July 12, Lolita Buckner Inniss, SMU Dallas Dedman School of Law professor, for a piece pointing out that Princeton University has much work to do to own up to and rid the university of anti-Black racism. Published in NJ.com and a network of affiliates in New Jersey Advance Media: https://bit.ly/32dbJTN
Princeton University’s recent decision to remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from its famed School of Public and International Affairs, and from its first residential college, is important because iconography matters.
Wilson, a celebrated student (he was Princeton class of 1879), scholar (he was a Princeton professor of jurisprudence and politics), university leader (he served as president of Princeton), governor, and U.S. president, was also a virulent racist whose policies resulted in great economic harm to Black communities. The removal of Wilson’s name does not alter history, nor does it promote erasure. Rather, the removal visibly dismantles the uncritical assertion of Wilson’s historical and cultural authority. It also deals a blow to the institutional embrace of anti-Black racism. . .
Continue reading “Princeton’s removal of President Wilson’s name should just be the beginning”