Statement of Solidarity with the Sojourner Tubman Collective

SAC adds its voice of enthusiastic support to the recently released statement from the Sojourner Tubman Collective, entitled "Women at Cornell in Defense of Ourselves."  The statement speaks volumes to the hostile conditions at Cornell University that have compelled these women to break the silence about the continued denigration of Black women on Cornell’s campus.

The piece outlines the racist and sexual harassment that Black women have historically faced at Cornell.  It reminds us that in 1969, the burning cross placed in front of Wari House, the Black women’s cooperative, was one of the most egregious publicly-recorded assaults on Black women at Cornell, and one of the most vicious hate crimes in the University’s history.  This crime against Black women was the precipitating event leading up the Willard Straight Takeover, making the defense of Black women a fundamental part of the foundation of Africana Studies at Cornell.

Moreover, the statement links the institutional attack on Africana, which has gotten a lot of press lately, to a heightened attack on Black women at Cornell:

We can only deduce from this choice that the new directors of Africana Studies, the first directors in the Center's history to have been selected without a vote or serious input from Africana faculty, reward the sexual harassment of Black women with a decision-making position.  Is this the beginning of a new phase of Africana leadership in which it is permissible to refer to Black women as "Black bitches"?

We agree with these assertions and with their conclusion, in which they demand Professor Grant Farred be removed from his recent appointment as chair of the Africana faculty search committee.  Big ups to the women of the Sojourner Tubman Collective for such a powerful and [hopefully] transformative message.