“Until we each understand how an Africa-American student or a Latino staff member sees and experiences our actions and words, we will be forever on the outside of the cycle of racism that afflicts us. \u00a0We must aspire to be the Boston University deserving of the legacy offing the university where Howard Thurman taught and preached and Martin Luther King Jr. studied over a half century ago.” – Robert Brown, BU President<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n “The heartbeat of racism itself is denial.” – Ibram X. Kendi, Professor of History\u00a0and Founder, BU Center for Antiracist Research<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n “Racism is not a feeling. \u00a0Racism is not a disease. \u00a0Racism acts from a pretty complex idea of self-interest that becomes racialized. \u00a0You have to have a belief that the other group is taking something from you and you are entitled to that thing.” – Saida Grundy, Assistant Professor of Sociology and African American Studies<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “Race is a made up system. \u00a0Race is a fabricated classification system. \u00a0Racism is a belief in the superiority of a group of people, but that also you have a system of power that allows you to exercise that superiority in racism. \u00a0Racism is a belief in inferiority and superiority that’s backed by a system of power.” –\u00a0Saida Grundy, Assistant Professor of Sociology and African American Studies<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “History is crucial to how we understand our tendency to forget things all the time. \u00a0{art of understanding the broader story of how we all got here and how we’ve forgotten how we got here. \u00a0So much has not been discussed and addressed and it just happens over and over.” \u00a0– Louis Chude-Sokei, Professor of English, George and Joyce Wein Chair in African American Studies, Director of the African American Studies Program<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “So many deny that racism’s pervading this nation, but if you ask them to define racism, they can’t define it.” –\u00a0Ibram X. Kendi, Professor of History\u00a0and Founder, BU Center for Antiracist Research<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n “State sanctioned violence is not just lynchings, it’s not just the KKK. \u00a0It’s poverty, it’s a terrible education system, it’s social services and amenities.” \u00a0– Paula Austin, Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “During the enslavement era, enslaved Africans were conceived as physically hearty. \u00a0So hearty and physically adept that they could withstand the rigors of enslavement. \u00a0And then by the fall of slavery and the emergence of social Darwinism, suddenly the very same people who, a decade earlier, or two decades earlier, physically hearty, were now not fit.” – Ibram X. Kendi, Professor of History\u00a0and Founder, BU Center for Antiracist Research<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n “We are constantly stepping into the souls of dead Black people. \u00a0It’s really critical for everyone to be stepping into the souls of everyone who is a victim of racial violence.” – Ibram X. Kendi, Professor of History\u00a0and Founder, BU Center for Antiracist Research<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n “One of the great things that’s happening on the streets and all over the world is people are rediscovering their own power. \u00a0That is an absolute fact. \u00a0Who knows where it goes, but we can all agree that people are suddenly realizing that, institutions are scared of us and we can do something. \u00a0That should inspire students to engage with their own needs and their own wants.” – Louis Chude-Sokei, Professor of English, George and Joyce Wein Chair in African American Studies, Director of the African American Studies Program<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “You must continuously, daily work on allyship. \u00a0You’ll make mistakes, apologize with humility, and then get back to work.” – Carrie Preston,\u00a0Professor of English and Women\u2019s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, Arvind & Chandan Nandlal Kilachand Professor, Director, Kilachand Honors College<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “I would say I’ve learned a lot from my students to try to understand what they need and try to help them succeed. \u00a0They come from very diverse backgrounds and my group has always valued that diversity.” – Kim McCall, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n “A colleague came to me and pointed out that there were women and faculty of color whose voices were not acknowledged and their ideas were being co-opted, particularly by white men in the conversation. \u00a0Sometimes you forget to pause and follow through int eh facilitation of ideas and who is contributing them. \u00a0If you don’t attend to this consistently it erodes participation. \u00a0The misstep there was not keeping your eye on the road during a heated discussion and remembering these important foundational commitment you make as a leader.” – Stan Sclaroff, Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n “We know that experiences of racism as a child can predict negative mental health outcomes when an individual is an adult. \u00a0There are experiences that suggest that experiences around racism at 10 or 12 can predict one’s mental status when they’re in their 20s.” – Donte Bernard, Postdoctoral scholar at Medical University of South Carolina<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “People of color experience, on average, 5 experiences of racism a day. \u00a0So what happens is your baseline starts to change which is called allostatic load. \u00a0And that is when it gets dangerous; that is when it can predict all sorts of long-term health outcomes because of the relentless, frequent, and intense experience of racial stressors.” – Donte Bernard, Postdoctoral scholar at Medical University of South Carolina<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “A clinician who may not feel comfortable talking about racism can say ‘I know I’m not an expert here, but I want you to know I’ve opened this space up for us to talk about anything and everything. \u00a0I want to acknowledge that last night a Black man was murdered; how are you dealing with that?’ \u00a0That simple question opens the door and invites a new discussion that can bring a whole new side, not only to the client but you as a clinician, into the room. \u00a0It’s important that we start those conversations and not overburden our clients and expect them to one up the conversation. \u00a0Offering that space can be very validating.” – Donte Bernard, Postdoctoral scholar at Medical University of South Carolina<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “We should all know that the Constitution of the United States was established by propertied white men. \u00a0It did not establish a democracy, it was not intended to establish a democracy. \u00a0It was intended to establish an entrenched kind of hierarchy in the law. \u00a0And where there is lawful hierarchy, there is state violence.” – Gerald Leonard, Professor of Law<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “What folks on the streets who are calling for defunding the police are recognizing is that while legal change can matter, what fundamentally needs to be done is a change in institutions.” – Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Dean and Professor of Law<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “We’re looking at emerging antiracist approaches that acknowledge systemic cultural barriers and inequalities based on race, gender, and other socially constructed identity markers.” – Christine Hamel, MFA, GPC, Assistant Professor, Voice & Acting, CFA<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “Framing analysis can be used for detecting bias in media. \u00a0It’s to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them salient or not. \u00a0When a news reporter covers issues or incidents, they use certain perspectives while writing it, and these perspectives are called framing.” – Derry Wijaya, PhD, Assistant Professor, Computer Science<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “Memory is history layered with meaning and puts demands on us.” – Rabbi Elie Lehmann, Jewish Chaplain at BU and Campus Rabbi for BU Hillel<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “There will be times when people will make a mistake. \u00a0And I don’t want someone’s anxiety about tripping a little bit to stop them from entering a conversation but as long as you are sort of owning your own truth, and then moving forward with some level of sincerity you’ll be okay.” – Ty Furman, Managing Director of the BU Arts Initiative<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n ” Often students of color in the research arena are encouraged not to research things about ethnicity and their passion.” – Pauline Jennett (STH’05, Wheelock’17)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cOver time, it became clearer and clearer to me and more poignant in my experiences in and out of the classroom that there\u2019s only a 5.8 percent Black faculty on campus.\u2029 There are no Black therapists, and there are very few therapists of color in behavioral health and the other health-oriented entities on campus.\u2029 And most importantly, what really drew my attention especially as an RA and as someone who was engaging in a lot of leadership roles on campus, whenever conversations about race, diversity, equity, and inclusion came up, it was always students of color and particularly Black students who were leading those conversations.\u2029\u201d – Ina Joseph(COM’20)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n “When you look at the numbers of the white versos non-white clinicians in the medical fields and the discrepancy between them, you can tell this is not just something that happened passively. \u00a0It didn’t happen as an accident. \u00a0It was a choice. \u00a0It is the effect of structural racism.” – Dr. Cassandra Pierre,\u00a0Assistant Professor, School of Medicine; Medical Director of Public Health Programs, Infectious Diseases, Medicine, BMC Associate Hospital Epidemiologist, Infectious Diseases, Boston Medical Center<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n “Dr. James Marion Sims (the \u201cfather\u201d of modern gynecology infamous for his inhumane treatment of Black patients) treats a Black woman in an early American clinic. If any of the medical trainees treating this woman had been people of color they would have disputed the long-standing Antebellum idea that Black people don\u2019t feel as much pain as white people. Historically, many gynecological and other medical procedures were performed on Black enslaved people without the use of analgesics or anesthesia.\u00a0I point these out because while we have come pretty far from something that is this blatantly atrocious, we still are perpetrating racist teaching in our medical education. Oftentimes, without recognizing it.” – Dr. Samantha Kaplan, Assistant Dean, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI have witnessed\u2026systemic oppression.\u201d \u201cJustice-oriented learning\u201d requires, among other measures, \u201cracially and culturally diverse voices in writing\u201d presented in class, and asking yourself if you\u2019re only teaching about people of color as they\u2019re \u201csteeped in pain,\u201d stripped of other contexts. \u201cEducators should affirm black students\u2019 lives as a means to affirm their humanity.\u201d – Davena Jackson, Clinical Assistant Professor of English Education Wheelock College of Education & Human Development<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nA Conversation About White Allyship, Advocacy and Leadership<\/h3>\n
Psychological & Physiological Impacts of Racism<\/h3>\n
Racial Violence and the Law: A Sordid History<\/h3>\n
Research on Tap: Emerging Scholarship on Racism & Antiracism<\/h3>\n
A Clergy Conversation on Strategies for Change in Race Relations<\/h3>\n
The Arts and Antiracist Practices<\/h3>\n
Black BU: An Intergenerational Conversation About Alumni Experiences with Racism & Antiracism on Campus<\/h3>\n
Racism and Antiracism in the Clinical Medical Practice<\/h3>\n
Inclusive Pedagogy and Decolonizing the Curriculum<\/h3>\n