Very sad that some people have become so intolerant that resort to vandalism.
What an ego-inflated baby. What about the entire British art museum that reflects an age of colonialism and conquest? History doesn’t care about feelings. I wish people would look at the intent of something before forcing their preconceived notion of racism on it.
I don’t condone vandalism. But I feel compelled to point out that a dining hall, the heart of a residential college, in which students calling Calhoun home eat three meals a day, is the furthest thing from an art museum. Frankly, I was very surprised to read that a window depicting slaves at work was still displayed there.
I suspect that the powers that be at Yale are not terribly upset that this happened.
This is a vey minor incident, when compared with the damage dealt to cathedrals and monasteries during the Protestant Reformation. I hope Yale drops all charges, inviting the former worker to lead an on-campus discussion as a condition for re-instating him to another position in a different residential college.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/nyregion/yale-worker-john-c-calhoun-window-slaves.html?_r=0
I am glad that Yale dropped the charges.
@bookmobile I was just using the museum as one of many examples depicting ugly events of the past. This goes with what I was saying about intent. Just because it’s displayed in a residential hall, doesn’t mean that Yale is holding onto or condoning a history of slavery. They’re simply putting an inescapable historical piece in a dining hall. It’s unreasonable to pick and choose historical events to create a comfortable view of history that you can digest. On a side note, he could’ve petitioned against it and had it relocated given the political stance that Yale takes on issues like these.
Again, it’s a dining hall and a home. No reason why it shouldn’t be “comfortable” for all. As for the “political stance that Yale takes on issues like these,” note that Calhoun has remained “Calhoun” in the face of many protests.
One woman outside suffered minor injuries from falling glass. What if she were seriously injured??? Would you all feel the same?
To repeat: Not condoning the vandalism. Not a fan of the window and its placement.
@bookmobile Good to hear that you don’t condone vandalism. Assume with me for a moment that I heavily identify with the Jewish people in my family tree. On an ethnic and religious basis, Christian images would disturb me and make me uncomfortable where I eat and live. Additionally, say I’m assigned reading with passages mentioning Jews’ slave labor in Egypt. However, I make the choice to acknowledge (not be proud of) that very real historic fact, I am expected by Yale to complete that assignment for learning’s sake, not because the college forces it on me. My comfort level doesn’t dictate history as its presented to me. Neither should the feelings of any section of the population. Furthermore, Yale is probably sticking with Calhoun College because it has the spine to admit that men that have done great things were imperfect, and to mask them with others who were are culturally digestible and equally imperfect is intellectually dishonest. Issues like this are the reason that my generation gets the entitled label. Somehow, centuries of learning passed without students asking for accommodations because decorum and names offended them. We have control over our own feelings despite outside stimuli and the school can and will exist without your disapproval.
While we’re at it we should remove any imagery that glorifies (or even reminds us) of the United States from dining halls. After all, the United States is responsible for the concentration of Japanese people during WW2 and the forcible eradication of of the American Natives. You don’t want that over your head while eating, do You? While we’re still at it, let’s remove any Catholic imagery from anywhere lest some poor person who was a victim (or someone that’s heard of a someone else being victimized) of their horror be uncomfortable.
The people in the the stained-glass are not depicted as some racist, gross caricature, but as historical farmhands. Specifically since Yale is a centuries old college which was historically where affluent southerners sent their children to get a education. Do you honestly believe that the mural somehow denigrates the history of black people in america?
They weren’t farmhands though. They were slaves, showcased in a building named to honor a man who fought for slavery. I’m sure historically that affluent southerner’s children did enjoy that window.
What other universities elevate slavery and slave owners? Serious question, I had no idea any did and I could see that being a deal breaker for my kids when they are ready to apply to colleges.
@mom2twogirls I’m not a fan of Calhoun or his ilk either, but removing his name won’t change what happened in history. People seem to have become farsighted and cynical towards historical Confederates and racists on public display. Rather than letting that awful legacy whither and replace it with a legacy of the students’ brilliance and achievements, students are laser focused on this man as if he’s still at work being a world class jerk by today’s standards. Example: I work at Fort Gordon, named after confederate major general John Brown Gordon. Nobody elevates him, in fact, he’s long forgotten by everyone except those who seek his bio. Nobody elevates him, because we’ve moved on past the trivial things like names and focus our energy on more important matters. Don’t take this personally, but every school has unsavory people part of their legacy. I think colleges should be picked by the best possible education, not their history.
As a mom of an incoming freshman (Branford) and a historian by trade, I find this an interesting discussion and not an easy one to reconcile. Would I want my son educated at a school which prominently represents slave owners? No, but in reality our reality as Americans is not a pretty one. It is marked with an ugly history but that history cannot be ignored. I would have suggested the panel be removed but placed in the Yale museum with a contextual representing of its history. I think the piece is a good starting place for a discussion of our complex but important history. Smashing it does no use in getting at the ugly under belly of slavery. I think it could have been used as a center point for discussion and learning but agree it shouldn’t be in a place where student eat and feel “at home”.
Let me put it this way: this is kind of like when your kid breaks the ugly vase that your aunt gave you. You tell him he did wrong, etc., but secretly, you’re not sorry the vase is gone.
@Hunt. Well said
@Surfbort: Doesn’t your explanation of Yale being a place where Southerners traditionally sent their children to be educated further the maintenance of the idea of Blacks as field workers, enslaved or not, who toil and work the land while the genteel Southerner sits indoors in the cooled halls of home/academia?
In that context, how do the images in the window not offend?
@Waiting2exhale Are you implying that people are offended because Yale Is still educating the Southern elite off the backs of blacks? Because last time I checked, upper middle class families from the Northeast make up a large percentage of Ivies now. I’m not saying that nobody has the right to be offended, you can self-victimize over America’s ugly past until your heart’s content. My point wasn’t that these aren’t in poor taste. Personally, I’d like to see a more triumphant moment of human history in stained glass rather than enslaved sharecroppers. But, delicate sensibilities and a lack of self control is no excuse for vandalism
“Still” is what I wanted to distill out of the context of your comment.
You wrote that “for centuries…” which certainly does not remove the comfort, if it does not outright pander to, the sensibilities of those upper crust Southerners of old.
*In light of your comment /i, how did the images in the window seem benign?
Btw, you really jumped straight to vitriol right there. Didn’t see the need.