We went to the public hospital but it was private, but we went through the marked ‘private’ to the nurses’ coffee room, and it was public. We went to the public university but it was private, but we went to the barber shop on campus and it was public. We went into the hospital,…
“If they come for you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night.” James Baldwin to Angela Y. Davis The shock and awe presidency of Donald Trump carries on. With its/his daily eruptions of formal and informal initiatives, the two consistent themes are destabilization of societal institutions and increased vulnerability…
Narratives have material impact. They shape what is possible, and even who is possible. Not completely, never permanently, but undeniably. A June 4 op-ed published by the New York Times started with the header, “campus inquisitions must stop.” An inquisition is an investigation that holds no regard for individual, or purportedly, collective rights.…
I am fortunate to be a mentor to several amazing, vibrant scholars. I tell them that I am not always sure that I’m good for their careers, but I’m positive I’m good for their hearts. This may sound like a demurring humility or perhaps the emotional (uncompensated) labor that a woman is expected to provide, but it…
After a meeting on February 27 with the leaders of the nation’s HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos issued a press release, in which she stated that due to an “absence of opportunity,” “HBCUs are real pioneers when it comes to school choice.” DeVos was immediately and rightfully critiqued for…
The caricature of Donald J. Drumpf, sketched through bellicose gestures, is mesmerizing in its shock value. While this political turn holds and has meant immediate danger to already vulnerabilized populations, it is insufficient to see Drumpf’s rise as a one-off celebrity rupture of an otherwise democratic society. It is also insufficient to attempt to determine…
From the interests of equity and education, there is little doubt that the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education is bad news for public education and great news for private interests. But she is not a recent arrival for venture capitalism in education. We must understand the thorny lineage in which she…
It’s back to school time. I love this time of year. Late summer minutes are longer and shorter all at once. Each year, I hang on to the last tendrils of August, the earlier sunsets and cooler nights quickened in my romanticism. This is when I simultaneously dread and cannot wait for the first class sessions. I…
I recently accompanied my mother to an appointment with a neurologist. My mother was nervous about this medical interface. As a woman who taught herself English, she has never been one to enjoy the onslaught of perceived and actual filters that go up when the listening ear of the dominant culture hears an accent. She…
Important essay that speaks to the real desire for and then resultant backlash to decentering whiteness. Take-way: we need ethnic studies. Source: The Beginning and End of Ethnic Studies
Leigh Patel 
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