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Tuesday, July 04, 2006

J’ACCRUZ

Two community activists, pondering the chancellor’s death, write a j’accuse that makes Santa Cruz sound like the pettiest, most provincial, of American towns.


[T]his community blamed her, ridiculed her and threatened her over these issues, many of which existed before her tenure.

…There was too much anger and vitriol aimed at Chancellor Denton personally — her manner, her look, her style, her sexual orientation.

And this anger swelled into hate speech, homophobia, lookism, gross caricature, and to violence -- rocks shattering windows at her home, hate mail, life-threatening mail, mob-like threats from "nonviolent" students.

And what did this community do? What did we do? The forces of innuendo, gossip, hearsay, fabrication and discrimination, clouded our judgment of her.

…She cared for Santa Cruz but Santa Cruz didn't care for her.




There’s a pathos in the simplicity of that last sentence.

There are a number of paradoxes here worth noting, beyond the obvious one of a community that boasts an exemplary commitment to inclusiveness hounding a high-profile gay person shamelessly.

There’s also, for instance, the fact that the most notable act of respect and courtesy extended to this woman before her death came from the reviled George Bush:

In 2004, President George W. Bush appointed Denton to the National Medal of Science charged with selecting the nation's highest award.
Posted at: 7/04/2006 12:28:00 PM