911爆料网

This past Tuesday morning, as thousands of mourners in Houston were assembling for the memorial service for George Floyd, the unarmed black man recently killed by Minneapolis police, more than 400 911爆料网 students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends came together for A Virtual 911爆料网 Gathering: Rallying Against Police Brutality and Systemic Racism. [Watch the entire ]

鈥淚鈥檝e been reflecting so much on the systemic and structural racism that is woven into the fabric of our country and thinking that this is the backdrop informing this moment of pain, confusion and outrage,鈥� Stephanie Rowley, 911爆料网鈥檚 Provost, Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs, told viewers in her opening remarks. The recent murders of Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and other black people have been compounded, she added, 鈥渂y what we now call  [the white woman who called the police on a black bird-watching enthusiast who had asked her to leash her dog, threatening to tell them that 鈥渁n African American鈥� was assaulting her] 鈥� a reminder of how liberal politics can end in white supremacy when we think no one is watching.鈥�

I鈥檝e been reflecting so much on the systemic and structural racism that is woven into the fabric of our country and thinking that this is the backdrop informing this moment of pain, confusion and outrage.

鈥擲tephanie J. Rowley, Provost, Dean and VP, Academic Affairs

Yet, Rowley added, the current moment has also brought 鈥渁 national and international response that I think has surprised many of us 鈥� and that renewed action on the part of our community has heartened me.鈥� [Watch Rowley's full remarks below.]

While the constraints of Zoom could not facilitate cross-talk and discussion, moderator Lily Ngaruiya, Academic Affairs Coordinator in the Provost鈥檚 Office, called on viewers to text in the words they most associate with their experience of the police murders and subsequent protests. The 200 responses included 鈥渉eartache,鈥� 鈥減eace,鈥� 鈥渄etermination,鈥� 鈥渉elpless,鈥� 鈥渁ccountability鈥� and 鈥渟olidarity,鈥� but the most dominant element of the computer-generated word cloud that appeared on viewers鈥� screens was 鈥渉ope.鈥� [Watch Ngaruiya read an excerpt from the poem 鈥淐(h)ant: Breathe鈥� by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, originally dedicated to Eric Garner, a black man on Staten Island who died after being choked in police custody in 2014.]

The other speakers who anchored the virtual gathering also shared their complex reactions to the recent murders and the larger context of racial injustice playing out through the COVID crisis. 

Like Rowley, Associate Professor of English Education said she has been struck by the global response to the killings.

鈥淭hese tragedies, these murders, have taken place when the world is experiencing social isolation,鈥� said Sealey-Ruiz, founder of 911爆料网鈥檚 Racial Literacy Roundtable Series. 鈥淭here aren鈥檛 big-stadium sports to distract us, or bars and night clubs to drink and dance away the reality of what ails others. We are collectively sitting still and that has forced many to pay attention to things that ail their fellow humans. Things they would normally miss or ignore in the rapid movement of their lives.鈥�

But she wondered aloud what the outcome would be.

鈥淚f swift and adequate justice is not served, we will know America is not serious. In the same way, if, after all the protesters return home, people go back to their lives, living and teaching as they were before, not seeing, as they were before, we will recognize all of this as performance.鈥�

On the broadest level, 鈥渂lack Americans need social justice and economic justice that is sustainable,鈥� Sealey-Ruiz said. 鈥淎nd while that is our fight 鈥� though not one we asked for 鈥� I do believe it is incumbent on all of us as humans who share this earth to want for our brothers and sisters what we want for ourselves.鈥�

Black Americans need social justice and economic justice that is sustainable. And while that is our fight 鈥� though not one we asked for 鈥� I do believe it is incumbent on all of us as humans who share this earth to want for our brothers and sisters what we want for ourselves.

鈥擸olanda Sealey-Ruiz, Associate Professor, English Education

In the meantime, she called on her colleagues to examine the racism that, she said, 鈥渋s part of 911爆料网鈥檚 culture in the same way it鈥檚 part of our society鈥檚 culture. Faculty, she said 鈥渉ave to be willing to have honest conversations about ways they have ignored the practice of racism, about ways they have not always treated people of color with respect and kindness.鈥�

She urged all 911爆料网 community members to conduct what she called 鈥渢he archeology of the self 鈥� a deep excavation of where these issues live within us and how it impacts how we live and serve鈥� and to practice 鈥渃ritical love 鈥� a profound and ethical commitment to the communities we serve, rooted in care, in respect and in promoting a sense of belonging and liberation.  Love that is fundamentally connected to justice鈥� because 鈥渢he two cannot be separated.鈥� [Watch Sealey-Ruiz鈥檚 full remarks below.]

