Original Story From https://reason.com/2020/08/06/tulane-cancels-life-of-a-klansman-edward-ball-students-racist/
You just can’t make this stuff up. We are simply going to have to stop calling colleges and universities institutions of “higher” learning, since that does not appear to be the case at all. Witness the latest lunacy (and possible illiteracy). Edward Ball is the great-grandson of a KKK member. He apparently has spent his adult life promoting anti-racism and using his relatives and their actions as examples of what not to do or be. This fellow was woke before any of these Tulane “higher” education students were even born, and way before “woke” was even a thing. One would think lefties would applaud such wokeness decades ahead of its time and be eager to hear what he had to say. But no….
A few days ago he was scheduled to speak at Tulane University about his most recent book, Life of a Klansman: A Family History of White Supremacy. His prior book, the National Book Award-winnning 1998 Slaves in the Family “‘traces the histories of people enslaved by Ball’s own ancestors. In Klansman, Ball tells the story of a racist great-grandfather who joined the Ku Klux Klan.'”
According to the article, no less a lefty authority than the New York Times “hailed it as ‘a haunting tapestry of interwoven stories that inform us not just about our past but about the resentment-bred demons that are all too present in our society today,’ and the anti-racism scholar Ibram X. Kendi participated in a virtual discussion about it with Ball. Tulane University was slated to host another such event, featuring Ball and Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, an assistant professor of geography and African American studies.” National Public Radio called the book “‘resonant and important.’ The New Republic . . . wrote that Ball ‘builds a psychological portrait of white supremacy, which then radiates outward and across time, to explain the motives and historical background behind racist violence.'”
Despite knowing exactly what the discussion was supposed to be about through Tulane’s own publicity for the event – anti-racism, that is – “the university opted to postpone it following blinkered outrage from students who insisted that the event was ‘not only inappropriate but violent towards the experience of Black people in the Tulane community and our country.’ Other members of the Tulane community called it “harmful and offensive,” and demanded its cancellation. Still others said the university should apologize and take action against whoever approved the event. . . . ‘The last thing we need to do is allow someone who is even reflecting on the hatred of their ancestors to speak about white supremacy, even if their efforts come from a place of accountability,’ one student wrote on Instagram. ‘There is nothing that a book on white supremacy written by the descendant of a Klansman can do to promote or influence an anti-racism atmosphere,’ wrote another.”
Lest you think these are just some odd comments from a few doltish students, “Tulane’s student government weighed in as well. In a letter to the administration ‘on behalf of the entire student body,’ Undergraduate Student Government Vice President Ingeborg Hyde and Liberal Arts Student Government President Amanda Krantz demanded the event’s cancellation. And they did not mince words. ‘An apology is the first step in undoing the harm you have caused many members of the community, but is in no way the last,’ they wrote. ‘In the current political atmosphere, it is imperative that we are all actively anti-racist, and endorsing speakers like these is antithetical to the anti-racist work being done by students, faculty, and staff on our campus.'”
Sometimes you just run out of things to say about nuts. What is particularly interesting is that this anti-racism advocate received exactly the same reception from the same people he would have received had he been a white supremacy advocate! Go figure.
Of course, these are college kids for the most part, so one has to make some allowance for their immaturity and closed-mindedness since they already know everything already. But institution of “ignorant” education for Tulane at least seems a better fit – whatever it is they’re learning, it certainly isn’t “higher”. In any event, it certainly doesn’t seem worth the roughly $65,000/year in tuition and room-and-board their poor parents are paying. Someone should be looking for a refund.
Figures from https://studentaccounts.tulane.edu/sites/studentaccounts.tulane.edu/files/2020-2021_Full_Time_UG_costs_v2.pdf