I like to think of myself as a fairly controversial student columnist, so I feel compelled to voice my outrage at the actions of the Daily Barometer, Oregon State University’s campus newspaper.
Writer David Williams was fired after penning an April 9 column titled “A message from a white male to the African American community” (I encourage you all to read it at http://barometer.orst.edu). Williams writes, after several qualifying paragraphs, “There is a lack of morality in the black community because African American leaders … choose to rally around minorities who seem to have little quality characteristics about them.”
In an editorial on April 13, the Barometer described the column as “racially insensitive and inappropriate” and apologized to the black community “who was no doubt disappointed, hurt and outraged.”
As a black man, I was far more disappointed in the editors of the Barometer who fired their columnist for writing a column that his editors signed off on for publication. To scapegoat the writer in the face of controversy is pure cowardice. It is absolutely shameful.
Let me be clear: The Barometer had many legitimate reasons to fire David Williams. For one, he is a terrible writer. To borrow a line from Grandpa on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” I could have eaten the alphabet and crapped a better article.
That brings us to the second reason Williams should have been fired: He is a plagiarist. I just quoted a line from a television show, but I didn’t pretend I invented the line. Williams, on the other hand, decided to take paragraphs from syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts, change some words using his thesaurus and then pass them off as his own.
Here is one example (the first is from Pitts and the second from Williams):
“We — blacks — ought to be more thoughtful about who we choose to rally around, ought to be less automatic in leaping to the defense. … (W)e need to grow beyond the notion that someone deserves our support because he is black and in trouble.”
“I think blacks should be more careful in deciding whom they choose to support. They need to grow beyond the automatic reaction of defending someone because he or she shares the same skin color and is in a dilemma.”
Unfortunately the Barometer didn’t fire Williams because he was an untalented plagiarist. They fired him because, as they put it, “we have a policy never to print material that is discriminatory, racist or sexist.”
Asking a “white male,” as Williams self-identifies, to avoid racially insensitive remarks is the equivalent of telling him to stop writing about his true feelings about race. Racial insensitivity — or let’s call it what it is, racial innocence — is so ingrained in white America that it is practically instinctual.
Oops. Did I just say something racially insensitive?
The conservative rhetoric about out-of-control political correctness is dead on (unfortunately conservatives are the worst perpetrators of PC ideology). It is dangerous to use the word racism as a muzzle for any columnist talking about race in a controversial way. Why are we afraid of confronting ignorance in print? The stupidity of Williams’ column speaks for itself — it is a perfect illustration of the stupidity that the black community has to put up with from white America.
Williams isn’t a racist. He is a young white male attempting to talk about something that he doesn’t have the maturity to understand. Should he be punished for the attempt? I certainly don’t think so.
David Williams gave his message to the black community. Well, here is my message to David Williams: Don’t tell the black community what it needs to do. Maybe think more deeply about what the white community needs to do.
My message to the Barometer: Apologize to Williams, reinstate him and then immediately fire him again for being a plagiarist and a disgrace to student journalists everywhere. Then maybe a few editors should resign. You, too, are a disgrace.
And my message to the black community: Williams has a point. We should be “more careful in deciding whom (we) choose to support.” Not blacks but whites. We should be more careful in deciding which whites we choose to support. Colin Powell, rethink your support of President Bush. Janet Jackson, rethink your support of Justin Timberlake. And black Democrats, rethink your support of John Kerry.