Unborn, Undying

I've just had a thought about the amazing campus response to the hate letter sent to Margaret Bass recently. My thought is this: is all this outrage directed against the anti-black vitriol in that letter or does it spring from a sense of insult directed inwardly?

Here's what I mean, the letter compares Dr Bass to " a fucking ape from Africa" and charges her with turning SLU into a "nigger loving college". Is all the rage being expressed by those rallying against this kind of hatred springing out of a realisation of the profound hurt and systematic wrong that this letter stands for, or is it a reaction stemming from taking that letter as if it referred to one's self?

Basically is it a reaction based on, (1) "Oh my God you just didn't call me an ape from Africa!" or on (2) "I just can't believe that this kind of stupidity still exists" ?

Why am i worried about this? Well simply the fact that if all this is in reaction to some form of (1) then sadly nothing has changed, in fact, it just serves to uncover what kind of ugly, nasty stereotypes are still held about Africa: my dear "dark continent"....if being compared to something from Africa is the ultimate insult then what does that reveal about our hidden prejudices about Africans? Or anyone else for that matter?

Nothing that I would want to see or hear about, that's for sure. I sincerely hope that I am reading too much into this, but I have a suspicion that I am not, and that makes me feel just awful :-/

posted by WM @ 00:21