I don’t understand any of this story 
Its not over adjectives… it is that the professor had to point out someone was black even though it had nothing to do with the story. Who cares if they are black?
Its like if I said “I was at the store and this fat woman cut me in line and made a big stink.”
What does being fat have to do with it? But you are promoting a stereotype…fat, loud, annoying.
yeah, I am often gently educating my elderly father that he doesn’t have to inject adjectives into every story (Jewish, black, etc.) It implies that you see the person as “XXX” first, and as a human being second. I probably wouldn’t go ballistic on a teacher though 
As someone who lives in an area where such language is heard on a daily basis, let me say that one really does need to learn when to speak up and when to take a deep breath and roll their eyes. Reading between the lines regarding his statement about younger generations being “offended” leaves me to think that your daughter is not the first person to bring the matter up. He is who he is, and your daughter is not, in his eyes, a peer who has the power to change his thinking and his practices. She has learned a hard lesson about controlling tempers and jumping into actions without thinking them through.
As a parent, you need to let her deal with this and the consequences of her choices, both her choice to let her guard down and get into a shouting match with a superior and her choice on how to handle the aftermath. Don’t get me wrong, your job as a parent is to provide emotional support and let her see how she might do things different next time. But, to get actively involved will cast a bad light on your daughter in her professors’ views which might come back to haunt her in future classes.
Navigating these issues does not come naturally, they are things that need to be learned. Although this situation had consequences for your daughter, they are important learning opportunities. What I would not want to see happen is for your daughter to learn to not speak up. If she was in a club and a fellow student said things that are offensive, her voice is important. This is how groups make horrible decisions (blackface, gangster parties) a few people make insensitive choices and people who know better don’t speak up. That being said, understanding power dynamics and how to address them, is also an important lesson. She was never going to win confronting a faculty. Waiting until the end of the term, or at a point where she could expect a change of instructor, and addressing this with the department chair or someone with power over the faculty would have more success. Your daughter doesn’t just need to learn to just have a thick skin, she just needs to learn how to take her cultural intelligence and know how to use it so it changes the situation. Good luck to your daughter
I think she could have mentioned her concern, then not risen to the bait if he’d reacted badly. She didn’t have to shout just because he did. It is tough to call out something that makes you uncomfortable sometimes. Personally, I can’t think of a time I’d have had to tell a story saying “two gay guys” (I might say “my friend Nick and his partner Michael” or something if the relationship mattered to the story — otherwise, not). I can also imagine my very bigoted dad feeling that he had to put the race or sexual orientation in (said with a sneer, and meaning it as a put down). If that was the case, then I say good for her for bringing it up.
But maybe you want to talk with her about playing out the conversation a bit in her head before commenting in this type of situation, and being ready to control her reaction. When he reacted badly, she could have shrugged and repeat that it bothered her so she wanted to mention it, and then said something to move the lesson along. It’s what I do with my dad.
@cmb1828 “To be clear, the tags themselves did not bother her. The fact that the tags were the only tags offered for any characters in the story -yet had no bearing on the story- is what made her uncomfortable. It was almost as if she should have understood the tags as foreshadowing. … and that’s the problem. Again, thank you for your interest and responses. I will not be responding further for this thread.”
I realize that (and side with your daughter) that this is unnecessary and a sign of racism. I would have been uncomfortable too. I suppose that this demonstrates that she is passionate about social causes and that is a quality that will feed into her art and advocacy as she moves forward in her life.
I guess maybe hold space for her. Part of advocacy is leaving some of yourself on the field–in this case, her scholarship. There is a price in this society for speaking up and she is paying it. It’s a hard lesson to learn with so much on the line. Maybe, though, it is a price that she is willing to pay for being on the right side.
He may be or may not be.
I heard the following just today. A younger coworker referencing two “older people” doing x. X not age related. Ageist?
“So these Two men walking out of the building doing x.” X nothing to do with gender. Were the women sexist?
And recently, my friend (who is Hispanic) mentioning a certain x coming from a white guy was funny. Racist?
I know all of the people and the answer is “no” in every case.
Perhaps, “tags” are just a mechanism in story telling that needs to be reconsidered.
But not sure we can make such deep and damaging inference from a post.
That being said. I always like when people communicate clearly when they find something “off”.
But yelling at your boss, prof, spouse or police — never ends well, imho.
I think it took a lot of courage for the student to confront the teacher with this. It is something that really bothered her and she pointed it out. Unfortunately, the prof didn’t take it well, or defended himself with “oh I didn’t mean anything by that”
It’s hard to call out a superior and hard to do without consequences.
She’s young and she picked the wrong battle, not because it wasn’t worth bringing up, but because she couldn’t possibly have gauged the prof’s response. So the lesson for her is that yes, if it bothers you, say something, but don’t expect the other person to agree with you or to receive it well. She will have to figure out a way to proceed from here, but I don’t doubt that she will. She has some backbone to work with!
And stay out of it, Mama Bear. Easier said than done (I have been there myself), but things will go better for your D if you just advise her behind the scenes and let her plot her own course.