Written response for a student panel on diversity in higher ed

These were my prepared remarks as an invited student panelist for the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ Diversity, Equity, and Student Success Panel delivered on March 26, 2021

Moderator: Following the public killing of George Floyd, as protests erupted across the country and around the world, there was a flurry of statements by college presidents condemning anti-Black racism and white supremacist activities. Yet, as fast as these missives appeared, criticisms emerged charging campus leaders with engaging in mere performative acts, calling instead for substantive change. What should college and university leaders at all levels be doing to catalyze real and lasting change?

Me: To be blunt that’s the wrong question. Those leaders need to stop impeding the wellspring of change emanating from the margins of the university. Those individuals have got to make a decision — are they interested in self-preservation or justice? Look we — and by “We” I mean those decolonial figures fighting for the END of the myriad systems of domination the contemporary university is enmeshed within — are under no illusions about what the functions of US universities are, what they represent, and who they’re beholden to. I guarantee you that on each and every campus there are hundreds and thousands of students with incisive analyses of the problem and visions for an emancipatory future where the university still exists. And I mean that. The university is not exempt from the calls for abolition. And it will get swept away if folks in power remain invested in technologies of discipline and policing. Black people stirring shit up in the streets has always been the catalyst for any semblance of revolutionary or even progressive change. 2020 reminded folks of that. So heed their calls. University leaders need to be ready to experiment and to fail. They need to be ready to commit the equivalent of class suicide, not protecting their resumes. Shoot, universities need to “unionize” or otherwise band together and become a force that can actually tackle the reactionary elements of government and capital that have hollowed US universities into neoliberal devices of extraction, dispossession, and predation. And lastly, they need to get them cops off these campuses.

Moderator: The January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol by insurrectionists brandishing racist, white supremacist symbols illustrates the critical importance of educating democracy. At the same time, legislation in several states has been introduced to ban the teaching of the 1619 project that centers Black voices in the teaching of history as “a racially divisive and revisionist account of history that threatens the integrity of the Union by denying the true principles on which it was founded.” How would you respond to these claims?

Me: If people in this country were educated on the history of this democracy they’d know that the incident at the capitol was one of the most honest expressions of US democracy that we’ve seen in a while. It’s certainly the type of democracy that we export to nations near and far across the world under the banner of so-called “human rights”. And if I’m being honest, the 1619 project folks are doing some good work, but fundamentally the 1619 project is a reinvestment in the project of US democracy. That means it’s not abolitionist, and it’s not a project of decolonization. This isn’t terrible — it’s just a very different project than myself and other radicals are engaged in. WEB DuBois realized after decades of intense struggle inside and outside the academy that simply presenting the empirical facts will not catalyze the deep, fundamental social change that could lead to black liberation. It’s not a question of ignorance of being unaware. Folks are invested in violent systems because it gives them power over others. This myth of white innocence — which is also refracted in other positions of power like cis-gendered and heterosexual people, those with property and wealth, able-bodied people, etc — keeps well-meaning allies and activists distracted and wasting energy. My response is not to get caught up in the political theater and focus on building all power to the most marginalized of people.