Black Graduate Students’ Counternarratives and Interrogations of a Hate Crime

Hate crimes across the country are becoming more prevalent, and there are growing concerns for higher education and college campuses. White supremacy has been noted as a potential driving force escalating hate and discrimination at disproportionate levels, especially for Black students on predominantly white campuses. This qualitative study described the murder of 2nd Lieutenant Richard Collins III by a white supremacist student, Sean Urbanski at a bus stop at the University of Maryland College Park. I used critical race theory in education and critical race methodology to analyze Black graduate students’ counternarratives and interrogations of a hate crime through semi-structured interviews. I described how the juxtaposition of this hate crime influenced campus and national conversations about Black students’ proximity to white supremacy. Lastly, participants’ counternarratives attested to widespread trauma, which adds a new layer to existing literature on Black graduate students’ experiences. Implications for this scholarship offer practice, policy, and research recommendations to eradicate hate crimes on college campuses.