The students needed a safe place in which to process these difficult events, support each other, and find strategies to survive their experiences of racism. He tells how black male students turned to him in confusion after charges of sexual misconduct by Bill Cosby and various police killings of young black men. Ray Black shares the story of creating the Black Male Think Tank, an informal community for black men at his historically white institution. “What Is Said Here”: Reflections on an Informal Community for Black Men at an Historically White Institution While hopeful of future progress, she reminds us of the necessity of the hard work on the local level to make that happen. She notes the historical importance of historically black colleges and universities to our current leadership in all areas of society, their importance in rural areas or other places with limited educational options, and their need for resources to meet these needs. She reviews the progress made in the 20 years since the original publication of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria but recognizes that we are in a period of retrenchment. In this interview, Beverly Daniel Tatum, President Emerita of Spelman College, shares her views of higher education. Visits with Beverly Daniel Tatum, President Emerita of Spelman College, about Leadership, Her College Presidency, and the Contemporary Challenges That Face All Our Studentįrank Shushok, Jr., and Beverly Daniel Tatum “ Featured Articles About Campus Executive Editor, Frank Shushok, Jr.
To put it simply, good fences may make good neighbors, but it’s the gates in them that open the way for friends. In my interview with Beverly Daniel Tatum, Spelman College’s President Emerita, she reminded me that “We know that when young people have the opportunity to engage in sustained dialogue over the course of the semester, we can get beyond discomfort to really start to understand the experiences of others, and hopefully become motivated to interrupt the cycle of racism and other ‘isms’ in our society.” Surprisingly, even unintentionally, my trips to the horse barn in Giles County are interrupting a potentially destructive cycle by enlarging my sustained experiences.
As an educator, I’m realizing how easy it has been for me to insist that our students find relationships with those from different backgrounds without recognizing how challenging it can be. Yet even in my gratitude for these experiences, I must also acknowledge my own discomfort. “As many of you reading this may also concede, troubling times in which we fail to listen and understand others as fellow travelers on life’s journey sow the seeds of fear, hate, and sometimes violence.
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