Speaker, Author, Cultural Critic
Ask A Bishop series “at” my alma mater, Ohio Wesleyan University, is giving me a chance to share what I have learned over the years from studying violence. Its goals are strikingly consistent.
Free and open to the public, so join me! Register here.
Imagine Otherwise is a great podcast I listen to regularly, so it is an honor to be a guest! And its host, Cathy Hannabach, founded Ideas on Fire, a remarkable company offering an array of editing services and professional development programming. I am pleased to have used their company for portions of From Slave Cabins to the White House.
In this interview, Cathy’s questions led me to share in some unexpected ways. I’m also happy to have had an opportunity to acknowledge the influence of Evie Shockley and Alicia Garza on my thinking. Listen and share widely! Full Episode
When I imagined the perfect book launch, this was my vision! I’ll be in conversation with Brittney Cooper, whose immeasurable contributions have inspired me for many years, and we are partnering with Semicolon, the Black woman-owned bookstore and art gallery in Chicago. I could not be happier about how From Slave Cabins to the White House will make its debut!
We will congregate via ZOOM on Thursday, September 3rd at 7pm Eastern time. It will be recorded and available later. To attend live and get all the updates, register at https://bit.ly/MitchellEvent
An official version of the letter below has been sent. Circulating a public version aligns with the mission of the Society of Senior Ford Fellows (SSFF). The organization takes a clear public stance oriented toward social justice, equity, and the advancement of intellectual rigor and democratic values in the United States and global society.
July 10, 2020
The Honorable Chad F. Wolf
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security
Office of the Executive Secretary
MS0525
Department of Homeland Security
2707 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE
Washington, DC 20528-0525
Dear Acting Secretary Wolf:
The Society of Senior Ford Fellows (SSFF) would like to register its profound opposition to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s recent policy decision to revoke existing F-1 visas and deny applications for new F-1 visas to students who engage only in off-campus coursework during the coming year. The SSFF is a professional association formed by the more than 5000 prominent scholars in colleges, universities, and in the public and private sectors throughout the United States and globally who have received fellowships from the Ford Foundation.
This new policy is not consistent with widespread efforts by universities, colleges and other educational institutions to protect the health of students and staff in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of these efforts involve reducing on-campus activities as much as possible—particularly for vulnerable students, staff and educators—so that required physical distancing and other infection reduction practices can be implemented.
This new policy would be extremely damaging to the US educational systems and catastrophic for many international students and their families. This policy will put thousands of students in the horrible position of having to choose between meeting the requirement to participate in on-campus activities, and protecting their health, as well as that of their families and communities.
Even more problematic is that many educational institutions are planning for 100% distance learning in the coming year to protect public health. This includes the second largest four-year university system in the country, the California State University, with almost a half million students. Thousands of students in this system alone would lose eligibility to continue their education because of this new policy. It would also devastate the very foundation of these institutions, by depriving them of the intellectual, cultural, ideological and economic diversity that has propelled US educational institutions to excellence and made them aspirational worldwide.
This new policy for F-1 visa holders and applicants is unnecessary, disturbing and harmful. It would have extremely damaging effects on the student bodies of US educational institutions at all levels. It would compromise public health. Furthermore, it would severely damage the US economy and its international reputation.
We strongly urge you to reverse this policy immediately, before it further harms our critically important international student population, and the educational institutions that are the core of our nation’s society and economy.
Sincerely,
Society of Senior Ford Fellows
Susan C. Antón, President
February 26, 2020
Office of the President Harvard University
Massachusetts Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
Dear President Bacow and Board of Governors:
The Society of Senior Ford Fellows (SSFF) would like to make known our concern and disappointment over the decision to deny tenure to Dr. Lorgia García Peña. Dr. García Peña is a well-regarded member of our ranks, having been awarded Ford Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowships in 2006 and 2015, respectively, for her interdisciplinary work that examines the complexity and importance of Afro-Dominicanidad via musical, literary, political, and historical narratives. We also are deeply concerned about what Harvard’s action may imply about the university’s commitment to Ethnic Studies as a discipline and for scholars and students of color, to embracing new disciplines, fostering underrepresented professors and students, or enabling the development of innovative pedagogy. We are concerned that this matter may hamper Harvard’s ability to be fully engaged in efforts to change the academy for the better by making it truly reflective of current scholarship, demographics, or 21st century approaches to teaching. Given this unfortunate situation, we must join with various colleagues in the nation and abroad to ask that Harvard initiate a transparent and ethical release of information outlining the reasons for Dr. García Peña’s tenure denial.
