On Martin Luther King Jr. Day at 乐播传媒, words and terms related to social justice come fast and furious.
Some of their meanings are self-evident (perhaps deceptively so). Other terms dig deep into the latest thinking on the intersection of issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality in America.
Here are six we heard during the sessions on Monday, Jan. 21, and how they were used by presenters.
Far from Finished
The work to achieve greater equity within the 乐播传媒 community, for all members of our community, is an ongoing process. While this and other stories of MLK Day 2019 show progress and community engagement, we are mindful that much work remains ahead.
鈥泪苍迟别谤蝉别肠迟颈辞苍补濒颈迟测鈥�
This year鈥檚 MLK Day theme was 鈥淟ifting Every Voice: Intersectionality and Activism.鈥�
In one session, criminologist Chad Posick talked about how race, gender, and geography intersect in criminal sentencing.
While it鈥檚 well-known that black people tend to receive harsher sentences than whites who have committed comparable crimes, little is known about how those disparities play out between race and gender and across rural and urban settings.
Black females in rural areas were more likely than their urban counterparts to receive a sentence including incarceration.
Posick and co-author Brenda Blackwell have found that black females are sentenced to prison at a higher rate than white females.
In addition, black females in rural areas were more likely than their urban counterparts to receive a sentence including incarceration鈥� “highlighting an intersectional research strategy for exploring sentencing disparities in the U.S.”
鈥淎肠迟颈惫颈蝉尘鈥�
This deceptively simple word was the focus of a panel discussion featuring four 乐播传媒 historians: Alexis Baldacci, Wes Chaney, Margaret Creighton, Joe Hall, and Patrick Otim.
One definition of 鈥渁ctivism鈥� is 鈥渄oing something to change something,鈥� said Creighton.
When it comes to academic writing, 鈥渨e are trapped, to some degree,鈥� she said.
鈥淚 think 乐播传媒 historians are pretty good activists in the classroom,鈥� she said, in the sense of awakening students鈥� minds, 鈥渂eing provocative, asking big questions that expose power structures, and helping students think about how the world we are given is made up.鈥�
But when it comes to academic writing, 鈥渨e are trapped, to some degree,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e do wonderful analytic work 鈥� thousands of citations and footnotes 鈥� and we ground our sources in impressive ways and use the most post-, post-modern language and vernacular. We win friends on tenure and review committees 鈥� and we sell about 80 to 100 books.鈥�
She asked, 鈥淚s that activism?鈥� Answering her own question, she said, 鈥淲e could do better,鈥� by communicating scholarly ideas in ways that are more 鈥渁ccessible and democratic.鈥�
鈥淩espectability Politics鈥�
This term was used in a session led by professors Charles Nero and Dale Chapman as they looked at the song 鈥淟ift Every Voice and Sing,鈥� popularly known as the Black National Anthem.
Nero explained that the phrase was coined by scholar Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham and came to describe how 鈥渂lack activists always sought to put their best foot forward鈥� to counter negative black stereotypes.
Nero and Chapman talked about two record labels, Motown and Stax, and their different response to the Civil Rights Movement and to the 鈥渋mage of respectability politics.鈥�
Charles Nero (left) and Dale Chapman discuss “Lift Every Voice and Sing” on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
Of the two, said Chapman, Motown has always been known for engaging respectability politics in order to 鈥渁ppeal to a crossover audience鈥� of white consumers.
Meanwhile, in its approach to selling records, the Stax label tended to move 鈥渁way from that respectability politics and toward an embrace of black pride,鈥� drawing heavily on the sounds of gospel, urban blues, R&B, and, to some extent, country music. Stax, along with Atlantic Records, was where soul music was most prominently recorded and cultivated.”
An example was the label鈥檚 sponsorship of Wattstax, a benefit concern in Los Angeles in 1972 on the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots, which featured a funky, soulful, improvisational, rendition of 鈥淟ift Every Voice and Sing鈥� by Kim Weston.
Nero is the Benjamin E. Mays Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies. Chapman is an associate professor of music. Both are members of the Program in African American Studies.
鈥淏lack Formalism鈥�
This term was also used in Nero and Chapman鈥檚 discussion, and was coined by scholar Imani Perry, author of the book May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem.
Black formalism, said Nero, emerged 鈥渁t the nadir of black life鈥� in the late 19th century, explains Nero. That nadir came after 鈥渟eparate-but-equal became law of the land鈥� with Plessy v. Ferguson and after 鈥淎merica said, 鈥榃e don鈥檛 have to be concerned about black rights.鈥欌��
In response to 鈥渋ntense white supremacy,” Nero said, “we see an increase in black churches and civic organizations and black sororities and fraternities in colleges.鈥� Perry describes the rituals that emerged to stitch together this social fabric as 鈥渂lack formalism.鈥�
Importantly, 鈥渋t is usually outside of the white gaze,鈥� he added. 鈥淲hite people tended not to know about鈥� these organizations. 鈥淭hey are what black people are doing as a means to produce pride among themselves.鈥�
A song like 鈥淟ift Every Voice鈥� becomes an example of this. Not just about respectability 鈥� 鈥楤lack people can do classical music, too鈥� 鈥� but also about black people creating rituals for themselves beyond the white gaze.鈥�
鈥淒ecolonial Feminism鈥�
AK Wright 鈥�17 used this term in a presentation that argues that America鈥檚 racially biased criminal-justice system 鈥� one that particularly harms black transgender individuals 鈥� can only be solved through its abolishment.
鈥淥ne in two black transgender individuals has been incarcerated鈥� in America, said Wright. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a staggering number.鈥�
A doctoral student in feminist studies at the University of Minnesota, AK Wright ’17 discussed prison abolition and the experience of black transgender people in America’s carceral state. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)
A doctoral student in feminist studies at the University of Minnesota, Wright uses the tools of decolonial feminism to 鈥渃onnect the legacies that we see in race, gender, and sexuality today鈥� back to the origins of slavery in America and ideas about gender established by the continent鈥檚 white colonizers and those who profited from colonization.
In other words, decolonial feminism 鈥渦nderstands that the root of gender- and race-based oppression lies in coloniality.鈥�
鈥淎濒濒测蝉丑颈辫鈥�
This word was in the title of a session led by Trisha Kibugi 鈥�21 of Nairobi Kenya.
The workshop 鈥淓ffective Allyship鈥� taught participants that being an ally 鈥� which in this case means to support LGBTQ+ individuals 鈥� needs to be more than 鈥渟igning a petition and giving yourself that pat on the back,鈥� in the words of the session description.
Being effective at anything takes practice, the group learned. 鈥淵ou have to have real conversations,鈥� said Kim Trauceniek, associate dean of students for campus life.
Having a real conversation means overcoming fear of making a mistake, because we all do. 鈥淚 get things wrong every day,鈥� Trauceniek said.
鈥淏ut I keep trying.鈥�
