Dear Higher Education: Letters from the Social Justice Mountain

Grieving Discontinued Classes

Sonja Thomas

Colby College

Abstract

This letter expresses the grief associated with discontinuing a class on Black feminist thought and tap dance. Working from theories presented by Sara Ahmed, Rachel Lee, Amber Jamilla Musser, and Robyn Wiegman, I outline how institutions of higher education have “included” diversity as a way to actually exclude diversity. The actual desires of the institution make a reality such that allyship for non-black women of color like myself becomes an impossibility. Despite the need for allyship and despite the transformative nature of tap dance and Black feminist thought, this course has faced barrier after barrier causing me anxiety, frustration, and sadness. I trace those barriers and negative emotions. Rather than let them seep into a class that gives me joy, I discuss how I decided to discontinue the course and take it elsewhere. Black feminist thought and feminist anti-racist literature sustains us all. Thus, while discontinuing a class is filled with grief, it will not be the end.