“I’m just glad … to have this opportunity to come to UT Martin at this juncture, when a rabid, indiscriminate conglomerate of highly unintellectual mediocrity besieges the nation,” declared Vanderbilt professor and political analyst Michael Eric Dyson during a speech in Watkins Auditorium on Monday, Feb. 17.
As the the third and final keynote speaker for UT Martin’s 25th Annual Civil Rights Conference, Dyson was welcomed by sophomore Agricultural Business major Chayil Watkins from Rossville, Tennessee.
“Preacher, poet and political analyst are just a few of the descriptions for our guest,” Watkins said. “He is a man of many talents and we are thrilled to have him visit UT Martin.”
Dyson walked on stage and seated himself between Dr. Danny Pirtle, associate professor of Criminal Justice, and Dr. Henri Giles, assistant professor of History, with whom he goes “back to the last century,” he said.
Dyson then discussed current racial, African American and civil rights-based topics ranging from President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI initiatives to Beyoncé’s Grammy award.
The discussion started with the most prevalent topic, the MAGA movement and the racism that is often described as associated with it. Dyson said that not all MAGA supporters were consciously racist because they truly believed that a second Trump administration would lead to greater economic opportunity, an end to the supposed marginalization of rural whites, and that the “price of eggs [was] going to go down.”
Despite those facts, Dyson said he believes that more right-wing MAGA supporters should address the racism that is present within the movement.
“At least admit that a bunch of people who are, are racist … the MAGA ideological understanding of the world has certainly been deeply and profoundly problematic to peoples of color and others,” he said.
Dyson also described the “sudden white victimization” in the movement as an attempt to erase their past white supremacy. “Every moment of black progress invites white backlash,” he said.
Dyson praised some of the most recent cultural events for what they meant for Black America.
“That halftime show was brilliant in terms of the red, white and blue, signified by the bodies of black … peoples,” he said. “That was an extraordinary thing. To see Kendrick Lamar use his political capital, not to go to a[n] inaugural ball.”
Dyson also voiced support for Beyoncé and her recent Grammy win for best country album, describing how the genre originated from Black Americans before being played by whites.
“Beyoncé represents an incredible ability of Black music to reappropriate what was, at the beginning, a Black art form, too,” Dyson said.
Amid the U.S. government’s recent attempts to eliminate DEI in educational environments, Dyson shared his frustrations with the system as an educator.
“We study a broad variety of things that are ‘Americana.’ That happen to be Black. That happen to be queer. That happen to be female. That happen to be non-traditional.
“So DEI now becomes a cash word because [of] white people’s fear of disappearance. Ethnic cleansing from within, fearing they will somehow become eviscerated,” Dyson explained.
“How do we actually exist in a culture where it is difficult for us to even say our names, and to lay claim to our history, without the fear of repression, hatred, bitter resentment or the inability to acknowledge our humanity?” Dyson asked, adding that “all [DEI] means is that we want people who have historically been marginalized to be invited into the room.”
Dyson had a lot to say about the subject of democracy, having recently written about it in his latest book, titled Represent: The Unfinished Fight for the Vote.
“Democracy has to be safe for all of us or it can never be safe for any of us,” Dyson said. “But we will never have serious and sustained democracy until we’re willing to commit ourselves to the proposition that all should benefit from it.”
Dyson advised the audience to keep on fighting for democracy despite its many barriers.
“[We’re] all in this thing together. Don’t be Black and be homophobic. Don’t be [a] poor white and be transphobic. Don’t be transphobic or be racist. … We together must constitute this great union of citizens … whose ability to establish the parameters of our possibility are reinforced when we invite more people into our circles and not less,” he said.
“So let’s stop the arguments that are supercilious and silly, and let’s figure out ways to increase rather than decrease the prospect of freedom and emancipation, justice and democracy, for always,” Dyson concluded.
The UT Martin Civil Rights Conference will continue for the remainder of February, celebrating Black History Month and marginalized people’s fights for freedom and justice.
