Dr. Carol M. Swain appeared on Fox News Channel’s The Ingraham Angle with Laura Ingraham on Friday to discuss the lowering of traditional grammar standards for college students of color.
(George W. Bush clip plays)
Instead of separate but equal there is separate and forgotten. I will confront another former bias. The soft bigotry of low expectations. No child in America should be segregated by lower expectations. In prison by illiteracy abandon to frustration and the darkness of self-doubt.
Ingraham: Now unfortunately we are seeing that so-called soft bigotry at Rutgers University. The New Jersey college recently announces that it will emphasize the use of traditional grammar in its attempt to stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.
The university claims it will empower students to push against biases based on written accents. Is that so? Joining me now is Carol Swain. Author and former professor at Princeton and Vanderbilt University. Carol, I am speechless. It takes me a lot to get me speechless. They are basically telling students of color that I guess they cannot grasp the language or that the language itself is somehow racist?
Swain: Laura, it’s even worse than that because Black Lives Matter and Black people that claim to be activists are the ones who are really pushing for lower standards for Black students. And if you think about critical race theory the assumption is that if you are White you are privileged and that racism is permanent.
That Whites have to divest themselves of whiteness. But behind all of that is White superiority that Black people are pushing. And so what they are saying is that Black people can’t learn the same way as other groups so they have to have this special treatment.
And when I went to college, I started in the 70s and I was in graduate school in the 1980s we were given an equal opportunity. We were admitted to colleges and universities and we had to do the work. You had to qualify. You got an opportunity to be there but once you were there you had to meet the same standards as everyone else.
It was either sink or drown or whatever the expression is. But you had to do the work. So to me, it’s so demeaning that these Black young people today who are more privileged and that have not really had to go through real systemic racism they are complaining the loudest and they are getting cheated out of quality education.
Ingraham: Unless you think this is some line of thinking Dr. Swain that it’s confined to one college, this is what an Arizona State University (ASU) professor said just last year.
(ASU Professor clip plays)
Even if we are a person of color we are still a part of that machine that White supremacist machine. And we likely got there because we were able to mimic enough of the languaging practices to be able to proceed and succeed. It doesn’t’ make it right.
Ingraham: Languaging practices. OK. Carol.
Swain: I can tell you starting with the election of President Obama we saw the racism on campus increase but the racism had taken a new form. And I would say that when they talk about anti-racism that what they are really doing is promoting racism. They are promoting racism against White students.
Students that they deem as privileged because they came from two-parent families. But the racism that comes from lowered standards, those Black young people that they are not requiring to learn standard English are not going to be prepared to function the way they should in our society. No wonder they are angry. No wonder they are trying to burn down everything.
Ingraham: Dr. Swain it’s always wonderful to see you. Come back soon, please.
Swain: Thank you.
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Photo “Carol Swain” by Fox News.
