Not anyone who has been following the events before, during and after the publication of a Kentucky Kernel (University of Kentucky's student run, independent newspaper) editorial cartoon you know that there was quite a lot of fallout to the depiction of UK's Greek System as somehow analogous to a slave auction. Previous to that cartoon running the newspaper had reported on the Jena-6 case, "Taboo Subjects in Race Relations", segregation in the UK Greek system, and covered a meeting of the UK Greeks to discuss the segregation that persists between black and white fraternities/sororities. I strongly encourage any interested to go to www.kykernel.com site and look through the articles and stories preceding the October 5th edition of the newspaper. This really helps to put some of this in perspective. Here is a link to some of the online comments the Kernel received.
I am greatly pleased to see someone has the courage to host an open discussion about the issues that have been raised these past few weeks! Here is the information sent out by the UK Law School about their program: "When Is Race a Laughing Matter?" (A title I take objection to, by the way. Editorial cartoons are serious works and their primary purpose is not to amuse to but to illuminate.)
Colleagues,
The Law School's Diversity Committee, under the leadership of Professor
Melynda Price, has put together a program that arises out of and expands
upon the issues raised by the Kernel cartoon. It is titled "When is Race a
Laughing Matter? A Community Discussion of the Kernel Cartoon Controversy."
Melynda has put together a very interesting group of panelists with varying
thoughts on the topic.
On behalf of the College of Law, I invite you to attend In addition, would
you be willing to arrange for the posting/distribution of the attached
flier.
We have plenty of room for students and faculty as the program is being held
in the Courtroom of the Law Building. It begins at 6:00 p.m. on Monday,
November 5th.
Here is a PDF flier for the event. Here is a link to the campus guide map showing the location of the College of Law Building, where I suppose the "courtroom" is located.
I find great parallels between this and the furor that arose from the Danish Cartoons that many Muslims found offensive last year (see previous post). Lexington Herald Leader Editorial Cartoonist and Pulitzer Prize winner, Joel Pett, is scheduled to be present on the discussion panel that includes Brad Fletcher, the UK Law student who wrote and drew the cartoon.
