To Be Equal: Hostile takeover of TSU is blaming the victim of Tennessee’s 30-year crime spree

(TriceEdneyWire.com)—“By underfunding public HBCUs and denying the value of Black students on non-HBCU campuses, these extremists are making very clear the kinds of students they do and don’t want to succeed. & They also are the same ones waging war on the teaching of our nation’s full history. But if we studied that history they seek to quash, we would know that the news out of Tennessee is just the latest example of conservatives rejecting the notion that Black people possess the capacity for self-governance.”& – Gevin Reynolds It’s a familiar pattern in right-wing political manipulation: & Sabotage an institution. Point to the resulting damage as evidence of the institution’s ineffectiveness. Use the manufactured evidence to subvert the institution. That’s what’s at play in Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s& hostile takeover& of Tennessee State University. Over the last three decades, the state of Tennessee has shortchanged TSU by a staggering $2.1 billion, according to a federal study. Unsurprisingly, TSU has faced challenges in maintaining financial stability. & But instead of responding rationally by honoring its legal obligation to equitably fund the university, the state has chosen to dissolve the state’s board of trustees. It’s hard to find a more blatant example...