Watch What You Say About Black Studies: Blogger Fired For Questioning Scholars’ Legitimacy

May 9th, 2012 - By Brande Victorian

Source: wamash.worcesteracademy.org

It’s been about 10 days since lecturer and author Naomi Schaefer Riley wrote a piece for The Chronicle of Higher Education questioning the legitimacy of black studies, and as a result of the outcry over her piece, she has now been relieved of her duties as a blogger for the site.

The title of the piece alone lets you know something wicked was blowing this way. In, “The Most Persuasive Case for Eliminating Black Studies? Just Read the Dissertations,” Riley pounces on the chosen topics of discourse by up-and-coming black scholars like the role of race in housing policies and the history of black midwifery in the United States, writing:

“If ever there were a case for eliminating the discipline, the sidebar explaining some of the dissertations being offered by the best and the brightest of black-studies graduate students has made it. What a collection of left-wing victimization claptrap. The best that can be said of these topics is that they’re so irrelevant no one will ever look at them.”

Even more insulting is the fact that she includes these scholars’ names while sarcastically ripping them and the credibility of their dissertations apart.

“Ms. Taylor believes there was apparently some kind of conspiracy in the federal government’s promotion of single family homes in black neighborhoods after the unrest of the 1960s. Single family homes! The audacity! But Ms. Taylor sees that her issue is still relevant today. (Not much of a surprise since the entirety of black studies today seems to rest on the premise that nothing much has changed in this country in the past half century when it comes to race. Shhhh. Don’t tell them about the black president!) She explains that “The subprime lending crisis, if it did nothing else, highlighted the profitability of racism in the housing market.” The subprime lending crisis was about the profitability of racism? Those millions of white people who went into foreclosure were just collateral damage, I guess.”

About 6,500 people signed a petition calling for Riley’s dismissal and Liz McMillen, the site’s editor, listened. She wrote in a note apologizing for the piece:

“When we published Naomi Schaefer Riley’s blog posting on Brainstorm last week … several thousand of you spoke out in outrage and disappointment that The Chronicle had published an article that did not conform to the journalistic standards and civil tone that you expect from us,” McMillen wrote. “We now agree that Ms. Riley’s blog posting did not meet The Chronicle’s basic editorial standards for reporting and fairness in opinion articles. As a result, we have asked Ms. Riley to leave the Brainstorm blog.”

Though there may be some credence to race baiting in the handful of dissertation titles Riley bothered to read (note: not the full articles), to blanket all young black scholars as stuck in 1963 and to suggest that we let “some legitimate scholars find solutions to the problems of blacks in America. Solutions that don’t begin and end with blame the white man,” is just wrong and ignorant of where some of those problems do in fact start.

Do you think Riley deserved to be fired?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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  • fiasco

    Shhh, don’t tell het Obama ain’t tribe. Idiot.

  • Mystified

    I REALLY DON’T CARE WHAT SHE GOT FIRED FOR.  IT’S NOT GOING TO STOP ANYTHING BECAUSE THAT’S ALL WE HEAR ANY WAY, BLACK PEOPLE ARE THE WORST OF “THIS,”  OR BLACK PEOPLE ARE THE WORST OF “THAT.”  OF COURSE I DON’T BELIEVE ALL THAT HYPE.  WE CAN’T CHANGE A WORLD OF HATEFUL, B*GOTED WP.

  • BROWNROSES

    Is Ms. Naomi Schaefer Riley the individual who is looking out for Blacks by pointing out how racist society is against people of African descent.  Ms. Riley, thanks but not thanks for your looking out.  African Americans are hard working Americans who currently are in the business of blaming others for their unachievements.  We are sending our kids to schools and are now very involved in their education more than ever before.  We no longer believe the boogeyman is in our way.  Shall all obstacles fall before us!  The roads are fully open just for us! We are now succeding intellectually at greater numbers.   We don’t need your distraction we have work to do. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1326840708 Sean Lago

      I disagree with her also, but you’re right firing her is not the
    answer. Now if she was bad mouthing that Cornel West I just might agree
    with her. West irks me with his pseudo intelligent brother talking. Al
    Sharpton got on his behind for being more of a talker, than a doer.

  • Jess

    as a firm believer in freedom of speech, i have to say that i do not agree with Mrs. Riley and her opinion  that African American Studies is totally useless (basically what she said), but i will never agree to someone losing their job because of an unpopular opinion.

    • Milar

      Resolve your problem by getting rid of it and ignoring the rest.

      Sounds like high school – or like the ghetto where things aren’t resolved intellectually but rather just attacked and beaten down.

      Don’t you all think it would have made a bigger statement to prove her wrong and to keep her up as a “other side critic”? I mean, if she makes false statements, then prove her wrong, in PUBLIC, but if she’s not making false statements, something SHOULD be done. I just think that blacks tend to stand up against any criticism to their race, they forget they’re not the only other races outside of whites and there are a lot of other people who don’t get the attention. The goal should be to spread equality throughout ALL races, not just to make things better for blacks. Instead, maybe you all helped prove a point – Someone says something that blacks don’t agree with and receives nothing but anger and gets fired. You’re promoting continuous backslash and anger.

      @ba33995e35d56c4752ac9589d20643ec:disqus – you say white people have only been running since about 11:30pm on your 24 hr clock. Define white people. You mean Americans?? cause there’s not such thing as white Americans. Americans are indigenous and their roots are actually from China ( going back far enough, look it up) So if you mean Caucasian … well, what kind? English? Spanish? Greek? Nordic? Russian?? It’s almost like saying all blacks are from Africa … you can’t generalize and your comments are full of the same hatred that divides you from me based on our skin color. I’m by skin, hispanic by birth, raised in the U.S. I’ve been prejudiced against by hispanics and blacks for being white. Shameful, really. I feel if the blacks who died to gain their rightful human rights were to read some of these comment by blacks, they’d be so ashamed. They should have never suffered racism, but the ignorance of the people of the time made it so. I would think their blood has been shed ( along with white who stood by them ) to eliminate the hatred from people to people with other skin color, but I fear black people now have become more racist and more hateful than ever before. The young generations don’t KNOW RACISM like their grandparents did so you can’t go around claiming you deserve things, especially since the young generations of whites had nothing to do with the past. -

      just my thoughts … fire me!

      • FromUR2UB

        “but if she’s not making false statements, something SHOULD be done.”   About eliminating Black Studies?  Why? 

        • Milar

          In general, not in particular about eliminating Black Studies. I think having Studies is a good thing, shouldn’t be just for Blacks and I’m sure it isn’t. Studying people allows the benefit of understanding ourselves better and making better decisions. The fact is that whenever someone brings up something controversial or less popular, we’re all too fast to attack and shut down, instead of exploring and debunking. It’s as if we don’t want to hear any chance of anything existing outside of what we agree with ( like the narrow mindedness that maintained slavery for way too long ) We need to allow discussions to be discussed, introduced, debunked or proven right but things need to be allowed to be out there for everyone to read. Just like someone mentioned that there aren’t enough studies of the good effects of blacks, that most studies are about bad effects. Then we SHOULD look into this and see if there is truth behind it. If there is, then it means there are more bad effects that good ones, and thus a reason for racism and a reason to start making change with our new generations. You can’t improve on something if you aren’t willing to accept it’s faults.

        • MILAR

           Maybe if she was black, things would have been seen differently and she would still have a job –

          • FromUR2UB

            That could be true.  Just like when Rush Limbaugh made those comments about a white woman, finally, people thought he should be removed from the air.  

            • MILAR

              Yeah, it seems like as long as you’re of the race, you have a free ticket to say anything you want, but the moment you’re of a different race, you have no right to a different opinion. Nobody is allowed to speak badly of another race. In this case, I think it’s VERY important to research what she posted about. Did she get fired because what she posted was erroneous? or did she get fired simply because a few people just saw her as racist and  a bunch of others jumped on the “get the white girl” bandwagon. Suddenly the publisher is at a hard place, do you keep your article up and face a mob of haters or do you fire your hard working employee and stay in business. I think the right thing to do would be to investigate her posting and if she’s wrong, she needs to post about it, if she’s right, then obviously some other people have some work to do. Of course, now it’s too late, the mob got their way. Unless a group of educated black people, and I mean a LARGE group, were to stand up for the white girl and give things a chance. Personally, I don’t think she was being racist. Maybe she’s ignorant or maybe she’s just angry that some people are taking advantage of their race to be “noticed”. In either case, firing her, WAS a result of racism.

              • FromUR2UB

                Actually, I think you may have flipped that.  I used the example of Rush Limbaugh because as long as his nasty comments had been limited to blacks, whites had remained silent.  It wasn’t until he insulted the virtue of a white woman, that everyone got in an uproar, sponsors began pulling ads, and petitions began floating around to get him off the air, which BTW, I happily signed because I’ve been wanting to see him go for a long time.  I jumped at a chance to make it happen. 