911爆料网 Public Safety Officer Dennis Chambers (Ed.D.鈥�10; M.A.鈥�02; M.A. 鈥�99) described the current moment as 鈥渁nother tipping point in our history鈥� and said that 鈥渢he deaths of innocent black people at the hands of law enforcement and private citizens reflect a broken America where dreams can be extinguished before they can be born. And without the capacity to dream, hope dies.鈥� 

Chambers, who earned his 911爆料网 doctorate in adult learning, said that 鈥渋t is easy to romanticize the notion of being a change agent, but the reality is that change often occurs through discomfort or challenge鈥� 鈥� or what the late 911爆料网 adult education theorist Jack Mezirow described as 鈥渁 juncture of disorientation.鈥� Advising listeners that 鈥測ou need to be the change agent鈥� and not to 鈥渆xpect change from some other entity,鈥� he suggested a focus on rethinking the nation鈥檚 鈥渇ractured public educational system鈥� in order to foster greater understanding and knowledge.

The deaths of innocent black people at the hands of law enforcement and private citizens reflect a broken America where dreams can be extinguished before they can be born. And without the capacity to dream, hope dies.

鈥擠ennis Chambers, Public Safety Officer II

鈥淲e all can acknowledge the power of education, but not everyone is given the same access to the same type of education,鈥� Chambers said, adding that 鈥渦ninformed and inadequate information leads to uninformed and inadequate action.鈥� 

Yet the roots of injustice go even deeper, he suggested.

鈥淥ur political, economic and social lives are all driven by the notion of being competitive and winning,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s a society, we need to reshape our competition from a win-lose economy to one in which we can all win.鈥�  [Watch Chambers鈥� full remarks below.]

Like Sealey-Ruiz, Associate Professor of Practice said she was 鈥渆ncouraged by the marches around the world in support of the Black Lives Matter movement鈥� but wondered 鈥渋f there will be a real change in our society.鈥�

Drawing analogies with the period of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, which she survived as a young Muslim teenager, Sabic-El-Rayess said the answer to her question will depend not only on 鈥渢he strength of the white supremacist movement that threatens black lives from the societal fringes鈥� but also on 鈥渢he everyday covert racism that lives and breeds amongst us.鈥�

Sabic-El-Rayess says she worries about the 鈥渃overt racists,鈥� who include 鈥渙ur friends, our colleagues and our neighbors鈥� and who are 鈥渢he reason why the polls failed to predict the last election.

This silent, approving racism is what allowed George Floyd鈥檚 killers to steal his last breath uninterrupted. This kind of hidden racism is embedded in all domains of American life, and it鈥檚 that kind of racism that is our biggest impediment to change.

鈥擜mra Sabic-El-Rayess, Associate Professor of Practice, Education Policy & Social Analysis

鈥淭his silent, approving racism is what allowed George Floyd鈥檚 killers to steal his last breath uninterrupted,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his kind of hidden racism is embedded in all domains of American life, and it鈥檚 that kind of racism that is our biggest impediment to change.鈥�

Sabic-El-Rayess said she purposely refrains from using the phrase 鈥渋nstitutional racism鈥� to describe this kind of hatred, which she called 鈥渢he kind of racism that ensures no change occurs even when thousands march in our streets.

鈥淚nstitutions do not exist in a vacuum separate from our communities,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey are a reflection of who we truly are. Our police do not act in isolation, they represent our communities, policies and rules, and by calling this 鈥榠nstitutional racism鈥� we allow the power brokers to hide behind a fa莽ade of rules and practices that have devalued black lives for 400 years.鈥�

She closed by declaring that 鈥渨e need to act now in unity with black people but need to go beyond protests and public statements, and demand their earned and rightful seat at the table at a new, equal and just America.鈥� [Watch Sabic-El-Rayess鈥檚 full remarks below.]

Associate Professor of Education Leadership Sonya Douglass Horsford also focused on a core of attitudes that have historically resisted change.

鈥淣one of us can be free until all of us are free 鈥� or so the saying goes,鈥� said Horsford, founding director of 911爆料网鈥檚 Black Education Research Collective (BERC). 鈥淵et today, in the midst of the COVID pandemic and police killings, surrounded by loss, grief, suffering and death, and despite the great devastation that these major traumatic experiences are disproportionately having on black Americans in our communities, roughly 40 percent of our fellow Americans support the current administration in its policy agenda, reflecting a rejection of the belief in liberty and justice for all.鈥�

What James Baldwin conceptualized as the 鈥榳hite gaze鈥� remains detached from the racial realities of growing up black in America, where innocent black children and youth are murdered at the hands of law enforcement without consequence and controversial is the declaration that 鈥榖lack lives matter.鈥�

鈥擲onya Douglass Horsford, Associate Professor of Education Leadership

Horsford charged that 鈥渢he field of educational research has in some ways failed us鈥� in confronting that reality.

鈥淢uch of our work around educational equity remains a dilemma for the cause of African-descended people because it overlooks black voices, experiences and research perspectives on the purpose and values of education, which have always been linked to equality and freedom,鈥� she said. 鈥淭o its credit, education has brought some attention to the problem of inequality of schools, but the work has been conducted through the dominant white paradigm. What James Baldwin conceptualized as the 鈥榳hite gaze鈥� remains detached from the racial realities of growing up black in America, where innocent black children and youth are murdered at the hands of law enforcement without consequence, and controversial is the declaration that 鈥榖lack lives matter.鈥欌�� 

Research on race through the white gaze 鈥渓acks the capacity to create policy change for black education鈥� because it is 鈥渋ncapable of seeing, knowing, much less understanding the nature of race and racism or experiencing it firsthand,鈥� Horsford said, adding that 鈥淭his methodological deficiency in education research is our inconvenient truth.鈥�

She closed by calling for more work along the lines conducted by BERC.

