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Prairie View A&M Planning a Center for Race and Justice

Prairie View A&M University may establish a Center for Race and Justice and take other measures in response to Houstonian George Floyd’s death in police custody. 

University President Ruth J. Simmons addressed the community in a letter on June 1. 

Simmons suggests that all students at the university should be required to take a course on the history of race and class in the United States. 

“It can serve to ground our students in the reality of their lives and help them better navigate how to cope with the often confusing treatment they may encounter in the future,” Simmons wrote in the letter.

Activists

Another suggestion is to establish an activist in residence position to shine a light on solving systemic social problems, and a Sandra Bland/Robbie Tolan Award, awarded annually to certain activists.

Simmons also said that the university has an obligation to contribute to the advancement of solutions for the issues of racism and discrimination, along with helping shape and advance positive change and policies.

In the letter, Simmons says that she fears for the students of Prairie View A&M University and asks, “how will they react to the damning narrative of recent instances of African American men and women betrayed by the history of the country they love? How will their futures be affected by the events unfolding across the country?”

The Center for Race and Justice would “encourage teaching and scholarship that contributes positively to overturning systemic biases that impede the ability of minorities” and their constitutional rights. The center would plant roots under political science professor Melanye Price’s African American Studies Initiative.

The center would need the approval of the Texas A&M University System, its board of regents and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. 

Other schools

Will George Floyd’s death mean more developments and movements for awareness and change at other universities in Texas?

The University of Houston’s College of Social Work includes racial justice in its programming. 

“As the effects of racism impact all aspects of our society, working to become an anti-racist institution has been a top priority for our college,” Alan Dettlaff, dean of the UH Graduate College of Social Work said in an email Monday.

“Last year, we launched a comprehensive initiative that included reading and discussing ‘How to Be An Antiracist’ by Dr. Ibrahim X. Kendi, training for faculty, and a three-day workshop for students, faculty, and staff on undoing racism,” Dettlaff said. “We are committed to leading by example and preparing our students to become leaders in this critical work for communities across the nation.”

“The fundamental concept of Dr. Kendi’s book is there is no such thing as being ‘not racist.’ … Every policy, every idea, is either racist or antiracist. Every policy, every idea, either maintains racial inequity or works to achieve racial equity,” Dettlaff said.

For many years, the UT Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work has been working to combat racism and other forms of social injustice. 

“The creation of the Office of the Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion in 2019 reaffirmed our commitment, signaling a recognition of the need for our efforts to be more intentional, coordinated and sustained,” said Esther Calzada Ph.D, associate professor and associate dean for diversity and inclusion, and the Norma and Clay Leben Fellow in Child and Family Behavioral Health at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. 

“We have implemented a number of practices, including a critical review of our curricula that led to the adoption of critical race theory across all BSW courses; faculty and staff trainings on dismantling white supremacy, recognizing implicit biases and addressing microaggressions; and plans to support and promote faculty of color in positions of academic leadership.”

“Now, as our country faces a groundswell of unrest stemming from the most recent examples (in a long history) of police brutality towards Blacks, the need to confront anti-Blackness and to stand as allies with our Black students and colleagues is at the forefront of our work,” Calzada said.

People at other Texas universities have also been studying racism. 

Allen Matusow, a fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University has written extensively on racism and police brutality in our country, and he told the Los Angeles Times on June 4 that it feels like the U.S. is reliving 1968.

A 2019 poll conducted by the Institute of Urban Policy Research and Analysis found that “82% of black Texas voters believe that the unarmed deaths of black people reflect institutional racism.”

University President Ruth J. Simmons addressed the community in a letter on June 1. 

Simmons suggests that all students at the university should be required to take a course on the history of race and class in the United States. 

“It can serve to ground our students in the reality of their lives and help them better navigate how to cope with the often confusing treatment they may encounter in the future,” Simmons wrote in the letter.

Activists

Another suggestion is to establish an activist in residence position to shine a light on solving systemic social problems, and a Sandra Bland/Robbie Tolan Award, awarded annually to certain activists.

Simmons also said that the university has an obligation to contribute to the advancement of solutions for the issues of racism and discrimination, along with helping shape and advance positive change and policies.

In the letter, Simmons says that she fears for the students of Prairie View A&M University and asks, “how will they react to the damning narrative of recent instances of African American men and women betrayed by the history of the country they love? How will their futures be affected by the events unfolding across the country?”

The Center for Race and Justice would “encourage teaching and scholarship that contributes positively to overturning systemic biases that impede the ability of minorities” and their constitutional rights. The center would plant roots under political science professor Melanye Price’s African American Studies Initiative.

The center would need the approval of the Texas A&M University System, its board of regents and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. 

Other schools

Will George Floyd’s death mean more developments and movements for awareness and change at other universities in Texas?

The University of Houston’s College of Social Work includes racial justice in its programming. 

“As the effects of racism impact all aspects of our society, working to become an anti-racist institution has been a top priority for our college,” Alan Dettlaff, dean of the UH Graduate College of Social Work said in an email Monday.

“Last year, we launched a comprehensive initiative that included reading and discussing ‘How to Be An Antiracist’ by Dr. Ibrahim X. Kendi, training for faculty, and a three-day workshop for students, faculty, and staff on undoing racism,” Dettlaff said. “We are committed to leading by example and preparing our students to become leaders in this critical work for communities across the nation.”

“The fundamental concept of Dr. Kendi’s book is there is no such thing as being ‘not racist.’ … Every policy, every idea, is either racist or antiracist. Every policy, every idea, either maintains racial inequity or works to achieve racial equity,” Dettlaff said.

People at other Texas universities have also been studying racism. 

Allen Matusow, a fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University has written extensively on racism and police brutality in our country, and he told the Los Angeles Times on June 4 that it feels like the U.S. is reliving 1968.

A 2019 poll conducted by the Institute of Urban Policy Research and Analysis found that “82% of black Texas voters believe that the unarmed deaths of black people reflect institutional racism.”

Staff
Staff
Written by RA News staff.

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