Sarah Braasch, the white woman who called police on Black grad student defends slavery...

[tenderfoot]

I Love Hate Speech’: Sarah Braasch, the white woman who called police on Black Yale grad student for napping in dorm, defends slavery and supports burqa ban in writings



Here are five things to know about Sarah Braasch, the woman who called the police on a fellow Yale graduate student for taking a nap in a common room.

1. She is working on her fifth degree

According to her bio on Yale’s website, Braasch is working on her fifth degree, a PhD in philosophy. She already has two engineering degrees, a law degree (she’s a member of the New York State Bar), and a master’s degree in philosophy. The bio says her master’s in philosophy was obtained so “to address the sub-human legal status of the world’s women at the source, the philosophical foundations of law.”

2. She won a middle school class debate about the Civil War with pro-slavery arguments

In a 2010 blog post for Humanist, Braasch recalled a time in middle school when her classed was assigned to debate the pros and cons of slavery.

“I know, in retrospect it seems a bit odd to me as well. But, in a sense, what better way is there to learn about any historical subject than to debate it? And rather than debate the subject from the perspectives of late twentieth-century teens, we approached it as if we were abolitionists or southern plantation owners during Abraham Lincoln’s presidency,” she wrote.

Braasch continued:

“I was placed on the pro-slavery side of the argument. I remember spending many an hour in the local public library poring over Time Life books… And then I had a eureka moment. Some—not many, but some—of the slaves didn’t want to stop being slaves. A small number wanted to remain with their owners or return even after being freed. I knew I had just won the debate. And indeed, I did. I led our team to victory. The pro-slavery contingent defeated the abolitionists because, in a democracy, in the land of the free, who are we to tell people that they can’t be slaves if they want to be? Who are we to tell someone that she has to be free? Who are we to tell someone that she has to be regarded as fully human?”

3. She supports banning burqas

In that same Humanist blog post, which was ultimately about a law banning burqas, Braasch wrote about being against hate speech legislation.

“For the record, I am an incipient First Amendment lawyer and a staunch church-state separatist. I am an intractable free speech defender and a vehement opponent of hate crime legislation. I stake the claim that morality has no place in the law. I support the anticipated public burqa ban in France. And I would support a similar ban in the United States and anywhere else in the world.”

4. She is against hate crime legislation

From a 2011 blog post on Patheos : “Hate crimes legislation is stupid. Seriously stupid. Abominably stupid. I hate hate crimes legislation. But, I love hate speech. Hate crimes legislation has a chilling effect on free speech and freedom of association.”

5. She refers to her time as a Jehovah’s Witness as being a “slave”

Braasch left the Jehovah’s Witness faith as a teenager and looks upon her time in that religion as enslavement. “I was a slave who extolled the virtues of being a slave. I was a slave who insisted that I had chosen slavery of my own free will, of my own volition, as a conscious and educated choice. Because, you see, I was a Jehovah’s Witness who had been brainwashed from birth to believe that God had created me subhuman–below man,” she wrote in a blog post.

more: https://thegrio.com/2018/05/10/sarah-braasch-yale-grad-student/

Also, Braasch has since deleted her twitter account.

And here I am feeling sympathy for her current situation

[blugbox]

1. What a fucking

scrambled egg...

[LisaM]

2. That's an apt description.

She seems deranged.

[brush]

3. Oh the irony. She hated being a slave of the Jehovah Witnesses but felt...

quite the opposite in her pro-slavery arguments.

I'd have to meet up with her in a dark alley. The cops would be on me in minute.

[oberliner]

16. She was assigned the pro-slavery side of a debate in middle school

This headline is disgusting.

[Demsrule86]

22. She is against hate crime prosecutions, she wants to ban burqas (so much for freedom) and she calls

the cops on two not one but two Black dorm residents...she is a bigot and no one would know about middle school unless she told them..IE proud of it. And what kind of teacher agrees that people brought here in chains 'chose' slavery. She is a terrible person.

[Eliot Rosewater]

26. Do you have such great lungs you can waste them?

[Demsrule86]

27. Good point.

Yes...not much point.

[oberliner]

38. She wrote about the middle school experience in an article for The Humanist

Which has since been deleted by that website.

I agree that she seems like a terrible person, but I think including that bit about slavery in the headline is disgusting and bad journalism.

