In face of racism, silence is not an option
Many among us have been astonished by this presidential campaign. There has been racism, sexism, xenophobia, all manner of intolerance. And it is not only stunning, it is dangerous. Slandering an entire community of people by calling them “rapists.” Urging bans on Muslims entering or re-entering the United States, demonizing whole communities of immigrants. Mocking disabled people. Crude sexism.
How might we respond — especially those of us in education who have sworn an oath to the values of constitutional democracy? Who serve students whose communities include many who — based purely on their religion — could face forced detention or deportation, or a ban from coming home to the U.S. if they briefly left?
Are those of us in the public sector to remain silent for fear of appearing partisan? Are we supposed to accept patently unconstitutional proposals simply because they are now the public currency of a campaign?
It cannot be partisan to condemn demagoguery. To condemn racism. To speak out against intolerance and hatred.
We are lucky to live in a region — a nation — of vibrant diversity, where immigrants are integral to the fabric of our towns and cities, where our economy depends on collaboration and cooperation across difference, and where the weaving of community out of multiple languages and histories and cultures is central to our future.
Schools, colleges and universities also demonstrate the power of diversity. Our students come from every community, and work through their different perspectives and cultural claims every single day. They want and deserve campuses where their multiple histories are respected and appreciated, and where they are encouraged to work together with openness and generosity.
At the same time, they are part of the larger political environment. Latino students in Silicon Valley, for example, cannot be oblivious to slurs on their community. Muslim students cannot tune out the hatred. Students of almost every background and demographic have to be wondering who is next to be targeted. When will someone come for them?
The language of raw economic fear and rage, the appeal to racism, the willingness to laugh at the most vulnerable among us. The ease of diminishing and dismissing an entire gender, reducing them to bodies, to vessels, to appendages. All of this corrodes our common humanity and harms our communities. It harms us all.
It also makes learning harder, frank and open conversation more difficult to sustain, and is a direct attack on the purpose of education. Institutions of higher learning are committed to more than the acquisition of skills. Our missions contain a deep commitment to knowledge, to critical thinking, to democracy and equity, and to a vision of social inclusion that has to be built, fostered, sustained and defended.
None of us should be silent. None of us can be silent.
We cannot allow divisiveness and fear-mongering and racism to go unopposed. Our students, our colleges and our communities should be counted among those who stand against a politics of fear and threat, whatever our party affiliation.