This Weekend in Racism: Would-Be Harvard Students and Bill Maher Get in Trouble
A secret group chat for accepted Harvard students was discovered by the Harvard College admissions staff, resulting in “at least 10 students” being uninvited to attend the school in the fall, via The Crimson. The Facebook group “Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens” was reportedly being used to share memes with punchlines promoting racism, sexual assault, child abuse, and the Holocaust.
The already gatekeeper-esque Harvard admissions staff was quick to alert the edgy high schoolers of their revoked acceptances. A screenshot from the group chat used by administrators to notify the students is shown below.
The identities of the students were not revealed, but if this sample of 10 students is representative of Harvard’s admitted class of 2021, at least 5 are male, and at least 6.4 are white. This story comes on the same weekend as ‘Real Time’ host Bill Maher using the n-word on his HBO show. This was not the first instance of Maher saying racist things on camera, and this probably wasn’t the first time these students have shared racist memes.
The common thread between these stories boils down to one simple message moving forward: Hey white guys, stop doing racist shit.
I get it, other white dudes, times are getting hard. The tight grip white men have on society means that our white knuckles are usually pretty white. But now, Wonder Woman has her own movie and black culture is cool and when you’re not busy applying thick layers of sunscreen, you’re wondering where we fit in with all of this. Here are a couple things to consider.
When someone’s racist shit gets them in trouble, that’s a good thing. There are a lot of people who aren’t racist. I’d wager there are more people who aren’t racist than there are people who can host late night talk shows or get in to Harvard or even be senior advisors to the President of the United States. We shouldn’t jump to defend racist people in these positions if we can find non-racist replacements for them. Suppose Kellogg’s mascot Tony the Tiger got in trouble for saying derogatory things in reference to Toucan Sam. It’d be easier to animate a new spokesman for Frosted Flakes than it would be to rely on the support of other tigers defending Tony’s words.
Just because you only do your racist shit with your shitty racist friends doesn’t make it acceptable. The fact is that even the best and brightest of our horny bourgeois teens are doing racist shit, and we can’t be okay with that. White people, we’re good at sharing our white shit with other white people. If we’re spoken to rudely on the phone in the morning, that’s what we’re talking about at dinner. But racism is different. Racism shouldn’t be something white people have to get off their chests or confide in their friends. Say a firm NO to racism, and instead try to embrace diversity.
Just because you like black culture doesn’t mean you should make it yours. Come on, white dudes, we can’t put ourselves at the center of everything. Everyone wants to be popular, but there are few things worse than a white guy who watches videos made by other white guys on how to properly do the dab. You don’t have to do everything that looks cool. On a similar note, white dudes, how about as a rule we all just never say the n-word? Not in public, not in private, not if you’re singing along with a song you like. Don’t even wish you were allowed to say it; it’s simply not for you. The long list of stories where white celebrities thought it’d be cool to say it all end with an apology and lots of regret. Comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani summed it up best with a tweet in response to Bill Maher’s use of the word: “There is one word you can’t say. In exchange, you get to be white in America. Pretty good deal.”