[brush]

72. Ahhh...FYI, she's against hate crime legislation. Doesn't seem to be that much different.

[Lulu KC]

79. Agreed

Remember middle school debate? It wasn't about believing the side, it was learning to portray anything as correct. Skill, not content. She has enough creepy other things; this didn't need to be highlighted.
The other team must have done a really bad job if all her side had going for it was a few people who didn't want to leave their owners, which sounds like a whitened version of a story in itself.
No doubt she's creepy.

[3catwoman3]

4. She seems like a good example of PhD...

...standing for Piled Higher and Deeper.

[Jakes Progress]

64. I have worked with several persons with PhDs

that were not only dreadful people, but stupid as a brick.

That piece of paper comes easier when you just play the game. It is not a sign of intelligence. Her writings and actions say much mor about her.

[smirkymonkey]

5. What a sickening excuse for a human being.

I feel no sympathy for her whatsoever.

[exboyfil]

6. It is not fair to hold her accountable

For an assigned position in an academic debate. The rest is on her though.

[Demsrule86]

23. The only reason we know about it is she told people...proud of it?

[cynatnite]

7. I was put on the anti-abortion side of a high school debate...

It sucked, but I made it work. The debate was a tie.

That's a normal part of learning to debate. Being put on the opposite side of your personal preference. When we competed, we had to prep for both sides of an argument.

The rest of it...well, she sounds like a forever student who'll never get out in the real world.

[oberliner]

15. "The Grio" should be ashamed of itself for this BS headline

[womanofthehills]

39. Maybe not - The Humanist.com removed her articles because of racially offensive argumentation

From the Editors: A note on Sarah Braasch

May 10, 2018 – The Humanist magazine published two articles from Sarah Braasch as an outside contributor (not a staff member or regular blogger). We regret that this material remained up as long as it did and appreciate those who brought its offensive content to our attention.

We have removed the article “Lift the Veil, See the Light” by Sarah Braasch (published in the Sept/Oct 2010 issue of the Humanist magazine) from our website after it was brought to our attention that it contains racially offensive argumentation. The article was part of a point-counterpoint on the topic of laws barring Muslim women in France from wearing face-covering veils. In the article in question, which argues for the ban, the author equates the small number of slaves who wanted to remain with their owners after emancipation (an idea that is itself still a justification for racism in some circles) with women who choose to be “slaves” in abusive, misogynistic, or otherwise patriarchal religious traditions. She makes this analogy–which we have judged to be inaccurate and racially offensive–to argue that if human beings are forced or conditioned to accept indignity, suffering, and an inferior position in society then that society has an obligation to make laws to correct that. While the author’s final point is one some humanists might champion, the analogy to American slavery is definitely not.

We have removed Sarah Braasch’s second article, “Original Intent” (published in 2009), after finding it racially offensive. The article was a commentary on the Puritanical dogma and religious tyranny in colonial America, making the case that our nation was founded on principles antithetical to such oppression. However, the author’s interjection that racism is a “silly” social construct renders this article out of step with our commitment to social justice and to the pressing need to be realistic about the racism that permeates our culture today.

We sincerely apologize for publishing these articles and we will strive to do better at upholding our humanist values going forward.

https://thehumanist.com/editorsnote/

[oberliner]

42. That explanation supports the notion that the headline The Grio used is a lie

The Humanist editor suggests that she was making an analogy between slavery and women in abusive patriarchal religious traditions. An analogy they found to be racially offensive. Not "defending slavery" by any stretch of the imagination.

[Sailor65x1]

53. As I've often seen happen with you,

You are quite right, but won't find much traction around here. And for my opinion, I think her analogy is quite apt, from a realistic standpoint. Unfortunately, realism doesn't go well with people's desire to only attribute suffering to one group.

[B2G]

8. Seriously fucked up headline.

It was a debate.

[oberliner]

18. Amen

Absolutely despicable on the part of "The Grio".

[Kingofalldems]

24. She said some slaves like being slaves.

Do you deny that?

[oberliner]

29. She wrote: "Some--not many, but some--of the slaves didn't want to stop being slaves"

And she wrote: "A small number wanted to remain with their owners or return even after being freed."

[Kingofalldems]

31. That's defending slavery. Fact.

[oberliner]

35. No, it's obviously not

Have you read any slave narratives?

Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 is a good place to start if you haven't.

It's housed at the Library of Congress, but you can read much of it online.

A very small number of them do espouse that viewpoint.

