prejudices. This continuing history hurts even successful people at a visceral level. I guess the administrators at the U of Alabama aren’t ready to face up to that reality yet.
11
@Valerie
“The flag represents a systemic history of racism for my people. Police are a part of that system. Is it that hard to see the correlation?”
It's not true?
4
It is a hallucinatory fantasy to imagine that the history of the police in the US, both north and south (local, state, militias, etc.) and the many meanings of the American flag are *not* deeply intertwined with racism, on all levels: institutional, pseudo-biological, economic, etc. To call simple honesty in this domain "racist" is the height of absurdity.
10
Why would anything published by a rag like Breitbart be considered by anyone in the UA Administration? While I am sure that outside forces in the state were outraged by the Dean's comments, this smacks of a title 9 infraction in forcing a resignation. Freedom of speech must be preserved without fear of job repercussions, especially in an institution that takes so much money from Government.
The reality is that dialogue should have ensued with those who were outraged enough to demand a resignation and those who supported the Dean. Only by engaging in civil discourse can we begin to eradicate the deepening political, ethnic and moral divides that are tearing our nation apart. One would think that a public University would have been first in line to foster such dialogue instead of trying to sweep something under the rug. I spent my college years and education in Alabama and I am saddened by such cowardice. The University should invite the gentleman back to share his views and why he holds those views. Equal time should be given to someone who is from the otherside of the issue who can engage those views in a civil manner. This is an opportunity to help people come together instead of tearing each other apart. Am I an idealist? You betcha. Civil dialogue is dying in America. If not fostered in Universities, then where?
6
This is the result of the wave of "Cancel Culture" crashing over everything. The social media posts referred to in the article seem pretty harmless although inflammatory. Any other time it would have been a nothingburger but NOW everything is up for cause. Last week, a college kid who turned a cute stunt into a great donation for a hospital got "cancelled" by a beer company because of tweets sent when he was 16. Really?
I doubt racism was the root cause of this firing. I doubt the University would spent that much money, time and publicity trying to find the perfect candidate then to suddenly fire him because of race. They, like other large organizations, got cold feet when the Cancel Culture came calling. Racists, no, cowards, yes.
9
I really hope this doesn’t turn into an Evergreen College moment.
5
If the black football players at UA took a stand, some answers may be forthcoming and gradual change could begin. These players have other options like transferring to USC, Oregon, Michigan, Texas ect.
Championship football is not the only reason for UA's enrollment and academic rise over the last decade but it is the most significant. A losing football program over time would seriously dent enrollment, especially students from out of state that come for Football and the Greek system.
Three days ago, UA announced multi-million new stadium loge box seating for 4 with your own personal attendant for a one time donation of $150,000 and annual contribution of $ 16,000. This is what the mostly black athlete is bringing to UA. Yet, 2 tweets by the first black VP of Student Affairs made before he was hired is problematic. Let that sink in.
11
Certainly this dean should not have been forced to resign because of his political opinions. That is a square First Amendment issue, no question about it.
26
@James Ribe
Especially since this was a public university, if this was a private university the first amendment wouldn't apply, since they are a private university. The only thing the university could argue would be that by making those tweets it made it impossible to do his job, that it created a distraction on campus or unrest, but someone stating that the US has a problem with race is not exactly someone tweeting that we should kill white people; the former is not exactly inciting violence. The only people uncomfortable with what he tweeted would be the whites who think racism is all a creation of rabble rousers and the like (you know, the ones who say civil rights laws were unneeded intrusion into states rights and that folks down here would have worked things out ourselves eventually), basically people who don't want diversity.
If blacks want change at U of Alabama, there is an easy solution, the football team there is heavily black, have black athletes refuse to go there and see what happens.
3
I'm a conservative. I cannot see how a conservative could support the decision of the university administration, which, it seems pretty clear, forced Mr. Riley to resign (and I assume bought his silence with a nice severance) because of his tweets. Mr. Riley's tweets may be controversial, but they are not rude, violent, etc. They reflect Mr. Riley's defensible opinion.
Of course, we don't know the details. Perhaps the tweets were the "last straw," so to speak, and Mr. Riley's on-the-job performance was lacking in other areas. Perhaps the administration felt that the tweets disqualified Mr. Riley, a dean of students, from effectively representing all students, regardless of their race. But the former possibility seems unlikely and the latter possibility is illogical. Students on campus should encounter opinions that differ--indeed, that contravene--their own. Conservatives should oppose the sort of speech policing the university has engaged in here, regardless of the political beliefs of its victims.
102
@LJ Molière I have worked on university campuses in administrative and teaching roles, and have worked closely with and created programs to recruit and retain minority university students.
If an issue arose that attracted a few dozen students on a campus of 38,000 (or even 5,000) the administration wouldn’t likely consider it to be indicative of a major—or even minor—groundswell of student opinion.
In my experience a good dean of students is supposed to be the dean of ALL students, not just a minority to which he happens to belong; and no competent and savvy administrator should be making public statements that at best can be considered controversial and at worst can be considered discriminatory or racially-based stereotyping or even a form of hate speech.
Indeed, I found Dean Riley’s tweets so inflammatory and inappropriate that they made me wonder if he is planning to run for political office.
7
@LJ Molière A tweet equating the American flag (!) with racism is over the top.
Of course there are still racial issues to be dealt with, and not just those involving blacks; think about the genocide committed against the Native Americans, the violent taking of their lives and lands.
However, the American flag stands for freedom and it is that flag to which American schoolchildren pledge allegiance in their classrooms.
And let us not forget that it was to preserve a free and united US that 360,000 white and black Americans on the Northern side gave their lives in the Civil War, which ended slavery throughout the country.
If there are wrongs in America, and there are many, let us continue to correct them. But let us not denigrate the major symbol of our great (but imperfect) country.
5
Well, I read the Breitbart (!) article with dean Riley’s quotes and have to remark that if these quotes sparked his “resignation” the authorities at the university must live in a very insular and isolated world when it comes to the history of the civil rights struggle in the US. Those quotes are typically mainstream views to anyone who has studied Black history and is familiar with the general viewpoint (regardless of their “race”) of both serious scholars and activists demanding an end to racism and the oppression of Black people under the institutionalized system of racism that has historically evolved in the US and is even now denying to Black people the equal protection of the laws and constitutional protections supposedly guaranteed to all Americans. The Pledges’ “liberty and justice for all “ is still an ideal to tube attained not an actually existing reality. The best proof of the truth of the opinions expressed in the past by dean Riley is his treatment by the the university authorities. An apology is in order and he should be asked to rescind his resignation and resume his duties at the university.
63
Still such a long way to go. So many of us thought Obama’s election was the light at the end of the tunnel - until trump’s regime revealed the truth.
28
Nancy—I can assure you that most of the people who believed Obama’s election was the light at the end of the tunnel are not those who are in the receiving end of racism.
5
Can the South survive the schism created and forged in a present many of us watched and remember, Geoge Wallace? Is this an attempt to move along a rocky road to a bright future or a return to a past no one wants? No doubt these episodes of remembrance, regret, and anger will occur. No one escapes without a few scars, and each scab removed brings healing, or at least one can hope. Jesses Jackson often puts it this way: Keep Hope Alive, Keep Hope Alive. Do that, and we survive.
3
If white college administrators can be forced to resign because of racist or other discriminatory or derogatory tweets, it is only fair that black college administrators be held to the same standard. Having it any other way is itself discriminatory.
It is almost certain that Dean Riley and the university signed a non-disclosure agreement, which means the details of Dean Riley’s departure and severance settlement will never be known.
The article notes that the campus has 38,000 students, of whom about 20% (7,600) are non-white. The article further states that “At a recent Student Senate meeting, which tend to draw meager crowds, dozens of people crowded into a cafeteria to discuss the resolution.” Dozens? Out of 7,600 minority students?
Given that perhaps 1% of the minority students seem to be upset enough about this matter to attend the Student Senate meeting, my takeaway is that the overwhelming majority of students on this campus, white and minority, want to get on with their schooling. Very encouraging, I’d say.
40
@Mon Ray
I couldn't disagree more with your conclusions that the numbers of students who do not attend the Student Senate meeting indicates that they "want to get on with their schooling." First, you have absolutely no idea why they didn't attend, and in fact neither do I. But I have an imagination and empathy. Maybe the minority students feel that all the meetings in the world won't change the racism they face and have just been beaten down. Maybe the students belonging to the majority couldn't give a hoot and prefer to go about their privileged business. Have you ever worked on a college campus as an administrator or professor? Students often don't get involved in campus politics and what deserves recognition is the dignity and strength of the students who dare speak justice to power.
19
@Mon Ray You make a few assumptions in your comments.
Claiming that a system, along with its flag and security apparatus, is racist is not a racist statement, though. It is saying, "This system is structured in such a way as to oppress me and people like me based on our race." It is not a statement about any other races.
And the article said "dozens of people." That number includes students of all races, and perhaps non-students as well. Issues of racism are not merely cause for concern for the groups or individuals targeted. They affect the community as a whole. As the poem goes, "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—/Because I was not a socialist," etc.
9
@Mon Ray
But in what way is it racist, discriminatory or derogatory to state that America is a racist society? That should be obvious to everyone, right? We should look on the bright side (hah!) that the US is practically the only country that is able to talk about it at all much less want to do anything about it.
12
What he said was accurate and something we need to continue to improve on as a society. Systemic racism in the Unitef States is improving, but has a long way to go. It is disappointing that the University of Alabama administration allowed itself to be swayed by a targeted smear campaign.
12
It appears that Mr. Riley's tweet spoke to a truth with which the faculty and part of the student body at Tuscaloosa is not yet ready to deal and that is a problem across the nation. America, despite the Obama administration and many other social, cultural, and political changes in our country through the years, is still not a "post-racial" society, has many festering sores lingering from our racial past, and has to face the challenges a multi-racial society presents or be consumed by them.
15
James Riley May have been less than diplomatic in his earlier tweets, but clearly his message then still resonates with present day black students. The University of Alabama has taken steps to get black students in the door, but has failed to acknowledge the harsh nature of reality for black Americans. If they pushed Riley out, they’ve just undermined the policies they claim to support.
My hope lies with the students of all races at the school: that they can take steps, individually and as a group, to move race relations forward, and that white students can gain a deeper understanding of why the American flag and the police could be seen as oppressive by Americans of color.
12
‘Show us that you are not a racist’. In a reasoned debate, anyone knows that this question would have no reasonable answer. In fact, nobody who recognizes race as a characteristic of anyone is not free of a racist perspective. The reasonable question is given such and such affects upon people strongly correlated with race, show us how it’s not due to racist decisions.
We are seeing the reaction to centuries of injustice due to racism coming back at all of us, and it’s fundamentally outrage of what happened seeking justice or retribution, now.
9
Transparency is crucial as we all seek to find racial healing in our country, for white and black. I hope Alabama can rise above Virginia, and resist the tendency to destroy and deny history in an attempt to correct it. It’s all real, it was all of us. That we survived and can make a future together is what matters. We’re all in this thing together. Black and white together, we shall not be moved.
6
I can see where the tweet might upset some people. But it seems to be a statement of fact to me.
“The [American flag emoji] flag represents a systemic history of racism for my people. Police are a part of that system. Is it that hard to see the correlation?”
26
@Tundra Green If you need proof, go to twitter and look at the profile of every far-right, racist, or gop voter (including the russian bots and ops, which make up the vast majority). They all use that flag emoji as a way to legitimize their racist, nationalist posts.
3
Tundra Green, I can related to you seeing our American flag representing such evil. I see the Mexican flag as representative of the the narco terror gangs that rule Mexico. Surely you can relate and respect my opinions the same as I do yours.
2
That tweet seems pretty innocuous to me.
12
So they forced him to resign for speaking the truth. The American flag is being used by racists as a symbol of oppression even today, and it's arguably the most severe it's been since the civil rights era. To wit, in case anyone hasn't heard: Colin Kaepernick is told by a bunch of white people to stand during the national anthem instead of protesting police brutality against African-Americans, and they justify their words by declaring that ceremonial respect for the American flag itself is somehow more important than the principles it is supposed to represent.
So it sure sounds to me like Riley was right.
67
Want to get the Board’s and administration’s attention? Strike at the heart and purse of the University. Have the football team stage a demonstration or take a knee.
13
Okay, but that's not all he said. He also said..."White people have zero opinion," about racism, among other silly tweets. The problem is that if it's okay to make a generalization about every individual of one race, logically it's okay to do the same thing about all the individuals of another. And, we've seen where that leads, haven't we.
If these tweets were all he did, I don't believe Riley should have resigned. Cancel culture because of something clumsy someone said on Twitter is pretty dangerous, whether it comes from the right or the left.
But....this guy is the dean of students, which means he needs to represent students of every race and ethnicity. For that position, the university probably wanted to hire someone the students looked up to as the adult in the room. Riley's tweets were immature. And, he made a generalization about all people of a certain race, which by definition gives justification to saying the same about any race.. Again, the University likely overreacted, but people should think before they tweet.
31
@Cass Replace "white" with "black" and have the tweets come from a white dean of students, NYT calls for the firing of the dean. The double standard is troubling.
4
You have misrepresented Riley's treat. In toto, it read:
“I’m baffled about how the first thing white people say is, ‘That’s not racist!’ when they can’t even experience racism, You have 0 opinion!”
Here Riley is using the term "racism" in its academic meaning: the systematic oppression of a group of people based on perceived race. This is distinct from the meaning some folks use in regular conversation: conscious bigotry against a group defined by perceived race. Under that definition, for example, if an Asian American, say, hates all white people, that's 'racism'. The other definition, though, removes the question of animus and just focuses on effect. The bank manager who denies a loan to African Americans may have nothing personal against any of them, and just be following some policy that creates redlining. But it's still racism. It's this kind of racism white people can't experience, by definition, since we're not an oppressed minority.
5
I'm thinking the brother (Mr. Riley) didn't want to work at such a racist institution as UofA anyway: that the finding of an old quote that epitomized the feelings of so many only expedited his probable plans. In my opinion if you're of color and on the payroll of this school, not only are you outnumbered in terms of the amount of nonwhites that work there, but that your thought pattern is probably inhibited as well. To paraphrase old George...segregation then, segregation now, and segregation forever: no matter the effort(s) of Nicholas Katzenbach from back in the day.
1
Silencing black voices on black experiences staunches the very conversations we all need to be having.
Unfortunately this article fits the stereotype of what happens in the American South.
5
I read this article and I have no idea why Mr. Riley left the university. Surely not because he once talked or wrote about a "systemic history of racism" in America. This is a common (and accurate) phrase these days. I wish the reporter had dug deeper. I wish the NYT's editors had made him.
88
@Stefan
Why "surely"? He was forced out because some white racist "conservatives" pressured the administration to get rid of him. There is nothing surprising about that, especially in Alabama. Maybe you should re-read the article.
8
My husband and I visited the Tuscaloosa campus last week for the first time and were stunned at the plethora of historical markers noting the campus burning by union soldiers during the Civil War. In sharp and meaningful contrast, we could not find any markers mentioning the historically significant experiences of African-Americans on this campus during the civil rights movement. Surely, there needs to be some public recognition that the college has changed since the nineteenth century.
In contrast, we spent an evening at the University of Georgia in Athens, where we saw the beautifully lit Holmes-Hunter Academic Building, and the prominent historical marker celebrating that campus' difficult, but successful path to integration.
I am so pleased that students and staff in Tuscaloosa are working to hold the administration accountable for the resignation of Mr. Riley. We need to know who pushed for that, and why they were successful. And hopefully, positive changes will follow.
174
@AA
Good post. Would that your words would not fall on deaf ears.
Take a look at how long it took AL to ratify the civil rights act of 1964
15
@AA I'm a student at the University of Alabama, and I just wanted to let you know that there are historical markers about the civil rights movement on our campus, but you are correct in that they are not right in the center of campus. There's a historical marker remembering the first African American student, Autherine Lucy, in front of the building where she tried to go to her first class on campus, and there is also a courtyard and clock tower dedicated to her and the other two African American students who tried to integrate a few years later. However, I do agree that there should be more acknowledgement on the part of the university, and the building named for a eugenics proponent should be renamed.
88
@AA I hope you will visit again and see the two landmarks on the University campus dedicated to Miss Autherine Lucy.They are an historic marker in front of Graves Hall and the Autherine Lucy Clock Tower.A recent renovation of Foster Auditorium includes renaming and renovating the entry plaza.The Malone Hood Plaza commemorates the stand in the school house door in 1963.
5
They are having a Juneteenth moment.
25
@John
Hey John,...I'm Black and I'm a college graduate. Juneteenth moment,...it took me a moment to GET the "white supremacist" humor!
1