During this lecture Kiese Laymon
and Zandria Robinson talked about being authors and academics in the South.
Both authors and activists in their own right they talked about the importance
of the South and how it is so often ignored in modern academia and writing.
This is so important because so much of our nation’s history is rooted in the
South along with much of the conflict that still exists today. For each of
these authors they talked about the lack of respect the South gets as a place
for the cultivating of cultural, political, and social ideas. People often
blame the South or use it as a scapegoat for so much of the conflict that
resides in the United States.
Laymon and Robinson have both
dedicated their lives and research to discussing the importance of the South
and bring it to the forefront of people’s minds. They each talked about the
importance of education in the South and how often marginalized narratives are
ignored for the narratives of white authors. This happens in both history and English
classes but needs to be changed if our society is ever going to move forward. It’s
a plague on our school systems and gives marginalized school children the
impression that educated people and history in this country is based off of
whiteness and the white perspective.
This is such an important
conversation to have inside the Rhodes bubble. Our curriculum is based off of
narratives written by white people. Look at our search and life curricula and one
can see just that. I believe that students at Rhodes should all be required to
take a course centered on race. As a liberal arts institution it seems that
each student who graduates from Rhodes should at least begin to understand the
oppression, racism, and discrimination marginalized people face everyday but
not through the eyes of a white history textbook.
Our admissions department is trying
their best to create a more inclusive and diverse community but this all begins
with students becoming more educated allies in order for our community to
actually feel inclusive. I know for one Rhodes has a very difficult time
retaining students of color because they often feel as though they’re pushed to
the outskirts of the Rhodes social scene. I wonder if they have data on why and
how this is perpetuated by the Rhodes community. If our community can begin to
build a place that is not simply located in Memphis but feels like it belongs
in Memphis then perhaps our student body would begin to grow and make change in
the community.
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