Dear Editor,
I’m writing this letter to address St. Joe’s lack of attention toward their root in slavery.
Recently, the Inquirer published a piece titled “Indebted,” written by Zoe Greenberg. The article addresses the University of Pennsylvania’s ties to slavery and the lack of attention the university has brought to it. Greenberg names action steps that peer institutions have taken as forms of reconciliation for their entanglement with traders and owners of enslaved people. Greenberg names Princeton’s sculpture, created by a Black artist to commemorate the history and important figures impacted by American slavery, as one example of reparations made by universities with ties to slavery. Another example Greenberg gives is the group, Universities Studying Slavery, a large group of universities from different countries that are dedicated to acknowledging the legacy of racism in their creation. Greenberg’s article continues to address how UPenn has not taken any large, tangible action steps toward repairing the relationship between itself and Black Americans as a result of slavery.
St. Joe’s has important work to do, similarly to UPenn. While starting a few groups here and there that would lose steam and fizzle out, the university has yet to take any serious action steps. Last spring, I wrote an article for The Hawk based on a panel held titled “Reckoning with ‘Untold Stories.’” The Zoom panel was the second held to discuss the legacy of Jesuits’ entanglement with slavery. While these lectures are educationally fruitful and beneficial to have, St. Joe’s has to do more. The same work that UPenn has to do, St. Joe’s has to do. Universities with ties to slavery cannot continue to ignore their histories and legacies of racism. Reparations must be made. If St. Joe’s wants to commit to “cura personalis,” the care of the whole person, it must make space to not only acknowledge its history, but aim to correct it. This work is important for the descendants of those enslaved by the Jesuits as a way of honoring their ancestors, but as well as for Black students at St. Joe’s to see the university’s commitment to caring wholly, for all.
Best,
Tayler Washington ’22
