Professor claims property is racist, excuses property destruction as 'reacting' to racism
BOSTON (TND) — Property is racist, and the Black Lives Matter riots following the death of George Floyd are ultimately excusable, according to an assistant professor at Boston University.
Saida Grundy, an associate professor at Boston University's Department of Sociology & Program in African American Studies, was one of the featured "members of the BU community" in a Twitter thread posted on Wednesday, the two-year anniversary of Floyd's death.
If we're going to talk about George Floyd and really understand it, then we need to understand community reactions to it," Grundy says in a video featured in BU's Twitter thread.
And we often hear politicians, we hear civic leaders from inside Black communities and from outside of them as well... we hear President Biden say, 'Y'know I understand your frustration, but don't destroy property,'" Grundy continues in the video. "Well, when you say that to Black people, who historically have been property, one of our greatest weapons was the looting of ourselves as property from the system of slavery. And what we see in communities is they are reacting to the very racism of what we call property.
Floyd was murdered in May 2020 by former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin when the officer kneeled on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes while three other officers and several witnesses watched. The altercation was caught on video and became a social media firestorm.
Chauvin was later convicted of murder and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Several riots broke out across America due to Floyd's death. Groups of rioters, including members of the Black Lives Matter movement, caused hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage in over 1,000 locations during that span of time, Fox News reports.
Grundy apparently considers the riots and property damage understandable. She even excuses the actions, asking Americans not to judge or make assumptions about those involved in the destruction.
I think it's really important for people who see reactions of communities to not judge and to not make assumptions about what is good and not good reactions and not actually re-victimize communities by saying there's an acceptable and a not acceptable way to react," Grundy says in her featured video. "Listen to them, and then we can say what these communities need.
The National Desk reached out to Grundy regarding her remarks, but she has yet to respond. Her statement will be added to this article if and when it is provided. Grundy's Twitter account is private at the moment.
Grundy has previously faced online backlash for comments she made about White people, according to a Boston Globe article.
In 2015, she reportedly tweeted “why is white america so reluctant to identify white college males as a problem population?” and “every MLK week i commit myself to not spending a dime in white-owned businesses. and every year i find it nearly impossible.”
Defenders and critics alike took to Twitter to discuss Grundy's tweets. Boston University's president at the time, Robert Brown, defended Grundy's right to express her opinions, but also expressed “concern and disappointment” about what she had to say, according to a 2015 CNN article.
“At Boston University, we acknowledge Dr. Grundy’s right to hold and express her opinions. Our community is composed of faculty, staff, and students who represent widely varying points of view on many sensitive issues,” Brown reportedly said.
“At the same time, we fully appreciate why many have reacted so strongly to her statements,” CNN says Brown continued in his statement. “Boston University does not condone racism or bigotry in any form, and we are committed to maintaining an educational environment that is free from bias, fully inclusive, and open to wide-ranging discussions. We are disappointed and concerned by statements that reduce individuals to stereotypes on the basis of a broad category such as sex, race, or ethnicity. I believe Dr. Grundy’s remarks fit this characterization.”
“I regret that my personal passion about issues surrounding these events led me to speak about them indelicately,” Grundy said in a statement about her 2015 comments, according to the Boston Globe. Grundy also reportedly added racial issues have become an "unavoidable topic" in America.
