Changes

*James Boster, a professor of anthropology at the [[University of Connecticut]], became unhinged and angrily shouted at a campus, open-air, Christian preacher in a crude and ignorant rant (See [http://christiannews.net/2014/04/23/praise-darwin-uconn-professor-goes-ape-during-campus-preaching/ Video]<ref>Clark, Heather (April 23, 2014). [http://christiannews.net/2014/04/23/praise-darwin-uconn-professor-goes-ape-during-campus-preaching/ "'Praise Darwin!' UConn professor goes ape during campus preaching"].  Christian News website.  Embedded video:  "UConn professor goes ape during campus preaching" (April 23, 2014).  YouTube video, 2:41, posted by Christian News.</ref>). The incident was so embarrassing for the university that they felt compelled to denounce Boster's behavior.<ref>Clark, Heather (April 25, 2014). [http://christiannews.net/2014/04/25/uconn-professor-defends-going-ape-during-campus-preaching-while-officials-decry-behavior/ "UConn professor who went ape on campus evangelists: ‘I’m in deep trouble’"]. Christian News website.</ref>

*James Boster, a professor of anthropology at the [[University of Connecticut]], became unhinged and angrily shouted at a campus, open-air, Christian preacher in a crude and ignorant rant (See [http://christiannews.net/2014/04/23/praise-darwin-uconn-professor-goes-ape-during-campus-preaching/ Video]<ref>Clark, Heather (April 23, 2014). [http://christiannews.net/2014/04/23/praise-darwin-uconn-professor-goes-ape-during-campus-preaching/ "'Praise Darwin!' UConn professor goes ape during campus preaching"].  Christian News website.  Embedded video:  "UConn professor goes ape during campus preaching" (April 23, 2014).  YouTube video, 2:41, posted by Christian News.</ref>). The incident was so embarrassing for the university that they felt compelled to denounce Boster's behavior.<ref>Clark, Heather (April 25, 2014). [http://christiannews.net/2014/04/25/uconn-professor-defends-going-ape-during-campus-preaching-while-officials-decry-behavior/ "UConn professor who went ape on campus evangelists: ‘I’m in deep trouble’"]. Christian News website.</ref>

*Thirty-two hundred educators, most of them [[professors]], signed a letter supporting unrepentant domestic [[terrorist]] and fellow professor [[William Ayers]] ([[William Ayers#Obama.2C the Annenberg Challenge.2C ACORN and the Woods Fund|a protege of Obama]]). They claimed Ayers' bombing of the [[Pentagon]] and other [[government]] buildings, his direct involvement in at least three deaths, were just "history." Notable signers included Professor Rashid Khalidi (No. 5), known for his call to destroy [[Israel]], and the above-mentioned [[Ward Churchill]] (No. 814). George Leef, director of research for the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, [[Raleigh]], North Carolina, said, "History should be important to teachers."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081104031810/http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/22/academics-sign-pro-ayers-petition/ "More than 3,000 academics sign pro-Ayers petition"] (October 22, 2008).  Fox News website/Elections.  Retrieved from November 4, 2008 archive at Internet Archive.  See [[Fox News]].</ref>

*Thirty-two hundred educators, most of them [[professors]], signed a letter supporting unrepentant domestic [[terrorist]] and fellow professor [[William Ayers]] ([[William Ayers#Obama.2C the Annenberg Challenge.2C ACORN and the Woods Fund|a protégé of Obama]]). They claimed Ayers' bombing of the [[Pentagon]] and other [[government]] buildings, his direct involvement in at least three deaths, were just "history." Notable signers included Professor Rashid Khalidi (No. 5), known for his call to destroy [[Israel]], and the above-mentioned [[Ward Churchill]] (No. 814). George Leef, director of research for the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, [[Raleigh]], North Carolina, said, "History should be important to teachers."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081104031810/http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/22/academics-sign-pro-ayers-petition/ "More than 3,000 academics sign pro-Ayers petition"] (October 22, 2008).  Fox News website/Elections.  Retrieved from November 4, 2008 archive at Internet Archive.  See [[Fox News]].</ref>

*American history professor at the [[Massachusetts]] College of Art, [[Noel Ignatiev]] says, “If you are a white male, you don’t deserve to live...."<ref>Fernando, Ivan (November 18, 2013). [http://diversitychronicle.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/progressive-professor-urges-white-male-students-to-commit-suicide-during-class/ "Progressive professor urges white male students to commit suicide during class"]. Diversity Chronicle website.</ref>

*American history professor at the [[Massachusetts]] College of Art, [[Noel Ignatiev]] says, “If you are a white male, you don’t deserve to live...."<ref>Fernando, Ivan (November 18, 2013). [http://diversitychronicle.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/progressive-professor-urges-white-male-students-to-commit-suicide-during-class/ "Progressive professor urges white male students to commit suicide during class"]. Diversity Chronicle website.</ref>

