Teaching Materials

The original letter and signatures.
“A Letter on Justice and Open Debate,” Harper’s Magazine, July 7, 2020, https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/.

A More specific letter on justice and open debate (07/10/2020?)
The Objective, “A More Specific Letter on Justice and Open Debate,” accessed July 18, 2020, https://theobjective.substack.com/p/a-more-specific-letter-on-justice.

Daily Beast Response (07/07/2020)
Laura Bradley, “J.K. Rowling and Other Assorted Rich Fools Want to Cancel ‘Cancel Culture,’” The Daily Beast, July 7, 2020, sec. entertainment, https://www.thedailybeast.com/jk-rowling-and-other-assorted-rich-fools-want-to-cancel-cancel-culture.

Times coverage (07/10/2020)
Jennifer Schuessler, “An Open Letter on Free Expression Draws a Counterblast,” The New York Times, July 10, 2020, sec. Arts, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/arts/open-letter-debate.html.

Slate Coverage (07/10/2020)
Tom Scocca, “The Harper’s Letter Is What Happens When the Discourse Takes Precedence Over Reality,” Slate Magazine, July 10, 2020, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/07/harpers-letter-reality-debate.html.

The Guardian Coverage (07/12/2020)
“Harper’s Free Speech Letter Has ‘Moved the Needle’, Says Organiser,” the Guardian, July 12, 2020, http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jul/12/harpers-free-speech-letter-moved-needle-organiser-thomas-chatterton-williams.

The Atlantic (07/13/2020)
Hannah Giorgis, “A Deeply Provincial View of Free Speech,” The Atlantic, July 13, 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/07/harpers-letter-free-speech/614080/.

Michelle Goldberg Editorial (07/17/2020)
“Opinion | Do Progressives Have a Free Speech Problem? – The New York Times,” accessed July 18, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/opinion/harpers-letter-free-speech.html.

Related

Osita Nwanevu et al., “The Willful Blindness of Reactionary Liberalism,” The New Republic, July 6, 2020, https://newrepublic.com/article/158346/willful-blindness-reactionary-liberalism.

The whole article/interview is excellent. I particularly appreciated these paragraphs near the end of the piece:

How did America arrive at this moment? Ronald Reagan famously cracked that the nine scariest words in the English language were: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” What started as a joke about federal overreach metastasized across the decades; government was not only inefficient, but unnecessary, suspect and even dangerous. This antigovernment posture was embraced by many in government itself. Bill Clinton’s 1996 declaration that “the era of big government is over” became self-fulfilling: The less trust Americans had in the ability of government to take care of them, the less government was in fact able to do so. Failure bred cynicism, which bred disengagement. Big government became all government. By the time the pandemic hit, America had elected a president who was himself openly contemptuous of the very notion of good government.

The next paragraph begins with this sentence:

It did not take long to see that the challenge presented by the virus could only be met by strong federal leadership.

Rewritten:

It did not take long to see that the challenge presented by racial inequality could only be met by strong federal leadership.

It did not take long to see that the challenge presented by educational inequality could only be met by strong federal leadership.

It did not take long to see that the challenge presented economic inequality could only be met by strong federal leadership.

It has taken so long.

Two other pieces address this notion from a historical perspective. Why, with so many issues, does it apparently take a long, long time?

One, Nikole Hannah-Jones on reparations.

Two, Jill Lepore on commissions formed after civil disorder.

This might be the most powerful essay I’ve read in a long time. I’m going to spend the summer thinking about how to best teach with this piece.

Caroline Randall Williams, “Opinion | You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument,” The New York Times, June 26, 2020, sec. Opinion, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/opinion/confederate-monuments-racism.html.