Sorry, America: Condemning a Few Frat Boys Won’t Fix Our Issue With Race
We live in the age of collective condemnation, where one misstep, one clumsy comment, or one racially offensive remark can get anyone 15 minutes of shame. This week, it was members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Oklahoma who found themselves under the hot glare of the spotlight. After video surfaced of several fraternity members happily singing “You can hang ’em from a tree…there will never be a [n-word] in SAE,” the university severed all ties with the local chapter, and two students were expelled.
Last week, officials in Ferguson, Missouri, were thrust center stage when the U.S. Department of Justice released a scathing report detailing widespread racially discriminatory practices by the city’s police department and court officials. Despite uncovering data that revealed that African Americans accounted for 85 percent of traffic stops, 93 percent of all arrests, and 95 percent of jaywalking stops—while making up 67 percent of the population—some in the media chose to focus on a batch of racist emails sent by city officials instead of highlighting the methodical oppression Ferguson’s residents of color have experienced....
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