There's reality, and there's Melissa Click reality.
The fired University of Missouri communications professor, in an excusive interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, is now her very own revisionist historian. Here goes:
Reality:
Mizzou's Board of Curators voted on Feb. 25 to can Click because "was not entitled to interfere with the rights of others, to confront members of law enforcement or to encourage potential physical intimidation against a student" (the quote is from the board's official statement).
Melissa Click reality:
Under pressure from state legislators, she says, Missouri’s Board of Curators fired her to send a message that the university and the state wouldn’t tolerate black people standing up to white people. "This is all about racial politics," she says. "I’m a white lady. I’m an easy target."
Reality:
One of the incidents that triggered Click's termination was a Nov. 9, 2015 incident captured on video during during an outdoor campus protest in which Click tried to snatch the camera of a student who identified himself as a journalist and shouted, "Hey, who wants to help me get this reporter out of here? I need some muscle over here."
Melissa Click reality:
The exhausted students, who had been living on the quad for a week, wanted to close ranks and regroup before a press conference. While most reporters heeded their request for a time out, Ms. Click says, a few insisted on pushing through the circle the students had formed to keep others out of the quad….
While Ms. Click acknowledges that she was certainly frustrated that day, she says she was simply trying to protect the black student protesters. Everything she has come to stand for since the video came out — intolerance, anger, mouthiness, and dismissiveness — is exactly the opposite of who she says she really is.
Reality:
Another incident that triggered Click's termination occurred in October 2015, when Click joined a group of students who were trying to block a homecoming parade on campus. Click was videotaped screaming and cursing at a police officer who pushed her arm as he tried to clear the roadway.
Melissa Click reality:
"Am I going to be one of those people who stands and watches another brutal moment against black people, or am I going to step in and make sure they’re safe?" she remembers asking herself. "I found out that day." She stepped between the students and a policeman, thinking he’d be less likely to push her. But he did, she says, and she was indignant: "Get your [expletive] hands off me!"
Well, it's a relief to know that Click has been able to shield herself from richly deserved media ridiculte by creating a Bizarro World alternative universe. As she herself told the Chronicle:
"Batshit Crazy Professor Loses Temper With Student" was the wrong headline, she says. The real story, if you ask her, was "Favorite Professor Fights to Support Black Students on Campus in Dangerous Situation."
Yes, it helps to have your own reality.