Telling People to Ignore Insults Isn't Dismissive of Their Plight
Missouri students shouldn't live in fear of bad words.
On Tuesday morning, I joined Mashable's Juana Summers, Slate's Jamelle Bouie, and The Atlantic's Krishnadev Calamur on NPR's Diane Rehm show for a discussion about what's happening at the University of Missouri. You can listen here.
I opined that while students were certainly free to publicize genuine instances of racial animus on campus and advocate for administrative change, it was not clear to me that President Tim Wolfe's resignation was wholly justified. I also suggested that refusing to become offended is an underrated anti-harassment strategy. I even referenced the old adage, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
The other panelists vehemently disagreed. The callers did, too. And so did many of my critics on Twitter:
@robbysoave please listen to POC before making claims that racial slurs are no biggie. This is an incredibly dangerous statement. @drshow
— Leslie Beliveau (@LeslieBeliveau) November 10, 2015
@drshow @robbysoave Soave has that typical white male hegemonic attitude. You're black and discriminated against so get over it. Accept it.
— Norwood Holland (@Norwood22) November 10, 2015
I don't want to live in the world @robbysoave is describing, where oppressed, threatened ppl just have to let it roll off them. #drshow
— Korla Masters (@korlaporlapaz) November 10, 2015
I was not suggesting that racial slurs are a trivial matter—they are incredibly evil, hateful, and sometimes genuinely traumatizing for persons of color. Nor was I suggesting that black people need to "just get over it." They have every right to publicize their emotional turmoil and demand action. I wish we lived in a world where no one aspired to demean them.
But I suspect the people who shout despicable things at black people on the street have much in common with schoolyard bullies: they are looking for a reaction. And one way to deprive bullies of their power to inflict pain—not just on people of color, but on everyone—is to ignore them.
Another way, I suppose, is to identify the bullies and run them out of town with pitchforks. But when we live in fear of bad words, we give agency to the people who use them. That's something for everyone to keep in mind, especially now that Mizzou cops have announced their intention to literally police speech on campus.