Dr. García Peña’s scholarship has national and international acclaim. She has been awarded numerous accolades by important scholarly organizations for her publications and was named Harvard’s Professor of the Year in 2015. The following year she received the Roslyn Abramson Award for excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and Graduate Mentoring, and the Harvard Graduating Class of 2017 recognized her as Professor of Year. In addition to her distinction in research and teaching, Dr. García Peña has served on numerous search committees for tenure-track faculty positions and engaged in the hiring process for lecturers in various departments, as well as having been a principal member of the search committee for the 2019-2020 Warren Center Faculty Fellowships. This tenure decision is baffling, given her transformational work in American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Latinx Studies, along with her prolific and high-quality record of publication and her status as a beloved teacher.
The SSFF considers Dr. García Peña a vital, important, and venerated member of our community. If the denial of tenure has not been entirely fair, as it appears, then this individual case would be tantamount to an affront against each one of us and puts us on guard. If an exceptional scholar like her can be denied tenure, then it seems that other scholars of color could meet the same fate at Harvard. We call on Harvard to rectify this situation and, in the process, restore our faith in your institution so that when we utter its motto, veritas, we know that indeed the word is made manifest there and in the academy as a whole.
Sincerely,
On Behalf of the Society of Senior Ford Fellows Board
Susan C. Antón, President
susan.anton@nyu.edu
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) was one of the most important black woman activist-authors of the nineteenth century—easily as prominent as Frederick Douglass. When many rejected the notion that African Americans should be anything other than slaves and opposed the idea of women speaking in public, Watkins Harper was an antislavery lecturer appreciated by significant crowds and by colleagues such as Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, William Still, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. In the first six weeks of the fall of 1854, she traveled to 20 cities and gave at least 31 lectures. That same year, she published Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects, which sold more than 10,000 copies, was enlarged and reissued within 3 years, and enjoyed at least 20 reprintings in her lifetime. After having written three serialized novels, she released her most famous novel, Iola Leroy, when she was 67 years old, and it was reprinted four times in four years. How could such a powerful orator and prolific writer fade from American memory?
It certainly is not because she did not work hard or failed to command respect from those exposed to her work. As a Unitarian who was also quite active in the AME church, she felt a tremendous duty to steer the United States toward greater justice. When her demanding travel schedule tested the limits of her health, she admitted to friends in letters how difficult it was, but she persisted! Meanwhile, she also seemed to anticipate the possible erasure of her labor as well as its likely causes. In an 1866 speech, she shared that, as soon as her husband died, authorities “swept the very milk-crocks and wash tubs from my hands,” depriving her of the means to support her children. She ended this story with, “I say, then, that justice is not fulfilled so long as woman is unequal before the law” (311). Thus, Harper understood that women could be denied the resources needed to work.
As important, Harper understood that even when women created a work life despite meager resources, the politics of recognition unjustly obscured their contributions. In an 1878 article titled “Colored Women of America,” she was unequivocal: “The women as a class are quite equal to the men in energy and executive ability. In fact I find by close observation, that the mothers are the levers which move in education. The men talk about it, especially about election time, if they want an office for self or their candidate, but the women work most for it” (315).
Harper’s public career was most active from the 1850s to the 1890s, an impressive 50 years. She was at the forefront of movements for abolition, public education, temperance, and voting rights. And she did this work through leadership positions within black women’s organizations, such as the National Association of Colored Women (NACW). At the same time, she was one of the most prominent black women in predominantly white organizations, such as the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)—despite the racism she faced.
In short, Harper’s life and work exemplify the tradition among black women to engage in justice-oriented activism not only while encountering hostility but also whether or not they receive the recognition that seem to flow to their black male and white woman colleagues.
Besides having spoken plainly about black women’s labor in speeches and essays, Harper made the pursuit of meaningful work a major theme in Iola Leroy so that her protagonist’s journey Is not dominated by the marriage proposals she received. Harper’s novel therefore imagined more space not only for black women’s labor but also for its recognition. Frances E. W. Harper understood the forces that might conspire to diminish her contributions, and she left evidence that she did not simply capitulate to those (admittedly quite powerful and enduring) forces.
