On the Anniversary of George Floyd’s Death, a Professor Announces Property Is Racist – Opinion

Property ownership could be considered racism.

According to Boston University’s teacher, that is.

The school released a statement on May 25th. Twitter thread in observance of the two-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death.

Included were videos featuring “several members of the BU community, from students to legal scholars,” waxing on lessons “from the tragedy and what progress still needs to happen.”

One video from Professor Saida Grundy addressing the national destruction which occurred in large part of 2020.

Instructor in sociology and African American Studies seemed to be less upset than the $2 billion of damage.

“If we’re going to talk about George Floyd and really understand it, then we need to understand community reactions to it. We hear many politicians. But we also hear from leaders of civil society, both within and without black communities. We hear President Biden say, you know, ‘I understand your frustrations, but don’t destroy property.’ Well, when you say that to black people — who, historically, have been property — one of our greatest weapons against injustice was the looting of ourselves as property from the system of slavery.”

“I think it’s very important for people who see reactions in communities not to judge or make assumptions about what is good and not good reactions. And not actually re-victimize communities by saying there’s an acceptable and not acceptable way to react.”— @BU_CAS‘s Saida Grundy pic.twitter.com/FK85qVF3Xf

— Boston University (@BU_Tweets) May 25, 2022

It’s an interesting idea — American slaves stole themselves. Is it possible for such an idea to coexist with their freedom?

Thomas Sowell has made the point that although one race is being considered property and another as slaves, it’s not fair to say that history of slavery was anything but robust.

One of the most striking facts regarding the history of slavery is that although it was an institution throughout the globe for thousands of centuries, there was no controversy about it prior to 18th-century America. People of every race and color were enslaved — and enslaved others. In the Ottoman Empire decades after American blacks had been freed, white people still were sold to slaves.

The BBC also has this:

The term “slave” has its origins in the word “slav.” The slavs, who inhabited a large part of Eastern Europe, were taken as slaves by the Muslims of Spain during the ninth century AD.

Regarding 2020’s violent riots (differentiated from peaceful protests by concerned citizens), it appears to me they weren’t fueled by the mantra “Black lives matter.” Neither were they committed by “black people,” per se.

Although I could be mistaken, it struck me that many of the mostly white twenty-somethings in the country were encouraged to destroy the world by the culture. They’d been told capitalism had made them a barista whereas socialism would crown them Starbucks CEO. They’d had very little required of them while a great deal had filled their laps. They’d been informed the system was evil, and they’d been tuned to the tune of “good trouble.” They’d been confined to their homes due to COVID in a world increasingly numb from nihilism.

Whatever other ingredients were involved, a perfect storm stirred in their beleaguered bellies — right beneath the luxury-brand logos of their $65 sweatshirts. It shot down to their $200 shoes; it surged through their “Like”-thirsty thumbs. They organized using their $1,000 smartphones to create a bubble of instantaneous meaning. Theirs was not the end of their oppression.

Maybe it was laundry day. In any case, black sweatpants worked. Our current form of dating is His-and-Hers vandalism.

You can either fast-forward or slow down to empty shops and fire melting glasses.

According to Professor Saida, I’m sorely off.

And also, property’s racist:

“And what we see in communities is they’re reacting to the very racism of what we call ‘property,’ right? So that’s why I think it’s very important for, you know, people who see reactions in communities to not judge and to not make assumptions about what is good and not good reactions. And not actually re-victimize communities by saying there’s an acceptable and a not-acceptable way to react.

The inherent racism of property would create quite the conundrum: Anyone in possession of racist property would need to have it seized; but just as it’s newly-acquired, it’d become racist again.

If only certain people are entitled to it, then how can we determine who gets it?

All considerable questions, and they won’t be answered here. Professor Saida, or another person with the same insight, will hopefully be able to answer all your questions.

In the meantime, as for a mantra upon which we might build a civil society, “Don’t destroy property” seems a substantially good choice.

-ALEX

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