Imagine If Similar Antiracist Strategies, Like the "Indigenization Strategy" Described

question 96

Essay

Imagine if similar antiracist strategies, like the "Indigenization strategy" described in the preceding question, were fully adopted at historically white U.S. colleges and universities. Imagine, for example, a statement such as the following from a university's faculty Senate. How might such educational strategies challenge social alexithymia?
Our institution was funded by profits from the enslavement of African and African descended people and related industries. Their suffering has long benefitted all who study, teach, and research here. Black people played a pivotal role in bringing our institution into existence. We believe that as a post-secondary institution, therefore, we must provide an excellent academic experience which is also grounded in the history in which it is located. This means providing our students with an understanding of that history and its links to contemporary systemic racism. This knowledge will help our students to understand the contributions Black people have made to our campus, to our country, and indeed to our world, and prepare them to engage in a society where reconciliation with African Americans is an important reality. The University Senate has recommended that African American content be taught in required courses for all our students-America's future educators, lawyers, business and political leaders, scientists, health care professionals, social workers, public and private sector employees, among others. In short, in order for white reconciliation with African Americans to be begin, everyone in the U.S.-especially white Americans-and including every student at our institution, should be helped to learn a baseline of knowledge about African American history and to discuss critically centuries of white racialized power and privilege.

---

Definitions:

Difficulty Eating

Challenges or issues experienced while trying to consume food.

Productive Cough

A cough that is accompanied by the expulsion of mucus or phlegm from the respiratory tract.

Dyspnea

A medical term for the sensation of difficulty or discomfort in breathing, often described as feeling short of breath.