Statement on Anti-racism from Incoming Director of the School of Religion, Dr. Adnan A. Husain
The appalling police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25th has sparked continuous anti-racism protests over the last two weeks and has made even more urgent the comprehensive work of anti-racism not only in policing and criminal justice but throughout our social institutions and systems. In this respect, universities have unique responsibilities. I am encouraged by Principal Patrick Deane鈥檚 early statement recognizing the scale of the task at Queen鈥檚. The symbolic gesture was important and appreciated on behalf of the university community. More encouraging were subsequent commitments to specific measures to support black students, fund anti-racism events and initiatives, and hire faculty in Black Studies. This useful start will require further sustained reflection, consultation, and action from our entire community to achieve substantial changes to the institutional culture, our curriculum, and the experience of black, brown, indigenous, and racialized students, staff, and faculty at Queen鈥檚. We should recognize that complacency translates to complicity.
To that end, as incoming Director of the School of Religion in July, I look forward to working with faculty colleagues, students, and staff together to consider rigorously our own practices, curriculum, and culture. In particular, I will encourage critical reflection on the discipline of religious studies and what the School of Religion can do to contribute to anti-racist education. Thankfully, this conversation has already begun in the American Academy of Religion and has been initiated thoughtfully and proactively by our own graduate students, to whom I am grateful.