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| Reblogged from Tudo Bom(b) |
When I saw the call go out for students to participate in his tribute video on campus, I felt like I had to participate, even though they were looking for students who had taken multiple classes with him and I'd only taken one. My first African-American Studies class. The first time I ever had a class with an instructor who looked like me.
I firmly believe this man is responsible for fundamentally altering the course of my life, and besides what I conveyed in that video, he will likely never know the impact he had on me. How can one measure the effect of being exposed to Du Bois for the first time? Of first reading bell hooks? Of knowing that someone you watch on television knows your name and will take the time to talk to you when you run into him at the mall?
I started asking questions like I'd never asked before with this man. I stopped taking the world the way it was presented to me for granted. I felt this rush of wanting to learn that was long-forgotten and refreshing at the same time. No one else inspires me like this man has inspired me.
So I can't help but feel like Princeton has lost something precious. But at the same time, I know that CAAS will keep doing big things, because the entire department is chock full of superstars, many of whom may have been struggling for room to shine.
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