Gregory Kane is Making Sense

I admit that Johns Hopkins' decision to suspend the student behind the "Halloween in the Hood" fiasco (background here) offended the libertarian side of me -- Bruce Godfrey makes some good comments in that vein -- but I think Gregory Kane, who I don't ordinarily agree with, gets to the heart of the matter:

Free speech, free speech, free speech. Let's slow down for a brief reality check: Park's case isn't like "Red Emma" Goldman being imprisoned for advocating anarchy in the late 1890s, or socialist Eugene Debs being sent to a federal pen for speaking out against World War I.

This is about a college kid who watched a black comedian's television show and then figured he'd try to be as funny as the comedian. But Chappelle brings certain cultural credentials to his humor about black folks. Chappelle grew up in "the hood." Whatever else has been said about Park -- and much is said about him on www.savejustin.org -- no one's claiming he grew up in the hood.

In short, as we say in the hood: Humor about black folks is an A and B matter Justin Park needed to C his way out of.

[snip]

The issue at Hopkins isn't free speech; it's whether people are willing to take the heat for the free speech choices they made.

Hopkins officials might have let Park off easy. If I had my druthers, he'd still be in school.

But he'd be doing his comedy routine about black folks in front of an audience comprised of a few Bloods, a few Crips and a whole mess of ticked-off Black Muslims.

Tags: johns hopkins race racism comedy