By Debbie Truong Debbie Truong Reporter covering Virginia schools Email Bio Follow April 3 at 7:18 PM A Virginia university temporarily removed yearbooks that include images of blackface from its digital archives, a decision officials said was necessary to limit the pain caused by racist images but that others criticized for preventing access to historical records.
University librarians and members of a group working to address the legacies of slavery and racial inequality raised strong objections in a joint statement. “Archival materials, records, they represent a record of our history, and when you remove materials, you censor them,” she said. “Erasing history solves no problems and simply hides the past from us, so that we can’t learn from it . . . so that we can’t remedy any harms from the past.”
The Society of American Archivists urged the university to restore online access to all of the yearbooks. In a statement, the group pointed to its ethics code, which states archivists must not “willfully alter, manipulate, or destroy data or records to conceal facts or distort evidence.” Decades-old photographs of students in blackface and other racist images have resurfaced in yearbook pages in Virginia and across the country. A review of the Hollins yearbooks unearthed racially insensitive cartoons and images of former students in blackface, Lawrence said.
I do find it interesting that at least two of their alumnae hold or have held corporate positions that might not approve of those yearbook pictures.
That's not the -- that's not the solution
Sounds a little too much like Big Brother...
It makes no sense to edit a public record. Creating “new” history is always wrong.
WaPo: Because if we all close our eyes, history will just disappear. Higher education has become an exercise in reality denial.
Oh please
Es lamentable que hable de cero corrupcion cuando designa 4 cuatro personas a la CRE con nulos conocimientos. Que no existe miles de mexicanos aptos para ello? Esa es su cuarta transformación pasar de lo ridículo a lo vergonzoso
Omg she's dreaming! Save your time!!!!
Typical overkill by zany Liberals.
Are we supposed to be happy or outraged
Scrub the evidence! Hide the truth! We have to change history to protect the agenda/image!