The rhetoric of “diversity” at institutions of higher eduction almost never matches the actions and consciousness of those who profess such rhetoric. The following is an account of some of the contradictions I’ve observed during my time in higher ed from those who claim “diversity”.
You can read the original Twitter thread here.
How you want DIVERSITY (Blackness) at your university, but... (a thread)
1/don’t know how many Black faculty are in your college.
2/don’t teach any BIPOC scholars.
3/don’t know how many Black students you’ve graduated.
4/don’t know where the Black student union is.
5/have never set foot in the Black student union.
6/can’t name the top 5 most influential thinkers in your field who are Black.
7/don’t go to any Black professional group meetings/talks at society meetings.
8/always have social events at an Irish Pub.
9/don’t know the first thing about the history of Black people in your town.
10/have never been to a Black church.
11/can’t name or identify any Black sororities/fraternities.
12/would be super uncomfortable in a room full of Black people.
13/have never been invited to the cookout.
14/have never resolved an interpersonal conflict w/a Black person.
15/think “Black” and “African American” are interchangeable terms.
16/prefer Black music.
17/like the police (as an institution).
18/don’t have a robust AfAm/Africana studies program and/or aren’t pushing for one.
19/have no/bad experience hiring a Black faculty member.
20/aren’t self reflective.
21/can’t say “Black ppl” in front of a Black person.
22/can’t or rarely name “whiteness” or “white supremacy” out loud.
23/have never talked to your older white relatives about their experiences during/before civil rights era.
24/won’t call out your racist family members.
25/think racism is primarily perpetuated by overtly racist ppl.
26/consistently fail to call out racist actions of colleagues.
27/have tenure and don’t use it to aggressively combat whiteness.
28/ask Black ppl to teach you about Blackness.
29/get defensive about being called out for your racism.
30/have never seen a Black movie.
31/have no meaningful connections w/Black womxn.
32/have never done a demographic audited of your personal network.
33/rap the n-word when no Black ppl are around.
34/use passive aggressiveness as a primary strategy of communicating your frustrations.
35/act genuinely surprised when a racism, any racism, happens.
36/watch Fox News.
37/don’t actively talk to the white young ppl in your life about racism from a very young age.
38/don’t hate white supremacy.
39/think reverse racism is a thing.
40/think institutional statements of racial solidarity actually do anything.
41/don’t understand the power of social media
42/use the term “dialogue” when talking about DEI.
43/still “raise the roof” gesture.
44/use the term “working class” when talking about a certain demographic of white ppl.
45/think winning over white voters is equally/more important than protecting voting rights for Black ppl.
46/don’t like grits.
47/don’t know any Black line dances.
48/can’t tell Black ppl apart in the wild.
49/expect Black folks to succeed w/out changing your concept/measures of success.
50/appoint a DEI head who isn’t also a tenured professor at your institution.
51/don’t know if your have salary discrepancies correlated w/race.
52/encouraged your untenured faculty to “keep their heads down” until they earn tenure.
53/think you’re a competent academic, but this thread is reading you for filth.
54/don’t know what the phrase in #53 means.
55/can’t directly contact 3 Black colleagues when your dept has a job ad.
56/think diversity statements in job ads do anything other than privilege white men who can write semi-coherently about DEI.
57/expect sports and politics to be separate.
58/tone police Blackness in anyway, including saying things like, “I think they could have done/said it in a different way.”
59/think cancel culture is a thing.
60/think wokeness culture is a thing.
61/don’t get violently angry when someone even thinks about touching a Black person’s hair.
62/comment out loud about your Black colleague’s appearance beyond something like “I like your shirt.”
63/ask a Black person if they know the work of well known Black person w/o having any idea of how said well known Black person is understood by Black ppl more broadly.
64/don’t have a file on your como to document all the racist BS you’ve witnessed at your institution.
65/when you see white locs don’t immediately think of Toni Morrison.
66/call locs “dreds”.
