Dr. R. Jon McGee, who’s seen in photo above chucking up deuces, i.e., holds up two fingers indicating peace, was teaching undeniable history to students in his Cultural Anthropology class that some apparently found disturbing. The white students left the lecture when he shared with them that all living people originated in Africa. As the exiting white students left the classroom, some remaining in class were heard saying, “Black Lives Matter.”
My Professor just said all living ppl are descendants from Africa and ppl got up and walked out and now their arguing ??? pic.twitter.com/TNj6EDmybv
— Aj (@amvrion) October 18, 2016
According to his bio on Texas State University’s website written by the professor, “I have worked with the Lacandon Maya since 1980, studying Maya religion, language, and culture. My research work has focused on the Maya, anthropology of religion, culture, theory, and field research methods. I also lead a yearly field school in Chiapas Mexico, and a study abroad program in Canterbury, England. Currently, I am working with Dr. Joel Palka at the University of Illinois-Chicago on an archaeological and ethnohistorical survey of the Lacandon area.”
Me in class yesterday watching all those people leave after what Prof. McGee said #TXST pic.twitter.com/yzro4IBGJR
— strep curry (@_justjallday) October 19, 2016
He has taught a host of courses which indicates he’s done extensive research. They include, “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology,” “Principles of Cultural Anthropology,” “Magic, Ritual and Religion,” “Latin American Cultures,” “Maya History and Society,” “Introduction to the Maya Language,” “History of Anthropological Thought,” “Field Methods in Cultural Anthropology,” “Language and Culture,” and “Advanced Cultural Anthropology.”
A student named Justine Lundy, 20, tells The Tab who first reported on the incident, the lecture started out with a message from the professor that the day’s class would be a lesson on race and it would be particularly interesting so everyone should listen. The professor proceeded to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement and how it had come about before stating that all living being descended from east Africa.
“It was dead silent,” Lundy recalls and then a student broke the silence with a “sarcastic ‘sure.’”
Karene Taylor, 19-year-old student says, “A lot of people left, it was embarrassing.”
This isn’t new information, but the for the students who exited the class during the lecture were likely caught off guard because it’s not something their parents shared with them at the dinner table that they share common ancestry with their Black neighbors and classmates.
Led by a team of National Geographic scientists, the Genographic Project uses advanced DNA analysis to better understand human genetic roots. Dr. Spencer Wells, Genographic Project lead scientist, on the board, writes
You and I, in fact everyone all over the world,
we’re literally African under the skin; brothers and sisters
separated by a mere two thousand generations.
Old-fashioned concepts of race are not only socially divisive,
but scientifically wrong.
