College Students Burn Latina Author’s Book After Campus White-Privilege Speech
WHAT YEAR IS IT?
Georgia Southern U students accused Jennine Capó Crucet of “bullying” white people in discussion about white privilege and tweeted photos of ripped-apart copies of the novel.
Students at Georgia Southern University burned a book written by a Latina author after a campus speech about white privilege. The students accused Jennine Capó Crucet, who spoke Wednesday night about her 2015 novel Make Your Home Among Strangers, of “dissing” and “bullying” white people during her lecture and Q&A session. The student newspaper reported an exchange became heated when a student accused Capó Crucet of making “generalizations” about white people, and the author responded that white privilege is “a real thing that you are actually benefiting from right now in even asking this question.” A group later gathered and burned Capó Crucet’s book, and others showed up outside her hotel and tweeted photos of ripped-apart copies of the novel. The school’s department of writing and linguistics said it was “dismayed and disappointed” by the students’ actions. “We assert that destructive and threatening acts do not reflect the values of Georgia Southern University,” said Russell Willerton, department chairman. Capó Crucet tweeted that there were “aggressive & ignorant comments” during the event but that she appreciated other students who stood up for her and then spoke with her afterward. “I’m happy to know them and also legit worried for their safety,” she wrote.
