Day 79, June 3, 2020

The other day we had a community meeting at the college (via Zoom) where people shared thoughts and reactions to the death of George Floyd, the incident in Central Park with Christian Cooper, the riots, and the state of the nation. Near the end I shared my thoughts. I'll try to transcribe them (with a little embellishment) to the best of my ability here.


It is overwhelming to think about the enormity of all that we are witnessing, what we continue to witness with each loss of a Black life at the hands of the police, and the seeming inability for change to happen, for what can we do against a militarized police force, attack helicopters deployed against our own citizens, and the ubiquitous use of pepper spray and tear gas?

However, we also have to recognize that the police violence and the senseless death of black people is the result of institutionalized racism and the permeation of a culture of white supremacy that pervades nearly every aspect of our life in America. It is visible in our dating preferences, the disparity in life expectancy, in the inequitable health outcomes, in the incarceration rates for people of color, and throughout our educational system in the achievement gaps we see from grade school through higher education.

In the face of all of this overwhelming evidence, it can feel like there is nothing one can do. But it is in times like these that I recall my advisor, Julie Graham, who used to tell us, in response to adversity, in the shadow of overwhelming odds, or faced with the weight of the establishment, "Start where you are." It is such a simple response, and yet it is so powerful because it returns agency to the activist. It rekindles a sense of possibility.

We can start here, at the college, in the work we do.

For us as educators, we work in one of those institutions of inequity (higher education). But we are all committed to, we have dedicated our life's work to engendering hope and possibility upon people who have not had the opportunity to realize that hope and possibility, yet. We are united in our desire to dismantle the insidious branches of racism and white supremacy that have permeated our college and is visible in the rates that certain students pass our courses, are retained beyond the first semesters, and graduate with our degrees and certificates. This is possible. With such overwhelming support within the institution, with everyone working together to support our students and our colleagues, we can transform our institution from accepting the status quo and silently perpetuating the same racism, bias, and bigotry that we abhor, to becoming an institution that fully embraces a dismantling of white supremacy down to its very roots, that embraces as part of its mission, deconstructing the roots, trunk, and branches of disparities in the numbers of students of color who come to the college, who are successful in their first and second semesters, are retained to the second year, and graduate.

To live in a community and work for an organization that commits to this, and actively fights to start-where-we-are and create change... that is an incredibly powerful idea, it makes me hopeful and makes me recommit to the endeavor, to the college, to our lives as educators.

Power and possibility to you all,
Leo

Franklin and June Bug

From Our Friends:

From Lillian Ruiz:

ViacomCBS’s entertainment and youth brands (MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, BET, Pop TV, CMT, VH1, Logo, and Smithsonian) and CBS Sports ceased programming for eight minutes and 46 seconds to protest the death of George Floyd. The time is symbolic, of course, as it is the same length of time that Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin ground his knee into Floyd’s neck and prevented him from breathing despite his entreaties.

From ACE Engage:

Race Relations on Campus: Lessons from Mizzou. This microcourse draws on the 2015–16 racial crisis at the University of Missouri-Columbia as a case example to offer recommendations for college and university leaders who strive to create and maintain a positive racial climate before, during, and after a crisis.

From Joan Murphy:

Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources
This is a working document for scaffolding anti-racism resources. The goal is to facilitate growth for white folks to become allies, and eventually accomplices for anti-racist work. 

From Shannon Doran:

A book recommendation of The New Jim Crow.

From The Key podcast:

[NEW] Episode 9: Preserving Access to Public Higher Education Amid Crises

The University of Alaska, Anchorage, in recent years has experienced its share of tight budgets and other crises, including an earthquake and merger proposals.

From Diverse Issues in Higher Education:

Do We All Look Alike?

by Frank Wu

“You all look alike,” is what people told me when I was a kid growing up. As an Asian American in the Midwest in the 1970s, before diversity was “a thing,” I was always aware my family was different — and difference was not celebrated. I laugh, or try to, now if anyone accuses me of identity politics. They have it backwards: I struggled to assimilate, to avoid being marked by my heritage. I understood to be accepted by my peers, I had to forsake my ancestors.

From Verso Books:

FREE EBOOK DOWNLOAD

The End of Policing
by Alex S. Vitale

The expansion of police authority is inconsistent with community empowerment, social justice—even public safety. Law enforcement has come to exacerbate the very problems it is supposed to solve.

FREE EBOOK DOWNLOAD

Police
A Field Guide
by David Correia and Tyler Wall

A handbook to the methods, mythologies, and history that animate today’s police. This guide reinvents and demystifies the language of policing to chart a future free of police violence—and free of police.

From PaperClip:

Racial Identity and Dynamics Workshop – The resources within this workshop provide tools that community members can use to better understand their own racial identity, issues of privilege and oppression, and much more. From PaperClip’s 10 More Campus Diversity Training Workshops binder. Diversity and Social Justice Workshop – The resources within this workshop focus on how to train student leaders to enhance their awareness about diversity and social justice topics, so they can create more inclusive, respectful organizations. From PaperClip’s Training Student Leaders: Compliance, Diversity & Ethics binder. Posters, Handouts, Memes and Infographics – These full-color resources succinctly share food for thought about important diversity issues.

5 Key Characteristics of Implicit Bias DIVERSITY is… In a Community of Respect Change We Are All Beautiful Mosaics We Learn About One Another’s Differences & Commonalities We Embrace the Diversity That Makes Our Community Strong & Beautiful

From EAB:

Explore four indicators that show how the pandemic might affect equity in the fall and beyond. Plus, learn how you can use this information now to make the case for equity-based changes with your colleagues and campus leadership team.

Today's Online Teaching Tips:

From Academic Impressions:

Ensuring Quality in Online Instruction
June 4, 2020 | Webcast
Take a more strategic approach to incorporating quality metrics into your online instruction.

From Inside Higher Ed:

Leveraging the Neuroscience of Now »

Mays Imad explores seven ways professors can help students thrive in class in times of trauma.