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Post by michaelgrahmstylie on Apr 18, 2016 14:54:04 GMT -5
We must let our future be defined by our past. That's all I am going to say about that! Preach! Thanks, you understand, Bro. "We must not let our future..."
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Apr 19, 2016 11:19:12 GMT -5
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SirSaxa
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Post by SirSaxa on Apr 19, 2016 13:29:46 GMT -5
Thanks for posting Hoyasaxa2003 Impressive letter from DeGioia, including this: “Today, we mark a milestone in our efforts to make visible, and to reconcile, the role of slavery and the forced enslavement of Africans and African-Americans by our community. Let us not take comfort in this step. Instead, let us see this as a challenge to each of us. What injustices do we fail to see? When do we fail to act? Where is our own moral imagination lacking, today?”Taking a lesson from our past and applying it to today. Looking back, it is easy to see the injustice of slavery. DeGioia is taking steps to lead GU's efforts to address the issue. But he is going farther too. 100 years from now what injustices will people look back on that seem obvious to them but which are left unaddressed today? What a great guiding principle for today's Hoya community.
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Post by michaelgrahmstylie on Apr 19, 2016 18:01:55 GMT -5
Personally, I think the institution has already done a tremendous amount to redress the situation. All you have to do is think John Thompson, Jr. and how the university has embraced his brand of basketball, where he effectively used his position as coach to agitate and fight for the rights of minority students, mainly African-Americans. The structure that is being built that bears the name John Thompson, his son, in spite of the fact that he is John Thompson's son, being given the opportunity to guide this program, is an amazing testimony in itself. As a black man, I am much more in favor of granting people who have been oppressed, opportunities such as economic and educational empowerment than all the symbolic nonsense has been used throughout history to make up for injustices.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Apr 19, 2016 23:31:03 GMT -5
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Post by michaelgrahmstylie on Apr 20, 2016 14:54:52 GMT -5
There you go. Wasn't able to read the article though because it requires subscription.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Apr 20, 2016 19:42:41 GMT -5
There you go. Wasn't able to read the article though because it requires subscription. Me neither, but the money quote you can read.
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SaxaCD
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Post by SaxaCD on Apr 20, 2016 23:10:04 GMT -5
Thanks for posting Hoyasaxa2003 Impressive letter from DeGioia, including this: “Today, we mark a milestone in our efforts to make visible, and to reconcile, the role of slavery and the forced enslavement of Africans and African-Americans by our community. Let us not take comfort in this step. Instead, let us see this as a challenge to each of us. What injustices do we fail to see? When do we fail to act? Where is our own moral imagination lacking, today?”Taking a lesson from our past and applying it to today. Looking back, it is easy to see the injustice of slavery. DeGioia is taking steps to lead GU's efforts to address the issue. But he is going farther too. 100 years from now what injustices will people look back on that seem obvious to them but which are left unaddressed today? What a great guiding principle for today's Hoya community. I wonder if he sent that out the same day the president of Planned Parenthood came in for a visit.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Apr 21, 2016 22:36:02 GMT -5
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SirSaxa
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Post by SirSaxa on Jun 14, 2016 15:53:39 GMT -5
Update on this important GU issue. It certainly sounds like DeGioia and GU are making a concerted effort to do the right thing. Makes me proud as an alum. See excerpts from the latest NY Times update -- and a link: ExcerptsMore than a century after Georgetown University used some of the profits from the sale of 272 enslaved African-Americans to help ensure its survival, John J. DeGioia, the university’s president, took a first step on Monday toward making amends to their descendants.
He walked into the public library in Spokane, Wash., for a private meeting with Patricia Bayonne-Johnson, a great-great-great granddaughter of Nace and Biby Butler, two of the slaves who were sold in 1838 to help keep the college afloat....
More than a dozen universities have recognized their ties to slavery and the slave trade. But historians say they believe this is the first time that the president of an elite university has met with the descendants of slaves who had labored on a college campus or were sold to benefit one.
“I came to listen and to learn,” Mr. DeGioia said in an interview, describing the discussion as “moving and inspiring.”...
“He asked what could he do and how could he help,” Ms. Bayonne-Johnson said in an interview. “It was a very good beginning.”
The search for descendants of the men, women and children sold in 1838 intensified in the fall after Georgetown students called on the university to remove the names of the Rev. Thomas F. Mulledy and the Rev. William McSherry from two campus buildings.
