Louis Lebherz, a professor at St. Mary's College, has been accused of racism by a student who claims that the professor had someone perform a song in class with a racial epithet. The professor had the student sing the original version of "Old Man River," which consists of the line, "Colored folks work on de Mississippi."
According to the student who lodged the complaint, the professor then told another student singing the song to reach for his "inner slave," and sing "as if massa's gonna get you if you don't do your work right." When the black student complained to the class about the song, the professor allegedly called him a "gangster" and said that he "could probably whoop the ass" of the student singing.
Clearly, this incident is inappropriate. The singing of the song "Old Man River" could be justified, if given proper context and presented in a respectful fashion.
What made matters worse, though, is the professor's unprofessional and insensitive way of handling the black student's discomfort. Additionally, whites must realize that singing, joking or making casual references to slavery is no different from making jokes about the Nazi holocaust. I would never tell my class to sing a song about the holocaust and "sing as if the Nazi soldier is going to murder your entire family in front of you if you choose to misbehave." I would certainly not make matters worse by making a joke about the Jewish students in my class and saying, "Oh, they're just cheap skates and probably want their tuition money back." When speaking on culturally traumatic history, we have to tread carefully. The professor was clearly out of line.
The accusations of racism against St. Mary's college come at an inconvenient time, as the school is working to improve race relations. This is also not a good time for the University of California (UC) system, where accusations of racism against African Americans have grown dramatically this year. Earlier this year, students at The University of California, San Diego, "celebrated" Black History Month by holding a "Compton Cookout," instructing students to attend the party dressed as stereotypical African Americans from the inner city. The cookout served chicken and watermelon as well.
The UC system has openly acknowledged that it has a problem with racism, but like most other university systems, they are probably not going to do a very good job of getting to the root cause of the problem. Since Ward Connerly was successful in passing Proposition 209, the level of diversity in California universities has declined dramatically. At the same time, the amount of racial ignorance has escalated. It appears that students in California are only being taught to be more racist, and that is a huge disservice to that state.
As for St. Mary's College, I am sure that the number of African-American professorson campus is quite low. They should realize that allowing professors like Lebherz to remain on the faculty while refusing to hire qualified black and brown professors only allows their campus to become an incubator for racial intolerance. Their students deserve better than that. Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book, "Black American Money." To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
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The Cali & other Colleges are filled with white kids who only dealing with people of color is from TV! Watch any college sport look at the student section most are 99% white kids. And these kids will be in the work force as "leaders" I went to college in the late 80s early 90s & there were more people of color then, than there is at the school I went to know! I said to one Prof "This is like the 1950s or something" And the looks I got from some of the current students was amazing. As if I & my family didn't belong there. I sent my son to a HBU last fall & I sent a letter to the Dean of my college why my son would not be going there. He CALLED me to express his concerns & regrets. He did say "We do have an issue now with race" He asked me why this maybe I told him simple: "No brown faces allows many whites to act like themselves" But I don't think he got my point. I fear that racism on college campuses will increase. Maybe a boycott by the black kids player in major college sports might do something. Can you imagine if during a college football game with a major team & 70% of the players walked off the field before the game? I bet things would change quickly
i can't stand when AA ppl treat other AA ppl like that. it's bad enough we have to deal w/this from other races but 2 say those things 2 a student as if it's funny is ridiculous. what is on the mind of these ppl when they do things like this. He should b fired immediately. there's always some AA jackasss ruining everything for everyone else..
I am amazed that everyone simply assumes this young man is telling the truth about what happened. Could it be he was looking for attention and made up some of the story..the offensive parts? Yes the teacher had a student sing "old man river", good thing. We should never forget such a horrible period in history.And... it is beautiful, have you heard Paul Robeson's version? exquisite. This young man is in the communications field. This was a perfect opportunity to get his face spread around. For those of us who are older, don't we know to wait until we hear the whole story to make judgments? Have you even asked to hear Mr Lebherz view? Would you ask the young man to apologize to Mr Lebherz if it were found out that he lied about what was said to him? I hope so. He is ruining one man's life for what he thinks is his gain. I know Mr. Lebherz. He was raised in a very open and accepting home and he and his own family have friends of all cultures and colors. He is not a racist in any way. This whole thing is causing him incredible pain. The young man picked the wrong man to impune. And I think will feel very badly when he realizes what he has done.
