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A famous Chinese-American composer and musician, hailed around the world for his multicultural influences, has been replaced by a course he was teaching at the University of Michigan amid accusations of racial insensitivity.
Bright Sheng sparked controversy on September 10 when he showed students the 1965 film version of Shakespeare’s “Othello”, according to the Michigan Daily, which featured acclaimed actor Laurence Olivier in blackface.
The image would have invaded the safe space inhabited by the current generation of university students.
“I was stunned,” rookie Olivia Cook told Michigan Daily. “In such a school that preaches diversity and makes sure they understand the history of POC (people of color) in America, I was shocked that (Sheng) showed something like that in something that is supposed to to be a safe space. ”
Sheng, 65, is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and MacArthur Fellow whose compositions have been performed by orchestras and at high-profile events around the world, including the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, according to the UofM website.
“The history of music offers lessons that remain important today, including how the blackface minstrel as a part of American popular music was both a product and a means of supporting racist stereotypes,” he said. university spokesman Kim Broekhuizen told The Post. “However, loaded lessons like these must include appropriate context and must always be presented with care and sensitivity.”
Sheng did not properly prepare his students to see the outdated image of a black-faced actor, a colleague accused.
“Showing the film now, especially without substantial framing, advice on content, and without emphasizing its inherent racism is in itself a racist act, regardless of the professor’s intentions,” wrote Evan Chambers, professor of composition, in an email to the university. paper. “We have to recognize it as a community. “
Sheng apologized to the students immediately after class on September 10, and then wrote a more formal apology to his department on September 16, according to the report. But critics objected to a section of the letter in which the professor repeatedly listed during his career he has worked with people of color.
A group of 42 students, staff and faculty called the apology “inflammatory” in a letter sent to David Gier, dean of the School of Music, Drama and Dance.
“The letter implies that it is thanks to him that many of them have succeeded in their careers,” the letter said.
“He could have taken responsibility for his actions and realized it was detrimental to some of his students in his class,” Cook, the freshman, told the Michigan Daily. “Instead, he tried to find excuses. Instead of just apologizing, he tried to downplay the fact that the whole situation had happened in the first place. “
According to the university, all full-time faculty at the School of Music, Drama and Dance attended the required anti-racism training and development opportunities during the 2020-21 academic year.
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