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On August 26, and for the subsequent two days after, a majority of the American sports world came to a halt. Spearheaded by the Milwaukee Bucks, various games across major American sports were postponed in direct response to the shooting by police of Jacob Blake, a Black man, and to the overarching racial injustice in America.
These actions halted business as usual and gave prominent athletes the opportunity to promote their messages on a national level. The Bucks, whose home stadium is less than an hour away from Kenosha, Wisconsin where Blake was shot 7 times in the back, emerged from the locker room for game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Orlando Magic and announced their decision to temporarily boycott the game. The team held a press conference, led by 12 year NBA veteran George Hill, who called for the state of Wisconsin to “take meaningful measures to address issues of police accountability, brutality, and criminal justice reform.” He concluded his statement by encouraging “all citizens to educate themselves, take peaceful and responsible action, and remember to vote on November 3.”
Following suit, the remaining NBA games scheduled for that night, as well as various games across the WNBA, MLB and MLS were cancelled on August 26. The effect of the actions taken by Hill and the Bucks lasted days, as American sports remained relatively at a standstill for the next 48 hours. Similar actions proceeded into the month of September, as recent U.S. Open winner Naomi Osaka wore a different mask before each of her seven matches of the tournament branded with the names of various victims of racial injustice. Around the same time, the realm of higher education took similar steps to address institutionalized racism by partaking in their own strike, one inspired by the likes of Hill and Osaka, as well as the countless athletes worldwide who have been speaking out against the everpresent injustice.
Originally conceived on Twitter by professor Anthea Butler of the University of Pennsylvania, the Scholar Strike was planned to take place on Sept. 8 and 9. On the official website of the Scholar Strike, its mission statement claims that the strike was “inspired by the NBA, WNBA, Colin Kaepernick and other athletes” and was “designed to call awareness to the racial climate in America, and the rash of police shootings and racialized violence.” Butler addresses her fellow students, faculty, staff, and administrators of higher education to “refrain from our many duties and participate in actions designed to raise awareness of and prompt action against racism, policing, mass incarceration and other symptoms of racism’s toll in America” over the 48 hour period. Butler’s influence was also felt in Canada, as institutions of higher education there participated in the Scholar Strike on Sept. 9 and Sept. 10 to address similar issues of racial injustice in their home country.
Butler, in her initial statement, stressed the importance of the intersection of education and racial inequality as they believe that education reforms are paramount to fighting racism in America.
The Scholar Strike was intended to hold many different forms. While some institutions pledged not to hold class at all on the 8 and 9 of September, many performed a teach in, curating the day’s work to fit the current racial climate in America. The flexible way in which the Scholar Strike was designed was evident to Moriah Prescia ‘22. Each of Precia’s classes approached this opportunity differently, examining how racial injustice has found itself in both film studies and sustainability. Prescia’s Film 101 did not meet, and her professor “posted notable resources for diversity and inclusion in film and to look at the lack thereof.”
Conversely, her other two classes met and approached them through the lens of the current racial climate. While many of the topics in Prescia’s Film 305 class titled ‘Whiteness in Film and Culture’ are centered around race, the class participated in the Scholar Strike by taking time on Wednesday, September 9 to “discuss different tactics in order to be a better activist and advocate for people of color.” Most important among those, according to Prescia, is to fully “give people the mic so they can speak for themselves” rather than raising your voice above that of BIPOC. Her final class, an Anthropology class titled ‘Sustainable Food Systems’ examined how “people of color have systematically had land taken from them” which has greatly contributed to economic inequality.
The Scholar Strike also coincided with President Trump’s letter to various Federal Agencies asking them to end racial sensitivity training, calling them both “divisive” and “anti-American propaganda.” Trump furthered this sentiment in a tweet, calling critical race theory “a sickness that cannot be allowed to continue.” This sentiment goes against what many demonstrators have called for during the recent periods of unrest, as a specific emphasis has been put on expanding educational resources for young Americans regarding the history of systematic racism in America. Despite Trump’s efforts, Butler and the Scholar Strike captivated the staff and students of higher education nationwide, and started the important conversations that will now carry on regarding the current state of the US.
