A Liberal Dose
“Tennessee
Universities No Longer Allowed to Host Native American Themed Events”
Troy D. Smith
Most of y’all know I am a history professor- it says so at
the bottom of my column every week. Some folks, who don’t know me and don’t know
my story, assume that means I am some kind of privileged elite who doesn’t know
anything about the real world -but if you do know me, you know I was raised in
a very poor working family and that I, myself, did janitorial work for twenty
years before I became an academic -but that’s neither here nor there, my point
is, I do understand regular working people. I love the job I have now
-basically, in every job I had before I got in trouble because mostly I stood
around talking about history. I’m getting paid to do what I love and, even
better, I get to work with and engage with young people, which gives my life
purpose.
But my job has gotten a lot harder the last few years. And harder
still in the last six months. First our state government and now our federal
government have been trying to interfere in how I do that job (despite me, not
them, having the Ph.D. in it, which I worked six years to earn, after four
years in college)… and what I can teach, and how I can teach it. What subjects
I can address. It is much worse for K12 teachers, in higher education we have
(theoretically) the legally established protection of academic freedom. Let me
tell you a little about how these government actions have affected me, and
therefore by extension my students and the community, and ultimately you.
My primary area of expertise (though I have several) is
indigenous history and culture. I teach many classes in that area, from basic Intro
to American Indian Studies to Native religion, Cherokee history, American
Indian law, and others. In addition to my work in the classroom, I work to
expose students to Native culture by helping coordinate events on and off
campus, and by leading student research trips to reservations. This is not just
an intellectual exercise for me -I have spent half my life deeply engaged in
indigenous community and causes and have been blessed to have received a degree
of respect and affection from that community. I helped successfully put
together an NSF grant that partners Tennessee Tech with the Cherokee Nation of
Oklahoma and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, a few
months ago I helped organize two food drives and led student groups out to Cherokee to help out after the
hurricanes, and I spent years lobbying Tennessee Tech to set aside a small
number of scholarships each year for Native American students -who, after all,
would BE in-state if our ancestors had not forcibly removed them -and
eventually succeeded. I say all this not to blow my own horn, but to demonstrate
the depth of my dedication to the indigenous community, past, present, and
future.
A few years ago Tennessee passed what they call “divisive
concepts” laws which seek to prohibit any meaningful classroom discussion that
might “hurt students’ feelings” by making them feel guilty or responsible for
the past… and the very mention of the Trail of Tears, other acts of indigenous
genocide, slavery, Jim Crow, or the Holocaust could do that. Note that the
concern is over making white students feel uncomfortable, they don’t seem the
least concerned about how uncomfortable ignoring or minimizing those historical
truths make indigenous or other children of color feel. As one Cherokee friend
of mine put it, “Hey, my people were the victims of genocide- that makes ME
feel bad.”
So there’s that. Then, when the Supreme Court struck down
affirmative action, we were informed that the new policy of the state of
Tennessee was that no public university could earmark scholarships based on
race, so that handful of Native American scholarships was canceled right as it
was about to start. I and others pointed out that enrolled tribal membership is
a political identity, not a racial one, but one administrator said “that’s
true, but what would the community say?” By which they meant, of course, a certain
SECTION of the community. So the scholarships (which we had promised in our
agreement with the Cherokees) were out.
Now Trump and his MAGA base have declared war on the very
notion of diversity -NOT just affirmative action, which some have always argued
gave advantages to certain minority groups (who were, by definition,
disadvantaged), but even stating a DESIRE to HAVE diversity. Which led to Navajo
code talkers, Tuskegee airmen, female military heroes, and anyone else who is
not a white male having all mention of them scrubbed from military museums and
websites.
For years, Tennessee Tech has celebrated Native American
Heritage month by putting on a huge indigenous festival, usually with around 40
performers and dancers from all around the country, as well as a couple of
smaller events. It is a highlight of the school year, students (and the
community in general) love it. We were recently informed we are no longer
allowed to do that… because it is not open to ALL groups to perform in, it is
racist. So that tradition, overnight, is dead. And that means no more Hispanic
Heritage events, Black History month, women’s history, Asian-American history…
none of it. Because “we don’t want to be racist.” Meanwhile, NSF has been
forced to go through all their grants and cut every one that has words such as “community”,
“indigenous”, “African American”, or “woman” in them. Tech lost a couple of
grants designed to encourage more women to enter STEM fields.
I hope you managed to attend some of our Native American
events and enjoyed them. Because we will not be allowed to have them again for
the foreseeable future.
Is that what you voted for?
--Troy D.
Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at
Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee
Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.
Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE
You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE
A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE
Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com
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