Some alumni ‘disgusted and disappointed’ by racist letter published in Duke Magazine
Some Duke University alumni are demanding the retraction of what they call a “blatantly racist and harmful” letter published in the December issue of the Duke Magazine.
In the letter, which spread on social media, Duke alumnus Charles Philip Clutts says racism is not “totally responsible for the plight of minority victims. Some if it falls on the victims themselves.”
“Groups of any color are better off when their men marry the women they have babies with and stay around to raise them, when they avoid drugs, stay out of trouble, and prefer a paycheck to a handout, and when they realize that ‘acting white’ by studying, is not a bad thing,” he wrote.
Clutts, who noted he graduated in 1961 when Duke was an “all-white” institution, criticized the racial justice protests this summer and said the “constant reminders of our nation’s systemic racism are growing wearisome.”
Criticism from Duke alumni
Sabrina Davis, a 26-year-old Black woman and 2020 graduate of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke, said this letter and another called “We can’t allow mayhem” never should have been published. She is floored that the university sent this to her apartment in Boston and out to every other Duke graduate.
“I am completely disgusted and disappointed that Duke Alumni Magazine has published these racist and violent letters,” alumna Sabrina Davis said.
She said the publication of these letters is all in the context of the “coup in our nation’s capital,” when a mob of President Trump supporters stormed the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. Davis called the riot an “insurrection rooted in white supremacy,” hatred and violence.
Duke alumna Adair Hill Morrison gets the magazine, but first saw the letter when a fellow alum sent it to her. She felt exhausted when she read it.
Hill Morrison, a 2007 graduate, was president of the Native American Student Alliance and worked with minority leadership on campus to make changes at the university.
She said she was “cautiously optimistic” but skeptical when Duke President Vincent Price announced the university’s anti-racist agenda over the summer. But this letter made it clear there is still more work to do, she said.
“I understand that the magazine wants to represent different views in its letter section, however, the letter in question was blatantly racist and harmful not only to minority alumni who were subjected to it but also to civil dialogue,” Hill Morrison said. “Therefore, its publication served no purpose and was counterproductive.”
Magazine editors did not respond to calls from The News & Observer about the issue, but published a statement on its website and Facebook page apologizing for how it presented the letter. The university said the publication of the letter will also be addressed in the next issue of the magazine.
An apology from Duke
Alumni criticized the magazine in its Facebook post promoting the issue. In a response on the post, the magazine said the section the letter appears in is meant to be “part of a conversation with readers.” The magazine said it makes judgments about the letters and comments and shares the ones that seem representative of what readers send in.
The magazine also posted a separate statement from Editor Robert Bliwise and Sterly Wilder, associate vice president of the Duke Alumni Association, in response to the backlash and concerns from alumni.
The letter “advanced points of view about racial issues that were insensitive and offensive” and that do not reflect the mission of Duke and are “contrary to our commitment to antiracism,” the statement said.
“We made a mistake by presenting these letters without any context, reflection, deliberation or response, particularly given the wrenching and still incomplete efforts of so many in the Duke community to address issues of racial equity. For that we apologize.”
But for some alumni, that wasn’t enough.
“Retract it. Pull it off the website. Send a letter to EVERYONE who received it. The people who need to hear you made a mistake and what you’re doing to fix it probably aren’t checking this Facebook page,” Jennifer Perkins wrote in a comment on the post.
Hill Morrison suggested they “call the letter what it is which is ‘racist,’” and retract it. She also wants the magazine editors to publish the statement in the next issue and write an anti-racist opinion piece in response.
Davis said they don’t apologize for publishing the letter, just that they didn’t provide context or debate it.
“Even in their attempt to make right what was wrong, they’re not even owning up to their behavior,” Davis said. “It’s unacceptable.”
‘Can Duke really become anti-racist?’
The cover of this issue of the magazine poses the question “Can Duke really become anti-racist?” in a teaser to a featured a story by an alumnus. But before readers get to that page, they come across the two letters criticizing the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and systemic racism.
“The point is that while slavery and subsequent discrimination were and are terribly wrong, minority victims who abuse benefits or whose protests result in looting, vandalism, or injuries exacerbate the problem,” Clutts wrote. “Much has been accomplished, but changing attitudes is a gradual process.”
The News & Observer reached out to Clutts for comment.
Alumna Lindi Nguyen, said she was shocked by the letter that was published “in the name of ‘let’s give everybody a voice.’”
“In general, institutions in the South do have a long way to go,” Nguyen said. “There are still a lot of instances of passing racism that do go unchecked and this is another one of them.”
She said it really answered the question: ‘Can we become an anti-racist institution?’
“The answer is no … if you allow these tropes to be spoken, heard and validated,” Nguyen said. “It cannot be normalized.”
If Duke is committed to being anti-racist, Davis said, it should be amplifying the work of anti-racist students, alumni and organizations “instead of publishing these types of violent narratives and lies.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2021 at 2:06 PM with the headline "Some alumni ‘disgusted and disappointed’ by racist letter published in Duke Magazine."
