Historically White Universities and Plantation Politics: Anti-Blackness and Higher Education in the Black Lives Matter Era

Abstract

In this article, the authors argue that U.S. colleges and universities must grapple with persistent engagements of Black bodies as property. Engaging the research and scholarship on Black faculty, staff, and students, we explain how theorizations of settler colonialism and anti-Blackness (re)interpret the arrangement between historically White universities and Black people. The authors contend that a particular political agenda that engages the Black body as property, not merely concerns for disproportionality and inequality, is deeply embedded in institutional policy and practice. The article concludes with a vision for what awareness of anti-Black settler colonialism means for U.S. higher education.

"Triggers": systematic and social cues for black college student racial self-consciousness and rejection sensitivity, race-based.

“…Yet, history shows that institutional leaders have betrayed black students, and may not execute plans to eliminate racism at colleges and universities to intentionally and unintentionally incite white dominance (Dancey et al, 2018;Rojas, 2010;Wilder, 2013).…”

“…While these findings give more information about the relationship between cultural pride and RS-race, scholars studying the relationship between cultural pride and trust fail to recognize confounding variables that may play a role in how RS-race manifests. For instance, as black students become more culturally competent, they learn that higher education institutions have historically marginalized black people and other people of color (Dancey, Edwards, & Davis, 2018;Wilder, 2013). This fact alone may inhibit student trust in the institution and increase student RS-race simultaneously.…”

“…In both cases, and a plethora more throughout history and across the country, higher education's support of violence against black people are forms of anti-blackness. Sadly, US colleges and universities deem direct acts of anti-blackness as negligible and negate or gloss over the history of violence against black people on campus and resulting suffering (Dancey et al, 2018).…”

“…While the students may be expelled from these schools, these higher education institutions should be obligated to take a stance against perpetrators. Dancey et al (2018) gives an ideal protocol for stricter policies against racist occurrences on college campuses stating, "If the campus is progressive, the particular incident… will be swiftly addressed and repudiated. Punishment will be summarily delivered to the individuals clearly responsible, and the campus will disavow the incident" (p. 189).…”

Engaging with the other

“…However, it does call for an additional examination of who truly benefits from these practices and the ways these practices impact the Black student experience (Chang, 2007;Dancy, Edwards, & Davis, 2018;Johnson, Dugan & Soria, 2017;Nelson Laird & Niskodé-Dossett, 2010;Tienda, 2013).…”