100% the role was a white elephant. She was clearly more than capable of doing that given the role she had held previously. However, we know that black women are held to a higher standard, and given that they were always going to find ammunition I think it was unfair to put her in that position with her publication history.
I have friends in academia who talk about outright stolen work, apparently this is a fairly common occurrence so given that the plagiarism (missed citations?) seems like a weak excuse. Ultimately, this seems like it was more about damaging diversity initiatives than anything else.
I would genuinely have less to say if her removal was about the Congressional hearing. What she said, was clumsy much as I do agree, students should be free to express reasonable pro Palestinian sentiments, especially given the situation.
Randomly, this reminded me of the Julianna Margulies comments. It’s by no means just her or this issue, but there is this constant expectation that we must be involved in any and all social activism going. To be conveniently plucked out of pockets when we’re useful for other people. Especially black women.
Another example is the Jews Don’t Count book. He made an interesting argument and I will sit down and think about it more, but I really do resent the way that he used black people and can admit it’s potentially clouding my perspective. Anti-Semitism is important in its own right, so what was the need for this? Has anybody else read it?
I’ve used two examples from the Jewish community but everybody does this. GC feminists, mainstream feminists, transgender activist, environmental activists and it goes on. There is no need to use black oppression and narratives for everything. Especially when the ways in which these issues can impact black women is often ignored.