Follow on Google News News By Tag Industry News News By Place Country(s) Industry News
Follow on Google News | Harvard Defacement Likely a Hoax or Retaliation, Not RacismA Black Law Professor, a Black Columnist, and Harvard Law Students, All Lend Support to Conclusion
Banzhaf noted at the time that the most recent defacement incident probably wasn't a racist one; a position which is now gaining support through the statements of a noted black Harvard law professor, a widely-read legal commentator who is also black, and a group of Harvard law students who have posted a report carefully analyzing the time line and other factors relating to the incident. Because the covering of the pictures of black professors occurred immediately after a group of largely-black protesters covered up the seal of the law school, and because the same tape was used in both instances, Banzhaf argued that retaliation for the first defacement of the seal was a more likely explanation for the recent picture defacement than a sudden and unrelated expression of racism by Harvard students. This theory has now been bolstered by the revelation on the Powerline website that: “black protesters did exactly the same thing–placed tape over the portraits of black law professors–a year ago." In what might indicate bias by Harvard, and a failure to understand and respect that free speech and academic freedom protect unpopular speech and expression as well as speech with which the University agrees, Harvard reported the latest defacement to the police for possible investigation as a hate crime, but it apparently took no action regarding the earlier two similar defacements by black protesters. Indeed, black Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree, one of the those whose portrait was defaced, agreed that the action was protected as free speech, even though unpopular. Randall Kennedy, another black professor at Harvard Law, has now written that the act may simply have been "a rebuke to those who have recently been taping over the law school’s seal.” Kennedy also suggests other possible motives for the taping: "maybe it was meant to protest the perceived marginalization of black professors, or was a hoax meant to look like a racial insult in order to provoke a crisis." Elie Mystal, a black columnist writing in AboveTheLaw, lends support to this hoax theory, writing: "Other people think that it was done by a black student to protest black professors who aren’t using their positions to do enough to help black students at the school.” Perhaps the strongest evidence that the taping wasn't done by racist white students comes from a group of Harvard Law School students who, with their detailed knowledge of the situation, have analyzed the time line and other clues and concluded, in a posting entitled "Relax: It Was a Hoax, Not a ‘Hate Crime,’ at Harvard Law School," that the "Chance of Harvard Law ‘Hate Crime’ Hoax is 99.99%." Banzhaf also points out that, going back to the notorious incident involving Towana Brawley, which was later conclusively proven to be a hoax, many if not most similar instances where whites allegedly posted racist signs or symbols have likewise been proven to have been hoaxes by black perpetrators. Banzhaf notes that he helped bring successful legal actions to get blacks on TV for the first time in major roles, to prevent discrimination against blacks seeking to hail taxies, against a social organization which refused to admit blacks, and against an airline which discriminated against black pilots. JOHN F. BANZHAF III, B.S.E.E., J.D., Sc.D. Professor of Public Interest Law George Washington University Law School, FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor, Fellow, World Technology Network, Founder, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) 2000 H Street, NW, Wash, DC 20052, USA (202) 994-7229 // (703) 527-8418 http://banzhaf.net/ End
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Account Phone Number