Author: TheConversation

By Geremy Grant, Assistant Professor of School Psychology, Alfred University When William A. Smith, a scholar of education and culture, introduced the term “racial battle fatigue” in 2003, he used it to describe the cumulative effects of racial hostility that Black people, specifically faculty and graduate students, experience at predominantly white colleges and universities. In short, it takes a toll on their psychological, physical and emotional well-being. Since then, the term has been applied by scholars to Hispanic undergraduates and women of color. Scholars have also applied the term to groups beyond the college campus, such as teachers of...

By Rashad Shabazz, Associate Professor at the School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University Once again, Americans are left reeling from the horror of video footage showing police brutalizing an unarmed Black man who later died. Some details in the latest case of extreme police violence were gut-wrenchingly familiar: a police traffic stop of a Black male motorist turned violent. But, for many of us, other details were unfamiliar: The five police officers accused of using everything from pepper spray to a Taser, a police baton and intermittent kicks and punches against the motorist were also Black. After pulling...

By Deion Scott Hawkins, Assistant Professor of Argumentation & Advocacy, Emerson College Before the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile and Sandra Bland were propelled into the media spotlight, their names were Twitter #hashtags. In 2020, Twitter was essential to the spread of historic Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality across the world. But Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has thrown the future of Black Twitter into question. Social media users argue that the takeover has already had an impact on the Black social media community. For instance, not only do multiple sources report an almost...

By Hannah McKillop, Doctoral Student in Religious Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa Disney has been making the headlines lately, but it has not been about blockbusters. Recently, people have been up in arms over a ruined Disney park proposal and a couple who opted to have Minnie and Mickey at their wedding instead of food. Many news articles and social media users were quick to say that for some folks, Disney is a religion — citing mythologies, symbols, rituals, community and regular expensive pilgrimages to the park as central reasons. But just because many people treat Disney as sacred,...