Marcelius Braxton
@Marcelius_B
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"Mar" "Sell" "Us". DEI director, consultant, professor, and education doctoral student. Formerly K-12 admin and law school dean of students. Views are my own.
State College, PA
Joined June 2020
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A lot of people keep referencing Rosa Parks, so can we please tell the Rosa Parks bus story properly? It’s actually more telling that way. She DID NOT try to sit in the front of the bus. What actually happened might be more telling for how power is used and wielded. /1
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Every time I see an update related to police in Uvalde, I think about a conversation I had with a police officer well over a decade ago where we talked about how they are marketed to the public versus how they are privately encouraged to act. /1
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It’s important to talk about this distinction. It shows how people in power purposely create rules and laws that give them discretion, and they can use that discretion to harm you or even create a narrative of lawlessness or “breaking the law”. /4
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So the bus driver actually moved the “colored section” behind Rosa Parks and demanded that she and others in that row stand up. That’s when she “broke the law”, and that’s very different than the story people tell. /3
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It also shows that unjust rules/laws do not allow you to truly follow rules or “comply” because those rules can be easily changed to take away your autonomy and agency. /5
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It’s also notable that the rage didn’t come from Rosa Parks wanting to “take something away” from white people. She initially “followed the rules”. It was that she dared to want to sit, have space, have that space respected, and not defer to white people at every turn or whim. /6
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Rosa Parks is important, AND we should amplify the names of Irene Morgan, Sarah Louise Keys, Lillie Mae Bradford, Claudette Colvin, and many others who had bus sit-ins.
Irene Morgan did it back in 1946 and her case (Morgan v Virginia) set the tone for Boynton v Virginia. /7
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When someone who is part of an underrepresented, marginalized, or minoritized group speaks up in a meeting, it’s not helpful to affirm them privately AFTER the meeting. You need to do it DURING the meeting. And if you don’t know what to say, here’s something simple to say: /1
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Rosa Parks paid to get on the bus and actually sat in the first row of the “colored section” behind ten rows of white seating. So, she sat in the rows she was technically allowed to sit in. But what happened was that the bus was filling up and some white people were standing. /2
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In private, many police officers are told “No matter what, the goal is to get yourself home.” Anything that’s a threat to that is either to be eliminated or avoided. It also elevates what they might see as a threat, hence why the first move for many is to shoot. /3
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One demand students are calling for is Israeli divestment. Divestment is not a new request. In fact, it’s been asked for many times, most notably in the 80s to protest South African apartheid. What is less talked about is why colleges will resist divestment more than ever. 🧵/1
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Perceptions of police will allow them to shoot unarmed, non threatening people and flee/fail to act against threats that are actively harming children, and at the end of the day, the public will still largely see them as heroes/protectors/selfless regardless of their actions. /6
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In public, police are labeled as “courageous heroes” who will risk everything and anything to keep us safe. They are essentially treated like superheroes in a world where without them, the world would just decay and turn to anarchy. /2
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It also helps explains why hundreds of police officers failed to act. It’s easy to make a threat out of something or someone who isn’t a threat. They are given so much leeway because of public perception, so when they harm or shoot someone, the public will say it was deserved. /4
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In this case, they aren’t creating a threat and don’t have the upper hand. Instead, this is a known, real threat, so their actions don’t march public perceptions. They followed private guidance, which is to protect themselves first. /5
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Stop worrying about how people protest, and start worrying about the reasons why people protest. Stop asking private citizens for care and restraint when government funded actors show none.
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“I think X made a very important point, and I think we need to take some time to think about and make a plan that reflects our collective responsibility in addressing this issue.” One sentence can be meaningful. /2
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Justice Jackson's dissent in the affirmative action cases was fantastic, and I'm going to point out some of the parts that impacted me the most here:
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I hope all these “Will voters elect a woman for president?” articles include the context that in 2016, the majority of every demographic DID vote to elect a woman, except white men and white women. Be specific about who was the issue.
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@megpillow
@Ebonyteach
All those things. Also, racism is everywhere, so a lot of countries people might think to move to are very unsafe for Black and Brown folks.
