San Diego State students assigned to create a ‘fake slave persona’ outraged
By Malik Earnest
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SAN DIEGO (KFMB) — San Diego State University students are outraged over a professor’s assignment that directed students of an Africana Studies course to create a ‘slave persona.’
A student enrolled in the course shared screenshots with CBS 8 News of the assignment, which directed students to read excerpts from slave narratives, then to create their own narrative detailing what kind of family or person the student would be owned by, according to assignment details.
“[I] Should never have to act like and “create a slave persona” for one of my Africana Studies classes,” said Amari Jackson, who was enrolled in the SDSU course at the time.
Africana Studies is a multi-study course at San Diego State University that works through African American thought and behavior – including social systems, economic empowerment, self-development, family dynamics, use of power, cognitive styles, interethnic communication, and international relations, according to an SDSU webpage.
The assignment instructed students to also “address the event/circumstances surrounding [their] escape.”
“Are you kidding me?” said Catherine Hinson, a commentator on the assignment.
“Our history is not some comical play that we should pretend to be. These were years of people’s lives, years of misery and mistreatment, years of getting degraded and disrespected that some people still go through to this day because modern-day slavery exists,” Hinson continued.
Amari Jackson said the in-class presentation of the assignment, where students were expected to arrive dressed in their slave persona, was canceled due to too many students and a lack of time.
CBS 8 San Diego has reached out to San Diego State officials but has not received a response as of the initial posting of this story. We will update this story when and if they respond.
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Malik Earnestmearnest@cbs8.com