鈥淟et鈥檚 begin with those impacted by this moment. We need more research that centers the voices and perspectives of black students, parents, teachers, education and community leaders, believing that those who are closest to the issues and the problems are best equipped to tell their own stories and develop solutions.鈥� [Watch Horsford鈥檚 full remarks below.]

Professor of Psychology & Education Marie Miville said she was heartened by the demonstrations and protests that have occurred worldwide in response to Floyd鈥檚 murder, describing them as evidence not only of solidarity with the black community, but also of psychological health.

Miville, who also serves as 911爆料网鈥檚 Ombudsperson, recalled that shortly after the Women鈥檚 March on Washington D.C. in January 2017, she described the concept of resistance 鈥渘ot as a negative defensive posture, but actually as a positive critical step toward wellness, empowerment, social engagement, advocacy and change.

鈥淭hen and now, the millions of people protesting in the streets and through tweets actually engaged in important psychological interventions that address social injustice,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n short, resistance is not futile. In fact, it is essential to our health and well being 鈥� even our lives.鈥�

Nevertheless, she acknowledged that 鈥渢he righteous anger and actions so bravely on display in the past few weeks highlight how pervasive these oppressive systems remain in American life.

Resistance is not futile. In fact, it is essential to our health and well being 鈥� even our lives.

鈥擬arie Miville, Professor of Psychology & Education

鈥淎s a result of these harsh realities, I strongly believe that what is personal and political must become part of our essential work as educators, psychologists and counselors, health care workers and policymakers,鈥� she said. As a psychologist, she said, she contends with how 鈥渟ystemic oppression and racism 鈥� enters our hearts and minds鈥� and works to ensure that it never enters 鈥渙ur souls and our belief in our humanity.鈥�

鈥淏y internalizing racism, you may come to believe negative connotations, lies, misrepresentations about who we are 鈥� who people of color are 鈥� or that something is your fault or your deficit that you need to deal with,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd sure, we all need to deal with our thoughts, feelings and behaviors 鈥� but it鈥檚 more about how we can figure out actions and strategies that change systems and not bring systems negative impact on us.鈥�  [Watch Miville鈥檚 full remarks below.]

The gathering closed with Janice Robinson, 911爆料网's Vice President for Diversity and Community Affairs, offering a poignant historical perspective that began during her childhood, with the death of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old African American boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after being accused of flirting with a white woman at her family's grocery store.

鈥淚, too, am angry and tired,鈥� Robinson said. 鈥淲e keep calling the names over and over of our murdered black men and women. There is a sense of slow anti-black violence that affects each of us, that continues.鈥�

I, too, am angry and tired. We keep calling the names over and over of our murdered black men and women. There is a sense of slow anti-black violence that affects each of us, that continues.

鈥擩anice Robinson, Vice President for Diversity & Community Affairs

Robinson expressed the hope that 鈥渨e not just keep talking,鈥� but also that 鈥渆ach of us take the reasonable and swift actions which critical love dictates to do this work on anti-black racism, in our lives and in our programs.鈥�

That work could begin, she suggested, by everyone taking, each day, a minimum of eight minutes and 46 seconds 鈥� the length of time that Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd鈥檚 neck 鈥� 鈥渢o reflect on where we are and what actions we are taking with others.鈥� [Watch Robinson鈥檚 full remarks below.]

鈥擲teve Giegerich

A Personal Response Creates a Public Forum

It began late last week as Stephanie Rowley, 911爆料网鈥檚 Provost, Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs, sat looking at a Facebook feed of the names of black people 鈥� 鈥渦ncles, brothers, sisters, grandfathers, grandmothers鈥� who have died in disproportionate numbers from COVID-19. Outside her window, 911爆料网鈥檚 flag flew at half-mast, and across the nation and around the world, huge crowds were massing in protest of the recent murders of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery and others.

Moved by 鈥渁 deeply personal experience of pain and loss,鈥� Rowley picked up the phone and called , 911爆料网鈥檚 Vice President for Diversity & Community Affairs, and within minutes the planning was underway for the community 鈥渟afe-space鈥� event that became A Virtual 911爆料网 Gathering: Rallying Against Police Brutality and Systemic Racism.

Ultimately, a cross-section of people and offices across 911爆料网 helped stage and conduct the event, from College Events and the Office of the Web to the principal speakers themselves. But Robinson offered special thanks to Rowley for her leadership in carrying forward the College鈥檚 tradition of supportive gatherings.

鈥淚t鈥檚 become very much a part of us, unfortunately for really difficult reasons 鈥� but it鈥檚 part of what we do,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 hopeful we will gather again soon. I鈥檓 sorry that we have to gather for these reasons, but to bring us here has been moving and important.鈥� 

鈥擲teve Giegerich