Reeling and Healing from Hate Speech: Student Affairs Professionals of Color Share Post-pandemic Imaginations for Community Colleges

Abstract

Throughout history, people have united to demand change and accountability in the face of injustice. Although freedom of speech and assembly rights have been essential in uplifting and empowering marginalized communities throughout history, it is important to name the existence of speech that seeks to expand rights and speech which aims to restrict rights. Hate speech occurrences have increased dramatically since 2016 and many scholars cite college campuses as a specialized place for hate and social movements. Despite this increase in incidents and scholarly attention focused on on-campus hate speech, there is a gap in knowledge regarding those staff members who oversee hate speech incidents as people of color, especially those who work in community colleges. Utilizing a Critical Race Study lens, this study explored how student affairs professionals of color in California community college settings experience and navigate hate speech and White supremacy. Through eight collective counter-narratives, educators provided insight into White supremacy incidents on campus and the biased federal policy that affects their day-to-day work with students. Their collective stories re-imagine the post-pandemic community college what it means to be safe in community colleges through the twin pandemics and how the community college campus as a whole can come together to challenge White supremacy and support highly vulnerable and marginalized community college students. Their exploration of experiences also paints a picture of coalitions that must be built and sustained within the community. And finally, this study provides insight into the navigation and radical re-imagining of hate speech education and healing together as community colleges reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic and escalation of racial injustice.