Robert Penn Warren: “We are the prisoners of history. Or are we?”

Juxtapose two stories:
• At the University of the West Indies, in Cave Hill, Barbados, African drumming, a history lecture, and a song with the chorus, “We cry for the ancestors!” were featured at a ceremony unveiling a monument inscribed with 295 names of slaves who once lived on the plantation where the university now stands.

• Elizabeth City State University, a 2,300 student historically black college in North Carolina, is thinking about cutting seven undergraduate majors, including history, because these majors are “low productive.”

The first story comes from a New York Times op ed discussing efforts by Caribbean nations to unite around a common agenda demanding reparations for the slave trade and slavery. The question the second story, from Inside Higher Education, raises is: in the future will there still be debates anywhere about reparations for slavery and the slave trade—or for the Shoah—or for other past crimes if history ceases to be taught or taught seriously? Over half of U.S. high school students can’t locate Vietnam on a map—and aren’t sure in which century the American Civil War was fought. What can we expect in the future if historical illiteracy becomes, not merely an adolescent ‘fact of life,” but educationally normative?

The 1960s pop song—“Don’t Know Much About History”—may become an understatement. (more…)

Gloria Greenfield

 

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights under Law is excited to announce the creation of a new short film called The Louis D. Brandeis Center: For Human Rights Under Law. Produced and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Gloria Greenfield, and edited by two-time Emmy Award winner Raoul Rosenberg, the film highlights the mission of the Louis D. Brandeis Center. The Louis D. Brandeis Center: For Human Rights Under Law starts out with an introduction by Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, author of Academics against Israel and the Jews, who discusses how the anti-Semitic discourse is still alive in America. He explains that this is a serious problem disguised as ‘hotbeds’ of anti-Israeli sentiments. This is echoed by Dr. Walter Reich, a professor of International Affairs, Ethics and Human Behavior at the George Washington University.

 

In this film, Kenneth L. Marcus , president and general counsel of the Brandeis Center, discusses the start of the Brandeis Center. In the early 2000’s, he saw a spike in anti-Semitism—the LDB Center was a response to this, so that the anti-Semitism sentiment of the early 21st century would be seen as an anomaly rather than as a trend. Events and anti- Israeli protests are highlighted at various universities, including UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UC Santa Barbara. For two out of these three schools, alumni talk about the ways in which they experienced anti-Semitism on campus—ranging from verbal to physical harassment.

The Louis D. Brandeis Center: For Human Rights Under Law also highlights some of the perspectives of Alyza D. Lewin, president of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, who explain the importance of allowing students to fight against the anti- Semitic statements. She explains that there is a void in the education for teaching students about their rights, which is being addressed by the Brandeis Center. She further explains that it is important for students to identify discrimination and go to the courts as necessary, because court rulings are often the only things that oppressors willing to listen to. Eugene Kontorovich, professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law echoes this by showing that the law is crucial in the fight for civil rights for many groups, whether that includes Jewish rights or the rights of any other minority group. The efforts are endorsed by Brooke Goldstein, director of the Lawfare project and L. Rachel Lerman, a partner at Akin Group. (more…)