                Let’s face it: race is always an underlying factor between people of different races, even when other factors are present that influence the outcome.  Many black people, including myself, simply don’t believe Tea- Partiers, for example, when they say they their dislike of President Obama is about his policies and not race.  They regularly use images with known racial connotations in reference to him, then simply deny that race has anything to do with it.  The birthers are like dogs with a bone, refusing to let go of this issue about his birth certificate, despite that it has been authenticated by the governor of Hawaii and others.  They refuse to accept him as an American, though they have never questioned the citizenship of any president before him.  They have treated this president like none other, yet think they can tell blacks there’s no elephant in the room. 

                Furthermore, white people don’t seem to respect that pendulums swing both ways.  They seem to think that their circumstances will never put them in the kinds of situations that others find themselves in, and therefore, they tend to be harsher in their judgment when it applies to others.  For example, when Rodney King was beaten by police officers, many whites felt the beating was justified because “he broke the law” prior to the beating.  They didn’t think it was important to measure the severity of the punishment against the infraction.  The police officers were acquitted in that trial.  Recently, a white homeless man died after being beaten and tazed by police officers.  This is an example that when you give someone the power to abuse authority, eventually they will do so indiscriminantly. 

                I find it interesting that you refer to blogger Naomi Schaefer Riley as hardworking, because I wonder how you know this, but I digress.  Why is she commenting on a topic that really has nothing to do with her?  Black Studies courses are usually offered at college level, which means that a tuition is paid to take them.  I doubt that she has enrolled in any, so how then, does she feel qualified to determine that they serve no purpose? 

            • Mystified

              Yeah, didn’t he call one of his own kind, a white woman, a hoe?

      • LAME

        Don’t do that. You know exactly what I mean by white people. I’m talking about Europeans and all people no matter where they’re located, that are of European decent. Of course we’re all genetically linked, we’re all human. I’m basing my beliefs off of history, accurate history. You, like a lot of white people (I’m not saying you’re white), confuse my love for black studies and knowledge outside of a eurocentric lens as hate for white people and that is incorrect. A complete fallacy in reasoning. What I’m saying is I can’t believe the audacity of the majority of white people that have no desire to learn anything outside of their viewpoint, and dismiss everything else as being “not as good as”. I’m saying White people have been dismissive of all other peoples that do not descend from them. You missed my whole point. I don’t start my history with American slavery to present day. Its black studies that helped me to identify with the whole disapora and all the history before the black American struggle. You’re narrow scope has caused you to misunderstand me which further proves my point for the necessity of black studies and the indifference I have to any person, especially white person, that doesn’t see any point of it. Black studies doesn’t just focus on black America… I’m guessing you didn’t know that lol silly!

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1326840708 Sean Lago

       I disagree with her also, but you’re right firing her is not the answer. Now if she was bad mouthing that Cornel West I just might agree with her. West irks me with his pseudo intelligent brother talking. Al Sharpton got on his behind for being more of a talker, than a doer.

  • LAME

     
     
    I’m sorry but white people are SOMETHING ELSE!!! As my professor explained to me, if you think of the world from beginning of civiliation to now, as a 24 hour clock (12am-12am), white people have only been running ish since about 11:30pm. HOW THE F*CK they have the audacity to deligitimize everything that excludes them is astounding and screams of an inferiority complex they’re trying to get over. I’m not saying black people have been running things from 12am to 11:30pm, I’m sayin all other peoples besides White people were running things throughout that time.  Let them tell it, that never happened. Whatever, black studies isn’t made for them anyway but they are welcomed to come get enlightened if the so choose. To the rest I say fukc’em.

    • LAME

      they* so choose.

    • Ltoombs

       Are you really demonizing all White people?

      Some of them have have facilitated efforts (Hello Lucretia Mott, Woman’s Suffrage, and John Brown just to name three) to move along equal rights for every Black person in America.  They are not all out to get us.

      • LAME

        You realize women’s suffrage weren’t including black women in their cause right?…. Anywho, yes you’d be correct I am demonizing the majority (not all) of white people.

        • maggie

          I concur

      • FromUR2UB

        I’m guessing that the ones who are not out to get us represent a tiny percentage of their population.  The breakdown could possibly go as follows:

        The dangerous bigots: 30%
        The indifferent: 65%
        The benevolent: 5%

      • fiasco

        U do realize women’s suffrage introduced the need for a two income household, leading kids to he raised essentially by the state except for the rich who can afford the.mothers to raise the kids… None of this is for us. There won’t be equality for the sonsf slaves in America ever.

      • fiasco

        U do realize women’s suffrage introduced the need for a two income household, leading kids to he raised essentially by the state except for the rich who can afford the.mothers to raise the kids… None of this is for us. There won’t be equality for the sonsf slaves in America ever.

