Listen, we know that the human brain isn't fully developed until around
age 25 or so. And we know that teenage and college kids
do a lot of dumb things. But can all white fraternities recognize it is almost 2015 and
racial tensions are at a high and maybe, just maybe, sending out Christmas cards with a giant blow-up dark-skinned sex doll
isn't the smartest thing to do?
On Sunday night, a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity posted what became a controversial Christmas photo on Facebook. The photo showed the brothers — most of whom appear to be caucasian — posing in holiday attire in a living room. Next to one of the brothers on the left of the photo was a dark-skinned blow-up doll.
In a draft of an apology emailed by College senior and Phi Delta Theta President Jimmy Germi to UMOJA co-chairs Wharton junior Rachel Palmer and College sophomore Ray Clark, the fraternity said that the doll was a Beyoncé sex toy originally meant as a gag gift at the group’s Secret Santa event.
It's a joke, right? Lighten up! Not everyone is amused:
“The inclusion of a racially and sexually charged object in such a flagrant fashion displays a serious and immediate need for repercussions that reflect the severity of this misogynistic, racist offense,” a joint statement issued by the 5B — the five umbrella coalitions for minority groups on campus — and the Penn Consortium for Undergraduate Women said. "We—UMOJA, APSC, UMC, Latin@ Coalition, Lambda Alliance, and PCUW—firmly believe that when an event like this marginalizes one of our communities, it marginalizes us all."
“What particularly concerns us is how flippant this deeply misogynistic and racist choice seems to have been,” an addendum from the PCUW read.