29: #Blackintheivory and White Supremacy in Academia – Now What?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Hi, everyone. This is Dra. Yvette. Today I'm doing a recording where I'm mostly just going to be speaking off the cuff, just my thoughts with regard to the Black Lives Matter movement, what we've been kind of witnessing kind of ongoing forms of police brutality, the understandable anger, and the protests, the actions. Also just in general, more folks are speaking out about these issues of racialized forms of violence, specifically, violence against black folks. Now we're seeing more folks who are doing their best to say something. We're seeing more non black people of color, more white folks speaking out, trying to do their homework, making mistakes, but being supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement. I figured this was a good time for me to get back to my recordings, but also not be silent, and also not acknowledge that this is at the front of a lot of our conversations right now. I think that this definitely has implications for my podcast, for what I talk about when I talk about grad school, when I talk about academia, when I'm trying to kind of advise and femtor you on how to prepare.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I think, really, what I want to say, is just to remind my listeners that white supremacy is completely embedded in grad school. It's embedded in academia as a whole. So what now? I mean, in many ways, it's really discouraging to think about oh, what am I signing up for? If I am a student of color, if I am a black student especially, if I am, quote unquote low income, or a student in poverty, if I am first generation, if I am not able bodied, or disabled in some way, if you are othered in any way, shape, or form, if you are oppressed in any way, shape, or form, what does that mean for me in grad school? What does that mean for me in academia? What does that mean for me in any institution? Again, this is not just something that's happening within the realms of the ivory tower. It is happening everywhere. Institutionalized racism is everywhere. So what can we do? Do you still, should you still pursue graduate school? Should you move on to something else? Should you completely kind of let go of all forms of institutionalised spaces and try to build your own thing?

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

I'm not here to really to tell you what you should or shouldn't do. That's a very personal decision on your end. But I do want to let you know kind of what you're in for, and whether or not it may be worth it to try to continue to pursue grad school. One thing that I noticed is, at least in my feed, on social media, the conversations I'm part of, the networks I'm involved in, I'm seeing a lot- I am on Instagram and Facebook, not very comfortable using Twitter. That's where I self identify as an older millennial, because I never quite got into Twitter, but I have been following some hashtags. And I've noticed that there are a few hashtags that have been gaining a lot of momentum. One of them is #amplifyingmelanatedvoices, and the other one is #blackintheivorytower.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Actually, I want to shout out the #blackintheivorytower hashtag because that got started- or the two individuals that started this were Dr. Shardé Davis and Dr. Joy Woods. And actually, Dr. Shardé Davis is a UC Santa Barbara McNair alumna, so that's really interesting. It's an interesting coincidence. But it's great that these two individuals- she is an assistant professor at University of Connecticut, and I believe Dr. Joy Woods has finished their work at University, at UT Austin. I may be wrong, or they may still be a grad student there. But anyway, so they started this hashtag after just wanting to share more about all the experiences of systemic racism in academia. If you're a person of color, you know what it's like to experience systemic racism. If you're non black POC, you don't know what it's like to be black. I don't know what it's like to be black. But I know what it's like to experience racism. I know what it's like to experience sexism, ableism, ageism, and I can keep going.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But #blackintheivorytower- if you follow it, you'll start to read horrific accounts of just the everyday experiences that especially black folks experience in grad school in academia. For instance, one thing that a lot of us are noticing, especially among white academics, is that a lot of them like to just pretend like this is not going on and it does not exist. I saw someone posted a tweet that said, after hearing about yet another black person being murdered from police brutality, they were asked, how was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? Really? Did you do anything fun? I don't even know what to say about that. Other folks- a lot of folks have been sharing about just continuous occasions where folks have undermined their work, or folks have silenced them, have spoken over them, have had their ideas being claimed by someone else. This not only happens to POC. This happens to women all the time, where people kind of talk over you and they ignore what you say and then all of a sudden, few minutes later, they're saying exactly what you said, and other people are listening to them. They co opt your voice and your ideas.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Then there's the added layer of- if you are a Black student, or a Black academic or a person of color in academia, but then you may also be from a working class, or from a poor background, or maybe your first gen and you don't have the same generational wealth that a lot of your peers have, and you're not getting access to the same level of resources. Someone wrote, being a first gen grad student with no generational wealth meant I watched my colleagues get professional guidance and financial support from their parents while I fumbled and racked up debt. I'll say I can definitely empathize with that because I am still struggling with trying to pay off student debt and credit card debt that I acquired in graduate school because of all of the hidden expenses, even though I was technically fully funded. There are a lot of expenses that come up, and that are further amplified by being a parent, and just any other expenses if you're a caregiver, if you are supporting your parents, a lot of expenses come up for those of us that come from low income or poor backgrounds.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Actually, Dr. Shardé Davis herself tweeted that it's the experience of being scared that someone will read your tweet and get in their, her, his feelings and retaliate. It's time to stop bullying, threatening, and blackmailing us to stay silent. We are standing in our rights to be truth tellers. And this couldn't be more true. I mean, just the stuff that you hear regularly from individuals in positions of power, positions of authority, folks who are gatekeepers, folks who have power and control over you who could in one minute, get you fired or get you removed from your program or get you to no longer have access to funding. It is scary to speak up. Someone else wrote, when you're too scared to like or retweet some #blackintheivorytower stories, because they reflect your exact experience but you know it's not safe. So you just bookmark them to remind yourself that you're not the only one.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