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@GeauxGabrielle
Yup. The biggest issue for low income people isn’t “financial literacy”. It’s not having enough money! Just another example of blaming the individual for a system problem.
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It’s easier for older politicians to falsely claim that “young people” don’t know about the Middle East rather than admit they resent young people for challenging their view of the world, for being intellectually curious, and for having a moral clarity and resolve that they lack.
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@ArielleIvy_
People who define themselves through a system or are deeply committed to it absolutely hate even thinly veiled critiques of said system because it might force them to actually have to examine the role they play in perpetuating said system.
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@TomHickmore
Parks knew the law but did not explicitly plan her protest on that day although she knew what to do and how to handle it. There were plans to challenge segregation going back many years, as she was a civil rights activist and part of many groups.
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PA vs OH statewide should be a lesson for Ds. You see the difference in PA with candidates who committed to an active and effective appeal to young voters, progressives, and Black voters compared to OH that often tried to appear as Republican-lite and reject progressive ideas.
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Colleges are resisting divestment more now than ever partially because they shifted their endowments from low risk assets to private equity and real estate hedge funds in the mid to late 80s. It caused endowments to soar and institutions to center big donors /2
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Didn't expect this tweet to go viral. I guess the only thing I have to promote is that I give talks, keynotes, and workshops, and I do all kinds of DEI consulting (even DEI On Call), so if your org has a need, hit me up.
I'm offering a new service called "DEI On Call" for institutions/orgs who are prioritizing DEI and need support/assistance but not to the extent of a full-scale consult, which can be outside of their budget/needs. Share with your networks.
More info:
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1) Courts have shown that police don’t have a duty or obligation to protect us.
2) We have many examples where police failed to run towards danger.
3) Most police are responding after crimes happen, don’t prevent crimes, and fail to solve them.
4) Police do not make us safer.
Our nation’s police officers run toward danger when others run away from it.
You run toward cries of help, knowing you can offer it.
There’s no greater responsibility of government than ensuring the safety of the American people and those who sacrifice to protect us all.
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@TomHickmore
Parks knew the law but did not explicitly plan her protest on that day although she knew what to do and how to handle it. There were plans to challenge segregation going back many years, as she was a civil rights activist and part of many groups.
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Suddenly, you have hedge fund managers in the game promising big returns. The more money raised, the more returns. And this meant schools needed more money so they shifted to trying to fund fields that would produce wealthy graduates and donors (aka not humanities). /3
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This isn’t a 4, 8, or 16 year problem. It’s been a ~60 year problem. Since LBJ, Democrats have favored “compromise” when in power while Republicans favored exerting power when they had it. As a result, Republicans have been able to advance their agenda even when not in power.
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So in the end, colleges and hedge funds have an codependent relationship which is ultimately harming colleges and making them less financially stable. And colleges are forced to sacrifice their morality in favor of money. And students become less and less important to them. /11
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And one might think this would be a positive for the students and the schools, but the reality is that endowment isn’t often used for student financial aid or making tuition lower or funding staff/faculty. It’s used to increase ranking and selectivity. /4
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I said this in 2020 and 2021, but orgs purposely create a group, team, task force, or initiative rather than make real change so they can easily disband or ignore them later. They spend some money, do some performative acts, and then revert to status quo as quickly as they can.
CNN has disbanded its Race and Equality team that was formed during the summer of 2020, I’m told
A spokesperson says that while the team no longer exists, “the investment is still 100% there”
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"Gulf-sized race-based gaps exist with respect to the health, wealth, and well-being of American citizens. They were created in the distant past, but have indisputably been passed down to the present day through the generations." /1
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So, you’re seeing wealthy donors get a lot of power because they can stipulate where the money goes (hence why you’re seeing so many threaten to stop their contributions), and you have institutions feeling obligated to them because there’s an arm race to increase endowment. /6
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I won’t get into all the tax implications, but there’s a tax game that wealthy donors and institutions can play. Wealthy donors can donate for tax advantages and institutions can largely avoid paying taxes because they are non-profit (capital gains) and get tax breaks. /5
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You have the cost of tuition increasing, college affordability decreasing, cuts in many fields of study, low pay for staff, GAs, and many faculty yet endowments grow and grow. And where is a lot of the money going? Fundraising and development for more endowment! /7
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Israel divestment campaigns are picking up, but the changed landscape of hedge funds and endowment has made colleges more resistant, not simply because they care about Israel but because so many of their investments are tied to Israel (and the military industrial complex). /9
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@msolurin
I always tell students that whether something is labeled as radical depends almost entirely upon who it benefits. If it can potentially benefit everyone or poor people, it’s radical. If it benefits rich people or maintains a status quo, it’s routine and expected.
