By DONNA STILLINGER The Brunswick News
Eliminating the impact of centuries of oppression by simply taking down the Confederate flag over the South Carolina State House would be great. But, unfortunately, that alone is not going to do it.
According to College of Coastal Georgia professor, taking the flag down was just one step in broaching the racism topic.
On Thursday, Dr. Catherine Culver, assistant professor of philosophy, will present the program, “A Kinder Gentler Racism?” as part of the college’s Coastal Scholars Lecture Series for Autumn.
In the program, planned for 2 p.m. in the Stembler Theater in the college’s campus center, Culver will discuss recent events that have brought racism to the forefront of many people’s minds.
“Society as a whole has to admit that racism is alive and quit pretending that it doesn’t exist,” Culver said.
“We have to stop being so genteel about it and admit that even in the highest forms of our government and in our schools, racism is there.”
Culver’s program hopes to begin an open conversation about racism in an effort to try and put a stop to it in the future.
“Every time a new group has a problem, we have to re-invent the wheel — from Jim Crow to the Voting Rights Act to today’s issues. Why can’t we all support human rights? We should be concerned with the fate of human beings, not the fate of human beings who look like us,” Culver said.
Other lectures in the series this Fall include:
• David Reese, associate professor of finance and economics, will give a lecture on “Dual-Objective Investing: Why Institutional Investors Engage in Socially-Responsible Investing” at 2 p.m. Sept. 29.
• Karen Hambright, professor of psychology, will give a lecture titled “Take the Monkey and Run” at noon Oct. 7.
• Don Mathews, professor of economics, will discuss “The Economics of Immigration” at noon Nov. 3.
• Claire Hughes, associate professor of education, and Jim Lynch, director of institutional effectiveness, will talk about “Applying for a Fulbright — Students and Scholars” at noon Nov. 17.
Each lecture is free and open to the community to attend.