The new Broadview edition of Iola Leroy honors this aspect of its author’s legacy… and so much more. For more details, please visit https://broadviewpress.com/product/iola-leroy/#tab-description
When 5 police officers were killed in Dallas, it was so easy for Americans to go back to ignoring the brutality routinely visited on Black and Brown communities. That easy shift made me even more determined to say what I say here. We must do better! And that “we” needs to include white people to a degree that it rarely does.
Full text of audio:
My name is Koritha Mitchell. I’ve been surrounded by whites my whole life and that has not translated into being surrounded by excellence. In fact, the older I get and the more I achieve, the more I see how much American culture lies to create the assumption that whiteness brings excellence. The truth is that our country’s standards for white people are so low that most of our problems—including the unrelenting violence against people of color—can be traced to those low standards.
It doesn’t take much at all for a white person to be considered good. As long as they avoid killing someone themselves, no one is going to demand anything else of them. Whites don’t need to do anything decent for anyone, especially not people outside of their own family, and yet, everyone will assume that they are good people. Even when whites do undeniably harmful things, American culture explains it away. This is why our society subjects impressive people of color to dehumanization that a white person who behaves despicably doesn’t encounter. You know, like when Dylan Roof killed 9 black people in their church and the police gave him a bulletproof vest and bought him lunch. As Dr. David Leonard puts it so well, American institutions literally manufacture innocence for whites.
Whites are considered good pretty much without any reference to actual standards. If Americans used standards, like does this person contribute to society, to the common good, then we’d have to admit that many white people don’t measure up and don’t even try to measure up because they are not expected to. White people are considered to be good based on their demographic, not based on any actual criteria. This is more of a social problem than a personal one; it’s about American society’s low expectations and how those low expectations shape behavior. The culture is set up to ensure that whites are mediocre (or worse) and that non-white people suffer because of the low standards to which white people are held.
Again, this is not personal; this is cultural and systemic, so whites can refuse to live according to the low expectations their country has of them. Will they? That’s a question whose relevance will not fade as I watch the dehumanization, demonization, and murder of Black and Brown people on repeat.
Because our society has exceedingly low expectations of whites, we have a society full of people who feel no responsibility for doing anything that benefits anyone but themselves. At the same time, many will do anything or go along with anything that hurts other people if they believe it will bring more opportunities and resources to the few people in their family that they care about. And that’s exactly what this country encourages, going through the world with an attitude of “I’ve got mine; I don’t give a damn if you ever get a chance to get yours.” This is why the United States is full of cities where some neighborhoods have high schools that look like college campuses while high schools down the street look and feel like prisons. White Americans are constantly taught that it’s only right for them to move through the world focused only on their own opportunities and resources. Because that’s the American Way, I have to tell you: My name is Koritha Mitchell. I’ve been surrounded by whites my whole life. That has meant being surrounded by examples of white mediocrity. It has also meant routinely being a witness as innocence is manufactured for whites who don’t even have the decency to be mediocre.
And I want to be clear: white mediocrity is very much linked to violence against people of color. Whiteness is a powerful set of beliefs that yield material outcomes. Whiteness determines who has wealth in this country, who can expect to get justice, who constantly gets the benefit of the doubt. Whiteness (and the racism it facilitates) are not personal. That’s why a white man or woman doesn’t have to do anything particularly well to end up with above-average success. Whites prove to be mediocre (or worse) all the time but they are constantly given chances to succeed, whether they deserve it or not. And this is to say nothing about how federal programs like FHA loans were funneled away from people of color and toward whites so that white families could build wealth while others were barred from doing so. Therefore, a white family doesn’t have to contain particularly hard-working people to have 4X the wealth of a black family that is full of generations of people who worked hard.
Still, as I watch the death toll of Black and Brown folk killed by people like George Zimmerman, Dylan Roof, and by police, I can’t help but notice how much injustice is fueled by this country’s exceedingly low expectations of white people and by how this country encourages white people to have exceedingly low expectations of themselves. There are too many examples to name, so I’ll give a few and ask that you fill in others for yourself.