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"Every moment these gaps persist is a moment in which this great country falls short of actualizing one of its foundational principles—the “self-evident” truth that all of us are created equal." /2
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Hedge funds promise money and invest in anything that does regardless of morality. Universities want money in their endowments, so they accept it and pay BILLIONS in fees to hedge fund managers. And only a small % of the money goes to truly benefiting students/the school. /8
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And because schools only use 4-5% of their endowment a year and they’re very restricted, they want more and more money. So, anything to jeopardize that will be ignored, dismissed, or rejected. And endowment is seen as a component of being elite just as “selectivity” is. /10
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I saw a tweet asking if people remember the Presidential fitness test in gym. It made me think of something even weirder. Does anyone remember when they had gym teachers give us scoliosis tests?
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JD Vance is “a thing” because people wanted to buy into bad stereotypes of poor white people and have an excuse to ignore the role of racism in the 2016 election. Also, the complex story of rural white working class people in Appalachia was ignored in favor of his stereotypes. /1
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"[U.S] has never been colorblind. Given the lengthy history of state-sponsored race-based preferences in America, to say that anyone is now victimized if a college considers whether that legacy of discrimination has unequally advantaged its applicants fails to acknowledge... /5
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"JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR has persuasively established that nothing in the Constitution or Title VI prohibits institutions from taking race into account to ensure the racial diversity of admits in higher education." /3
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"the well documented “intergenerational transmission of inequality” that still plagues our citizenry. It is that inequality that admissions programs such as UNC’s help to address, to the benefit of us all. " /6
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Thinking someone can't be impartial because they think Black lives matter is kind of giving the game away to how people think the justice system should work for Black lives.
Photo of Chauvin juror wearing BLM T-shirt at march raises questions of impartiality, experts say
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She was saying she was a prof because of the trespassing issue.
Besides, she and many of the students are privileged and aren’t perfect, but the point is that they’re using their privilege to try to help and protect others…like we constantly tell people with privilege to do.
I love how white people scream "I'm a professor," like that's supposed to make them immune to police brutality
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@ArielleIvy_
And I didn’t mean “even”. I meant “any”. Of course I make a dumb mistake on a reply many people see.
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"I write separately to expound upon the universal benefits of considering race in this context, in response to a suggestion that has permeated this legal action from the start." /4
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What's frustrating about the anti-DEI movement is that there ARE valid criticisms of DEI, but instead of examining them, they purposely misrepresent what DEI is, create victims of majority populations, and use it to manifest their anti-Black, anti-LGBTQ, anti-POC, etc. agenda. /1
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A riot is a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd. Students might be breaking policies (tents) or laws (trespassing), but they are not being violent. Police are using riot gear not to STOP a riot but to START one because they bring violence with their presence and actions.
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She then beautiful distinguishes two applicants who trace their roots back to NC, one white and one Black. The white student is 7th generation and the Black student would be the 1st. She then links the history of slavery and discrimination to access/lack thereof. /7
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The people who say “vote harder” are often the ones who can vote in less than an hour. Voters of color, people who are poor, people with disabilities, etc. who wait in lines all day because of voter suppression have already been sacrificing money, time, energy, and health.
When people tell Black women to "vote harder" in particular -- Black women come out in the high 90s percentiles for Dem presidential candidates in the last years.
Black women almost can't vote any harder. It's everyone else that needs to step up.