[Kingofalldems]

37. Nope. Not working.

[oberliner]

40. Here's a link to one

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mesn&fileName=010/mesn010.db&recNum=114&itemLink=D?mesnbib:14:./temp/~ammem_n2KJ::

It's pretty fascinating to read these primary source documents.

[moriah]

65. And to another.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/mesn.025/?sp=9

Not sure if the one you linked to is representative, given my reading of them.

[oberliner]

67. Thanks for sharing that

The one I linked to was specifically not representative, but rather one of the rare ones cited.

[Lulu KC]

83. Thanks for this n/t

[JustAnotherGen]

74. My dad's great grandmother is in there

It's interesting to read how much she didn't like white people. It's amazing my dad's grandfather rubbed shoulders at all. Unless - you consider he "used" white people for financial gain.

My grandfather was very accepting of my mom though - so it took two generations to build tolerance.

[Sailor65x1]

54. Funny thing,

When you have to stamp the word "Fact" on something, it usually means it isn't.

This poster has presented solid evidence of his or her position on this, and provided a link to supporting documentation.

[Kingofalldems]

55. Not really a good try there.

She defended slavery and further evidence is presented in this thread that she continues to be a bigot. Fact.

[Tarc]

70. In response to: "DU couldn't give a damn about women at all, unless they happen to be black"

Is someone a bit sad that their white privilege didn't save them for once?

[JI7]

33. Is it as fucked up as her calling the cops on a sleeping black student ?

[Sailor65x1]

52. Big time

And her pride about it was based on winning the impossible argument, not slavery itself. But, this is DU after all.

[stonecutter357]

58. she is a wypipo ?

[EffieBlack]

9. "In a democracy ... who are we to tell people that they can't be slaves if they want to be?"

"Who are we to tell someone that she has to be free? Who are we to tell someone that she has to be regarded as fully human?”

Wow.

[Blue_Tires]

12. I'm surprised that actually won the debate

Because the counter is no slave who knew the possible existence of a better life would *EVER* want to go back... This is why educating slaves was punishable by death...

And the Freedmen who stayed during reconstruction literally had no place to go, no capital, and no job skills other than agriculture... This is how they eventually fell into the trap of sharecropping which on paper was supposed to guarantee them their own plot of land but we know how that worked out...

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/sharecropping

I'd like to think middle schoolers could argue this but then I'm reminded just how inadequate the history of black Americans is in grade school...

[Drahthaardogs]

10. In other words, she's a nutter who can't function in the real

World, thus is an eternal student.

[LuvNewcastle]

82. That sums it up well.

She's an educated fool. Her professors probably hate her, but people like her keep the bills paid.

[oberliner]

13. This headline is a disgusting lie

The "defending slavery" refers to her being in a middle school class debate when she was 12 years old and assigned the pro-slavery side by the teacher.

[HipChick]

17. What is not a lie is her recent actions, which you apparently do not find disgusting..

[oberliner]

19. Why would you say something like that?

Her actions were obviously disgusting. She tried to kick a student out of her own dorm building for sleeping for crying out loud!

[womanofthehills]

28. Actually she tried to kick out two black Yale students - this was the 2nd time around

Siyonbola told the Yale Daily News that the May 8 incident wasn’t her first run-in with Braasch. In February she invited a group of graduate students to her dorm for a meeting in the common room. Jean-Louis Reneson, a black grad student, told the Daily News that he got lost in the building when he arrived and was “physically blocked” from entering the common room by Braasch after he asked her for directions. Reneson and Siyonbola filed a complaint about that incident with Yale’s Associate Dean for Graduate Student Development and Diversity Michelle Nearon. The Daily News obtained a copy of that complaint.

Reneson said Braasch did not appear to think he was a Yale student and accused him of being an intruder. “Feeling ignored, I went down to the base of the twelfth floor and eleventh floor and turned my back, but she continued to verbally assault me from the twelfth floor claiming that I ‘didn’t belong here’ and I was making her ‘uncomfortable,’” Reneson told the newspaper. He said Braasch left and Reneson went to the meeting, but four officers soon showed up to investigate a “suspicious character.” They quickly established Reneson was a student invited to the building by Siyonbola and left, the newspaper reports.

https://heavy.com/news/2018/05/sarah-braasch/

[oberliner]

30. Yes, I've read that also

She sounds like an awful human being.

[Kingofalldems]

44. So knowing that you jumped in this thread to defend her.

[oberliner]

46. I haven't defended her

I attacked the headline - which I find disgusting.

