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Just so I understand:
Universities are going to push to hire junior faculty who do race research in response to *this* political moment after decades of encouraging graduate students not to do race research?
Universities are going to push to hire junior faculty who do race research in response to *this* political moment after decades of encouraging graduate students not to do race research?
I am perplexed that we are seriously seeing universities having "aha" moments about race, creating centers to study it, and engaging Black faculty and students now when literally a few months ago some of us weren't even considered hirable.
What about the decades of harm done to Black faculty who have *been* doing this work? Where is the justice for them?
Tenure denials. Research fund losses. Repeated exclusion at conferences. Career endings. Psychological burdens.
Like. Wow.
Tenure denials. Research fund losses. Repeated exclusion at conferences. Career endings. Psychological burdens.
Like. Wow.
You won't catch me praising universities for just now figuring out that race is worth studying. Better yet, it's *imperative* for understanding the social world.
These institutions have been doling out incomplete educational experiences to young people for generations.
These institutions have been doling out incomplete educational experiences to young people for generations.
At a minimum, every R1 university should have a center dedicated to the study of race. Full stop.
At a minimum, every R1 university should have ongoing initiatives meant to keep a pipeline of Black, early career faculty *who do substantive race work*.
At a minimum, every R1 university should have a set plan for regular community work and struggle with local Black organizers. They should be accountable and responsive to them.
A year or two from now, I don't want to look up and see swaths of white "race scholars" filling all these newly defined positions at top universities.
I'm dreading it.
I'm dreading it.
Imagine how many Black, Brown, and Indigenous scholars had their research proposals rejected over all these years that academia was pretending that race was incompatible with knowledge production.
Millions of dollars that *should* have been invested in this work.
Millions of dollars that *should* have been invested in this work.
