Editor,
On August 1, 2017, the University of New Mexico was thrust into national social discord when the Mentoring Institute was called out for a racially insensitive tweet.
Days later, the University of Virginia was thrust into political discord as white nationalists and neo-Nazis carrying armor, artilleries, clubs and Confederate flags descended upon Charlottesville, Virginia for a so-called “Unite the Right” rally around the statue of Thomas Jefferson on the Charlottesville campus. The event ultimately escalated into physical violence, led to several injuries and two fatalities and caused Virginia’s governor, Terry McAuliffe, to declare a state of emergency.
The madness in Charlottesville added a dangerous element to an already divisive campus climate at UNM. In addition to several controversies over Black Lives Matter, the removal of white supremacist symbolism represented in the University seal and free speech on campus stemming from students opposing visits from “Alt-right” white supremacist figures, the mayhem in Virginia presented a very different kind of threat. It brought to light questions about how University leaders should respond when white supremacists surface and/or descend on campus.
Our response must not be sadness akin to losing a race or not achieving a professional goal. It is not sad and regrettable when domestic terrorists enact a cartel of white supremacy. It is absolutely horrific and abhorrent. As well, our response must not be detachment or isolation, for each one does not express the gravity that oppressed people feel who want to engage, understand and appreciate all human beings.
Last but not least, our response to white supremacy must not be silent fear. To be tongue-tied in the face of tyranny and oppression means that we agree with what we are hearing and witnessing. In a 1958 speech, Martin Luther King said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
The people that we lead on campus deserve better. They should know that their leadership is not intimidated by white supremacy and that we will stand up for the basic values of freedom, equality, justice and civility. In addition, they should know that we stand prepared to combat fascism as a moral and civic obligation. Anything less only emboldens white supremacists and betrays the leadership that we are called to employ against racially insensitive speech, persistent microaggressions and the real possibility of physical confrontations and violence.
Make no mistake. What the world witnessed in Charlottesville is what we have been witnessing all along. As well, the racially insensitive speech that we encountered on August 1, 2017 is also what we have witnessed all along. Therefore, we must continue to take deliberate and decisive action to oppose all efforts that attempt to normalize white supremacy on this campus. With that said, the Africana Studies Program will use its agency to challenge white supremacy and, echoing the sentiments of our Interim President Chaouki Abdallah, “will be vigilant against acts of discrimination, hatred and violence” at the University of New Mexico.
Dr. Charles E. Becknell, Jr.
Director
Africana Studies Program
University of New Mexico
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