CODA |
If reading this made you feel some kinda way, instead of coming for these demands, let us help you redirect that energy. If you thought these demands were simply about teaching within traditional white norms or fixing Black students and their language practices, you got it wrong! This is a DEMAND for you to do much better in your own self-work that must challenge the multiple, institutional structures of anti-Black racism that you have used to shape language politics. To all the upper level college administrators, mid-level college managers, WPAs, deans, department chairs, superintendents, school district leaders, principals, school leaders, curriculum coordinators, state/national policymakers, and editors: We see y’all!. Don’t get it twisted--these demands are for y’all too!
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Don’t get silent when it comes to Black Lives and Black Language in these academic streets! Keep that same energy when it comes to fighting for Black Lives in our field that you had when you used the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on your social media platforms following George Floyd’s murder; chanted #SayHerName for Breonna Taylor and #AllBlackLivesMatter for Tony McDade at your first #BLM protest this summer; sent that email/text to your Black “friend” to profess your allyship, and in that Black Lives Matter statement you helped craft on behalf of your institution/department.
We DEMAND Black Linguistic Justice! And in case you’ve forgotten what WE mean when WE say Black Lives Matter, we stand with the words of the three radical Black organizers and freedom dreamers/ fighters, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, who created the historic political project, #BlackLivesMatter:
We DEMAND Black Linguistic Justice! And in case you’ve forgotten what WE mean when WE say Black Lives Matter, we stand with the words of the three radical Black organizers and freedom dreamers/ fighters, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, who created the historic political project, #BlackLivesMatter: