Academia Isn’t a Safe Haven for Conversations About Race and Racism

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We are having hard conversations about racial justice in corporate America and academia right now. Will they yield anything? The research and personal stories of these authors — both scholars of color — along with experiences of many others don’t offer much cause for optimism. Why? When people of color give voice to the discrimination they experience, they are often silenced by their white colleagues, many of whom purport to be liberal progressives. And although there is a perception that academia is a safe haven for these kinds of honest conversations, it is often the opposite. While the reasons for this are myriad, the authors identify common themes including the invisible labor and “inclusion tax” people of color are subjected to; the use of racism-evasive rhetoric; attempts to limit and define who gets to be an ally to Black academics; and the tendency toward normalize white experiences and exclude other racial groups.

Link: https://hbr.org/2020/06/academia-isnt-a-safe-haven-for-conversations-about-race-and-racism