Princeton University has decided to remove a mural of Woodrow Wilson throwing out the first pitch at a Washington Senators baseball game in 1915 from the dining hall of Wilson College.
While there is justification for removing Woodrow Wilson’s name from Princeton University buildings, there is a glaring hypocrisy in the university’s handling of racially motivated harassment.
When Princeton professor Imani Perry falsely accused two white Princeton police officers of racial harassment, an accusation later proven false, no measures were taken.
False statements such as these trivialize the victims of actual racism. Marian Anderson was once turned away from Nassau Inn and Einstein invited her to stay at his Mercer Street home. Paul Robeson was turned away from Princeton University although his father, a fellow Presbyterian minister, was a friend of President Wilson. These were real instances of racial injustice.
False accusations of racism only serve to trivialize and inhibit the struggle for equality and justice.
William Myers
Highland Park