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Sherman: “We are bound by every obligation, by [Black Americans’] service on the battlefield, by their heroes who are buried in our cause, by their patriotism in the hours that tried our country, we are bound to protect them and all their natural rights.” /9
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I'm confused. Why would any non-rich person choose to spend $35,000 on a wedding when they could spend it on a mortgage?
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If you think police lying is an anomaly, I encourage you to go review the original police statement from the George Floyd murder.
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She then talks about Framers intent during the reconstruction and 14th amendment, which is important because many conservative Jurists insist upon relying on text and intent. She includes a quote from Senator John Sherman defending the 14th amendment: /8
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Today I’ve seen people tweet with sincerity that Jay-Z is a revolutionary and that Malcolm X was a capitalist. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but damn we are failing ourselves and others if people genuinely believe these things.
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Just a Monday morning PSA that Black students don’t need mentoring or “allyship” to cope with racism and anti-Blackness. They need the eradication of racism and anti-Blackness. Nothing else is acceptable.
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Jackson says that "the Framers repudiated this Court’s holding in Dred Scott v. Sandford, by crafting Reconstruction Amendments (and associated legislation) that transformed our Constitution and society.", which is also important for intent/text. /10
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Jackson also points out that even though it was clear the intent was to right historical wrongs, opponents have stated that trying to right these wrongs "slighted White Americans". /11
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She then talks about how The Supreme Court kept trying to change the scope of what she calls the "second founding", which is important because they're essentially changing what equality means. /13
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"History speaks. In some form, it can be heard forever. The race-based gaps that first developed centuries ago are echoes from the past that still exist today. By all accounts, they are still stark." She then points out the wealth/income gaps. /30
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But Jackson points out how white Southerners would refuse to sell land, how states would pass laws forbidding sales, and how Black people were unable to build wealth. She talks about sharecropping, vagrancy laws, Jim Crow laws, etc. /18
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"So, when the Reconstruction Congress passed a bill to secure all citizens “the same [civil] right[s]” as “enjoyed by white citizens,”, President Andrew Johnson vetoed it because it “discriminat[ed] . . . in favor of the negro." /12
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Jackson then gives this great line: "Despite these barriers, Black people persisted." She proceeds to discuss the Great Migration, exclusionary zoning/policies, and race-based wealth, health, and opportunity gaps. /21
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"For present purposes, it is significant that, in so excluding Black people, government policies affirmatively operated—one could say, affirmatively acted—to dole out preferences to those who, if nothing else, were not Black." /25
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But she points out that while this is happening, the government "was “giving away land” on the western frontier, and with it “the opportunity for upward mobility and a more secure future,” over the 1862 Homestead Act’s three quarter-century tenure." /19
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Justice Harlan: "What the nation, through Congress, has sought to accomplish in reference to [Black people] is—what had already been done in every State of the Union for the white race—to secure and protect rights belonging to them as freemen and citizens; nothing more." /16
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"Thus, based on their race, Black people were “[l]ocked out of the greatest massbased opportunity for wealth accumulation in American history." /24
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Law schools claim they want to diversify their law school in terms of professors but then claim it’s so difficult because there isn’t a pool. It’s not that hard. They just often don’t want to do it. There’s a simple solution. Law schools can create the pool!
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"Rather, it was always simply what Justice Harlan recognized 140 years ago—the persistent and pernicious denial of “what had already been done in every State of the Union for the white race.” /29
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Jackson then talks about the concrete effects of all of this: "Enslaved Black people had built great wealth, but only for enslavers. No surprise, then, that freedmen leapt at the chance to control their own labor and to build their own financial security." /17
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She especially talks about federal and state government selective intervention, which made the disparities worse. This is super important because it's literally the government harming Black people. /22
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"The upshot of all this is that, due to government policy choices, “[i]n the suburban-shaping years between 1930 and 1960, fewer than one percent of all mortgages in the nation were issued to African Americans.” /23
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She gives more examples and ends with this: "Given our history, the origin of persistent race-linked gaps should be no mystery. It has never been a deficiency of Black Americans’ desire or ability to, in Frederick Douglass’s words, “stand on [their] own legs." /28
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"Black people were exceedingly unlikely to be allowed to share in those benefits, which by one calculation may have advantaged approximately 46 million Americans living today." /20
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"Thus, thirteen years pre-Plessy, in the Civil Rights Cases, our predecessors on this Court invalidated Congress’s attempt to enforce the Reconstruction Amendments via the Civil Rights Act of 1875.../14
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"lecturing that “there must be some stage . . . when [Black Americans] tak[e] the rank of a mere citizen, and ceas[e] to be the special favorite of the laws.” But Justice Jackson quickly points out that Justice Harlan "knew better". /15
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Law grades came out at my institution, and every semester I get the question from students who didn’t do as well as they would have liked: “Dean Braxton, should I drop out?”
