Citation

Embrick DG, Brunsma DL. Sociol. Race Ethn. (Thousand Oaks) 2017; 3(4): 439-440.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/2332649217726747

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The past few years have seen a remarkable rise in the volume and intensity of attacks on progressive scholars, in particular scholars of color, and even more particularly progressive scholars of color whose work critically investigate extant intersectional social inequalities. These attacks, although not new--we recognize similar attacks on many of our founding scholars, such as Ida B. Wells and W.E.B. DuBois, for example--have become more intense, are better organized, and have become patterned in their tactics of harassment and violence. In the past four months (from March 2017 to June 2017) more than a half dozen faculty members of color have been attacked by right-wing individuals and organizations (and some liberals), including Professor Tommy J. Curry (Texas A&M University), Professor Jessica Ayo Alabi (Orange Coast College), Professor Lisa Durden (Essex County College), Professor Johnny Williams (Trinity College), and Professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (Princeton University).1 Of course, we recognize that this is an incomplete list2 that represents but a fraction of scholars who are targeted and attacked for speaking out against racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia, and/or other social injustices. Furthermore, these overt and more organized attacks follow on the heels of an overall surge in hate crimes across the United States. For example, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of bias incidents increased dramatically following the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, including a major increase of bias incidents that took place on university and college campuses. We continue to live in dangerous times when any and all attempts to discuss and/or dismantle white supremacy are met with resistance from those who yearn for a return to the Jim Crow past or at the very minimum from those who desire to hold on to the status quo, a status quo that apparently (but debatedly) works for them...

Language: en