Taking on Diversity by Rupert W. Nacoste

Author:Rupert W. Nacoste
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781633880276
Publisher: Prometheus
Published: 2015-03-23T00:00:00+00:00

Until the e-mails started to come in, I had not heard about it. Keeping up is never a problem, though, because my students are out there scanning the social environment. Whether they are taking or have taken my class, the experience puts my students on alert for examples of neo-diversity dynamics. When something happens related to neo-diversity, they send me word. So, no, I hadn't heard about the reaction to Marc Antony singing “God Bless America” at the Major League All-Star Game, but word came to me in an e-mail.

July 18, 2013

I was interviewed yesterday for the food access educator position at…. I am assuming that the next week will be contacting references. Below I have attached the job description and the cover letter. I have given them the University e-mail address and the phone number for the office. Thank you so much for everything, and I am glad that I was able to meet up with you!

I have lots of stories to send you about race, for example this:

http://publicshaming.tumblr.com/post/55715208108/baseball-fans-super-angry-hispanic-american-superstar

An example of social media used the wrong way…. Hope you're doing well!

N.

I clicked on the story and first saw the headline:

BASEBALL FANS SUPER ANGRY HISPANIC AMERICAN SUPERSTAR SANG “GOD BLESS AMERICA” AT ALL-STAR

Some of the comments on the article included:

Welcome to America where god bless america is sung at our national pastime by a mexican.

Another disgrace. Marc Antony singing God Bless America. Is he even an American citizen?

These are two of the cleaner comments. So I understood what N meant when she wrote: “An example of social media used the wrong way….”

But now I needed help. It's just that I have seen so many online stories where the comment sections are filled with ignorance and bigotry that I wondered what such comments are telling us about the state of America today. Are these comments diagnostic?

The previous April a young Black man who had taken both of my classes e-mailed with the subject: “Bigotry is rampant.” He wrote:

I read these very short pieces attached to these photos and was just amazed, Dr. Nacoste. It is a shirt that Jamie Foxx wore to the MTV Awards this past week with Trayvon Martin and the Newtown Kids on it. Just speechless with the audacious responses that people have created. Bigotry is rampant and unapologetically professed.

I clicked but could only stand to read a few of the responses:

Comment A: “F*** that nigger with the Trayvon Martin shirt on.”

Comment B: “Jaime foxx arrives at the MTV awards wearing a shirt with a dead nigger criminals on it. Sad.”

Profane and filled with racial slurs, these remarks were raw, primal bigotry that had been hibernating. I asked myself, does being online and anonymous make it easier to let the monster loose? I wondered. I responded to my student N, an American of Dominican descent.

I just said to the “Interpersonal Relationships and Race” class, “I believe with all my heart that the major problem for America is intolerant language; language bigotry. If we don't get this under control, we are all going down.

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