The Ignorance Cultural Revolution continues. The glorious cultural warriors against literacy have triumphed at the University of Pennsylvania where Shakespeare was declared a non-person and purged by what was formerly known as the English Department. Then he was swiftly replaced with an angry black illiterate lesbian racist womanist.
Penn English professor and Department Chair Jed Esty was surprised to find a large portrait of William Shakespeare waiting in his office.
A group of students removed the iconic portrait from the walls of Fisher- Bennett Hall and delivered it to Esty’s office after an English Department town hall meeting discussing the election, which took place on Thursday December 1. They replaced it with a photo of Audre Lorde, a black female writer.
Audre Lorde was a black lesbian racist who ranted about "white privilege".
Here's Shakespeare.
This above all: to think own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Here's Audre Lorde
"Today that 37 year old white man
with 13 years of police forcing
was set free
by eleven white men who said they were satisfied
justice had been done
and one Black Woman who said
“They convinced me” meaning
they had dragged her 4'10'' black Woman's frame
over the hot coals
of four centuries of white male approval
until she let go
the first real power she ever had
and lined her own womb with cement"
Truly inspired. Who could possibly equal such grace, wit and deft insight into the mind of a HuffPo comments section.
Today the University of Penn
Sylvania
Took down
Shakespeare's Portrait
And replaced it with nothing
We are tired of hearing from old white men
We want POC's to pin our safety pins on
Hold your applause. There's more.
The portrait has resided over the main staircase of Fisher-Bennett — home to Penn’s English Department — for years. The English Department voted to relocate and replace the portrait a few years ago in order to represent a more diverse range of writers, according to an emailed statement from Esty, who declined to be interviewed.
Not merit. Not worth. Diversity. And diversity means meritless worthlessness. Always remember that. Diverse equals worthless.
“Students removed the Shakespeare portrait and delivered it to my office as a way of affirming their commitment to a more inclusive mission for the English department,” Esty wrote in the email. He added that the image of Lorde will remain until the department reaches a decision about what to do with the space.
What about Mao? It would be so historically appropriate.
Undergraduate Chair of the English Department Zachary Lesser declined to be interviewed, deferring to Esty’s email. Students involved in removing the portrait were unavailable for comment.
Lots of people are declining to be interviewed. It's downright... Orwellian.
College junior Mike Benz, also an English major, agreed. He said that he thought the students’ action was bold and admirable, adding that the students acted in a positive way by taking matters into their own hands.
“It is a cool example of culture jamming,” Benz said.
Ladies and gentleman, this is a U of Penn "English major".