Navigating an anti-Black campus climate: #black@pwi

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the 1960s, Black student protests of racism through sit-ins, building occupations, and demands for the resignation of university top administrators spurred the creation of ethnic studies and diversity programs on white university campuses in the United States. These efforts did not, unfortunately, dismantle entrenched structural racism. Black student activism continues to confront racial inequities using digitized campaigns on social media platforms to reach a global audience. This study uses critical race theory to explore how Black students at a white-dominant university give meaning to their racialized experiences as communicated using the twitter hashtag campaign #Blackatpwi. The results illuminate the magnitude of anti-Black racism and conditions under which Black students are expected to learn, the myriad ways white institutions reproduce and reinforce white supremacy and the students’ mobilization efforts to resist anti-Black racism. We provide recommendations to promote racial equity in higher education.