Students at an unnamed law school recently wrote a letter to their professor saying that they believed his Black Lives Matter t-shirt was inappropriate. The students wrote, “Specifically, you have presented yourself on campus, on at least one occasion, wearing a ‘Black Lives Matter’ t-shirt. We believe this is an inappropriate and unnecessary statement that has no legitimate place within our institution of higher learning.”
It seems the one-time occasion really ruffled some feathers. The students further added they they were there to learn the law and did not want to be “subjected to indoctrination or personal opinions of our professors.” The students probably thought that the letter would be enough to deter their professor from ever wearing the shirt again or that their complaint would be easily solved with a two-page letter. But, they were wrong. Their professor served some of the best shade ever with a letter that made the anonymous students look like whiny brats.
“‘Black Lives Matter’ is not a statement about white people. It does not exclude white people. It does not accuse white people, unless you are a specific white person who perpetrates, endorses, or ignores violence against black people. If you are one of those people, then somebody had better say something to you,” the professor wrote, “As a general matter, seeing the world and the people in it in mutually exclusive, either/or terms impedes your own thought processes. If you wish to bear that intellectual consequence of a constricting ideology, that’s your decision. But this does not entitle you to project your either/or ideology onto people who do not share it.”
Well, students, looks like you just got served.
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