The Embarrassment of Protesting Racism: Ariel’s Thoughts

HA note: The author’s name has been changed to ensure anonymity. “Ariel” is a pseudonym.

In May of 2009, the following email was sent by Teresa Moon of CFC/ICC to myself and other current and former interns concerning the BJU protest.

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I received a note from BJU today that the administration is now aware of the NCFCA Facebook protest. If you have participated in the protest in ANY WAY you need to stop immediately and make every effort to delete all posts.

DO NOT post comments, concerns or even support for the location on any threads related to the National Championship. As you can imagine, it is quite an embarrassment that the Christian Homeschool League engages in such conduct.

If you believe you have already been a party to this, you should contact me right away. If I find that you are engaging in any of this communication, your internship is in jeopardy. It is that serious…

I hope that you are not connected to this in any way. If you are, you have 24 hours to remove yourself entirely from ANY communication, if you ever wish to be on a CFC or ICC platform again…

Teresa M. Moon
Institute for Cultural Communicators, Inc.

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As a politically active person these days, I look back and find this kind of response to be bizarre. I have signed many petitions to get better streets, protect small businesses, and stop bad policies from coming to my city. All of these were perfectly normal, expected ways of participating in the community- both my local community and my national community.

To see this response again is very disappointing. Voicing protest is an essential part of the democratic process, in preserving the integrity of an institution, and in applying critical thinking skills. To see an officially recognized non-profit organization silence protest, especially over a moral and social issue such as racism, is a great disappointment.