The Knife In Ibram Kendi's The Black Campus Movement

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You don’t stick a knife in a man’s back nine inches, pull it out six inches and say you’re making progress.” ~ Malcolm X
As the ideological father of the student led activism that Ibram Kendi notes in his book, The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education, Malcolm X and his ideology are a perfect reference to decide its success. In his epilogue, Kendi argues that the BCM has pulled the “knife” out several inches since its inception, by either completely eliminating or crippling the four ideologies that made up the racial constitution of higher education: the moralized contraption, ladder altruism, standardization of exclusion, and the normalized mask of whiteness. However, this was no ordinary “knife”. For the knife was poisoned and has taken effect throughout the body and no matter how far you pull that knife, the poison will remain circulating the body and crippling the black community much the same. The creation of this “racial constitution” did not occur by happenstance. It was implemented by an entire culture of racism and supremacy. Higher education simply served as a way to not only validate the culture, but to enforce it, thus becoming a staple of the racist ideals of our nation. Kendi argues that the Black Campus Movement did succeed in dissolving the long lasting structural constitution of higher education.
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Although I agree, I feel that there is an entire culture that has failed to be thoroughly addressed. African-Americans are keenly aware of the fact that laws and other structural changes can often mean nothing if the culture itself has not changed with it. Laws and decrees cannot protect us from everything. This all raises a couple of questions. Does the Black Campus Movement continue on today and if so, what are we fighting to change? Can present day students even rely on the tactics and ideologies of the Black Campus Movement? How do we finally remove the “poison”? Kendi and I agree that the BCM effectively ended in the 1970’s. The normalized mask of whiteness with the implementation of Africana studies programs across the country, and the moralized contraption with the elimination of most racist HBCU behavioral guidelines, both have ceased to take great effect on black students. The other two facets did not meet the same end. The standardization of exclusion was casted aside for a new wave of rhetorical progress with students’ ears being inundated by “diversity statement after diversity statement and professed presidential commitment after professed presidential commitment…” (Kendi). These types of statements are all too familiar to us Cornellians in the wake of the surge of violent, racial incidents over the past few semesters. Now our own calls for equality are fought with calls of reverse discrimination. Ladder altruism seemingly broken in the 1970’s has been re-constituted with many buying into the notion that there is something “progressive, selfless, and grassroots-oriented about ladder altruism” (Kendi). It’s as if in some respects the movement is going backwards. Most black students are happy enough to not see “white only” signs or any blatant signs of discrimination. The few who continue the fight for justice are often silenced being deemed as racist for fighting against systemic racism. The Black Campus Movement is over and a resurgence of the movement would do little to change the

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