I am certaint there were others in the room who can attest to the facts. We shall see. As for your assessment, the professor may very well be a good man who made a bad choice. Sounds like he may have been attempting to use humor to teach a painful subject to keep his class interested. Very often such choices turn out badly. Teaching moment for the teacher and others...Happens everyday.
What white people have to understand is that slavery , whioch was not so long ago in history, AT ALL, is still affecting the black community and our families. To most black men, to show that kind of behavior in front of them reminds them of what happened in the past, as if it is still happening. RAcism keeps slavery alive in a sense that you guys don't fully respect black people as you didn;t then. Yeah, you say get over it...then stop talking to us, around us, and about us like we have no emotions and that our families weren't whipped, lynched, burned, children murdered, women raped, spit on, hosed, not allowed to vote, or to even eat in the same facilities as whites. And because that professor was raised openly, doesn't excuse him from not being sensitive to AA people and our history, as tragic as it was. If that's what he said.
I was not there to here the what was exactly said. Were you? The problem is the fact that the professor should have kept this on a professional level. The student obviously does not know this guy on the same level as you do. I would have been insulted, because I had relatives that were slaves, and I remember some really bad things that happened to some of my family members when I was a child. The memories are very painful, and people telling me to get over it does not work for me; just as the Holocaust is to me, and anyone else of a human nature. The whole situation was inappropriate, especially when the student complained about being uncomfortable about singing this song. If what the student says is true, and the peron that you are describing (the professor), why did he not stop this degradation and move on?
Why shouldn't the young man be telling the truth. Yes both sides should be heard. However wouldn't it be interestingTaylor Cotrell, if the professor did exactly as the young man reported. I also have grown quite tired of the acceptance of the words"race", racial" and "racist" as those these words really mean anything . A pit bull is not of a different farace than a collie or Boston Terrier. All dogs are canines. A cat, cougar, lion, panther and tiger are all part of the same cat or feline family. To refer to human beings of different ehtnic backgrounds as being of a different race is ludicrous. These words have been accepted for many, many, many years. It does not make it right. We are all of the same human race, different, ethnicities, religions, customs, languages and so forth, but ONE RACE. To feel that there is such a thing as the White race and Black race for instance is to admit that whites and blacks are two separate and different species. That is a bizarre and ridiculous(though widely accepted)frame of thinking and reasoning.
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Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book, "Black American Money." To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
Comments: (37)
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By: Joshua on 4/28/2010 10:16AM
Nope, no reason to defend such egregious words, especially coming from a professor. Incredulously unprofessional.
I'm sure someone will try to defend it though.
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By: dre on 4/28/2010 5:21PM
The Cali & other Colleges are filled with white kids who only dealing with people of color is from TV! Watch any college sport look at the student section most are 99% white kids. And these kids will be in the work force as "leaders" I went to college in the late 80s early 90s & there were more people of color then, than there is at the school I went to know! I said to one Prof "This is like the 1950s or something" And the looks I got from some of the current students was amazing. As if I & my family didn't belong there. I sent my son to a HBU last fall & I sent a letter to the Dean of my college why my son would not be going there. He CALLED me to express his concerns & regrets. He did say "We do have an issue now with race" He asked me why this maybe I told him simple: "No brown faces allows many whites to act like themselves" But I don't think he got my point. I fear that racism on college campuses will increase. Maybe a boycott by the black kids player in major college sports might do something. Can you imagine if during a college football game with a major team & 70% of the players walked off the field before the game? I bet things would change quickly
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By: dvine on 4/28/2010 2:27PM
i can't stand when AA ppl treat other AA ppl like that. it's bad enough we have to deal w/this from other races but 2 say those things 2 a student as if it's funny is ridiculous. what is on the mind of these ppl when they do things like this. He should b fired immediately. there's always some AA jackasss ruining everything for everyone else..
