STATESBORO — A Georgia Southern University student took to Facebook the day after the burning of Jennine Capó Cruce’s novel, Make Your Home Among Strangers. 

The student addressed words that Crucet said during her lecture at GS on Wednesday, Oct. 9, with which the student did not agree with. 

“The article attached below left out vital details regarding Crucet’s seminar at Georgia Southern University and just why so many students were left outraged and wanting to speak out about the issue,” the post read.

The student included quotes from Crucet’s lecture that The George-Anne did not include in the original article.

“You are white. Doing the right thing is going to seem unfair to you,” the post quoted Crucet. “I ignored the tears of this one white woman, the way we ALL should ignore them when much more is at stake.”

This quote from Crucet’s lecture spawned from an experience that she had while speaking at a predominantly white college. When the Q&A session began, a white female student called from her seat to crucet and called her racist. 

“I asked her what she would call the de facto system currently in place, the one that’s led her college to have a faculty that is almost entirely white,” Crucet said. “‘Isn’t that system racist?’ I asked. She ignored my question and called me spiteful. She said, the pendulum can’t swing the other way. And I said, a pendulum analogy doesn’t actually apply to this. But before I can elaborate, she started to cry, saying, ‘You’re wrong, that’s so wrong,’ as she wiped her face with the heel of her hand, everyone watching her as the tears flowed and soon grew out of her control. Then I remembered a former colleague of mine, a Chicanex historian tasks, tasks along with me and other Latinx with figuring out why that school had such an exceptionally poor retention rate when it came to let the next faculty how in one tense meeting with various white administrators, he leaned my way and whispered, ‘there is no more precious commodity than a white woman’s tears.’”

Crucet explained to the audience that the girl had been benefiting from the system her whole life yet was blind to it. 

“She continued to talk over me as I spoke, her arms crossed, her legs crossed, foot jumping,” Crucet said. All I heard as I tried to keep talking, where the words spite and spiteful and so I stopped explaining and let my hands go.”

After telling this story, Crucet then addressed the white people in the room, asking them if they felt uncomfortable hearing this story.

“Because as a white person, you’ve gotten to just be you your whole life,” Crucet said.

The student quoted this from Crucet in the Facebook post. Crucet said this statement in the middle of describing how people are categorized by their race, specifically relating this to her college experience. 

She expressed her frustration when her white professors would ask her where her “community” stood on certain issues, instead of just asking her opinion in class.

Another quote the student used in the Facebook post was about Crucet’s mention of guns.

“I’m just always worried someone is going to walk into the room with a gun; someone should make a loud noise if that isn’t the gun, so if that happens, I can jump off the stage,” the post quoted Crucet.

Crucet made this remark towards students in the room that were whispering. After saying this, the author told the room that if noone is going to walk in the room with a gun then they could be quiet.

“[Crucet] then went on to say about how she tells minorities that universities are against them because ‘. . this place never imagined you’ and ‘ . . . they were designed to keep you out’,” the student wrote in the post.

“When I speak at other predominantly white campuses, I reminded the students of color and the women about this fact, this place never imagined you here. And your exclusion was a fundamental premise in its initial design. It was designed to keep you out. undoing that inheritance is going to take radical action,” the full quote from Crucet’s lecture said.

Crucet then urged students who feel excluded to protest and have their rage heard. 

“Literally and metaphorically burn things down.”

The student’s Facebook post was deleted on Friday afternoon.

Sarah Smith, The George-Anne News Editor, gaeditor@georgiasouthern.edu