Halloween, a day when native cultures are far too often appropriated by American citizens as “costume.” It seems fitting, then, that we might reflect back on an event that took place at UVM on October 9th, Indigenous People’s Day, when five members of the Wabunowin-Dawn Society came to UVM’s Fleming Museum to participate in a panel on Decolonization. The event was organized to underscore the importance of recognizing Indigenous voices in Vermont and at large, and specifically to advocate for the official replacement of Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day. While Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin released proclamations of said replacement in both 2016 and 2017, the change is not yet official.
During the social justice rally on September 25th, the chant “we’ll be back” erupted along the President’s wing packed with students at an impromptu sit in when Vice President for Executive Operations Gary Derr asked for more time to respond to the demands presented to him. The message was clear: addressing racism at UVM cannot wait, and there are students, faculty and staff who will not remain silent. The rally attracted media attention from the Burlington Free Press and USA Today, but the administration has been slow to provide a substantive and adequate response. The demands ranged from increased funding for identity based centers, to rigorous diversity trainings for all staff and faculty, to renovation of UVM’s Diversity courses, to renaming the Perkins building and the Bailey Howe Library. Over a month has passed since that initial rally, and the conversation is far from silenced. Though the administration has not been especially cooperative and the President’s response to the demands was weak at best, they were discussed at length in a forum the following weekend which provided students with opportunities to share their experiences and ideas about the demands with a number of Deans and other administrators who also attended. On Indigenous People’s Day, a well attended event about Decolonization was organized in collaboration with the Wabunowin Dawn Society. Tonight, L/L 216 was packed with a diverse crowd of students, faculty, staff, and administrators for a student led teach in about the racial justice demands. The collaborative atmosphere generated by articulate explanation of the revised demands by members of the coalition of student leaders and candid feedback from participants fuelled a sense of progress and hope that reverberated throughout the room. With representatives from United Academics, Greek Life leaders, and a plethora of departments, clubs, and organizations across campus, the teach in was an affirmation of the widespread support for addressing the gaping discrepancy between UVM’s stated values about diversity and inclusion and the lived experiences of students with marginalized identities across campus. Bureaucratic red tape and complex systems of power and privilege that diffuse responsibility for continued racism and injustice at UVM are no small hurdle to effectively implementing the demands discussed at the teach in tonight. For the group gathered in L/L tonight, however, these obstacles only galvanize further collaboration, action, research and increase our resilience. In the words of senior Jordan Quiles, a member of the Black Student Union, “Things have progressed to a state where I feel a lot better...We can move forward on the very difficult task of triangulating these demands into actionable strategy.” At 2p.m. Monday, September 25th, students began to gather around the Davis Center flagpole to prepare to march. Opening remarks from student leaders and rally organizers were both reflective and energizing in tone; Harmony Edosomwan, Blaise Cureg, Starr Cobb, Angelica Crespo, and Amanda Martinez each spoke about their experiences of racism on campus as catalysts for the march itself, underscoring that said experiences are not new in any sense, and their effects are felt in some way by all students of color across the board.
As Harmony and others spoke on last September’s hate crime (the stealing of the Black Lives Matter flag) and the police department’s unwillingness to recognize it as such, energy in the crowd began to build around one of the rally’s central questions: “do our lives matter on this campus?” She then went on to explain how the afternoon’s march would work -- that we would all march across campus down to the Waterman Building, stop outside to regroup before “occupying” the building’s main floor, peacefully enter to deliver the list of student demands to Tom Sullivan, then move outside again to sing “We Shall Overcome” together. With this school year officially over, I wanted to take a moment to look back at all that the BSU has accomplished this year. The many collaborations and events that happened this year were a result of the hard work of many people and brought our community together. A special shoutout to Ivonne Headley, Brianna DaSilva, Gabriel Martin-Scruse, Nkosi Edwards and Lule Aden for all the incredible work they did this year as members of the executive board; words cannot express how grateful I feel to have had the honor of working with y'all this year.
