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When Book Burning Is an Act of Racial Terrorism
What happened to Jennine Capó Crucet at Georgia Southern University is not an isolated incident
On Wednesday evening, students at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, burned copies of the novel, Make Your Home Among Strangers by Latinx author and University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor, Jennine Capó Crucet. The book, about a Latinx college student’s experience on a predominantly White campus, was part of the university’s “first-year experience” curriculum at the university. Crucet, who did not immediately respond to comment, had been invited to campus to talk with students about the book.
But during the question and answer session afterward, according to The George-Anne, a few students expressed their disdain for the novel. “I noticed that you made a lot of generalizations about the majority of white people being privileged,” one student said. “What makes you believe that it’s okay to come to a college campus, like this, when we are supposed to be promoting diversity on this campus, which is what we’re taught. I don’t understand what the purpose of this was.”
Afterward, more students took to Twitter to accuse Crucet of “dissing white people” and bigotry. Another, in a tweet that has since been removed, stated: “@crucet are you usually that racist or were you putting on a front to promote your pointless and shitty book at my college?” This same student posted a photo of Crucet’s novel with the pages ripped out. Students also gathered outside of Crucet’s hotel in what appears to be an attempt to intimidate her. According to The Daily Beast, the University had to move Crucet to different hotel in another town to ensure her safety. Crucet was made aware of the reason for the move only after the fact.
“Students who expressed their opposition to the notion of ‘White privilege’ by hosting a book burning at Georgia Southern have provided perhaps the greatest encapsulation of the concept.”
The university issued an official statement early Friday morning. “We regret that Crucet’s experience in Statesboro ended as it did…
