by Dr. Brandon E. Gamble
In
April, Naomi Schaefer Riley penned two controversial blogs about eliminating
Black studies programs. She wrote a blog post about abolishing Black studies
for, of all things, poorly-written and irrelevant dissertations. What she did
not let her readers know is that is the case for nearly all dissertations. The
first offering of a doctoral candidate is often a hodge-podge of sound and
fury, only signifying that the candidate can take feedback and psychological
pain well and, under that duress, write anything that pleases the three people
on the committee. There are exceptions, but I would dare to venture that most
of the outstanding dissertations are from people with full fellowships or who
work at the university full-time. As William Germano wrote in his 2005 book, From
Dissertation to Book, “what makes a dissertation outstanding to a publisher
isn’t exactly the same thing that makes it outstanding to the scholarly
community.”
Black
issues are not designed to help White people feel safer. Black studies were not
designed to focus on White people’s interests, but to discuss issues of
relevance to the Black community. Schaefer Riley asserts that Blacks fail to
acknowledge any progress over the last 50 years, pointing to the election of
the nation’s first Black president as evidence to the contrary. The reason the
Black scholars may be stuck in 1963 is because the problems have become worse
since Dr. King died, especially in the area of education.
One
step forward with integration has equaled two steps back in education and
economics for Blacks, and no conservative or liberal policy has done much to
change that. Four hundred years of momentum of White supremacist policy via
COINTELPRO, Jim Crow laws, and slavery vs. 40 years of “progress” is a hard arc
to bend towards justice.
Black
people are a perceived liability, yet we actually have the highest levels of
education via continental African immigrants of first or second generations in
the U.S. We are in the midst of a holocaust of the mind via gang violence and
poverty, and we experience disproportionate incarceration numbers. Sure, having
a Black president has some benefits, but for even powerful Black people, they
have yet to fully materialize. Minority populations, such as Hispanics and
Blacks, are even less likely to access the health care system.
The
lack of critical attention to the needs of all Americans — not just those that
support the conservative cause — obscures the ability of some to see how
studying ways to make the lives of Black people better may actually help all
people. There are different ways of thinking besides about and for
Euro-American interests. The ignorant mentality that suggests that the election
of the nation’s first Black president represents significant progress is the
same that underscores the continued need for Black studies programs.
If
the Africana studies or Black studies department dies while fighting, like the
Civil Rights martyrs of the 1960s, they will at least inspire people to open
their eyes. It is incredible that opponents of Black studies programs come at
graduate students with a vengeance, unprovoked, like Bull Connor with dogs and
hoses attacking defenseless people. It is ironic that the most privileged
Blacks can catch some of the most hell for not staying in line. Sorry, but you
don’t get to pick our heroes or villains, let alone give us advice.
The
three major complaints Schaefer Riley cites in rebuttal, following the huge
public outcry and her firing from her position with the Chronicle of Higher
Education, are the facts that she is not Black and is therefore perceived
as a racist, the idea that she is picking on people who are too young and
inexperienced to defend themselves and the fact that she is not qualified to
comment on the subject matter at all, given her lack of a Ph.D. She is right in
saying these complaints are irrelevant. Calling her racist does nothing for me
or for Black people, but doing something about actual racism does. I let White
people of good will who do not fear a Black planet or losing their privilege
deal with her as a racist. Her not having a Ph.D. might actually help her in
this case, because she knows nothing of the pain and submission that people
have to go through in order to earn a Ph.D.
It
must be noted that Black studies programs have as many challenges as any other
department in a university. Black studies scholars need to get off of their
Ph.D. statues and do more in the community. I am all the more convinced they
should move all the Black studies programs to independent Black universities,
not state-run schools. Either way, Africana and Black studies faculty, please
stand your ground and fight for Africana and Black studies departments.
—
Brandon E. Gamble, Ed.D., is an assistant professor within the school
psychology program at California State University Long Beach.
Thanks for Sharing !!
ReplyDelete