Written by: Melissa Hector

In a speech to the entire freshman class, noted anti-racist writer and activist Tim Wise, said that if current President Barack Obama was as inarticulate as former President George W. Bush, people would draw inferences about Obama’s entire race.

“The last president we had,” said Wise, “let’s be honest, even if you liked the guy… the reality is that even his supporters acknowledged that he wasn’t and isn’t the most articulate sole of the world. This is an understatement of biblical performance.”

Wise continued on his point by saying, “None of us who were white ever said that he [President Obama] was screwing it up for all of us… but people of color know full well that if candidate Obama has come as in articulate… that in fact for some people it would have caused a racial association.”

In response, during the speech, “Up to 20 students walked out of the auditorium” according to Jeanette Buntin, director of the Multicultural Center.

Later in an e-mail to Wise, freshman Evan Honeyman stated “your speech turned into a racial and left-wing political rant. You stomp on self-responsibility/reliability and you make an absolute mockery of President George W. Bush.”

It was on October 7 that all members of the freshman class, some live and some via satellite feed, heard the speech given by Wise.

Wise is a prominent anti-racist writer and activist and has spoken to over 300,000 people in 48 states, and on over 400 college campuses. He has trained teachers as well as corporate, government, media and law enforcement officials on methods for combating institutional racism.

Wise said he believes that the United States has a long history of white privilege, which causes continual “under the rug” racism. “For those of us in the dominant group, when was the last time we felt that if we failed at something it was going to reflect badly on our entire racial group,” said Wise, “The odds are pretty much never.”

These beliefs provoked some students to “boycott” Wise from speaking at other universities, creating a Facebook group to be created by students on campus, with the intention of derailing Wise’s future speaking engagements.

Although few Bentley students did not agree with Wise, there were many students who said they understood his concepts about institutionalized racism exist.

This past Tuesday October 20, a forum was held, with support from the Multicultural Center that gave students a chance to discuss, learn and understand each other’s views. Junior Lakeya Graves started the forum by saying, “I watched the video and I realized that the students who walked out took his arguments out of context, he was merely trying to say that this racism is alive, you and I are not the ones to blame, but because we are the leaders of the future it is our responsibility to clean it up.”

According to some in attendance, the discussion was very healthy with many points and concerns addressed. Unfortunately, attendance of those who walked out was not what organizers had wished. Forty attendees came to the forum and unfortunately only one student who opposed Tim Wise showed up.

“The fear of speaking about racism, the fear of speaking about diversity; it’s as if they were looking for this bubble gum version of diversity,” said junior Ymani Belcher, student coordinator of the forum. “Why should these students step back from something they believe in? if they are passionate about it, they should have come to discuss their concerns.”

Faculty members who attended the forum stated that perhaps many of the students did not attend because their anger is towards the administration of the college and they’re seeking an apology for being required to attend the diversity seminar.

Tim Wise spoke at Brandeis University directly after giving his speech at Bentley. A faculty member from Bentley who attended the Brandeis speech pointed out that, “no one got up and walked out, in fact some of them laughed at the comments he gave, the only difference is that this event was not required for the students.” At that speech Tim Wise remarked, “I was at Bentley last week and I must have really pissed them off because some students boycotted me.”

At the forum, Buntin reported that Wise spoke at Emerson College, and the University of Stony Brook within weeks after his appearance at Bentley. According to Buntin, the seminar was required for students at each university, but the reaction was not nearly the same as it was at Bentley.

Almost all of those in attendance recognized how difficult of a conversation that race is, causing faculty to hint at the possibility of another forum being held to clear up continual disagreements and alleviate any tension that may still remain on campus