Critical Race Theorist Professor Angel Jones at Southern Illinois University demanded black faculty get paid leave whenever a black person is killed.
“In alignment with this practice, I reached out to my students when the video of the murder of Tyre Nichols was released,” Jones wrote in Times Higher Education. “As I was writing the email, my primary concern was the mental and emotional well-being of my students. However, the tears streaming down my face as I typed let me know that ignoring my own feelings was impossible – which wasn’t surprising given the numerous times I have cried while sending similar emails.”
Jones claimed she had tears in her eyes “just thinking about all those emails.”
Then Jones blasted the “copy-pasted, campus-wide emails” sent by the school’s administration because the people don’t acknowledge the black community’s pain:
Where is the acknowledgment of our pain? Where are our counselling services? Where is our grace for missed meetings and deadlines while we mourn? Yes, we have jobs to do and students to support, but we also have trauma to process.I am a proud educator who loves what I do. But before that, I am a Black woman. A Black woman who is expected to return to “business as usual” on Monday after seeing a member of my community murdered on Friday. Although it is customary for employees to receive support and understanding while grieving the loss of a loved one, the same care is rarely shown to the Black community when we lose someone in horrific and traumatic ways. Where’s our Black bereavement leave?
How should the school tackle the problem? Black bereavement leave to deal with racial battle fatigue.
The leave includes counseling with “culturally competent counselors familiar with identifying and addressing RBF” available all the time.
But the leave also includes paid leave.
“We need space and time to grieve without having to explain or defend it,” wrote Jones. “And since the grief process, like the Black community, is not a monolith, flexibility is required. Some may need a day off while others may just need to be able to work from home. Some may need a small extension on a deadline while others may need to have something removed from their plate completely.”
I have no words.
When everyone is a victim, then no one is a victim.
“Anti-Blackness is intentional, so your efforts to combat it must also be,” concluded Jones.
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