Womanist Musings - Hush Now, Don't Explain
Billie Holiday is one of my favorite singers of all time. I love her less for her voice, than for her pain - a pain to which I fully relate. My empathy for her, the misogynoir that she endured long before we could put a finger on that type of vitriol, and the utter failure of the world around her appears to pale in comparison to the depth of song she contributed.
As a Black scholar, I think of the way Black epistemologies are whitewashed within higher education as proof that even our thinking, our self definition, our very words are deemed as only having value when they tremble through the vocal chords of White staff and faculty. Our pain has resonance only through the batted eyes of Whiteness.
This must be true, because why else would we continue to see the United Kingdom hire predominantly (or all) White faculty when engaging with intellectual curiosity about racism? Why else would White scholars ignore Black scholarship while introducing research on the "intersection of race, class and gender," specifying their concern is "anti-Black" racism? Why does the academy still pretend that "White" is a neutral category?
There are always "so many outstanding scholars" applying for jobs. These outstanding scholars are usually the experts of European Studies and all things that connect to this social construct. Yet, despite this expertise, "White" is presented as a foundational and neutral academic location - one which is benign. While Whiteness may be critiqued as a a social location that oppresses other groups, doesn't it seem odd that Whiteness is always what's required to analyze the subjugated? Doesn't the very act of being the expert of "subjugated" or "colonized" or "colored" people - isn't this very act central to the entire construct of colonization?
So, why are we surprised when White males believe they are better qualified than Black scholars to teach Black liberation theology? Why is it shocking that a White woman would introduce a new book, specifically identifying the principles of womanism, but yet ignore their contributions?
Toni Morrison was regularly challenged that she should foreground her observations of Black pain, that she should center her writing on "Whiteness" as the real issue before Black, colonized Americans. To her critics, she was being unrealistic by not writing about Whites - even though Whites were able to write about themselves, and they could write about Blacks. According to Morrison, no one ever lifted their tongues in a single protest.
I think it's because there is a sadistic love affair that is believed to support the colonial project. I believe it's because of the lies told by slave holders. The statements of Black inferiority that identified Black and African cosmologies as "pagan," while interpreting White, Euro-centered cosmologies as "God ordained," is central to this form of epistemic injustice.
According to the National Library of Medicine, "Epistemic injustice is a harm done to a person in her capacity as an epistemic subject (a knower, a reasoner, a questioner) by undermining her capacity to engage in epistemic practices such as giving knowledge to others (testifying) or making sense of one's experiences (interpreting). It typically arises when a hearer does not take the statements of a speaker as seriously as they deserve to be taken" (Paul Crichton, et al, April 2017).
The enslaved were the "non-human" members whose lives had no meaning and whose souls had no value outside of Whiteness. But this epistemic injustice is not merely a historical reality.
Perhaps universities and colleges believe they can speak sweetly, smile at their colonized subjects, and use whatever new iteration of acceptability they must (such as "we support EDI") and then their behavior will go unchecked. The words which Billie Holiday uses here, "hush now, don't explain" when read through a decolonial lens, should pierce our consciousness.
Years ago, I submitted an abstract to speak at a theological conference. I received the cursory email stating, "We're sorry to inform you that we did not select your paper." A few weeks later, I received an email where that paper was being edited for publication without my permission. The person who requested my feedback was unaware that this was being published without my permission.
Hush now. Don't explain.
To paraphrase Holiday, academic theft proves that some scholars believe the work that they appropriate, the words that they paraphrase, belong to them. “You believe my life is yours. So, there's no need to explain. Black women's stories and their pain - they are part of your purview to use for building your careers."
The assumption has traditionally been that Black enslaved workers loved their enslavers so much that they would not want control of their own labor. Is it possible that these assumptions continue to this day with the belief that Black scholars would not want control of their intellectual labor?
Hush now. Don't explain.
Dr. CL Nash for the Misogynoir to Mishpat (M2M) Research Network (c) 2023
Abbreviated Lyrics
"Hush now, don't explain
You're my joy and pain
My life's yours, love
Don't explain"
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Arthur Jr. Herzog / Billie Holiday
Citation
Paul Crichton, Havi Carel and Ian Kidd. "Epistemic Injustice in Psychiatry," in the National Library of Medicine, April 2017
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So poignant, painful and true! I have been on the receiving end of Christian organisations stating their inclusion of "EDI in all we do" then behaving in a contradictory manner to their claims. Unfortunately power corrupts.