  • Msniamah1985

    It is SO disheartening to hear all of the backlash against Africans in America. Its as if 4 years ago somebody opened the Jim Crow bag and invited every racist with vocal cords to start a blog or a radio show. you have to imagine so much hate and disgust for a group of people solely off of how they look. We as Africans are clearly the stronger race to have endured this type of tumultuous hatred and still find ways to smile, thrive and raise families…..Clearly as this blogger points out, thousands of White people have lost their homes to foreclosure recently as well…..and they jumping out of windows killing themselves and their families…..we as Africans have dusted ourselves and try try again.

  • http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Peaches%20The%20Writer PeachesTheWriter

    She needs to be relieved of her duties as a human. Seriously, what goes through these people’s minds sometimes? “If it ain’t…it ain’t right.”

  • FromUR2UB

    It seems she fell victim to her own reasoning: that something should be eliminated simply because others deem it unnecessary.  Her blog, poof!  Good.

    How arrogant to assert that an aspect of another people’s culture presents no value to society, or the people who inspired it, simply because it doesn’t directly pertain to her existence.  I suppose she believes that only her own heritage should be represented in the fibers of this country…probably the world.   But, media and film has always done that.  When you look at the movies of the past, especially of the 1930s, blacks and people of other races were always relegated to the roles of support in their world.  The supporting players were always portrayed as having no lives of their own, people who vaporized when they weren’t performing duties for their white masters and mistresses.  Their greatest concern was the welfare and protection of the whites for whom they worked, above and beyond concern for themselves or their own children.  The fact that we’ve been represented that way, is evidence that most whites can tolerate us only if they feel we exist to serve them.  That servitude was literal, at one time, but now figuratively, we should sit in reverence of them and all things about them, or provide a contrast for the disparities between black and white life in America, so that they feel better about themselves.  Since many whites seemingly need to feel they are the most enviable people on earth, they hate it when other races exhibit pride in who they are, and demonstrate an interest in themselves.  The whole point of excluding people is so that they can stand on the outside with their noses pressed against the window, longing to be in.  It takes the wind out of their sails when we decide we don’t need or want what they have, and instead, choose to explore our own identities independently of them.

    This woman could easily have continued on, as I’m sure she always has, not even acknowledging the existence of Black Studies…remaining uneffected by them.  But, because she felt compelled to write an article calling for their elimination is an indication that she’s now feeling threatened by them.  I’m guessing the black president has something to do with that.  

  • F3ral Anarchy

    great offshoot debate…..do studies of black america that are more than likely tied to racism and not taking ownership for the wrong things we do as individuals do more harm than good?  How does a ethnic group move forward if they are constantly grabbing for the past?  How many studies are needed with what is wrong with back america?  How many are needed to point out what other ethic groups do to us?  When you feed a child nothing but negativity when it comes to society how can you expect them to become a productive member?   Where are all the studies of positive black role models?  Where are all the studies of the contributions of blacks in society?

    • FromUR2UB

      Have you taken any Black Studies courses?  Many do include studies about positive historic and contemporary role models, and if we couldn’t learn about these people there, then where?  You’re certainly not going to learn about them in most elementary and secondary school classrooms.  This is why it’s important that parents also provide their children materials so they can learn about African-American history at home.  But this woman probably sees black bookstores, that supply resources for parents to do that, as useless, too.  So, if those were eliminated, then what?  The problems of black America can not be attributed to Black Studies, but perhaps, a lack of this knowledge.

      How can positivity be identified without an awareness of adversity?  Most ethnic groups, have traditionally preserved their pasts.  The negativity of our history is part of ours.  Many times, it’s a necessary element for a phoenix to rise from the ashes.  So, to study someone’s triumphs, you have to delve into the obstacles and circumstances they overcame.  We didn’t bring our history on ourselves, but it’s important to remember it, understand how it occurred, so that we don’t fall victim to it again.  The problem with the argument that we keep dredging up the past, is that the adversity of the past is never completely absent from the present.  It doesn’t exist because we put a spotlight on it and talk about it like some spirit conjured up, but because people like this woman want to deny or minimize it, as they continue to perpetuate it. 

      • Mls2698

        With learning about blacks in lower levels of school, I agree, it hardly exist. They won’t even give us credit for inventing ” peanut butter.”

      • maggie

        well said . . hopefully your response took the zombie out of their desensitized trance.

    • http://www.facebook.com/lameesha.johnson Lameesha Love-Independent John

      Turn on your television, your computer there’s million’s if not billion’s of study’s or finger pointing at  the black community. Unfortunately there mostly negative!