Lanier read Harvard’s educational-mission defense as an argument for plunder

Evidence

We had agreed beforehand that I would not speak that day, so I had to hold my tongue. That was hard. I so badly wanted to ask, “Do you even understand what you are saying? You are making an argument for plunder. That your right to spin and tell Renty’s story is superior to mine and that my legacy and my Black ancestry do not matter. This is miseducation, colonization, and cultural appropriation at its worst! This is unethical stewardship!” — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 1188

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to the reparations line of thinking in the reader’s purpose — frames institutional museums’ ownership claims as a continued colonial holding.