THE FIRST AMENDMENT UNDER ATTACK AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA

Foundation for Individual Rights ^ | 4-4-02 | Foundation for Individual Rights (FIRE)

[LowOiL]

BTTT

[LowOiL]

My letter above....BTTT

[bourbon]

This should help everyone understand where Wythe Holt is coming from. The answer? Way out in left field.

Full text of letter in Crimson White here

[snip]

Non-racists can emit racist views By Wythe Holt November 01, 2001

Free speech is a precious commodity for those of us who would criticize mainstream policy these days. Let me offer my thanks to three of my colleagues and friends, who have demonstrated why, recently in your pages. Norvin Richards eloquently defended the fundamental right that we all have in our democracy to be critical of the mainstream. Gary Taylor was eloquently critical of the mainstream academic department at the University, which typically has no African-American personnel. And Jim Otteson was eloquently critical of the mainstream view that it is evidence both of racism, and of segregation, for an academic department in this day and age to have no African-American members.

Please let me offer what is both a mainstream and, in Alabama, a tendentious view. One does not have to be a racist to exhibit racism. Racism and segregation are matters of effect, not of intent. That is how our faculty can assert that fraternities and sororities at the University, which do not have, and never have had, African-American members are racist and segregated. It is not a matter of intent. It is a matter of effect.

By the same reasoning, a department or division of our University, which has no African-American members, and has never had such a member, evidences racism and segregation, no matter what the intention(s) of their members may be.

I say this with all respect to the colleagues and friends whom I know in such departments and divisions at the University of Alabama. They are neither racists nor advocates of segregation. Just like many members of our fraternities and sororities, they do not intend it, but they have it.

We have a citizenry in Alabama that is more than one-quarter African-American. We have a student body at the University that is about one-eighth African-American. And we have a faculty that is about 3 percent African-American. That is reprehensible.

It is also one thing that we as a faculty can fix. Rather than recriminate, let us set ourselves the task of fixing this major problem. Let us investigate how we can recruit -- and what is even more vital, retain -- African-Americans onto the University of Alabama faculty. And let's do it.

Wythe Holt

Professor of Law

[/snip]

How'd you like to be in Wythe's generous category of a "non-racist" spouting "racist" views. Perhaps then you might suffer the fate of Judge Charles Pickering who none of the Dems and libs would actually call a racist (because they couldn't back it up). Instead, they settled in on his alleged "insensitivity towards civil rights."

There isn't a dime's worth of difference between being labeled a "racist" and a "non-racist spouting racist views."

one other thing. you can be damn sure that "racist views" = conservatism/libertarianism in Wythe Holt's mind.

[LowOiL]

Incredible find bourbon. It has a forum there also, I loved a couple of the comments aimed at Mr. Holt.

[yawningotter]

Remember-the future leaders of the State of Alabama are being educated at "The University" right now. These ultra liberal professors are the ones teaching kids diversity and political correctness instead of providing a useful education. The sad thing is that these kids will get a pass simply because they went to "The University" and were members of the right frat. Things around here are going to get screwed up worse that they already are if the products of this indoctrination become politicians, judges, CEOs, etc.

[bourbon]

as a '97 grad of the UofA, I would tell you that you actually have much to be encouraged about the undergraduate student body is quite conservative. Take heart!

now, Mr. Holt's law school is an entirely different matter. I have my suspicions the admissions process there is...well...less than objective. It seems to favor the well-connected and those to whom the faculty are ideologically predisposed. A possible reason the state bar in AL is dominated by trial lawyers may be the makeup of the law school itself.

[bourbon]

thanks. I liked the reply from the student and the businessman to Mr. Holt. They sure as hell aren't afraid of this high-handed elitist brat, and they really stuck it to him.

[Crawdad]

Coach Bryant died? Oh my God! Perhaps they should replace him with that guy from Opp. Crawdad Class of '82. U of A

[Teacher317]

What exactly is Jane Elliot's "Blue Eyed"????

IIRC, she is the one who separates groups of younger children (2nd-4th grade?) by their eye color, and treats one group VERY well, and the other group as second-class citizens. The children in the 'blue-eyed' group (of COURSE they have to be picked as the ones thinking themselves superior) quickly start acting as if they truly are superior, and the brown-eyed group soon starts accepting the two-tiered system. (Every animal in nature tries adapt to new environs and situations if they can't change them, but this hardly matters, apparently.) She uses this exercise to 'prove' that whites are happy to ignore or refute their racism, and that blacks, even if they think the playing field is finally level, are still treated as second-class. In other words, we can't change our inherent racism and they can't change their 'second-class' status. Race-baiting, inciting racial warfare, and victimology at its finest.

[Teacher317]

From a review:

"Elliott contends that 'A person who has been raised and socialized in America has been conditioned to be a racist... We live in two countries, one black and one white.' In contrast to the more usual encounter group strategy, the feisty Elliott believes it's important for whites to experience the emotional impact of discrimination for themselves."

(And I was wrong, she set up the blue-eyed as the inferior group, so that they may 'experience discrimination themselves'.)

Here's a direct link to the story about her (from the Right's editorial viewpoint).

[Euro-American Scum]

Seems the University of Alabama wants to raise good Leftists. Hardly a surprise in view of the Left's totalitarian hegemony over American campuses.

I'm surprised this didn't get started at the University of California. Either way, what begins in the university ends up in society eventually.

And with CFR the law of the land, we've already got a legal precedent to stifle free speech and abolish the First Amendment.

[Truthsayer20]

"...my family in MS has been solidly Republican since the 1930s..."

White Republicans in the Mississippi of the 1930s? I didn't know such a creature had existed.

[bourbon]

believe it or not. My grandfather and his father-in-law both despised Roosevelt from the get-go. They thought his New Deal would lead to the eventual acceptance of socialism in America. Prescient men, my ancestors.

[Truthsayer20]

"Prescient men, my ancestors."

Indeed. And truly principled men as Roosevelt gathered 93 to 97% of the vote in Mississippi from 1932 to 1944.

[Alabama_Wild_Man]

Ding - You Win !! !!

That is a Direct Reference to Mr. Jerry Reed.

He isn't heard as much as he once was - but that doesn't make him any less of a performer. . .

Thanks - I reckon that I'll keep that moniker, afterall.

[Alabama_Wild_Man]

"The Late, Great, Bear Bryant"
----------------------------------
"...May we observe a moment of silence..."

** *** ** *** ** ***
Yes Ma'am !! !!
By All Means. . .

[Austin Willard Wright]

ping

[Alabama Scholars Association]

Alabama Citizens: Please consider joining our organization, the ALABAMA SCHOLARS ASSOCIATION. We need your support, because we're the ones fighting this battle. We welcome you as members, as friends, and as financial supporters. So please go to our web site, www.alabamascholars.org. The ASA is the state affiliate of the National Association of Scholars (www.nas.org). Thanks!!! Charles Nuckolls Professor Department of Anthropology U of Alabama