[https://web.archive.org/web/20030605124701/https://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/03/31/3e881bf8297f2 "Letters to the editor:  professor qualifies quotation in article and addresses criticism"].  ''Columbia Daily Spectator'' website (New York).<br />

[https://web.archive.org/web/20030605124701/https://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/03/31/3e881bf8297f2 "Letters to the editor:  professor qualifies quotation in article and addresses criticism"].  ''Columbia Daily Spectator'' website (New York).<br />

To the Editor:<br>

To the Editor:<br>

''Spectator'', now for the second time in less than a year, has succeeded to quote me in a remarkably decontextualized and inflammatory manner. In Margaret Hunt Gram's report on the faculty teach-in against the war in Iraq (March 27, 2003), I am quoted as wishing for a million Mogadishus but with no indication whatsoever of the perspective that framed that remark. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that your Staff Editorial in the same issue, denouncing the teach-in for "dogmatism," situates me in particular as the premier example of an academic "launching tirades against anything and everything American."<br><br>

''Spectator'', now for the second time in less than a year, has succeeded to quote me in a remarkably decontextualized and inflammatory manner. In Margaret Hunt Gram's report on the faculty teach-in against the war in Iraq (March 27, 2003), I am quoted as wishing for a million Mogadishus but with no indication whatsoever of the perspective that framed that remark. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that your Staff Editorial in the same issue, denouncing the teach-in for "dogmatism," situates me in particular as the premier example of an academic "launching tirades against anything and everything American."<br>

 

¶In my brief presentation, I outlined a long history of U.S. invasions, wars of conquest, military occupations, and colonization in order to establish that imperialism and white supremacy have been constitutive of U.S. nation-state formation and U.S. nationalism. In that context, I stressed the necessity of repudiating all forms of U.S. patriotism. I also emphasized that the disproportionate majority of U.S. troops come from racially subordinated and working-class backgrounds and are in the military largely as a consequence of a treacherous lack of prospects for a decent life. Nonetheless, I emphasized that U.S. troops are indeed confronted with a choice--to perpetrate this war against the Iraqi people or to refuse to fight and contribute toward the defeat of the U.S. war machine.<br>

In my brief presentation, I outlined a long history of U.S. invasions, wars of conquest, military occupations, and colonization in order to establish that imperialism and white supremacy have been constitutive of U.S. nation-state formation and U.S. nationalism. In that context, I stressed the necessity of repudiating all forms of U.S. patriotism. I also emphasized that the disproportionate majority of U.S. troops come from racially subordinated and working-class backgrounds and are in the military largely as a consequence of a treacherous lack of prospects for a decent life. Nonetheless, I emphasized that U.S. troops are indeed confronted with a choice--to perpetrate this war against the Iraqi people or to refuse to fight and contribute toward the defeat of the U.S. war machine.<br><br>

¶I also affirmed that Iraqi liberation can only be effected by the Iraqi people themselves, both by resisting and defeating the U.S. invasion as well as overthrowing a regime whose brutality was long sustained by none other than the U.S. Such an anti-colonial struggle for self-determination might involve a million Mogadishus now but would ultimately have to become something more like another Vietnam. Vietnam was a stunning defeat for U.S. imperialism; as such, it was also a victory for the cause of human self-determination.<br>

 

¶Is this a tirade against "anything and everything American"? Far from it. First, I hasten to remind you that "American" refers to all of the Americas, not merely to the United States, as U.S. imperial [[chauvinism]] would have it. More importantly, my rejection of U.S. nationalism is an appeal to liberate our own political imaginations such that we might usher in a radically different world in which we will not remain the prisoners of U.S. global domination.<br>

I also affirmed that Iraqi liberation can only be effected by the Iraqi people themselves, both by resisting and defeating the U.S. invasion as well as overthrowing a regime whose brutality was long sustained by none other than the U.S. Such an anti-colonial struggle for self-determination might involve a million Mogadishus now but would ultimately have to become something more like another Vietnam. Vietnam was a stunning defeat for U.S. imperialism; as such, it was also a victory for the cause of human self-determination.<br><br>

 

Is this a tirade against "anything and everything American"? Far from it. First, I hasten to remind you that "American" refers to all of the Americas, not merely to the United States, as U.S. imperial [[chauvinism]] would have it. More importantly, my rejection of U.S. nationalism is an appeal to liberate our own political imaginations such that we might usher in a radically different world in which we will not remain the prisoners of U.S. global domination.<br><br>

 

Nicholas De Genova<br>

Nicholas De Genova<br>

March 21, 2003<br>

March 21, 2003<br>