FAIRFIELD, Conn. – President Barack Obama’s presidency allowed racist individuals an opportunity to publicly incite racism which has led to an increase in racist incidents, a Fairfield University professor said at a recent diversity conference.
The remarks came from communication professor Audra Nuru while discussing racial discourse in politically charged contexts during a session at the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities’ annual conference on diversity and equity.
“I’m not saying by any means that Barack Obama incited racism.
I’m saying that him being in office, people who were already racist got a platform to address this publicly and reify it,” Nuru said.
As examples of racism toward Obama, Nuru mentioned the birtherism movement and people who fixated on Obama’s middle name of Hussein. She also brought up when conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called Obama a “halfrican-American” in 2007.
The result of these incidents, Nuru said, “was that explicitly racist messages have steadily increased since 2010.”
...Another aspect of Nuru’s talk touched on the concept of intersectionality. During her communications courses, Nuru said she’ll hand out to her students a “Privilege Bingo!” sheet.
...She said intersectionality means students can be privileged and oppressed at the same time.
...“You can have immense privilege in some areas, yet still be oppressed,” she said."
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