On Thursday, Rod 2.0 reported the very impressive announcement by Grinnell College, which named Dr. Raynard Kington as 13th president for the 164-year-old college. Kington, who is openly gay, is a deputy director of the National Institutes of Health and was appointed the acting director by the Obama Administration during its transition. Grinnell College may be the only college to be led by a black, out gay man.
Dr. Kington remarked: "I feel compelled to acknowledge as the great-grandson of slaves at this institution whose founders were active participants in the abolitionist movement."
Kington introduced the audience to his partner Dr. Peter T. Daniolos, a child psychiatrist and their two young sons. As the eldest son Emerson climbed the stage, Kington added: "I am sure you will get to know them very well in the coming years!"
It's a beautiful introduction to a very talented man. Watch the moving video AFTER THE JUMP ...
Outstanding! Very inspiring! I needed this.
Posted by: ausfahrt | 18 February 2010 at 09:11
A true success story.
Posted by: Warry | 18 February 2010 at 13:50
What a beautiful family. Truly an inspiration. Examples like this make me want to be a better person.
Posted by: FREELEO | 18 February 2010 at 14:13
This is truly a great story that received little or no coverage in the media or Chronicle of Higher Education. That is unfortunate.
The students at Grinnell are obviously amazing. The area is remote and isolated for most for any "minority." As my grandmother says "Everything MUST change"
Posted by: Tim | 18 February 2010 at 14:48
Wonderful and inspiring!
Posted by: Honut Sinti | 18 February 2010 at 20:25
Just the thing I needed to put another draining school day in perspective. *This* is what I'm working towards! Thanks for the inspiration, Rod, Dr. Kington, and Grinnell.
Posted by: Alex | 18 February 2010 at 20:50
Yes, this is indeed very inspiring. But in its beauty, it is almost discomfiting to me, because it is so many worlds away from the evil and bigotry I am forced to witness firsthand every day.
My fear is that, unlike 150 years ago, when small colleges like Grinnell were active in the abolitionist movement, they have become cocoons of privilege and liberality. A truly powerful and venal force is crystallizing out there, and it is has nothing but contempt for places like Grinnell. Do these people really know that? Are they prepared to fight that?
(Continued below.)
Posted by: Jim | 19 February 2010 at 01:07
Grinnell may have been started by Christian ministers who opposed slavery, but the faction of the Christian church that stands victorious in the year 2010 is the faction that opposes justice and peace everywhere it finds it. It seeks to re-enslave and undo everything those ministers of 150 years ago set into motion.
Unless those with the privileges of education and worldliness wake up to how tenuous their position actually is in this nation, they will one day find themselves tossed into the fire like a book of prophecies no one cares to hear any longer.
Posted by: Jim | 19 February 2010 at 01:07
I agree with Jim to a point. Of course, paradoxically, were it not for my education at Grinnell, I would not be aware of, nor have the language to speak about, the ways in which institutions like Grinnell bestow undeserved privilege and reinforce cultural norms that stifle and oppress so many. Not that that in itself is justification. What do you do with an education which at its core is a rebuttal of its own legitimacy? Besides drink?
It's like the movie Fight Club (as my Film Studies professor pointed out in class one day): if you're taking the actual textual message literally, you're supposed to get up and walk out.
Posted by: HG | 19 February 2010 at 09:40
This is just wonderful I always love to see gay men and women especially black LGBTs prospering and doing wonderful things in wonderful careers. We need more of this and so long as we continue to support, unite and yp hold members of our community we will see more of this. Congrats to them!
Posted by: DT | 22 February 2010 at 11:52