The Naked Truth/Jamala Rogers
When Free Speech for Whites is Costly for Blacks
Audrey Godlewski became the center of a campus firestorm at the University of Wisconsin-Madison last month. A self-made video rant by the sophomore vividly extolled her belief that Black people should be forced back into enslavement and endure all the horrific abuse that comes with it. With these kinds of hateful incidents, the attention can quickly shift to the institution based upon its response (or lack thereof). This is certainly the case for UW-Madison.
Godlewski’s video went viral a month ago, yet she only recently issued a so-called apology to the campus media. She has not apologized to the Black students to date. It calls into question how sorry she really is. Is she sorry that over 65,000 people signed an online petition condemning her actions? Is she sorry that 1,000 of her fellow students filed formal complaints with the Dean of Students? Is she sorry that her name will be forever associated with the racist video when her name is googled?
If the ‘sorry’ adjective is to be fairly adorned, UW needs to wear that crown. It did what most big campuses do when confronted with a hate incident that requires swift leadership. It hid between policy and stalled student calls for action. This is because — whether the incident occurs during the fall or winter semesters — it is difficult to maintain student momentum during an academic calendar. There are midterms to deal with, then comes the end of the semester when students physically leave the campus. The hope is the incident will be forgotten by the time students return to campus. It’s the all-effective Wait Game.
The Blk Pwr Coalition was organized quickly to lead campus activities that put pressure on the administration. One of its nine demands was to expel Godlewski. Students had done their research and cited numerous examples of the circumstances where universities expelled students for racist behavior. UW officials say that wasn’t going to happen since the rant was done on private time in a private space. Stating that Godlewski had not broken any laws, it upheld Godlewski’s right to free speech, regardless of how hateful and hurtful it was to others.
Since this is not the university’s first rodeo with problematic behavior around race, it should’ve had a more timely and humane response than telling angry and traumatized Black students to get therapy from campus health services. This is the response Black folks often get from the white power structure: this is your problem, deal with it. I don’t blame the Black student for categorically rejecting that empty offer. They also flatly refused the ice-cream coupons dropped off at the Black Culture Center.
This incident and many others are part of the anti-Black snowballing violence increasing in the nation. Around the same time as the video release, instead of calling for more accountability, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) called for the end to diversity, equity and inclusion offices at public universities in Wisconsin.
Earlier this year, the federal government released its latest data on hate crimes which are the highest recorded in the last decade. Anti-Black or African American hate crimes continued to be the largest bias incident category. With the flames of white psychopathology being fueled by the MAGA-ites and other like-minded extremists, the safety of Black citizens continues to be a serious issue — on or off campus.