Then let's say you are a grad student, you are a professor, you are a staff member in higher ed and you're doing your best to try to eliminate these barriers. Someone wrote, you do everything in your power to eliminate the large scale barriers that keep your people out. But then you're also attempting to convince your institution to not be racist, and you're having to do your best to not go off. It's like you just have multiple jobs, multiple roles. Quite frankly, it's exhausting. There's so much emotional labor that's involved when you are a person of color, and especially if you are black in the ivory tower. So these are just a few examples. They're not even the worst stories. They are only the stories of individuals who felt comfortable sharing them in a public space. There are some way worse stories that folks can share that they just, they don't feel safe enough to do so.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So what then? You're hearing all these bad experiences. Maybe you yourself have felt that, have experienced that, have witnessed that. And what do you do? I'll just say that institutionalized racism and white supremacy is everywhere. If you're trying to hide from it, if you're trying to run away from it, I don't think that's possible. So it's just a matter of what is in your capacity? What are you willing to accept? What are you willing to fight? What are you willing to kind of do something about? For me, I was one of two Latinas in my program. There were two Black individuals in my program. Then everybody else was white. We had a couple of international students, non black POC international students. But a lot of the folks in my cohort were very privileged. By privileged, I mean they were either middle class or wealthy. It was a very toxic space for me. I many times didn't feel supported. I didn't feel like I was understood, and I can only imagine that that was experienced, that experience was much worse and much harder on the Black folks in our program. And I just seen some folks who, quite frankly, left, and I don't blame them.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

But again, for me, I felt it was necessary to get that degree. I felt it was necessary, at least in terms of my own personal and professional advancement, to have access to knowledge, to gain that sense of consciousness, to gain that skill set, to put me in a position to hopefully get a better job. By the time I graduated, I knew that that job didn't necessarily have to be a tenure track job. It didn't even necessarily have to be in academia per se. And I have no regrets with my decision to complete my PhD in theater and performance studies, to pursue a job in Student Affairs and Academic Affairs, and to do what I do now, which is do my best to support students. I will say that, you know, as a non black person of color, I am not perfect. I make mistakes, but I'm willing to do that. I'm willing to speak up. I'm willing to kind of learn from my mistakes. I'm willing to be a source of support for my students.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

So what else am I doing at this time to try to support what's going on? Well, in terms of at work, I've been personally reaching out to students. I've been trying to ensure that our program publicly supports the Black Lives Matter movement, and I don't believe in blank or empty statements. I am trying to back it up by having our staff attend trainings to better support Black students on campus, to be better femtors, mentors, advisors, teachers. On a personal note, I'm continuing to have discussions about racism, sexism, classism, and so on in our home with my partner, with my son, with my extended family. Trying to promote not just an inclusive environment, but specifically anti racist environment in our home. I am also as some of you may know, involved in the Chicano mother work collective, where we shed light on the experiences of mothers of color and academia. For that collective, I've drafted and developed a social justice summer curriculum for children, which I'm happy that we'll be able to distribute as a free resource for parents within the next week or so. And then, I'm still doing my homework. I'm not perfect. I still have a lot to learn. I'm still going to make mistakes. So I'm continuing to do my own readings, aside from the readings- the children's books that I have. So doing my own readings, listening to additional podcasts, and checking myself, you know. Reminding myself when to sit my butt down and listen, when to speak up, when to amplify the voices of others, when to highlight others instead of myself.

Dra. Yvette Martínez-Vu

And with that, I just I want to encourage my listeners to be brave, to do what you can, within your limits, within your capacity. That may be attending a protest, or multiple protests. That may be donating to causes. That may be spending your money to support Black owned businesses. That may be having those conversations with your family, calling out your racist relative, being willing to speak up and speak out. Because if we don't do that homework at home, we're seeing the ramifications of that- of folks not getting schooled, of folks not getting called out, of folks not learning. What else can it be? It can be being a listening ear to a Black friend, or a Black loved one. It can mean reading more racially diverse books, anti racist books for children. It can mean whatever it is that you can do within your own platform, within your own community, to continue to shed light, to continue to do your homework, to continue to better yourself and to know that this is not about you. This is a much larger thing. This is not just what's going on now. This is a long term commitment. This is a fight that we're gonna have to keep up with probably for the rest of our lives. So what can you do to ensure that you can keep doing this for the long haul? Also don't forget to take care of yourself in the process. But yeah, I really do hope that this motivates you to do something, not just to remain silent, not just to kind of try to be in your space of comfort, but to take action in some way, shape or form. I hope you all have better days, and I'll be here if you want to reach out. I am also here to support my listeners. I will talk to you all soon.