The student protests inspired a Georgetown alumnus, Richard J. Cellini, to found a nonprofit, the Georgetown Memory Project, to help identify and support the descendants of the people who were sold. Mr. Cellini hired eight genealogists, including Ms. Bayonne-Johnson and several researchers who are working with her. University officials are also identifying descendants of the slaves.www.nytimes.com/2016/06/15/us/moving-to-make-amends-georgetown-president-meets-with-descendant-of-slaves.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Jun 14, 2016 18:34:21 GMT -5
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SirSaxa
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Post by SirSaxa on Aug 30, 2016 18:34:38 GMT -5
Letter from Pres. DeGioia to the GU community -- I must say the proactive and thorough approach he is taking makes me proud to be a Hoya, once again. Sorry I won't be in DC to attend this event. --------------- Office of the President Georgetown University August 30, 2016 Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community: As we open our academic year, I write to invite you to an event in Gaston Hall, on Thursday, September 1 at 4:00 p.m., to continue our conversation on the historical role that Georgetown played in the institution of slavery and the persistence of racial injustice in our nation. Conversation on Racial Justice and Georgetown's History with the Institution of SlaveryThursday, September 1 4:00 p.m. Gaston Hall Watch live at www.Georgetown.eduAs part of this conversation, we will hear from Fr. David Collins, S.J., Ph.D., the Chair of the Georgetown University Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation, and we will share the report of the Working Group. I look forward to sharing their report with you and offering some reflections and steps for engagement and for action on the recommendations. Last fall, we began a conversation as a community on the history of slavery at Georgetown. At that time, we were reopening a building historically named Mulledy Hall for a Georgetown President, Fr. Thomas Mulledy, S.J., who served from 1829-38 and 1845-48. In the months after he stepped down as President in 1838, Fr. Mulledy authorized the sale of 272 enslaved people owned by the Society of Jesus in Maryland. In September 2015, I convened a Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation to make recommendations on how best to acknowledge and recognize this history; examine and interpret the history of certain sites on our campus, including Mulledy Hall; and convene events and opportunities for dialogue. In November, upon the recommendation of the Working Group and with the approval of the Board of Directors, we formally removed the name of Thomas Mulledy from this building, as well as the name of another Georgetown President of this period, Fr. William McSherry, S.J., from a second building. In the months since, the Working Group has focused on creating a new digital archive of historical documents, conducting archival research on the slaves and searching for their descendants, as well as hosting community dialogues, a Teach-In, and a week-long symposium in honor of D.C. Emancipation Day. Over the summer, they completed a report with a set of recommendations, informed by community dialogue, conversation, and research. In February, I also announced a new set of University commitments related to racial justice—including the creation of a Department of African American Studies, the development of a new center focused on racial justice, and the hiring of new faculty. I hope you will join me on Thursday for this event. I wish to thank our community for thoughtfully engaging in these ongoing efforts and I look forward to our continuing work together. You have my very best wishes. Sincerely, John J. DeGioia
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tashoya
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Post by tashoya on Aug 30, 2016 18:55:10 GMT -5
Letter from Pres. DeGioia to the GU community -- I must say the proactive and thorough approach he is taking makes me proud to be a Hoya, once again. Sorry I won't be in DC to attend this event. --------------- Office of the President Georgetown University August 30, 2016 Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community: As we open our academic year, I write to invite you to an event in Gaston Hall, on Thursday, September 1 at 4:00 p.m., to continue our conversation on the historical role that Georgetown played in the institution of slavery and the persistence of racial injustice in our nation. Conversation on Racial Justice and Georgetown's History with the Institution of SlaveryThursday, September 1 4:00 p.m. Gaston Hall Watch live at www.Georgetown.eduAs part of this conversation, we will hear from Fr. David Collins, S.J., Ph.D., the Chair of the Georgetown University Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation, and we will share the report of the Working Group. I look forward to sharing their report with you and offering some reflections and steps for engagement and for action on the recommendations. Last fall, we began a conversation as a community on the history of slavery at Georgetown. At that time, we were reopening a building historically named Mulledy Hall for a Georgetown President, Fr. Thomas Mulledy, S.J., who served from 1829-38 and 1845-48. In the months after he stepped down as President in 1838, Fr. Mulledy authorized the sale of 272 enslaved people owned by the Society of Jesus in Maryland. In September 2015, I convened a Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation to make recommendations on how best to acknowledge and recognize this history; examine and interpret the history of certain sites on our campus, including Mulledy Hall; and convene events and opportunities for dialogue. In November, upon the recommendation of the Working Group and with the approval of the Board of Directors, we formally removed the name of Thomas Mulledy from this building, as well as the name of another Georgetown President of this period, Fr. William McSherry, S.J., from a second building. In the months since, the Working Group has focused on creating a new digital archive of historical documents, conducting archival research on the slaves and searching for their descendants, as well as hosting community dialogues, a Teach-In, and a week-long symposium in honor of D.C. Emancipation Day. Over the summer, they completed a report with a set of recommendations, informed by community dialogue, conversation, and research. In February, I also announced a new set of University commitments related to racial justice—including the creation of a Department of African American Studies, the development of a new center focused on racial justice, and the hiring of new faculty. I hope you will join me on Thursday for this event. I wish to thank our community for thoughtfully engaging in these ongoing efforts and I look forward to our continuing work together. You have my very best wishes. Sincerely, John J. DeGioia Thank you for posting this, SirSaxa. I wish I lived near enough to make that event. I hope that the University is advertising it not just on campus but in the greater DC area as well to give community members a chance to attend. The past cannot be changed but I admire that Georgetown is attempting to foster a better understanding of the past and the lessons that come from it. That's exactly the type of thing that I think I likely miss most about the educational side of college life and that is much more difficult to find once one's school years are behind them. I'm very happy to hear that this is an effort that the University is continuing and not leaving it at renaming buildings and symbolic gestures. Keep up the good work!
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Aug 30, 2016 21:07:11 GMT -5
As noted before, I'm an outlier on this issue and I understand that. I won't be able to attend but perhaps could contact Rev. Collins further.
I think there there's room for discourse and not a University monologue on this issue.
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tashoya
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Post by tashoya on Aug 30, 2016 23:29:22 GMT -5
As noted before, I'm an outlier on this issue and I understand that. I won't be able to attend but perhaps could contact Rev. Collins further. I think there there's room for discourse and not a University monologue on this issue. I think there's room for both. But, realistically, in order start the discourse, it's probably beneficial for the University to begin with a monologue to elucidate points for discussion for people that aren't as intimately familiar with the role of Georgetown and its personnel. If nothing else, an assembly that doesn't really invite discussion establishes a framework from which to start a better, more informed and nuanced discussion.
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TC
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Post by TC on Aug 31, 2016 8:32:50 GMT -5
As noted before, I'm an outlier on this issue and I understand that. I won't be able to attend but perhaps could contact Rev. Collins further. I think there there's room for discourse and not a University monologue on this issue. There's room for discourse on the idea that Mulledy being involved in the slave trade was bad? Good lord. I have no idea what you're complaining about here. Even if your one bone of contention here is that Mulledy wasn't "Georgetown" at the time of the trade, DeGioia acknowledges that in the statement made. The school is very lucky to have DeGioia.
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Elvado
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Post by Elvado on Aug 31, 2016 9:27:50 GMT -5
As noted before, I'm an outlier on this issue and I understand that. I won't be able to attend but perhaps could contact Rev. Collins further. I think there there's room for discourse and not a University monologue on this issue. There's room for discourse on the idea that Mulledy being involved in the slave trade was bad? Good lord. I have no idea what you're complaining about here. Even if your one bone of contention here is that Mulledy wasn't "Georgetown" at the time of the trade, DeGioia acknowledges that in the statement made. The school is very lucky to have DeGioia. I think that is a bit of a distortion of DFW's point. A discourse and open exchange of viewpoints is always better than a lecture. It is not too much nuance that one can decry participation in the sale of slaves, while recognizing the line of demarcation between the Jesuit Order and the University proper. I agree the University is well-shepherded by Jack DeGioia; that said, no one is infallible.
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TC
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Post by TC on Aug 31, 2016 11:17:36 GMT -5
This was the statement made by DeGioia :
If we want to have a dialogue here and subtly accuse DeGioia of lecturing people, where's the disagreement? I don't think anything he said in what was posted is up for dispute - Mulledy's signature is on the sale document. The disagreements I've seen so far were arguing over where the institutional blame for the sale lies - on the Jesuit Order or on the University - and what the degree was to which the University profited from the sale. If we want to have a dialogue, how much of the disagreement is really over what DeGioia is actually saying rather than a fear that acknowledging the history means there's going to be some sort of class action lawsuit or other legal entanglement.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Sept 1, 2016 7:51:27 GMT -5
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Sept 1, 2016 10:46:13 GMT -5
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