When a video of SAE student chanting a racist fraternity song surfaced the internet, it was met by a different reaction from all the world (CNN). The unpopular video was put up on YouTube by an anonymous person whose motive was not known. Maybe it was for fun, or it was uploaded to make people aware that racism still exists and is here with us to stay. The student in the infamous video was thrown out of school in the middle of the night by an infuriated University of Oklahoma President David Boren. This course of action was also met with different reactions with some saying it will not solve anything and others in suiting it was too harsh. Others like Dixon Hall through his article “Our Leaders fail to use teachable moments for good” expressed his dissatisfaction with the course of action taken by the students.
According to Dixon, what the university did to the responsible students was wrong as this meant they have avoided the issue instead of confronting the problem and teach those students how to live in unity with the larger community. Instead of shaming and humiliating the students; this would have been a perfect opportunity to teach a valuable lesson on the issue of racism (Hall 8-9). In his article, he describes four lessons that would have been taught from this incident besides expelling the students. One is to eliminate hypocrisy as we all say something behind closed doors. But the second lesson where he states racism as a congenital heart condition sound more appropriate and practicable. Children more often than not behave in a manner which is similar to that of their parents or teachers, if the role models play their role well then perhaps this diseases will be eradicated (Hall para 2-5). The last two were, to show the dissonance in the students’ lives and take actions with positive outcomes ensuring a valid lesson.
Works Cited
CNN. "New Video Surfaces of Racist Fraternity Song Video." CNN, 2016, edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/03/09/lv-banfield-sae-racist-bus-song.cnn.
Hall, Maria. "Dixon Hall: OU Leaders Fail to Use Teachable Moments for Good." Houston Chronicle, 2015, www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Dixon-Hall-OU-leaders-fail-to-use-teachable-6133729.php.
