My alma mater recently released research findings that the founder of the school, for whom they fully renamed it ten years ago, owned at least 51 slaves, and enslaved people built the buildings on campus. Now, with the 1898 massacre of hundreds of Black people taking place less than 200 miles away, the findings of racism and enslavement were, sadly, not all that surprising. However, this news, like that recently revealed for many colleges and universities across the country, calls for swift, proactive, and monetary solutions and change.

Unfortunately, when certain white people are involved, they fervently push back against changes that do not directly benefit themselves, hold accountability for their ancestors’ wrongdoings, or limit their “privilege”. If we are being honest, no one asks for the opinions of white people on most issues…

…specifically as it pertains to Black, Indigenous, and people of color. You do not get to benefit off the generational atrocities and wealth of your ancestors and then proceed to tell the descendants of the enslaved how to deal with the ramifications of genocide / slavery / jim crow era / segregation / microaggressions / etc. (see Critical Race Theory)

Tell me you’re a segregationist without telling me:

As you can imagine, the OWL (old white lady) alumnae have had a nauseating amount to say about the findings and how the school should “move forward”. The outmoded Facebook alumni groups are a dumpster fire of their problematic drivel. Many love to focus on the fact that the slave owner founded a school for women, intentionally disregarding the fact that Black and non-white women were denied entry until 1973, or for 116 years.

Dear fellow white alumnae,

You may not be a slave owner, as you defensively like to point out, like your great-great-grandfather. However, it appears easier for you to discard empathy in favor of assuaging your discomfort in 2022.

The same OWLs spewing rubbish in these groups are often out in society: denying Black families loans; sentencing Black youth to prison; following Black women around department stores; accosting Black men on sidewalks; etc. These last few weeks have been a rude awakening to how many degrees (no pun intended) away I truly am from insidiousness. 

Additionally, I had a white classmate and former friend (who I had not spoken to in about five years) text me amid alumni listening sessions to tell me that, “we are all the same. We are all the same.”

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“Don’t tell me you don’t ‘see race’; my blackness is something I have no desire to erase, regardless of how much lesser, or how inadequate, it has been willfully imagined as”

Emma Dabiri

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The caucasity and toxicity of that unnecessary message took about a day for me to shake, but it also gave me the closure I needed for why the relationship clearly needed to end years prior.

‘Out with the archaic’

The university’s Board of Trustees voted to remove the statue from campus, and several OWLs are still clutching their literal pearls. I personally cringe at the thought of all the student and staff photos, with the seated statue, decorated with Santa hats, smiles, and thumbs up.

Confederate statues and pro-slavery relics honoring oppressors are being ceremoniously torn down across the country. Putting them in museums is one thing, where Black and Indigenous people can choose whether or not to see them, but displaying them centrally on campuses and communal areas is unacceptable.