The Badger Herald: News: UW apologizes for showing film with racial slurs

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UW apologizes for showing film with racial slurs

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Also by Kevin Bargnes:

Alleged rape at Sigma Chi (March 4, 2009)
CONSTITUTION FAILS (February 24, 2009)
Pilot honored at Badger game (February 16, 2009)

by Kevin Bargnes

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 00:00

The University of Wisconsin has apologized to a black student shown a clip from the 1974 satire “Blazing Saddles” that featured several racial slurs in a November 2007 training seminar at the Pyle Center.

In the scene, several black men are working on a railroad when approached by a group of white men. The white men call the black men derogatory terms and demand they sing old slave songs.

The student described the course in a complaint letter to UW as a “mental health training seminar” and said he worked in the “correctional field.”

He explained the problem he and another black student had with the scene.

“I did not attend the training to [hear] this type of derogatory, inflammatory, humiliating, painful and non-educating language,” the student wrote. “I can state with certainty that this was viewed, not as a satire, by a minimum of two of the training participants.”

The students also believe the instructor “should have asked the African-Americans in the training how they might receive this racist film.”

The complaint letter was forwarded to the Office for Equity and Diversity, which investigates allegations of racism for UW.

Continuing Studies Department Chair James Campbell, along with the instructor, wrote an apology letter to the student.

“It was an insensitive error to use a video clip that included inflammatory and offensive language, and it will not happen again,” Campbell wrote. “We closely reviewed the evaluation comments from the November workshop and will not be offering the program again in 2008.”

The organization that paid for the student’s registration received a full refund of $230.

UW spokesperson Brian Mattmiller said no formal action was taken against the instructor, a contracted teacher who has not taught a UW course since.

“He was made aware that this was an inappropriate activity for this class,” Mattmiller said. “It was a case of bad judgment.”

The student went on to discuss the recent controversies of race, mentioning radio host Don Imus, former Seinfeld star Michael Richards and TV bounty hunter Dwayne “Dog” Chapman.

He said UW, which usually promotes diversity, is persistently practicing “racist rhetoric.”

“This practice continues to be an ongoing problem with little consequence to its perpetrators because they no longer believe it to be a problem,” the student wrote.

Stephen Appell, assistant director of the Office for Equity and Diversity, wrote in a statement the names of the instructor and student are being withheld to protect their privacy and their reputations.

Feedback

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 6:15am):

Under what context was the movie shown? Was is just for fun or with the intent to make a point and perhaps encourage discussion? Some more information detailing the movie's role in the seminar should have been included in this article.

"The students also believe the instructor 'should have asked the African-Americans in the training how they might receive this racist film.'" Really?? Because I'm pretty sure that the "token student of color" generally gets offended when they are singled out in class solely based on their race and/or skin color.

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 8:29am):

Are you f***ing kidding me?? Blazing Saddles' entire theme revolves around the idiocy of bigotry! That someone actually got offended watching it is truly a sign of the Apocolypse.

Would someone get these kids a sense of humor?

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 8:52am):

Having seen Blazing Saddles numerous times, I can confidently say that the whole point of the movie (other than being completely hilarious) is to undermine racism. It's about how ridiculously stupid racism is. I'm not sure what context the clip was used in, but anybody who interprets the film as racist clearly has no interpretive skills whatsoever.

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 9:04am):

Wow... talk about over sensitive. It's Blazing Saddles for heaven's sake... Learn to take a joke.

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 9:11am):

"a sense of humor"

Not likely, but show some crackers being made fools of and that's OK. Er, only if they're male, that is. Of course unless it's Sara Palin, and then anything goes!

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 10:08am):

Wow. Just... wow.

Seriously?

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 10:22am):

How is Blazing Saddles racist?! You think the black actors in the movie agreed to make a racist movie? Are you that dense that you didn't even notice that the movie is actually making fun of racists?

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 10:30am):

Ridiculous. I was deeply offended by this article and demand that the University send me a written apology. :p

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 10:39am):

6:15, Since it looks like most of this information came through an open records request, this is probably all they had to put it...as the last paragraph implies

Seems kind of random to show a clip of blazing saddles in a course being taken by somebody in the "correctional field." But I agree with 8:29.

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 10:43am):

jesus christ, try actually watching the whole movie instead of that one clip and YOU'LL UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE MOVIE MAKES FUN OF RACISM AND BIGOTRY.

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 12:53pm):

More context, please.

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 2:38pm):

I don't understand our University's persistence in promoting abject stupidity. The complainers cast an unfair negative light on us black students who are capable of critical thinking, really thinking in general. These participants are the intellectual equivalent of people who think Palin is a maverick hockey mom.

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 3:51pm):

I find this odd because a satirical movie validated an apology from the UW but an incident from 2006 involving a professor and a 3 Asian American students didn't receive the same apology from the University or the professor. That's the double standard here. If you make an insensitive comment (or show an insensitive satirical clip from a movie) about African Americans, the UW apologizes. But even though 3 Asian American grad students are offended to the point that they have to drop out of the professor's class, the UW and the professor still refuses to apologize for the incident and finds a way to justify it.

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 3:53pm):

If you want a picture of the future of education, imagine a Birkenstock stamping on a human face � for ever.

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 4:01pm):

On second thought I've seen the whole movie, and upon reflection I'm terribly disturbed by this type of derogatory, inflammatory, humiliating, painful and non-educating representation of stupid white people. The Gene Wilder character is the only white person in the movie with even a glimmer of inteligence and he's an alcholic hired killer!

Oh woe is me!

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 5:37pm):

Give me a break! The scenes in question were a pointed and witty repudiation of white racism. In fact, it's the theme of the entire movie. If an apology is called for, it's to everyone else for insulting our collective intelligence for grovelling.

Anonymous (October 14, 2008 @ 11:03pm):

Yeah, UW shouldn't be apologizing for it, at all. The entire theme of the movie is how laughable and idiotic racism is, and basically points out the white people that the scene references as complete fools.

Anonymous (October 15, 2008 @ 12:07am):

why is it that this university defends a professor claiming that the 9/11 was staged by our own goverment but apologizes for someones inability to understand real point of a movie

Anonymous (October 15, 2008 @ 1:06am):

Mongo only pawn...in game of life.

Anonymous (October 15, 2008 @ 1:09am):

Somebody go back to town and get us a shitload of dimes!

Anonymous (October 15, 2008 @ 1:10am):

Throw out your hands
Stick out your tush
Hands on your hips
Give 'em a push
You'll be surprised,
You're doing to French Mistake
Voila!

Anonymous (October 15, 2008 @ 1:12am):

What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?

Tim Evans (October 16, 2008 @ 10:31am):

If you only look for the bad in something then you are sure to find it. If the complainant had bothered to educate himslef on the context he would realise that the film was satirical and most definitely NOT racist. Personally, I am bored with so called minority groups beating up majority groups for what happened to their ancestors and what they wrongly perceive is happening to them. For the record the English were enslaving my ancestors in Ireland since 1170 and they were all white; 600 years before they ever went to Africa. They were still killing my ancestors until the mid 1920's and my relatives until the 1990's. However, I don't whine about it I get on with my life and treat English people as I find them. I remember my heritage but I don't try and live it in a country that has a different heritage. So called minorities should integrate, get rid of the chip on the shoulder or emigrate to the country they most identify with. If the US was truly racist then Americans of African origin would not even be allowed on training seminars; if this was the case then I would be supporting Americans of African origin 100%.

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