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Monday, July 28, 2003

Whites need not apply 

Posted by Hei Lun : 8:38 PM

Black parents in Oberlin, Ohio don't want a white teacher to teach a black history course:

Using a white teacher at Oberlin High School would send the wrong message to black students, said A.G. Miller, an associate professor of American and African religious history at Oberlin College.

"The message is that we are not concerned about the importance of your historical background ... that that is less important than a schedule conflict," said Miller, whose three children graduated from Oberlin High School.

Jaqui Willis, a black Oberlin parent, said the teacher is a role model and that removing him from the class would be detrimental to students.
David Bernstein coments:

I have heard that it's extremely difficult for whites to get college-level jobs teaching African American studies, and that's a shame.

As for the Oberlin case, it would clearly be unconstitutional for the school board to reserve the teaching of African American history to blacks, just as the board could not limit to whites the teaching of European history, or to Asians the teaching of Asian history. The school board should not only reject the parents' protest, but should also regularly assign qualified white teachers to the class.
Will anyone protest if in a new horror movie a white guy dies first, with the claim that blacks are better at playing the role of first-to-die?

This kind of thing is bad not only for the whites who don't get the job, but also for blacks who are type-casted into these kinds of jobs.
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