It happened again. I recently received an email inviting me to register for a panel discussion on the effects of Covid-19 on higher education. The panel included several people I know; I respect each person on the panel, and all of their work. But there was a problem, and you probably already know what it was. Everyone on the panel was White. Across a full panel of experts discussing this of all topics, how could there not be a single voice from a person of color?
Since then, Pew Research Center has published new data showing, “Black Americans account for about 13% of the U.S. population but 24% of the coronavirus deaths.” In Washington, D.C., where I live, less than half the population identifies as Black, but three out of four COVID-19 deaths to date have been of Black Washingtonians.
The data on COVID-19 deaths and the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many other Black Americans are part of the same story. They are but the latest chapters in a more than 400 year-old story of racial oppression, segregation, disenfranchisement, and economic marginalization. As Yale scholar Demar Lewis, IV and many other scholars and writers have noted, the traumatic effects of this country’s history of lynching remain strong among Black Americans–just as police killings perpetuate this trauma intergenerationally.
I have sat uncomfortably on raised chairs during enough panels with only other White speakers. I have rolled my eyes at enough invitations to events on education issues for which only White people would share their views. I have witnessed enough higher education researchers and advocates who make their living on equity work perpetuate cycles of mistreatment of graduate students and early-career colleagues.
To specify steps toward disrupting systemic racism in my field and communities as a White male, I am making a personal pledge:
1. I will not be part of a panel composed of only White speakers. When invited to serve on a panel, I will ask if any advocates/scholars of color are confirmed. If not, I will suggest people of color to invite instead.
2. If circumstances require I be in the audience for an event where only White speakers are featured, I will ask how and why the event was held without any voices from Black, Indigenous, or other people from racially and ethnically minoritized populations.
