14 episodes
Maladjusted Podcast Shara Jeyarajah
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- Education
America is in the throes of a national racial reckoning. In an era where people across the country have paused to examine the role that their systems play in perpetuating racism, Southern Methodist University is not exempt.
Shara Jeyarajah, an SMU Human Rights Fellow, explores the history of Southern Methodist University through a racial justice lens. From President R. Gerald Turner to students across Greek councils, Shara interviews SMU community members across races and generations to reflect on all that has changed since the era of desegregation-- and all that hasn't. Maladjusted doesn't shy away from the difficult conversations. For instance, what does the name of our university have to do with slavery? Why isn't Greek life as diverse as the rest of campus? What's the difference between the experiences of Black students in the 1960s versus the 2020s? Does SMU have a place in a truly antiracist society? Together, let's tell the truth about our history.
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Predominantly White
We've talked about SMU's past and present through a racial justice lens. Today, we focus on a liberated, antiracist future. What are we organizing towards? When we imagine Dr. King's Good Society, is SMU even there?
Reform versus abolition. In the system change, out of the system change, we're always in the system, make it so there's no system at all. Maladjusted has always served as a forum to discuss different social change theories. As abolition is a conversation largely taking place in the criminal legal system, Shara talks to Jim Walters, the Chief of SMU Police Department. She conducts a parallel interview with R. Gerald Turner, President of SMU. As we compare and contrast, Shara asks listeners to consider the applicability of abolition to Predominantly White Institutions of higher education. Hear additional comments from Angela Davis, a founding mother of the modern abolition movement.
Follow the link for an episode transcript and shownotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rS_BlMWw6N_8ZsvdmmOL-hrtSRJXIfe2pMJT70Ymc8Q/edit?usp=sharing -
Three Generations of Black Mustangs
Today's episode is just family-- a conversation between three generations of Black SMU students, that is. Rev. Stewart, an early graduate of color of Perkins School of Theology, talks about being Black at SMU in the late 1950s. Rev. Stewart talks about deliberately raising his daughter, Janet Stewart Caldwell, so that she would thrive in an environment like SMU, and she discusses the extent to which her parents' strategy reaped desired results. Then, hear Janet in dialogue with her daughters, Sparrow and Grace, about contemporary manifestations of racism at SMU.
Ultimately, Shara asks the Stewarts and the Caldwells: what does hope look like in this intergenerational context? How does it move from father to daughter, daughter to granddaughters?
Follow the link for an episode transcript and shownotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xqdIaAmuk2tYHKjtdSL4OuWJNL90eaeHHTIdiRYAt9I/edit -
No Justice, No Peace!
2020 was indescribable. And though it was only two years ago, we are running from our recent history.
That fateful Spring, a quick succession of police murders and white supremacist violence captured the nation's attention. In this episode of Maladjusted Podcast, hear testimonies from Black folks experiencing the reverberations of past movements-- and receiving an influx of labor from non-Black folks seeking to displace their guilt.
Black squares and brutality. Unity forums and demands lists. Together, let's remember what it felt like to navigate the confusion of Spring and Summer 2020. Then, let's examine the cycles of movement, labor, and bureaucracy that emerge when we compare Black student activism in 2020 to the BLAACS 1969 sit-in and #BlackAtSMU in 2015.
Follow the link for shownotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10JGKfPBoo2W4ec79qwo8yayhSppsyatOW0MFlnauASM/edit -
*RERELEASE* #BLAACS@SMU
Two Black student-led movements. Two lists presented to administrators with multiple overlapping demands. 46 years apart.
Anga Sanders talks about the Black League of Afro American and African College Students (BLAACS) and their ambitious sit-in in President Willis Tate’s office. Meanwhile, Layla Gulley and D’Marquis Allen talk about the #BlackAtSMU Movement that swept Twitter and campus in 2015. Each movement was so emblematic of their time.
What changed in the decades between movements? What didn’t?
Follow the link for a transcript and shownotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14RpIRS4-RtPDQdUy1QGhF_sIeZMG94rlzbXadMtwhf0/edit -
*RERELEASE* The Space Episode
No, not that kind of space.
In The Space Episode, we’re investigating the role of physical spaces dedicated to students of color. How did they used to function? If these spaces historically fostered safety, retention, and intercultural connection, why don’t they exist anymore?
But isn’t all of SMU technically dedicated to students of color— no less than it’s dedicated to white students? Student and alumni interviews demonstrate why that may not be true.
Follow the link for this episode's transcript and shownotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TMCX7U2kjUChM2t3zFEyTqXIZJ_XOBzrGRpbjkbyvPI/edit?usp=sharing -
*RERELEASE* Greek Life and the Good Society
Does Greek life belong in Dr. King’s “good society”?
Greek life is almost synonymous with social life at SMU. When nearly 43% of undergraduates identify with a Greek organization, it is critical to examine the racist origins of IFC and Panhellenic organizations.In conversation with students of different racial identities and Greek council affiliations,
Shara unpacks a persisting legacy of injustice. The episode ends with a discussion about reform versus abolition as potential solutions to systemic racism in Greek life.
Click here for show notes.