Cal Professor Protected despite Racial Rap
March 20, 2015
Steven Segal, a UC Berkeley Mental Health professor, is well known among students for his cultural insensitivity. His most recent offense prompted some of his students to speak out in disapproval of his actions, but they were immediately silenced.
A day after the Black Lives Matter movement event on the school’s campus, Segal forced his opinion on students in class, saying that black victims of racial oppression are to blame for their own afflictions. Segal shared his problematic sentiments through a rap he wrote, using black-on-black crime statistics to justify any racist actions taken by the police, who he believes should stop being used as scapegoats.
During his rap, some students began to challenge his racist ideas, at which point Segal raised his voice. He interrupted a female student voicing her opinion and raised his hands in her face, telling her that he was the only one allowed to speak, according to an article on The Bold Italic.
“I am truly sorry if I offended any of you in class this past Tuesday. This was not my intent nor was it my intent to in any way diminish the significance of the Black Lives Matter movement. In fact my intent was quite the opposite,” Segal said in an apology to his students.
It’s difficult to find the good intentions in Segal’s words, which were clearly an attack against African Americans. Though he might not have intended to come across in the way that he did, it’s not the intent that matters, but what was conveyed, which in this case was a sense of blatant racism. As citizens of a free country, we all possess the freedom of speech but there is a thin line between sharing one’s opinion on a matter and hate speech. Segal, and any other teacher who chooses to share their opinions in this a manner, undoubtedly deserves a serious consequence fitting to the situation. Segal’s case is being reviewed, but it seems evident he should be fired to end the teaching of his ignorant views.
Unfortunately, this is easier said than done, as Segal is a tenured professor. In order to fire a teacher who has received tenure status, school administrations must undergo a lengthy process, which they are often unwilling to complete. As a result, many guilty teachers, like Segal, remain unpunished.
In January, a New Jersey teacher who was known to make racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks could not be fired and only resigned after the school agreed to provide him with dental coverage for six months. In December, a Michigan math teacher who seated students according to race also could not be fired because of restrictions placed by tenure laws. Time and again, change is promised to students who perceive some sort of injustice, but the inefficiency of the current system guarantees little compensation.
It’s been over 40 years since Martin Luther King Jr.’s fight for racial equality, but racism, along with many other forms of discrimination, is still alive and well. Tolerating racist comments from teachers, professors, or anyone else for that matter, is only fueling the fire that should have been extinguished long ago.
