Kept down by menial tasks? Black scholars and the ‘neoplantation’

Really? If academics of any given ethnicity/gender were NOT being appointed to service committees, no doubt the author would be at the front of the line shouting "racism" or "sexism" (provided his ethnicity or gender was the one being underrepresented). So now that universities are doing the right thing by making diverse appointments to their committees, he's complaining (like every academic who gets tapped to sit on a few committees) that it's eating into research time. Sure it does. It's the same for all of us: black, white or candy-striped, male, female or 'other' of your choice. We all have to juggle teaching, admin, and research to get everything done and get home nights. If you want to whine, pick a sensible reason: perhaps your university is short on administrators and expects too much from academics, maybe there are just too many service committees and they could be organisated more efficiently. Look for solutions, don't merely moan about something you cannot change but find something that you can change. Fix problems, not blame.