Princeton Professor Eddie Glaude Jr: I Don't Know How America Will Survive. Greed, Racism And Selfishness Is Hollowing It Out. Photo credit: Princeton University, https://admission.princeton.edu/academics/faculty-profiles/eddie-s-glaude-jr
Respected Princeton University Professor Eddie Glaude Jr. isn’t too optimistic about the current state of the U.S or its future.
“I don’t know how this country is going to survive. Greed, racism, and selfishness are hollowing it out,” Glaude tweeted Thursday.
Glaude is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies at Princeton, where he chairs the Center for African American Studies and the Department of African American Studies.
He has written well-known books including “Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul” and “In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America.”
This isn’t the first time Glaude has commented about the U.S. and racism. In 2019, he commented on white supremacy following an Aug. 3 mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. The gunman allegedly posted an online rant using anti-immigrant and racist language that mirrored President Donald Trump’s rhetoric before shooting and killing 23 people and injuring 23 others at a Walmart store.
Glaude made the case for a conversation about white supremacy in America that goes beyond Trump.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Glaude said, “The country has been playing politics for a long time on this hatred. We know this. It’s easy for us to place it all on Donald Trump’s shoulders … It’s easy for us to place El Paso on his shoulders. This is us. And if we’re going to get past this, we can’t blame it on him. He’s a manifestation of the ugliness that’s in us.”
Either “we’re going to change” or “we’re going to do this again and again,” Glaude said.
He ended the interview without much hope of white America changing. “Lord help us,” he said.
Glaude is the former president of the American Academy of Religion. His books on religion and philosophy include “An Uncommon Faith: A Pragmatic Approach to the Study of African American Religion”; “African American Religion: A Very Short Introduction and Exodus! Religion”; and “Race and Nation in Early 19th Century Black America.”
Glaude’s most recent book, “Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own,” was published in 2020.
A Morehouse University graduate, Glaude left his home in Moss Point, Mississippi, at age 16 to begin studies at the HBCU. He holds a master’s degree in African American studies from Temple University and a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton. His teaching career began at Bowdoin College.
Many on Twitter seem to agree with Glaude’s tweet.
“You nailed it. What we have is a serious spiritual problem. The only solution is repentance,” John murray @john_holiness tweeted.
“Greed, racism, and selfishness have always been there” Len Fosberg tweeted @lenfos1. “What’s new is that the GOP is no longer afraid to openly adopt these things as their POLICY.”
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Photo credit: Princeton University, https://admission.princeton.edu/academics/faculty-profiles/eddie-s-glaude-jr
