Dr. Mike Robinson: How can the discussion of race, poverty, and police brutality take place on college campuses when students return in the fall?
Dr. Tunette M. Powell: I think it first begins by removing police off of college campuses. I think it also has to happen at the top levels first, meaning examining policies through the lens of race and poverty as well as looking at your faculty and administration. How do the employees of your university challenge or reproduce racism and anti-blackness?
I guess what I’m saying is that it is easier to have conversations on college campuses when they are safe spaces. And on most campuses, they simply are not.
Dr. Mike Robinson: What role should colleges and universities have in addressing some of the systemic issues impacting communities of color?
Dr. Tunette M. Powell: Because colleges and educational institutions as a whole are racial projects, they have a full responsibility to address the ways in which they are either challenging or reproducing these systemic issues.
Dr. Mike Robinson: Institutions of higher education have always been a haven for protest, debate, discussions, how do you see this continuing when students return in the fall?
Dr. Tunette M. Powell: I don’t know if I wholeheartedly agree. I think a safe haven is a stretch, and maybe my experiences on college campuses are just too fresh. But I think COVID-19 has shifted what happens at universities. However, I don’t see the fight of college students changing. I think students will always fight and push. I’m just not sure how that will look in a physical sense given so many universities opting to have classes primarily online.
Dr. Mike Robinson: Is there a role for today’s current events in the courses you teach? And how will you incorporate these into your curriculum?
Dr. Tunette M. Powell: Always! I always hope that I’m not waiting for a current event to teach about white supremacy, anti blackness, and racism. But what current events do is hold me accountable and remind me of the obligation we all to teach a full history and not just the whitewashed one we’ve been given.
Bio
Title: Storyteller, Race Scholar, Director of the UCLA Parent Empowerment Project Tunette Powell is a powerful storyteller and educator who believes truth is a form of activism and an agent for change. As an established author and lecturer, Powell has published two nonfiction books and has spoken to groups around the country on topics including the school-to-prison pipeline, parent engagement and institution-induced collective trauma. In addition, she was a 2013 TEDx speaker and has appeared on Oprah’s Lifeclass, NPR, CNN and MSNBC. Powell earned her PhD in Education at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her dissertation, The Scars of School Suspension: Narratives as Testimonies of Collective Trauma, examined the wounds dealt to Black parents of children who have been suspended in early childhood education. She also serves as the director of the UCLA Parent Empowerment Project – a project focused on developing, nurturing and sustaining parent engagement and parent leadership in schools, especially at schools serving Black and Brown families.
Dr. Tunette M. Powell: I think it first begins by removing police off of college campuses. I think it also has to happen at the top levels first, meaning examining policies through the lens of race and poverty as well as looking at your faculty and administration. How do the employees of your university challenge or reproduce racism and anti-blackness?
I guess what I’m saying is that it is easier to have conversations on college campuses when they are safe spaces. And on most campuses, they simply are not.
Dr. Mike Robinson: What role should colleges and universities have in addressing some of the systemic issues impacting communities of color?
Dr. Tunette M. Powell: Because colleges and educational institutions as a whole are racial projects, they have a full responsibility to address the ways in which they are either challenging or reproducing these systemic issues.
Dr. Mike Robinson: Institutions of higher education have always been a haven for protest, debate, discussions, how do you see this continuing when students return in the fall?
Dr. Tunette M. Powell: I don’t know if I wholeheartedly agree. I think a safe haven is a stretch, and maybe my experiences on college campuses are just too fresh. But I think COVID-19 has shifted what happens at universities. However, I don’t see the fight of college students changing. I think students will always fight and push. I’m just not sure how that will look in a physical sense given so many universities opting to have classes primarily online.
Dr. Mike Robinson: Is there a role for today’s current events in the courses you teach? And how will you incorporate these into your curriculum?
Dr. Tunette M. Powell: Always! I always hope that I’m not waiting for a current event to teach about white supremacy, anti blackness, and racism. But what current events do is hold me accountable and remind me of the obligation we all to teach a full history and not just the whitewashed one we’ve been given.
Bio
Title: Storyteller, Race Scholar, Director of the UCLA Parent Empowerment Project Tunette Powell is a powerful storyteller and educator who believes truth is a form of activism and an agent for change. As an established author and lecturer, Powell has published two nonfiction books and has spoken to groups around the country on topics including the school-to-prison pipeline, parent engagement and institution-induced collective trauma. In addition, she was a 2013 TEDx speaker and has appeared on Oprah’s Lifeclass, NPR, CNN and MSNBC. Powell earned her PhD in Education at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her dissertation, The Scars of School Suspension: Narratives as Testimonies of Collective Trauma, examined the wounds dealt to Black parents of children who have been suspended in early childhood education. She also serves as the director of the UCLA Parent Empowerment Project – a project focused on developing, nurturing and sustaining parent engagement and parent leadership in schools, especially at schools serving Black and Brown families.