TO THE EDITOR:
In spite of decades of protest, Silent Sam remains. A speaker at its 1913 dedication celebrated that on that spot he’d "horsewhipped a negro wench" and honored efforts “to restore government for and by whites only.” Jury’s out: these monuments are symbols of white supremacy. Silent Sam isn’t the last of those symbols on our campus.
While protesting Silent Sam, a white woman lectured me and a handful of protesting white students how the monument represented her heritage. But there is also a Southern history of white anti-racist resistance – heritage I doubt she was referring to.
Heritage is rarely an ethical monolith. Stories of resistance, led by people of color and sometimes supported by white anti-racists, rise up to inspire and teach. The history of how Irish (my ethnic heritage) became white includes histories of both racist complicity and anti-racist comradeship. Both are my heritage.
As students and teachers, we should bring this race and power lens to our fields of study. As an epidemiologist, critically reading our history reveals public health’s role as an instrument of racist domination as well as a tool of resistance. Ignoring that racist heritage enables a savior complex. Ignoring the history of anti-racist resistance leaves us recreating tools and repeating mistakes in efforts to act in solidarity.
To fellow white people: which white, aspiring anti-racists and white supremacists do you know in your field? Can students graduate from your department without understanding its history of both resistance and complicity in racism?
Mike Fliss
Doctoral Student
Epidemiology