Here is my answer...
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"Those past preferences carried forward and are reinforced today by (among other things) the benefits that flow to homeowners and to the holders of other forms of capital that are hard to obtain unless one already has assets." /26
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Restorative justice often involves offender responsibility, victim reparation, and victim-offender reconciliation before you get to reintegration. Which has he done?
Also, abolitionism doesn't remove accountability. It prioritizes accountability in ways other than incarceration.
Jill Scott has the people seething this morning. I am convinced that some of you never held genuine abolitionist politics nor fully believed in restorative justice. Once a “criminal,” forever a criminal, even the children. 🤷🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️
#jillscott
#ChrisBrown
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Tim Ryan was also actively against student loan forgiveness, which is an important issue especially for younger voters. Ryan never identified many issues that appealed to younger voters. /3
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"I will pass over Congress’s repeated crafting of family-, worker-, and retiree protective legislation to channel benefits to White people, thereby excluding Black Americans from what was otherwise “a revolution in the status of most working Americans.” /27
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I am and continue to be a full proponent of eliminating the bar exam, and I think along with advocating for eliminating the bar exam, elimination of the LSAT as a criteria for entry must also be included in the cause because it is problematic in many of the same ways as the bar.
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Police get to be incompetent while being given and expecting full deference, autonomy, and absolution.
BREAKING: Florida deputies who fatally shot US airman burst into wrong apartment, attorney says
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Tim Ryan specifically wanted to appeal to working class voters, but the problem is that he specifically treated working class as synonymous with white, which is a problem since we know the majority of white voters generally aren’t voting for Dems. /2
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@msolurin
“Random Popeyes Woman and one of the brightest minds in NYC” should be in every bio you ever use.
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When white people threaten to "report" Black people (esp Black women) to their college/uni because of tweets they dislike, it's corny and harmful. But it's not lost on us that they do it because institutions are willing to drop Black people at the mere discomfort of white people.
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Police presence alone is dangerous because even if you aren’t involved, they can decide to involve you and inflict harm against you when they choose. A lot of people who thought they were shielded from it are now experiencing it. And it will radicalize you in ways you never knew.
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School breakfast and lunch should always be free for students. Children can’t learn if they’re hungry, and it’s one of the best uses of tax dollars and school funding. The fact that we allow families to be in debt over food reflects one of the many things wrong with society.
A Missouri school district is honoring a fifth grader who raised enough money to pay off all of his school’s student lunch debt – $7,300
The Blue Springs School District has over $150,000 worth of school lunch debt
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"To demand that colleges ignore race in today’s admissions practices—and thus disregard the fact that racial disparities may have mattered for where some applicants find themselves today—is not only an affront to the dignity of those students for whom race matters." /32
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I’m sorry, but you’ll never convince me that they don’t know who leaked the Dobbs opinion.
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"It also condemns our society to never escape the past that explains how and why race matters to the very concept of who “merits” admission. Permitting (not requiring) colleges like UNC to assess merit fully...plainly advances (not thwarts) the 14th Amend’s core promise. " /33
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@byjoelanderson
Also, this dude is the perfect case of someone who uses what they perceive as big words to mask the fact that they are either making a bad argument or aren’t really saying anything at all.
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Gracie's Corner comes through again!
Full song here:
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