The University of Pennsylvania Misuses Dead & Unidentified Black Child For “Educational” Purposes
No. Just No. In fact, H*ll No!
According to the University of Pennsylvania (a school I used to want to go to when I was younger) and certain faculty, it okay to utilize the remains of Black children — killed in police bombings for strictly educational purposes. Disclaimer: As long as nobody knows about it. But they’ve been EXPOSED.
As I started reading the article, the title (Ivy League college apologizes for using bones of Black children in course) threw me off, and I thought to myself maybe this isn’t as bad as it seems, but then I continued reading the article and quickly realized the title of the article did not do justice to the crime committed (note to Guardian — don’t diminish what took place here).
Here Are A Couple of WTF Contextual Details:
- “The physical remains of one of the children who were killed in the bombing of the Move black liberation organization in Philadelphia in May 1985 have been in the anthropological collections of the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton for the past 36 years [and utilized in case studies and online courses].”
- “The institutions have held on to the heavily burned fragments, and since 2019 have been deploying them for teaching purposes without the permission of the deceased’s living parents. The remains have never positively been identified, but almost certainly belong to one of the older Move girls who died in the inferno — 14-year-old Tree Africa and Delisha Africa, who was 12.”
- “A Penn anthropologist acquired the remains after being asked to provide specialist advice to the Philadelphia medical examiner in an attempt to identify the fragments. The academic then kept possession of the bones, and in 2001 took them with him when he transferred to Princeton.”
The “Heartfelt” Apology From UPenn
“The Penn Museum and the University of Pennsylvania apologize to the Africa family and the members of our community for allowing human remains recovered from the MOVE house to be used for research and teaching, and for retaining the remains for far too long.
The Museum has promised to reassess our practices of collecting, stewarding, displaying, and researching human remains, and we are committed to this promise. It is now obvious, however, that this reassessment must also include how human remains are used in teaching as well as a comprehensive review of the holdings and collection practices of our Physical Anthropology section.” — The University of Pennsylvania & Faculty
We all make mistakes in life, but some mistakes should never be made. An apology is not enough to rectify this kind of behavior.
Note to The University of Pennsylvania: You all got Cersei beat — immeasurably. Shame. Shame. Shame
Truth: Black People Often Hold Little Value
I know most people don’t want to face this truth. I know many people will say within their group of people, they also hold little value, but this article isn’t about you. If you want to make it about you, go write an article on your experience, and tag me, so I can read it and develop empathy for your group of people. But don’t make this moment about you.
The problem that Black people often hold little value in society and are not seen as human beings is more than evident.
Bombed, burned, unidentified, Black, & exploited — as a child (not that being an adult condones this behavior) might I add. Not a surprising combination for a Black person in America. But this combination does justify the fact that many Black people have been and are mistreated without a bat of an eye.
I wonder: why did it take this issue years to get addressed?
Other Issues That Took FOREVER To Accomplish For Black People:
- The abolition of slavery
- The right to vote
- Desegregation (this is kind of debatable still)
- Interracial marriage
- Anti-Lynching laws (still in progress)
- The opportunity to be seen as a human being
Final Thoughts
I’m still flabbergasted that this actually happened. I try not to read the news much because of sh*t like this, but when I do see something like this, I have to speak on it because this kind of behavior is not okay, and it never will be. Hopefully, there will be legal action taken. I mean there is a family out there that was stripped of the opportunity to find and identify their deceased child; their child was exploited (for “educational purposes”) decades-long by a wealthy Ivy League school. Any loving parent should be able to empathize with this situation no matter the color of the child.
Destiny S. Harris is a writer, poet, entrepreneur, teacher, and techie who offers free books daily on amazon. Destiny obtained three degrees in political science, psychology, and women’s studies. Follow her on Instagram, Facebook, or @ destinyh.com
