Today’s news has been especially troubling, as we see demonstrations turning to riots in the wake of yet more tragic deaths of people of color at the hands of police officers.
As a nation, we had already been driven to our last nerve by
the pandemic. Divisions within our country have been growing more intense as we
struggle with helplessness and uncertainty. We hear irrational debates about
liberty and safety being at odds with each other. COVID-19 has amplified the
disparities of privilege that surround and dispirit us: race, gender, ethnicity,
sexual orientation, religion, economic opportunity, age, and ability. There is
little justice in the margins and the margins are growing by the day.
Then, in this crucible of despair, we witness yet another round
of senseless violent deaths steeped in racial and social division. George
Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have joined the seemingly endless cortège
of stolen black lives in America.
The cure for helplessness is action, but when that comes
from a place of despair the irrational can feel righteous. We must not be
overcome by the hate we wish to extinguish.
Susquehanna’s Chaplain, Scott Kershner, closes each service with
this benediction:
Go out into the world in peace.
Have courage!
Hold fast to what is good.
Return no one evil for evil.
Strengthen the faint-hearted, support the weak, help the suffering.
Honor all people.
In Letter from a Birmingham
Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote “Justice too long delayed is justice
denied.” Progress has been too slow, and in recent years, it has been tragically
replaced with regress. How should we move the pendulum back to its forward
swing? Dr. King reminded us that, “Nonviolence
demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek.
In a
recent opinion
piece, columnist, David Brooks wrote:
Right now, science and the humanities should be in
lock step: science producing vaccines, with the humanities stocking leaders and
citizens with the capacities of resilience, care and collaboration until they
come. But, instead, the humanities are in crisis at the exact moment history is
revealing how vital moral formation really is.
This
is a stark reminder of how much we as a people can and need to be uplifted and
inspired by the power of the liberal-arts and why a commitment to equity and
inclusion is a critical foundation of a liberal education.
When
I was researching Susquehanna as an applicant to be president, one of the
elements that attracted me to the University was the Statement
on Diversity and Inclusiveness, which was adopted by the Board of Trustees
in 2007.
It
includes this recognition:
As we seek
to fulfill these commitments our perceptions, understandings, and expectations
will often come into conflict with those of other members of the campus
community. These conflicts are not to be avoided, but should be seen as
opportunities for learning and growth. Our responses to such conflicts must be
framed by our respect for all people and our commitment to social justice and
lifelong learning.
Our
new Strategic
Plan includes many components aimed at strengthening inclusion on our
campus and in the community. One element of that work is to review and update
the statement. I have struggled to find ways to improve the document until this
week.
It
is time to take the next step by acknowledging that our goal is not just to help
students to learn and grow, but to prepare them to take courageous, peaceful action.
We must commit to steeling them to become engaged agents for the “Change they
wish to see in the world.”[1]
Brooks
noted that “America is a diverse country joined more by a common future than by
common pasts.” That future will be inescapably shaped by those pasts. It is up
to us to prepare and to be leaders capable and committed to making that future
the one King outlines at the end of his Birmingham epistle:
Let us all
hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep
fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and
in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will
shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.