Law Schools

White Woman At HBCU Law School Uses N-Word, Supports Package Bombing

I think I inverted the lead, but still.

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I usually count on getting one good “law student in blackface” story the week after Halloween, but I think Megyn Kelly sucked all of the air out of that room. So instead I offer you this white woman at North Carolina Central School of Law who decided to use the n-word to her black classmates on Facebook.

The use of the n-word is a lot like blackface insofar as it’s something that white people cannot do. I know that there are a lot of white people who think they can use it, but they’re all wrong. Every one of them is wrong, every time. We can debate why they’re wrong, but their wrongness is a settled matter.

A more interesting debate is: what are the appropriate penalties, social or otherwise, for using the n-word? NCCU Law is part of a historically black university. You’d think it’d be one of the last places a white student would decide to use the n-word. And you’d expect the reaction to its use to be the most harsh.

I’d probably stop short of suggesting that a person get kicked out of law school for using the n-word on Facebook. Again, it’s wrong. Depending on context it could be harassment that would justify expulsion, but a “fleeting n-word” alone, to my mind, isn’t enough to get a person kicked off campus.

But this, this is enough. We’ll get to the n-word posts in a moment, but first you have to see what else this law student has been saying. Her Facebook posts were published on The Root:

That’s not funny. Schools have to take these kinds of comments seriously. You can’t have these comments on campus given the threat white domestic terrorists pose to minority communities and people of color.

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You might be inclined to give this student the benefit of the doubt, especially if you are a white person who makes a habit of minimizing the threat faced by minorities under the Trump regime. But this is where the student’s n-word usage becomes more disturbing. Instead of a one-off moment of insensitivity, the n-word stuff now paints a picture of disturbing harassment.

NCCU Law suspended her for a week. As of now, that’s the only punishment, but the community is calling for more. From WRAL:

I don’t feel safe. I don’t know what she’s capable of, and I would like to see her expelled immediately,” said Kayla Britt.

“I think she should be kicked out of law school,” said Jazemine McSween. “I just don’t think it’s fair that someone with those sentiments to receive a degree from this school that was founded by the very people that she has disrespected multiple times.”

WRAL News was not allowed inside the meeting that was held Thursday, but students said O’Neal told them that Kendall would not be allowed at school this week, but that she can return to class on Monday.

“The sentiment from the room was that’s not an adequate response considering the fear to public safety,” said Anastasia Mebane, a law student.

A week’s suspension feels like an appropriate penalty for violating whatever part of the student handbook proclaims “white students can’t use the n-word, but black students can and if you don’t understand why you need to take remedial ‘History of How White People Be’ offered at the college.”

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A week off feels like a completely underwhelming penalty for somebody who is casually supporting the MAGA bomber.

You can find racist white people even at an HBCU. But it’s really not too much to ask to go to law school without classmates who’d like to take credit for trying to bomb you.

White Student at HBCU Law School Antagonizes Her Black Classmates With Racist Comments [The Root]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.

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