I think a slave that helped build Old Queens "donated" more than $5K of his time. And the other namings.. no problem with it as it honors academic accomplishment. My only reservation about it is the buckling to pressure. We do too much of that.
OT: Rutgers to Vote on Plan to Rename Parts of Campus for Former Slaves
- Thread starter Scarlet_Scourge
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And thats the point... buckling to pressure. Rutgers is one of the most diverse universities in the nation. What more could we ask for
It's not about what individuals have done what, it's about collective disgrace and collective acknowledgment of and penance for those crimes. That was sort of the point of my whole post. Can you name me one thing an individual could do besides the obvious ones, which I'm sure you know I've done? Grievous crimes carried out by the state, with the complicity of millions, can only be rectified by comparably collective action.
When I was at Rutgers College in the '80s, it was pretty widely accepted that Livingston College would cover all of the reparations we would need to provide. I think we already paid this debt.
Lolwut. You must've been in administration because I don't remember that and I was there from '85-'88
Interestingly enough, by the time the colleges were ended, Douglass actually had a higher percentage of minority students than Livingston. Minority parents wanted a place where their daughters would be insulated from questionable influences. Livingston's publications still pictured it as a place for minorities, but this had ceased to be true.
Not saying everything has been buttercups and daisy's since, but I subscribe to the thought that the people of The United States of America atoned in blood for the practice of slavery in the fighting of the Civil War.
Compare Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address just for thought:
Fondly we may hope -- fervently do we pray -- that the terrible scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all of the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid with another drawn by the sword, as it was said three thousand years ago, so it still must be said, "the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
Some did. But then legal discrimmination was instituted, lynchings and juries rigged and the 2nd paragraph of The Constitution continued to be made a mockery of by a majority of the aforementioned people
I think Rutgers has handled this incredibly well. They have brought to light hard truths of the university in a mature and responsible manner. They've made it an opportunity to educate and explore the reality of our past but without pointing fingers or creating division. I think these next steps are in the same spirit. It's not about shaming anyone but rather honoring those that were previously unrecognized. Kudos to Rutgers.