67/don’t hold problematic Black ppl accountable b/c you’re afraid of being called racist.
68/are more afraid of being called racist than understanding and eradicating your racism.
69/listen to podcasts but don’t have any hosted by Black ppl in your top 5.
70/have ever cried white ears in front of a Black person while getting called out.
71/treat non-Black POC like shit and expect to still be in good relation with Black colleagues.
72/blame students' for their poor performance in your class on their "work ethic" instead of your all white syllabus.
73/don't know what shea butter is.
74/have never used shea butter.
75/have never used raw shea butter.
76/have ever commented out loud about a Black person's complexion, especially in relationship to your tan.
77/don't know what Juneteenth is.
78/send emails about DEI initiatives, scholarships, jobs without context, care, and conversation.
79/insist that "doing something" around DEI is better than "doing nothing".
80/remind your Black colleagues, especially when pressed to be more explicit about holding whiteness accountable, that "we are going to make mistakes" and "we won't always get it right" and "we are trying".
81/think DEI work is more about "connecting" with Black folks than dismantling white supremacy.
82/don't ground your DEI work in Black scholarship, esp Black womxn scholarship.
83/don't think about or plan accordingly for how field camp might be experienced differently by your Black students.
84/don't actually like Black people.
85/have never been invited to dinner in a Black person's home.
86/have been invited to dinner at a given Black person's home only once.
87/don't like red Koolaid.
88/don't understand that "red" is a flavor.
89/think racism is worse in the south compared to the north.
90/think racism is worse in the US than in Canada.
91/ask Black ppl who talk about racism in their field "so how can we fix this, these issues?"
92/proceed with a search that has no Black applicants.
93/don't collect or update any data on hiring, graduation, advising, committee, service demographics at the department, college, university level.
94/don't conduct, analyze, reflect on exit interviews of Black faculty or use said interviews to inform your practice.
95/USE THE TERM DIVERSITY HIRE
96/suggest to Black folks what is/isn't "strategic" when planning/acting on DEI initiatives.
97/think hip hop culture is more misogynistic than whiteness culture.
98/think objectivity or "taking the emotion out of it" is actually a thing.
99/quote MLK to Black people.
100/like Tyler Perry movies.
Thanks for sticking around folks! I think I'm done for now. Cite Black women, cite Indigenous women, tear down white supremacy, drink more water, see a therapist, universal healthcare/education, reparations, honor treaties, mindyabizniss, tip well, love fully, be safe.
Okay! I’m reloaded!!!!
101/still require standardized tests
102/make derogatory remarks about hillbillies/rednecks thinking that scores points w/Black folks instead of outing you as an equal opportunity bigot.
103/think Abraham Lincoln was “one of the good ones.”
104/use the term intersectionality like my dad uses hot sauce (he puts it on everything).
105/organize a panels on diversity w/o Black folks.
106/organize any panel w/o Black folks.
107/act shocked when we tell we don’t really know The Rolling Stones or the Beatles, but when we ask do you know Muddy Waters & Sister Rosetta Thorpe y’all look at us like we grew a 2nd head
108/let your dog roam around where they want including other people’s personal space.
109/act shocked when your dog isn’t warm & friendly towards the first Black person they’ve ever seen you talk to.
110/claim the pipeline of Black PhDs in your field is small, but haven’t ever looked up the actual stats on earned PhDs by race.
111/don’t ever write formal letters of recognition on institutional for the important contributions your 1/2 Black colleagues makes thinking that your private email of gratitude to them is sufficient (it’s nice, but formalize that shit! Both and ppl!)
112/don’t speak up in meetings but thank your Black colleague privately after the fact.
113/never invite Black colloquium speakers.
114/don’t lead your ask of any Blackademic w/how you plan to compensate them for their time/energy.
115/assume that any two Black adults you see together are either in a romantic relationship or are close family.
I may add to this thread over time, so give me a follow if you haven’t already.
Cheers!