black lawyer reacts to white UT law students' "Ghetto Fabulous" party

[bobbieinok]

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=30&ItemID=11279

Steeped in Stupid
by Bernestine Singley
October 28, 2006

....

Not even three months into their first year of study, these aspiring lawyers, perhaps so stressed by the rigors of their studies, went looking for a way to chill. And what did the cream of Texas' intellectual crop come up with? A party mocking the black and brown urban poor -- complete with 40-ounce cans of malt liquor, fake guns, "ethnic" names, do-rags, jeweled grills on their front teeth, and loud jewelry.

Fully tricked out, UT's best and brightest young white adults didn't hesitate to use overtly racist images and behavior for a bit of fun and frivolity. Not surprisingly, some of the black and brown law students weren't so happy when photos of the party showed up on the Internet, and this private party for white folks suddenly became very public.

....

Despite the UT law dean's repeated reference to his law students as "these kids," they are not children. They are grownup college graduates. Given that they beat out the competition, we also can assume they are not stupid.

So, how is it possible for them to be, as Dean Larry Sager described them in a television news interview, "innocent of racial motivation" and merely "guilty of thoughtlessness"?

....

Who is accountable for producing this next generation of lawyers who have become adults steeped in such racial oblivion that they have no sense or sensibility about their own profoundly offensive and racist behavior? Their grandparents? Parents? Other relatives? Teachers? College professors? Religious leaders? Friends and colleagues?

....

In 30 years, my eyes have seen laws change. But the hearts and minds displayed in these staged acts of racial assault reveal a breathtaking, even heartbreaking, wall of denial, contempt, and cowardice.

I believe the UT law students know exactly what they did. I believe the law school and university administrators know the same. Both are failures.

There is another saying in the law: Res ipsa loquitur. The thing speaks for itself.

I rest my case.

[Skittles]

1. you are correct

I hate it when the juvenile (or worse) actions of college students are dismissed because they are "kids" - please, at age 21 I was a sergeant in the Air Force.

[ikojo]

3. I have a niece who is 22 and is married and a mother

of a son. She is hardly a kid.

Since when are people in their 20s considered children?

[aquart]

2. They are in their 20s. All over 21.

"Kids," my ass.

What overprivileged little rats. When Bush crashes the economy, will their trust funds go poof?

[acmejack]

4. They will all go on to their 6 figure a year jobs.

And continue to laugh at the rest of us.

[Jcrowley]

5. Untermenschen

When humans get into a position of power and privilege, it's easy for them to view those they oppress as untermenschen -- without even recognizing it.

I've seen an almost exact scenario occur where the "untermenschen' were "white trash" with the partier's being elites from a very "liberal" university in the East. As their teacher I was invited and I not only recoiled but pointed out in no uncertain terms their despicable desire to feel superior to others. It changed nothing, the party went on as planned.

K&R