Nikole Hannah-Jones was awarded tenure at UNC Chapel Hill last week, but has rejected the offer and decided to take a job at Howard University instead. She has released a statement explaining this decision, which is worth reading in full. The circumstances surrounding the process at UNC have still not been explained to her.
I also appreciated this op-ed by By Kmele Foster, David French, Jason Stanley and Thomas Chatterton Williams. It’s a powerful and clear articulation of why the anti-CRT laws are so antithetical to American principles.
There will always be disagreement about any nation’s history. The United States is no exception. If history is to judge the United States as exceptional, it is because we welcome such contestation in our public spaces as part of our unfolding national ethos. It is a violation of this commonly shared vision of America as a nation of free, vigorous and open debate to resort to the apparatus of the government to shut it down.