Saida Grundy, a Boston University assistant professor, called property a racist construct and urged people to refrain from judging the actions of minority communities to events such as the death of George Floyd.
In a video posted by the University, Grundy says that the looting during the riots that followed the George Floyd case is similar to Black Americans “looting themselves” out of the place of being slaves. The video was produced to mark the second anniversary of Floyd’s death.
“We hear President Biden say, you know, I understand your frustrations but don’t destroy property,” Grundy said in the University’s video. “Well, when you say that to Black people who historically have been property, one of our greatest weapons against injustice was the looting of ourselves as property from the system of slavery.”
“And what we see in communities is they’re reacting to the very racism of what we call property,” Grundy added.
“I think it's very important for people who see reactions in communities not to judge or make assumptions about what is good and not good reactions. And not actually re-victimize communities by saying there's an acceptable and not acceptable way to react.”— @BU_CAS's Saida Grundy pic.twitter.com/FK85qVF3Xf
— Boston University (@BU_Tweets) May 25, 2022
Grundy said that by saying there is an acceptable way or an unacceptable way to respond to tragedy essentially “re-victimizes” people of color in communities were these events take place.
According to Boston University, Grundy is a “feminist sociologist of race & ethnicity” who covers women’s and gender studies, sociology, and African-American studies.
The 2020 George Floyd riots caused over one billion dollars in damages in cities across America in 2020.
