June 9: Cornel West *80 on racial injustice; Mitch Daniels ’71 on college students
Published June 9, 2020
Cornel West *80 responds to the nationwide protests over racial injustice and asks: “Can this failed social experiment be reformed?” — The Guardian
University of Delaware Africana Studies professor Cheryl D. Hicks *99 explains why black women must be central to calls for social change and holding police accountable. — Association of Black Women Historians
Mellody Hobson ’91, co-C.E.O. of Ariel Investments, discusses the need for diversity in corporate America and solutions like tying it to executive pay. — The New York Times
Jesse Milan, Jr. ’78, president and CEO of AIDS United, is working to end HIV while ensuring no one is denied the love and support they need. — Sojourners Magazine
As medical director of 52 urgent care centers in New York, Neal M. Shipley ’83 found himself at the center of the pandemic as doctors’ offices closed and emergency rooms filled up. — U.S. News & World Report
Professors emeritus Anne Case *88 and Angus Deaton refute predictions that the economic shutdown will cause “a wave of deaths of despair.” — The Washington Post
“Because racial injustice just seems to be baked into the DNA of this country, periodically and throughout history there come these moments when people just can’t take it anymore.”
— Heather Ann Thompson *95, professor of history and Afro-American and African Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. — Vox
Mitch Daniels ’71, president of Purdue University, said plans to reopen this fall will only succeed if students change their behavior and forgo concerts, convocations, and fraternity parties. — U.S. News & World Report
Gen. Mark Milley ’80, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was criticized for walking to Lafayette Square with President Trump, although reportedly behind the scenes is working to prevent the president from sending active-duty troops to the protests. — The New York Times
Michael Signer ’95, former mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia, discussed events that lead to the violent 2017 white supremacist rally and why he feels public service is a worthy calling. — NPR
Michael Eric Dyson *92, professor of sociology at Georgetown University, discussed civil unrest in the United States on The Late Late Show With James Corden and discussed books with The New York Times. — Yahoo! Entertainment, The New York Times
Jeremy Blachman ’00 explains in a humor piece why socially distancing during summer camp — reading alone! bring-your-own-bows archery! — will be no fun at all. — Medium
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4 Responses
Tim Scott ’90
4 Years AgoIn light of the protests concerning institutional racism in America, I’d like to suggest that the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs is well-positioned to delve into this issue. Specifically, I’d like to see either a policy task force or research seminar focused on practices of institutional racism in American institutions and governmental organizations.
The opportunities to investigate the different varieties of such practices are so varied that the bulk or all of the undergraduate and graduate students at the school could devote their independent work to topics in policing, the justice system, education (preschool, K-12, undergraduate, and advanced degrees could all afford different task forces), health care, and banking. I’m sure that I’m omitting a number of spaces in which institutional racism takes place. It may be that plans are already in progress for such scholarship. If so, then I commend those involved for their timely initiative. If not, I can think of no more timely effort to be in the nation’s service and in the service of all nations.
Douglas S. Massey *78, Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs
3 Years AgoIn the October issue, Tim Scott ’90 called on the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs to create “either a policy task force or research seminar focused on practices of institutional racism in American institutions and governmental organizations.” I would like the alumni to know that since 2005 I have annually taught the course “Race and Public Policy.” It begins by laying out the historical emergence of race as a concept in Western thought and then covers the sociology and psychology of race as a social construction. Drawing on this knowledge, the course then explains how race was manufactured through public policies enacted in the United States from Colonial times to the present, explaining how race was formed before the Constitution, under the Constitution, during Reconstruction, under de jure segregation in the South, by de facto segregation in the North, during the New Deal, in the civil rights era, during the post-civil rights era, and ending up with the current white nationalist moment. I am presently teaching the course virtually to 60 enrolled students. A copy of the syllabus is available at bit.ly/rpp-syllabus for anyone who is interested.
Paul Mendelson ’62
4 Years AgoOver the years I have compiled a list of alumni whom I deride as active in Princeton’s disservice to our nation. Several in George W. Bush’s administration have qualified given the fiasco of the Iraq War and its fallout. Today, I’d like to dishonor General Milley, who joined Trump’s ridiculous photo op in front of venerable St. John’s Church on June 1 in Washington, D.C. Not only was it a stupid, Trumpian political charade, it was a violent act against peaceful protesters orchestrated by Attorney General Barr. The General was outfitted in combat fatigues, ready for confrontation. It saddens me that a fellow alumnus was so callous and political at a time that our Black brothers and sisters are suffering so much.
Richard D. Mahoney ’73
4 Years AgoWhat in heaven’s name was Gen. Mark A. Milley ’80 doing dressed in battle fatigues crossing Lafayette Park in the wake of a violent assault by National Guard forces against a crowd of nonviolent protesters? Maybe he didn’t know that it was just a photo op for President Donald Trump. Maybe he was not informed in advance that Attorney General William Barr had given the order to use force to clear the park. But why then the battle dress?
The question asked of Milley by former Marine Corps veteran and Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego is the right one: “Do you intend to obey illegal orders by the president?” The evidence to date is disturbing. Should President Trump refuse to accept defeat in the November election, as is probable, what will Milley do then if ordered to put down protest with military force? The right answer is for him to resign his commission immediately and defend American democracy.
Editor’s note: The letter writer was Arizona’s secretary of state from 1991 to 1995.