A tweet three days ago from a female student at historically black Howard University:
And from the Washington Post today, a piece by a WaPo staffer:
The teenagers who wore MAGA hats to Howard aren’t martyrs for free speech By Molly Roberts August 22 at 1:42 PMTwo teenage girls who wore “Make America Great Again” hats to Howard University last weekend are making a play to become the latest countrywide crusaders for free speech. Good luck with that.
The Pennsylvania high school students, who stopped by the historically black university for a bite to eat during a school trip to Washington, strolled into Howard’s campus dining hall Saturday decked out in pro-presidential apparel they had purchased the day before. It did not go over well.
“We were not even through the front door to get through the cafeteria, and a man, a black man, walked … through and took my friend Sarah’s hat right off her head,” one told Buzzfeed on Monday. Another man, she said, cursed at her. …
The Twitter account for Howard’s dining hall was more forthright: “We will take any action necessary to ensure that HU students feel safe& comfortable in our dining spaces. The group is no longer on campus.” …
As stifling to debate as the “safe space” argument can be at schools across the country, Howard is one of the few examples of the term at its purest and most persuasive. “Safety” as many students today use the word has little to do with physical harm and more to do with emotional discomfort. Safety at Howard, from its founding, has meant, well, safety.
… It was about the history of an institution that has always been a place where black students could say what they believed without fear of racist reprisal. On Saturday, that’s exactly what they did.
As many Howard students have already asked about their young visitors, what else did they expect?
For the term “Becky” see here.
