Musings of a Millennial: Reckoning with the Mirror: Why have Certain American Institutions Turned their Backs on Black Life?

The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the other editors of this newspaper.

By Meghan Peterson, Ph.D.

Black lives matter. Human life is precious and sacred. These are inalienable and bedrock truths. Yet, the very institutions and political agents decrying racism in the United States today have failed to make “black lives matter” more than a convenient slogan. As a white millennial, I want to know: why are the loudest voices within American political life at this time the ones which precisely have suppressed and oppressed our black brethren and citizens?

Academia/Higher Education

Why have American academic institutions – particularly higher education circles – at the forefront of cheering on recent protests and riots – not delivered on their purported missions to equip students with knowledge of other races, ethnicities, religions, creeds, and viewpoints? Why have they not done more to eradicate racist philosophies in the United States?

In particular, with the advent of Black studies, Africana studies, and African-American studies (they vary by specific name across colleges and universities), why have these programs not trained decades’ worth of citizens to value black experience and black life? Since 1968, when San Francisco State University established the country’s first Black studies department[1], other colleges and universities have followed suit, creating their own courses of study designed to “empower students with a knowledge base that will afford them an in-depth understanding of an African and African American centered perspective.”[2] Or, in the words of the University of Connecticut’s Africana Studies Institute, “the primary mission…is to enlighten and inform…about the history, culture, contributions and experiences of people of African descent in the United States and abroad.”

Dozens upon dozens of colleges and universities offer programs, departments, or institutes tailored to teaching students about black histories, views, and lives. On the East Coast, there is the Department of Africana Studies at University of Albany; Boston University’s African Studies Center; Harvard University’s Committee on African Studies; Yale’s Council on African Studies; and UConn’s Africana Studies Institute – to name just a few. On the West Coast, one can study at University of California, Berkeley’s Center for African Studies or head to the L.A. campus for its African Studies program – again, just a sampling of what is available. Alternatively, one can study at University of Georgia’s African Studies Program, Indiana University’s African Studies Program or University of Texas at Austin’s Center for African and African-American Studies. Meanwhile, Stanford University, University of Virginia, Washington University, Wayne State University all offer black studies or African or African-American studies programs.[3]

It is 2020. Academia has had fifty years to impart conceptual and practical tools for American students to be on the forefront of justice and equality for all people. Where is the fruit of this labor?

Political Leadership

Next, I want to pose the question to American politicians, particularly those hailing from the Democratic Party, as they have been the most strident on the issue of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a white police officer: why have you have not done more for the black community?

According to latest census estimates available analyzed by the Brookings Institute, there are over 1,260 black-majority cities in the United States,[4] urban areas in which black residents constitute the majority of the population, with New York and Chicago topping the list of cities with the largest black populations.[5] But even when discussing non-majority black cities, about 36% of black Americans live in cities, 15% live in small metro areas, and 39% live in suburbs.[6] So let us take a brief look at the political leadership in some cities.

Of the 50 U.S. major cities, 35 are run by Democrats, 13 by Republicans, and 2 by Independents who were elected with state Democrat support. Minneapolis, MN, ground zero for the George Floyd death and protests, has had a Democratic Farmer Labor (a merger of the state Democratic party and the Leftist Minnesota Farmer-Labor party), mayor in power since 1974, with a brief intermission of an Independent mayor from 1976-77. Republicans have not held the seat since 1973 when Richard Erdall served for one day. Why have Democrats in Minneapolis not fostered a climate of equity, justice, safety, and life for all of its residents there? They have had over four decades to do so.

Or take a look at Seattle, WA. In the self-declared city of CHOP (formerly known as CHAZ, but rioters/protestors do not want to break away from the despicable United States!), Democrats have held the mayoral seat since 1970. Why have Democrats in Seattle not fostered a climate of equity, justice, safety, and life for all of its residents there? They have had fifty years to do so.

How about closer to home? Hartford, Conn. As is the case with many cities in America, Hartford has seen the Democratic Party dominate the mayoral position as well as the city council. Antonina Uccello was Hartford’s first female mayor and Hartford’s last Republican mayor at the end of the 1960s.[7] The very party shouting for racial justice and “black lives matter” has ruled with minimal (if any) political opposition for up to a half-century in many American urban centers. Why is crime rampant? Why are blacks not being afforded opportunities there? Why are conditions such that black lives do not seem to matter in these areas?

Black Life

Finally, why is the Democratic Party the party of Planned Parenthood and the ill-coined mantra, “pro-choice”? I ask this question for two central reasons: 1) the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, was a known eugenicist who artfully “adopted the mainstream eugenics language of the day;”[8] 2) Approximately 78% of Planned Parenthood clinics are in minority communities. While blacks constitute about 13% of the American population, black babies comprise 37% of abortions in the United States[9]. Moreover, black babies are “three times more likely to be killed from an abortion than white babies.”[10]

The Democratic Party’s alliance with Planned Parenthood appears at odds with the Democrats’ pledge to ensure black lives matter.

As we confront racism head-on, the institutions and political criers vowing racial justice should look in the mirror. Perhaps they would see their blemishes and failed promises to support black experiences, livelihoods and yes, life itself.

[1] https://afs.ku.edu/degree-african-and-african-american-studies-1

[2] https://www.csun.edu/social-behavioral-sciences/africana-studies/what-africana-studies

[3] For a comprehensive list of colleges and universities offering black or African studies, see http://www.aag.org/cs/programs/international/developingregions/africa/USAprograms

[4] https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-rise-of-black-majority-cities/

[5] https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/census_2000/cb01cn176.html

[6] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/10/trump-african-american-inner-city/503744/

[7] https://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-hartford-last-republican-mayor-20171028-story.html

[8] https://genius.com/Margaret-sanger-letter-from-margaret-sanger-to-dr-cj-gamble-annotated

[9] http://www.blackgenocide.org/planned.html

[10] https://thefederalist.com/2016/09/22/planned-parenthood-thinks-black-lives-matter-stop-killing/

Meghan Peterson is the composition editor for Haddam Killingworth News, the print edition associated with HK-Now.com.