American expectations of whites are so low that they are never assumed capable of identifying with anyone but themselves. If you’re going to finally make a movie that doesn’t cast Muslims as terrorists—the film about the famous scholar and poet Rumi, for example—then naturally, you have to cast a white actor to play Rumi. You can’t expect whites to support something if they aren’t the center of it. Or, if you’re going to tell a story about working class students struggling in schools that our society refuses to invest in, you have to cast a white savior. Why honor the black and brown men and women who kept those communities afloat with no resources? Whites aren’t interested in that. You can’t have a compelling story if whites don’t dominate it. Of course, the same goes for books, but I’m not just talking about how no one expects white readers to identify with characters who aren’t white. [Sidebar: Low expectations are why writers of color get such meager opportunities while mediocre white writers benefit from extraordinary marketing. That pitiful novel The Help, which became not only a bestseller but also a blockbuster film, immediately comes to mind.] But, as I say, I’m not just thinking of novels; I’m thinking of our nation’s textbooks. White people have such low expectations of themselves to make life better for anyone but themselves that even our textbooks are constantly whitewashed; powerful Americans erase anything that acknowledges that whites are in power, not because they deserve to be but because everything is set up to make sure they win, whether they deserve to or not.
We know that this is a racist country, that if history is taught the way it has always been taught, then white students will have role models and a sense of pride… and students of color won’t, but do we truly change anything about American education? No! Heaven forbid that white teachers would have to do better. Heaven forbid that they’d have to keep growing and learning. Heaven forbid that they be held accountable when whites are the only students that typically blossom under their guidance.
We know that this is a heterosexist country, that if schooling continues as it always has, then straight-identified students will have role models and a sense of pride… and LGBTQ+ students won’t, but do we truly change American education? No! Heaven forbid that straight teachers would have to do better. Surely, we can’t expect them to keep growing and learning. We can’t expect to assess them negatively when straight students are the only ones who thrive under their tutelage.
Given these American tendencies, when you have black and brown people dying in the streets, whites aren’t encouraged to assess themselves or each other with actual standards. Just being white means they are good people. They didn’t go out and shoot Tamir Rice or kill Sandra Bland or Philando Castile or Alton Sterling or Pedro Villanueva or Anthony Nunez. They didn’t go out and lynch someone in Piedmont Park and harass Kai Kitchen, so “it’s a shame what’s happening, but it has nothing to do with me,” they reason. But how could that be true? After all, these American tragedies happen because our entire culture makes it not only possible but also common. And a society that expects nothing of white people is dangerous because whites who do nothing reinforce the status quo; they keep our systems working the way they do. And make no mistake, when American institutions work the way they were designed to work, they ensure that black and brown excellence will mean little because white mediocrity will be considered merit. (Joe Walsh’s tweet to Obama is a good example.) Furthermore, when American institutions work as designed, they ensure that even when whites do actual harm—when they don’t have the decency to be mediocre—innocence will be manufactured them.
I say this because I’m clear about something that this culture wants to prevent everyone from understanding: black and brown people are not under attack because they’ve done something wrong. These injustices continue, but that’s not because black and brown activists haven’t used the right strategy. People love to claim, you have to be calm as you protest, you have to speak in a way that the powerful will respect, you have to dress in a way that doesn’t alienate people. But following such rules does not matter. There’s no right way to protest your own dehumanization and your community’s destruction, especially when your country insists that there’s nothing violent, uncivilized, and un-American about how it routinely dehumanizes and destroys certain populations. If there were a right way to protest, the brutality would’ve ended long ago because black and brown people have tried literally every strategy, whether it’s accommodation and assimilation or separatism. Nothing has kept us safe. Why? Because these problems are not caused by OUR choices. The murderous conditions under which we live are not of our own making; they white-authored. Whites insisted that the practices supporting whiteness would not just support whiteness but also do everything imaginable to rob everyone else of life chances. Even the most middle-of-the-road white person benefits from the whiteness that keeps them draped in opportunity and resources while others are stripped of opportunity and resources, so it’s time to get real: Do you actually care about fair play? Do you really believe that fair play is the American way? Then you must begin judging whites based on actual standards, not just demographics. Being white shouldn’t be enough to be considered good. Low expectations for white people. That’s what’s killing us. Please, do better.
It took almost all weekend, but I finally finished the revisions of Chapter 5 of my book-in-progress. I’ve been working on these revisions in the midst of teaching and committee work, so I could only take baby steps. Every day, I worked to find 30 minutes or whatever I could, literally whenever I could. It’s amazing how far baby steps can take you!
My fabulous friend Carie gave me one of the sweatshirts I’ve been coveting, so I had an extra dose of Baldwin helping me tame Ch 5!
We often hear people talk about “needing” large, uninterrupted blocks of time to make progress on a project. But, as Kerry Ann Rockquemore and her NCFDD team make clear, that’s a myth. Besides, the profession simply isn’t structured so that I can count on having uninterrupted blocks of time. So, I’d rather make decisions with that reality in mind.
Throughout my revision process, I’ve been declaring #running helps #writing! It took me 7 weeks to revise chapter 5 in the midst of all my other obligations, and I’m convinced that running regularly helped that process. Well, many friends have recently shared the latest study to prove that my hunch was right: “Which Type of Exercise Is Best for the Brain?” I hope you’ll read it and be inspired to continue your running or walking regimen…or begin one. (Remember, I’ve got tips on beginning here.)
Unfortunately, it’s getting to the point that I run only 2 times per week. So, as teaching and committee obligations have put pressure on my writing goals, I have been borrowing time and energy from my running bank. I don’t want to keep doing that, but I’m also trying to remember the value of baby steps. The fact that I’ve created accountability for those 2 days per week means that I’m getting in 2 days rather than none. That counts! I’ll keep taking those baby steps, knowing that they add up. Capital City Half Marathon, I’m still coming for you!
I’m feeling good about having made my return to racing in the Fall. There’s a reason you can find so many marathons and half marathons during this gorgeous season! The Columbus Half went well. I surpassed my $1000 fundraising goal for Girls on the Run. Also, while I did not secure an easy PR (personal record), as I expected based on my 11-miler the week before the race, I ran the whole thing and felt good and relaxed the entire time. That’s a victory! My finishing time was 2:11:57, about 10:05 per mile. If you feel moved to donate to Girls on the Run, my page will be active another couple weeks: raceplanner.com/donate/ProfKoritha
After running that race, I took off about a week and then did a 10-miler on my own. I felt pretty good during the run, but realized afterward that I had clearly lost track of how many miles were on those shoes. Not cute! I bought new shoes in time to run a solo 10-miler yesterday. I can say with confidence that aches from last week’s 10-miler were all about the shoes.
This morning was the Buckeye Classic 10K, which I’ve run the past few years. It takes place in probably the hilliest park in Columbus. The park is full of gorgeous trees, which make for amazing views in the Fall. Honestly, I didn’t remind myself to take in the sights as much as usual because the hills were making their presence seriously felt! Still, it was a gorgeous morning and a fun time!
My official time was 1:05:05 (about 10:28 per mile), and I got to hang out with an OSU colleague to whom I raved about this race the moment she landed in Columbus! Yep, fun times!!!
I’m on the look-out for a half marathon in January or February. I have my eye on a couple. I may be coming to a city near you!
This week, I worked out 3 times, relying mostly on personal training sessions. I had a personal training session Monday and Friday and worked out Sunday morning, including 20 minutes on the WaterRower. Our Wednesday morning group run was derailed by below-zero wind chills, and the weather has been anything but motivating.
What I noticed most this week was the constant temptation to take the path of least resistance, even if that meant not being good to myself. For example, it seems easier to make quick, thoughtless, unhealthy food choices rather love myself by taking the time to make fresh food that truly nourishes. There are many reasons for this, including the fast pace of our society, which encourages us all to operate on auto-pilot rather than live consciously and deliberately. Whatever the reasons, noticing it is the first step on a better path.
I will continue to give myself credit for every good choice, but there were too many moments that could have gone better last week, so I’m committing to being more conscious about every decision—not just the decision of whether or not to exercise. As always, the trick is to be balanced so that being “conscious” doesn’t turn into obsessing over every bite. As we thank God for another week of life, health, and strength, let’s continue to practice kindness while making decisions about food that compliment our exercise efforts. We’ll be glad we did!!!