Scholar/entrepreneur Dr. Randal Pinkett said that when “2015 begins to look and feel and sound the way it did in 1965, that is a wake-up call of highest proportions.”
The gravity of the sociopolitical context surrounding their arrival would not be lost on those in attendance.
“As educators who are also brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers in the Black community, we were shaken to the core in ways that cut deep into the psyche of Black America,” said AABHE president and president-elect Jacqueline Gardner and Kenneth P. Monteiro in a joint statement. “There is a long, painful and particularly ugly history in America of de jure or de facto license given to officers of the law to harm or kill Black people. This situation had all the appearances of such an act.”
Scholar/entrepreneur Dr. Randal Pinkett expanded on the history of malicious intent toward Blacks in this country during the conference’s opening luncheon Thursday and said not much has changed.
Even as “2015 sees a great many milestone celebrations of 50th anniversaries,” Pinkett said, “arguably in the 50 years from 1965 and 2015, the more things have changed, the more things have stayed the same. Suffice it to say the circumstances of 1965 are eerily reminiscent of the circumstances of 2015.”
“That’s not to negate the progress that we’ve made, because we’ve made progress,” he continued. “But when 2015 begins to look and feel and sound the way it did in 1965, that is a wake-up call of highest proportions that we as Black academicians, … we cannot allow these atrocities to continue on our watch.”
Outgoing Xavier University President Norman Francis has been in higher education for 47 years. In that time, Francis said he has seen a lot change, but he is disheartened by the things he sees happening again today.
