Oh COME ON! Now The Word Picnic Is Racist?

Students and faculty at Brandeis University are being urged to stop using words and phrases like “picnic,” “trigger warning” and even “rule of thumb,” because of what a campus counseling service calls their links to violence and power to “reinforce systems of oppression.”

A compendium of “potentially oppressive language” posted on the school’s website by its Prevention, Advocacy and Resource Center also lists loads of examples of “gender exclusive,” “ableist,” and “culturally appropriative” terminology that “can get in the way of meaningful dialogue.”

The “Oppressive Language List,” first reported by Campus Reform, was developed recently as part of the PARC’s “Response to Anti-Blackness” program and “is always growing based on suggestions from the community,” according to a web page titled “Holding Ourselves Accountable.”

“As a community, we can strive to remove language that may hurt those who have experienced violence from our everyday use,” the PARC says.

Campus Reform first reported on the ‘Oppressive Language List.’

The ‘Oppressive Language List’ was developed recently as part of the ‘Response to Anti-Blackness’ program and claimed the word “picnic” is associated with lynchings of black people. The suggested replacement word for a picnic is “outdoor eating.” Reuters shot down the claim about the word picnic with a fact check: Fact check: The word picnic does not originate from racist lynchings

“These recommendations for more-neutral language are brought forth by students who have been subject to violence or who have worked with others who are healing from violence, as well as students who have sought out advanced training in intervening in potentially violent situations.”

According to the New York Post, the Oppressive Language List surfaced just weeks after a Brandeis administrator was revealed to have said on social media that “all white people are racist in that all white people have been conditioned in a society where one’s racial identity determines life experiences/outcomes and whiteness is the norm and default.”

“CONSIDER THEIR OWN LANGUAGE TO BE RESPECTFUL OF OTHERS”

A Brandeis spokesperson released a statement soft-pedaling the “Oppressive Language List,” saying it “is in no way an accounting of terms that Brandeis students, faculty, or staff are prohibited from using or must substitute instead. It is simply a resource that can be accessed by anyone who wants to consider their own language to be respectful of others who may have different reactions to certain terms and phrases.”

Sources: 100 Percent Fed Up, New York Post, Campus Reform