Saint Vincent Debates Whether Speech Was Racist

Saint Vincent College’s president, the Reverend Paul Taylor, issued a statement last week denouncing racism after a speech at a conference on campus struck many people as racist, The Tribune-Review reported. “At the heart of the Saint Vincent College mission as a [Roman] Catholic, Benedictine and liberal arts institution is precisely the Love of God and Love of Neighbor,” he said. “Because we are a Catholic College community, we can say that racism denies the sacred nature of a human being. Discrimination and bigotry towards any individual or group dehumanizes and objectifies them.”

The speech in question was by David Azerrad, an assistant professor at Hillsdale College. The speech is on YouTube.

In the beginning of the speech, Azerrad said that Kamala Harris is vice president only because her father is from Jamaica. His overall focus is reflected in the speech’s title—“Black Privilege and Racial Hysteria in Contemporary America.”

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