Exclusion and Extraction - Situating Spirit Murdering in Community Colleges - Journal of Educational Foundations Vol. 34 No. 1 (2021)

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dabgoudw

Black, Indigenous, and other students of color (BIPOC) increasingly choose community colleges, yet the article argues these institutions have long functioned as exclusionary spaces that extract labor while “murdering” students’ spirits. Centered on a mid-sized urban community college in Chicago, the paper traces historical and contemporary narratives of exclusion and extraction. It concludes with a call for policymakers and practitioners to adopt a more liberatory hidden curriculum and to build relationships that foster a community-driven ecosystem of teaching and learning.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Community college history and racial demographics

Campus policing and systemic harm

Spirit-murdering and the hidden curriculum

Conclusion and call to action

Exclusion and Extraction Situating Spirit Murdering in Community Colleges Asif Wilson The Journal of Educational Foundations Vol. 34, No. 1 2021, pp. 47-67 Copyright 2021 by Caddo Gap Press Abstract Black, Indigenous, and other students of color (BIPOC) are selecting to attend community colleges more than any other post-secondary school setting. However as the author argues, community colleges have, since their inception, served as exclusionary spaces for labor extraction that murders the spirits of BIPOC students. This article explores spirit murdering at a mid-sized urban community college in Chicago. The author presents historical and contemporary narratives of community colleges as sites of extraction and exclusion. The article ends with a call for community college policymakers and practitioners to engage ina more liberatory hidden curriculum, creating and maintaining more co-conspiring relationships and a more community-driven ecosystem of teaching and learning. Keywords: community college research, spirit murdering, hidden curriculum, equity Introduction Joliet Junior College (JJC) is located roughly 40 miles southwest of Chicago and is known to be the first community college in the United States. Joliet Junior College started as an exclusively white institution but has seen a shift in racial demographics over the past 120 years. In the fall of 2019, JJC enrolled over 14,000 students. Of those, 55 percent were white, 29 percent were Latinx Hispanic, 10 percent Black, and three percent Asian (Joliet Junior College, 2020) . In 1981 the JJC Police Department was established, and in 2003 they were authorized to become a “fully armed police agency”(Joliet Asif Wilson is Dean of Instruction in the Office of Academic Affairs of Harold Washington College, Chicago, Illinois. E-mail [address: awilson243@ccc.edu](address: awilson243@ccc.edu) Junior College, 2019) . The department’s website boasts a staff of 15 police officers, campus safety officers, a Bike/ATV unit, and a Special Weapons and Tactical (SWAT) Team (Joliet Junior College, 2019) . During a training in 2019, then police chief Pete Comanda urged other officers to hang a Black officer from a tree (Fabbre, 2020) . According to a memo written by campus administration, Comanda was given a written warning and placed on a performance improvement plan for“racially-based statements that are in conflict with the college’s position on diversity, equity, and inclusion”(Fabbre, 2020) . Students atthe community college organizedinresponsetothe decision not to fire Comanda. They spoke out publicly, drawing into question the campus’s commitment to students of color. Several student organizations spoke out during a Board of Trustees meeting. One student said, “We all want to be safe here and right now we don’t feel that”(Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees, 2020, p. 2) . A board member followed the students saying,“I don’t want this overt incident to be seen as an isolated occurrence but more so an indication of the more systemic problem that we are facing”(Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees, 2020, p. 4) . The statements from that evening tell a story of pain, fear, but also one of illumination. They highlight the structures of oppression existent on the college’s campus that go beyond one racist cop. The actions of the police commander, and other forms of overt racism, were explicit in their harm. The words were clearly bound to a history of policing and racial violence. In this case, the harm was related to physical violence. The systemic problem mentioned by the Board member refers to a different type of violence. This harm is to the spirit, the source of Black people’s power stored in the memories of their souls (Dubois, 1904) . Black students, and other students of color, enter community colleges with aspirations of access and opportunity but may be confronted with spiritual assaults that not only prevent their academic success, but also m

FAQs

What does the article mean by “spirit murdering” in community colleges?

It describes spiritual harm to students of color that undermines agency, histories, and humanity, preventing academic success. The author links this harm to racism reproduced through campus structures beyond individual misconduct.

How does the article use the Chicago community college case?

It examines historical and contemporary narratives at a mid-sized urban community college in Chicago. The discussion centers on exclusion and extraction, including how policing and administrative responses affected students.

Which frameworks and research areas does the author draw on?

The article interweaves Critical Race Theory, scholarship on hidden curriculum, studies documenting implicit racism in community colleges, and the author’s own experiences as an administrator.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dabgoudw