Mr. Anderson’s recent column clearly cherry-picked facts in an attempt to either distort the history of the Black Panther Party or merely to incite controversy (maybe both?). And many IU faculty, staff and other students are better equipped than I am to defend the BPP’s history and mission.But to me, Mr. Anderson’s ignorance, willful or not, is part of a bigger problem here.
What concerns me is many of us here at IU are not adequately prepared to fight this ignorance in our community, as we are not exposed to the history of groups like the BPP or the issues they stood for.
As a community, we can only fight ignorance and hate when we have the knowledge and understanding to identify it and push back.
Yes, Mr. Anderson’s warped view is very disturbing. But why don’t we have courses where those views are brought to light and debated in the classroom? Why aren’t students, like myself, more willing to have conversations on race with people who hold different views? The more we are all educated about issues of race in America, the more likely our IU community will be able to stand up to ignorance.
Jalen Walker
Kelley School
of Business
Indiana University
walkejal@indiana.edu