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By: Denise on 4/28/2010 3:36PM
Just for FYI,
Univ of Calif was the Largest donor to Obama's presidential campaign. Seems they like only some black people???
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By: Taylor Cottrell on 4/28/2010 4:24PM
I am amazed that everyone simply assumes this young man is telling the truth about what happened. Could it be he was looking for attention and made up some of the story..the offensive parts? Yes the teacher had a student sing "old man river", good thing. We should never forget such a horrible period in history.And... it is beautiful, have you heard Paul Robeson's version? exquisite. This young man is in the communications field. This was a perfect opportunity to get his face spread around. For those of us who are older, don't we know to wait until we hear the whole story to make judgments? Have you even asked to hear Mr Lebherz view? Would you ask the young man to apologize to Mr Lebherz if it were found out that he lied about what was said to him? I hope so. He is ruining one man's life for what he thinks is his gain. I know Mr. Lebherz. He was raised in a very open and accepting home and he and his own family have friends of all cultures and colors. He is not a racist in any way. This whole thing is causing him incredible pain. The young man picked the wrong man to impune. And I think will feel very badly when he realizes what he has done.
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By: Ms. Smith on 4/29/2010 8:35AM
I am certaint there were others in the room who can attest to the facts. We shall see. As for your assessment, the professor may very well be a good man who made a bad choice. Sounds like he may have been attempting to use humor to teach a painful subject to keep his class interested. Very often such choices turn out badly. Teaching moment for the teacher and others...Happens everyday.
Report This
By: E on 4/29/2010 9:44AM
What white people have to understand is that slavery , whioch was not so long ago in history, AT ALL, is still affecting the black community and our families. To most black men, to show that kind of behavior in front of them reminds them of what happened in the past, as if it is still happening. RAcism keeps slavery alive in a sense that you guys don't fully respect black people as you didn;t then. Yeah, you say get over it...then stop talking to us, around us, and about us like we have no emotions and that our families weren't whipped, lynched, burned, children murdered, women raped, spit on, hosed, not allowed to vote, or to even eat in the same facilities as whites. And because that professor was raised openly, doesn't excuse him from not being sensitive to AA people and our history, as tragic as it was. If that's what he said.
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By: Jeannette on 4/29/2010 12:17PM
I was not there to here the what was exactly said. Were you?
The problem is the fact that the professor should have kept this on a professional level. The student obviously does not know this guy on the same level as you do. I would have been insulted, because I had relatives that were slaves, and I remember some really bad things that happened to some of my family members when I was a child. The memories are very painful, and people telling me to get over it does not work for me; just as the Holocaust is to me, and anyone else of a human nature.
The whole situation was inappropriate, especially when the student complained about being uncomfortable about singing this song. If what the student says is true, and the peron that you are describing (the professor), why did he not stop this degradation and move on?
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By: Onaje Allan Gumbs on 4/30/2010 12:57AM
Why shouldn't the young man be telling the truth. Yes both sides should be heard. However wouldn't it be interestingTaylor Cotrell, if the professor did exactly as the young man reported. I also have grown quite tired of the acceptance of the words"race", racial" and "racist" as those these words really mean anything . A pit bull is not of a different farace than a collie or Boston Terrier. All dogs are canines. A cat, cougar, lion, panther and tiger are all part of the same cat or feline family. To refer to human beings of different ehtnic backgrounds as being of a different race is ludicrous. These words have been accepted for many, many, many years. It does not make it right. We are all of the same human race, different, ethnicities, religions, customs, languages and so forth, but ONE RACE. To feel that there is such a thing as the White race and Black race for instance is to admit that whites and blacks are two separate and different species. That is a bizarre and ridiculous(though widely accepted)frame of thinking and reasoning.
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By: Rick on 4/29/2010 2:51PM
two sides to every story, and even more so when done in a public setting.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/incontracosta/detail?&entry_id=62323`
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