Journalist – Historian – Speaker
There’s an ongoing debate about the extent to which medieval scholars need to be concerned about explicitly fighting racism as medieval scholars. I haven’t quite figured out how to write about the issues coherently. But the stakes, to me, are clear. Meet the Knights Templar International. Their FAQ wants you to know that they aren’t …
Emmett Till was a disabled black boy murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman. An author has found the white woman, interviewed her, and in a widely shared Vanity Fair piece, told a reporter that the woman admitted she lied. This is not a shock that she lied, it is useful that she admits it, …
There’s a vibrant sub-culture of people who practice “Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA).” This is not the Society of Creative Anachronism, though surely there’s plenty of cross-over in North America, but people learning how to use European weapons to fight. As I’ve been writing about, any sub-culture that engages the imagined European medieval past can …
Dylan Roof, the murderer of 9 black people in South Carolina, rejected a psychiatric evaluation and mental health defense because psychology is a “Jewish invention.” It’s an important example of the way that hatreds intersect. Obviously, his hatreds manifested in acts of violence against black worshipers in church. He didn’t, say, attack a synagogue. But …
On Friday afternoon, one of Playboy’s editors asked me to write about the gun violence and policing we’d seen over the past few days. My piece is here (Warning – it’s Playboy, so while there’s no nudity, there’s plenty of reference to sex on the site): In the piece, I tried to lay out some of …
Content Note: Rape, Abuse, Violence Intersectionality is often used in very positive ways – to affirm multiple identities, to demand voice for the multiply marginalized, and so forth. This is valid and vital, but I read the source material (Crenshaw’s work) as saying something less pleasant. To me, the core message of intersectionality is that …
Last week I was pleased to see the announcement of this new rule tracking ways in which racism and ableism intersect in our school system. From the National Council on Disability press release: The National Council on Disability (NCD) – an independent federal agency – applauds the new “Equity in IDEA” rule proposed by the …
I’ve been writing about trigger warnings, political correctness, and safe space issues for almost two years now (starting with this CNN piece, but extending throughout my blog, including ‘trigger warnings are your friends.’). There are at least two different strains of critique of the notion of microaggressions on campus. One is from mostly male white semi-liberals who …
An Islamophobic hate-rally was held in Prague last weekend, featuring Neo-Nazi songs, chants of “Burn down all the mosques,” and, interestingly to me, people in Crusader costumes. Here’s some images: Dressed as Crusaders to hear Neo-Nazi singer: Czechs march for president, against refugees https://t.co/cqKpMRIQuQ pic.twitter.com/thQhKrDOtw — Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) December 16, 2015 So this is a …
Last Wednesday, a group of African-American students staged a public protest against racism on our campus. You can see video and read about it here. They chanted, “Silence no more,” vowing to call out the racism that they saw. As of yesterday, faculty response coalesced around the phrase “Complicit no more.” There will be an …