https://contemporaryracism.org/3287/its-just-business/ An academic blog about whiteness, implicit bias, and systemic racism Sat, 10 Dec 2016 17:29:48 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://contemporaryracism.org/3287/its-just-business/comment-page-1/#comment-815 Sat, 10 Dec 2016 17:29:48 +0000 http://contemporaryracism.org/?p=3287#comment-815 Allowing Duke to debate on Dillard’s campus would have been a mistake. It was not as if Duke was an implicitly racist person who would be able to keep his personal opinions about the issues of race out of the debate. As a historically Black College, Dillard University was founded on the grounds that people of color would be allowed to get the right to higher level education. Duke’s overly racist comments qualify him as someone who would go against everything that the private institution stands for.
On the other hand, if Duke had been allowed to debate, it could have been a strong political statement. It could have been seen as Dillard taking the high road, but that would not mean that they would have to be complacent or agree with the views that he posed. Protesters could have flooded the halls of the university to show how that kind of hateful rhetoric is not acceptable and while I doubt that Duke would be open to a dialogue about race, it would be worth a shot if a bunch of students tried to reason with his humanity. I think that it is a shame that Duke got as far as he did in the running for Senator, which goes to show how much work needs to be down in the United States when it comes to these issues.

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