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Arrillaga Speaker Dr. Joy DeGruy
ARRILLAGA SPEAKER
Students Saayili Budhiraja ’21, Aramis Mendoza ’21, and Amanda Clarisse Khu ’21 introduce Dr. Joy DeGruy to Castilleja students, faculty and staff.
Hidden in Plain Sight
DR. JOY DEGRUY JOINS CASTILLEJA STUDENTS AS OUR 2021 ARRILLAGA SPEAKER
While introducing this year’s Arrillaga Family Speaker, Aramis Mendoza ’21 recalled how inspired she felt after first hearing Dr. Joy DeGruy speak at the 2019 Student Diversity Leadership Conference. “I can tell you truthfully that every person in that room emerged from Dr. DeGruy’s talk enlightened by her remarkable work on Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, inspired to engage with multiple histories, and eager to learn from one another.” After returning from that conference, Saayili Budhiraja ’21, Amanda Clarisse Khu ’21, and Aramis submitted a proposal to invite Dr. DeGruy to speak to the entire Castilleja community.
Thanks to the generosity of the Arrillaga family, that hope became a reality this February, and students, parents, guardians, employees, and alumnae families gathered for an informative conversation about our country’s legacy of racism. Living in a country founded on the principles of freedom and democracy, knowing that racism is inherent in every institution and system in our country, including education, medicine, government, science, and media, creates cognitive dissonance.
As an educator, social worker, and author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing, Dr. DeGruy’s research focuses on the intersection of racism, trauma, violence, and American chattel slavery. Sharing many stories reflecting the ways that White people have distorted the historical record, she introduced that deeper truths about centuries of injustice and racism are often hidden in plain sight. For example:
DINKNESH: The oldest human remains from Ethiopia were originally called Dinknesh, meaning “thou art wonderful.” Rather than recognizing the African origin of human life, the name was anglicized to Lucy.
STATUE OF LIBERTY: In the original designs by Frédéric Bartholdi, the Statue of Liberty held broken shackles in her left hand to represent the bondage and freedom of enslaved people. The United States insisted that the shackles be hidden at her feet, out of view, and her left hand now holds a rectangular object, that is widely believed to be a tablet.
—W.E.B. DU BOIS
It was W.E.B. Du Bois who observed that by distorting facts, “history loses its value as an incentive and example; it paints perfect men and noble nations, but it does not tell the truth.” Dr. DeGruy’s presentation encouraged our community to engage with our Antiracism Competencies, especially Sitting with Dissonance and Valuing Competing Narratives. As with previous Arrillaga speakers, Dr. DeGruy left the Castilleja community with questions and themes we will continue to learn from and revisit for years to come.