[Kingofalldems]

47. Too much.

[oberliner]

48. Yeah, that's what I'm saying

Plenty of bad things to say about her without the BS "defending slavery" nonsense. That is way too much - and reflects badly on the source.

[Demsrule86]

25. She told folks or they wouldn't know...so please I shed no tears for this scummy person.

[HipChick]

14. A "perpetual" student who can't get a job?

[ProudLib72]

20. Who would hire her now?

[hunter]

45. Fox News or a similar organization will...

It's a two-for-one.

They can tell people they're addressing their sexual harassment problems without actually accomplishing anything, and they get someone who endorses their hate speech.

[Sailor65x1]

50. Well, she has dual Engineering degrees, to start

I'm pretty sure she's not worried about landing a job.

[ProudLib72]

60. The question was meant to be rhetorical

since we don't want respectable companies to hire racists. However, I bet you're correct. They would overlook this little incident.

[John Fante]

73. You're a big fan of this lady, aren't you?

[Blue_true]

66. She may be the type that do get a job and is such as ass that she can't keep it.

So she goes back to school.

[Lulu KC]

81. Yup

And Yale is probably trying really hard to figure out a way to make her leave.

[Demsrule86]

21. Classic bigot.

[Ligyron]

32. Well, she has a point about the burqas anyway.

Other than that...

[Kingofalldems]

34. Well this thread was extremely illuminating.

No doubt about it now.

[madaboutharry]

36. There comes a time when you need to stop going to school

and make the decision to live in the real world. She seems like a very messed up person.

[Sanity Claws]

41. Why did Yale grant admission to a perpetual student?

Admission is very selective. Why would Yale accept her into a selective graduate program?
I wonder if she was paying full tuition and that played a role in it. People, unless they are ultra rich, are unable to remain perpetual students.

[Sailor65x1]

49. 2 Engineering degrees and a JD

Yeah, can't imagine why Yale would want her...

[JI7]

51. I just saw that. She is in her 40s . And while there is nothing wrong

This seems odd. She has serious issues.

[treestar]

69. family must be wealthy?

How can one afford that? She must not have loans.

[Historic NY]

43. She sounds like all she does it go to school....

perhaps she'll be leaving now

[IluvPitties]

56. Nutjob!

[WhiteTara]

59. She sounds like a nasty piece of work. Barely human.

[CentralMass]

61. She seems like a horrible person

Last edited Thu May 10, 2018, 10:16 PM - Edit history (1)

[grantcart]

62. What is strange about her "position" on slavery is this

As many above have remarked when you do competitive debate you are prepared to argue both sides of a position and are placed in the positive or negative side.

That is not what is so strange here.

What is so strange is

1) that she remembers it
2) that she talks about it with relish
3) that she explains her brilliant reasoning that won the debate.

She is such a sick person, IMO, that there may or may have been a debate and she may or may not have won it.

The fact is that she brings it up decades later with obvious relish isn't because she is proud of her debating skill but because she is strongly in sympathy with the subject.

I spent years in debate and couldn't tell you most of the subjects that I spent months debating on. She is recalling it because she thinks that there is an underlying basis for her racism, and she is a racist.

[Kingofalldems]

63. Great point.

[Oneironaut]

68. "What a terrible person. Let's make her famous!" - Online media

[John Fante]

71. Lol @ these phony liberal posters defending this racist woman's

pro-slavery argument. Would they make the same argument for battered women or molestation victims?

"Hey, they said they felt love for their abuser, they must have enjoyed the abuse too!"

[cwydro]

75. She is a whack job.

[Vinca]

76. Somebody's got a trust fund . . .

She ought to find a new hobby. Endless schooling isn't teaching her much.

[JustAnotherGen]

77. Ha!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/118764280

I give Mr. Lewis the absolute final word in the argument.

His life makes her debate win obsolete.

[beachbum bob]

78. the innocent face of hate and bigotry that surrounds all of us, time to force these

people back into the shadows....before its too late to save our country

[ExciteBike66]

80. Some of your post title is defamatory nonsense.

1.) She "defended slavery" in the context of a debate where she was placed on the pro-slavery side. This has nothing to do with her personal feelings on slavery, which are probably very anti-slavery.

Also, the debate happened in middle school.

Unfortunately, the article appears to have been scrubbed from the link. The link states that she later used the slavery argument in the context of the burqa ban, to argue that the women wearing burqas are "conditioned" like the AA slaves of our history. Once again this does not mean she condones slavery.

[Kingofalldems]

84. Kick this one.