The intersection of race, gender and class is making it difficult to tell the bullies from the bullied.
Two highly publicized instances of alleged bullying involve black women who are members of society’s elite, Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markel and Oumou Kanoute, 21, a student at Smith College, an elite all-women college that charges $80,000 a year in tuition.
Both claim to be bullied in the face of evidence that they bullied others.
Smith College
The more troubling case involves Oumou Kanoute, 21, a student at Smith College, an elite all-women college that charges $80,000 a year in tuition.
According to press accounts, Kanoute claimed she was targeted in July 2018 for “eating while Black” in the un-air conditioned living room of an unoccupied dormitory reserved for young children in a college summer camp. Four months later an independent investigation by a law firm hired by Smith College found no evidence of discrimination.
Not only was Kanoute not bullied but it appears that both she and Smith College bullied the low-wage staff who were involuntarily swept into the controversy.
Continue reading “It’s Getting Hard To Tell the Bullies from the Bullied”