To the editor:

The bullying of KU student Body President Niya McAdoo must stop. Not only does it demonstrate a gross ignorance of metaphor as a rhetorical device, an appalling disregard for meaningful dialogue and critical thinking regarding American history, but a degree of intellectual dishonesty that is unbefitting the leadership at a major university. America is an ever evolving, beautiful idea, with much to offer and be proud of. However, America’s first version, embodied in our Constitution, was only meant for rich, white, human-owning males, and excluded citizenship and voting rights to Native Americans, Black men and all women. In 1857, the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision ruled that America did not apply to Black men. Before 1865 (13th Amendment) America embraced slavery. Until 1868 (14th Amendment) only white men in the U.S. were citizens entitled to equal rights under the law (Native Americans still excluded). In 1870 (15th Amendment), America gave Black men the right to vote. In 1920 (19th Amendment) America allowed women the right to vote, and finally in 1924, the Snyder Act extended voting to Native Americans, but not until 1962 when Utah said yes did Native Americans have the right to vote in every state. The point is, upon critical examination, America is a complex and ever evolving idea, and throughout our history, not every version of America deserves to live on. So yes, death to the America that fosters racism, inequality, genocide and hatred and life to the America that makes good people like Niya McAdoo feel like she belongs.  

Rob Hudson,

Lawrence