Systemic Racism is Preventing Black Women from Getting Tenure
Within the ever-evolving labyrinth of academia exists a problem as old as higher education itself. white faculty have dominated the halls of most academic institutions since inception. Taking it a step further, higher education in general was never built with anyone else in mind than the sons of affluent white men in the United States. Goal? Reproduce the same white hegemonic thinking that had given rise to the great American experiment. In our post-modern world, that type of thinking does not work. Everyone is told they have agency and choice and that the true pathway to upward social mobility is through education. This means that the doors of colleges and universities needed to open for people whom they were never intended to serve. Non-white students from across the globe have descended upon the country with hopes and aspirations of greatness through their educational achievements under the influence of the myth of a meritocracy.
When they arrive to attend class, non-white students find themselves sitting in front of white faculty who “treat all students the same” and never “make exceptions” and “mandate attendance” and then experience an educational journey that fails to recognize and validate the cultural nuances necessary for their education to be successful. In a recent article I read, the experiences recounted by Dr. Grier, Dr…