However, an exec board without members is like pulling an all nighter without coffee; this year's BSU members truly made the organization shine! Though attendance wasn't always that high at meetings, the passion, vision and dedication of many new members and returning ones as well were behind every successful event this year. In particular, I would like to recognize Harmony Edosamam, the incoming President on next year's executive board, for her vision of transforming BSU into an advocacy based organization for black people and people of color at UVM and across Vermont. Along with EJ Ebaro-Best and Teya Hamilton, she developed a plan for Unifying Black Vermont and working with organizations across the state to effectively advocate for racial justice. With Daneil Whyte as Publicist (already stepping up the game with a BSU snapchat), Alexa Herrera as Community Outreach Coordinator, and Gabriel Martin-Scruse and myself returning as Vice President and Treasurer, respectively, it is sure to be another fantastic year! Below is a list of this year's collaborations and events (be sure to comment about which you liked best) and a few photos from the last meeting and the End of the year MCSC Celebration. Wishing you all a joyful and rejuvenating, Sonya P.S. If you haven't already seen Meghan and Nishani's film, it's on the front page of our website. Definitely check it out and share it with everyone you know! BSU EVENTS AND COLLABORATIONS 2016-2017 Fall Semester •Soul Food Social - September •Apple picking field trip for SFS •Attended Zumba class with Alianza Latinx - Sep/Oct •Crazy 80’s Halloween Party collab with UPB - October •Invited Real Food Revolution to speak at general body meeting/helped with Food Day - November •Resume Building Workshop collab with Career Center and Alianza Latinx - November •Collaboration with WOC and Screened the Documentary 13th and held discussion - Nov •Collab with Feel Good Grilled Cheese - Nov/Dec •Apple Picking - Sept •Went to Middlebury to see Shaun King - Nov •Talent Show collaboration with Campus Programs - 5th Spring Semester •MLK Gallery Walk - January •4 Part Screening & Discussion of Hidden Colors - Feb •Mac n cheese fundraiser - Feb •Art exhibition - Feb •Fashion Show -Feb •Teen night with DREAM - April •Carnival event in collaboration with VSTEP, Campus Programs and Caribbean House - April •End of Year MCSC Celebration - May Despite the snowstorm that hit Vermont last night, it really is April! And that means Caribbean Carnival is just around the corner. This year, Black Student Union (BSU), Caribbean House and Vermont Students Towards Environmental Protection (VSTEP) are collaborating to make Caribbean House's annual Carnival event a fundraiser for Three Little Flowers, a nonprofit that provides financial, educational and technical assistance to the San Twa Ti Fle primary school in Haiti. San Twa Ti Fle focuses on empowering young students to learn in their home language, Haitian Creole, and the school was severely impacted by Hurricane Matthew, an environmental disaster with immense environmental justice implications. Carnival will take place on April 21st, and thus will be a culminating event for Earth Week; the intersection of social and environmental justice issues that characterize the challenges faced by the San Twa Ti Fle school are exactly the kind of problems that must be centered in the modern environmental movement. The unprecedented partnership between BSU and VSTEP is a step towards collaboration amongst environmental and racial justice groups on campus. Between professional DJ's, costumes, food from the Jamaican Supreme Food Truck, and a student dance performance, Caribbean Carnival 2017 is sure to be a night to be remembered. The event will take place on Friday, April 21st, from 9pm-2am at the North End Studios in Downtown Burlington. All proceeds from ticket sales will go directly to support Three Little Flowers. Additionally, we will be hosting an online auction of prints from Carib Ibis, "small, proud, black-owned business locating in Washington, DC metropolitan area, specializing in unique art prints, apparel and jewelry inspired by the colorful, culturally-rich African-Diaspora" (Carib Ibis 2017, website). L/L Hall Council has generously donated $500 to purchase prints of paintings from Carib Ibis, which we will be auctioning online for the month of April. The auction will be live at 11:00 PM tonight (April 1st). Again, all proceeds will go directly to Three Little Flowers. Please help spread the word! Black History Month ended just ten days ago, and spring break is already upon us, but as I look back on the first half of this semester, I am not satisfied to rush forward without looking back and appreciating the richness of this month's Black History Month at the University of Vermont. Between film screenings, lectures and the Fashion Show, it was a month full of learning, solidarity building and empowerment, but the story is more complex than that. When the Vice President of the United States of America commemorates Black History Month with a Twitter shoutout to Abraham Lincoln, stories that glorify the successes and smooth over the rest are insufficient.
We live in an era of alternative facts, where politicians shape media to support their claims and it is increasingly difficult to know what the truth is. But as anyone with even the slightest exposure to Black History can well attest, lies, manipulation and power abuse are by no means an unfamiliar struggle for people of African descent in the United States. Indeed, if the films we watched and the amazing lectures we had the privilege to host at the University of Vermont this month are anything to go by, the story of Black people in this country is shaped by oppression, exploitation, and brilliant resilience; a resilience that deserves more recognition than a handful of events during the shortest month of the year. All the same, BSU's film screenings, UPB's Screening and panel discussion of Do Not Resist, and Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor's talk #Black Lives Matter in the Trump Era offered myriad insights into the current political climate and the need to organize. Every general body meeting last month was transformed into a film screening, beginning with Hidden Colors 2 on February 7th. This film documented the history of Black people all over the world and exposed ways in which spiritual manipulation, medical genocide, the prison industrial complex, and economic exploitation are ongoing wars against Black people. The film also detailed the connections between Black people and world renowned inventions, artwork and even religious figures such as Buddha and Jesus, highlighting examples of fraud that have obscured the true prominence of people of African descent in shaping world history in positive ways. Additionally, the film complicated stories of people such as Gandhi who are revered and yet who were actually very racist towards Black people. The BSU members and enthusiastic visitors who stuck it through to the end of this two and a half hour film had a rich discussion afterwards, exploring the various conditions that had kept many of us from knowing anything about the historical events presented in the film and ruminating about possibilities for the future. Hidden Colors 3, which we watched the following week, further explores the foundations of white supremacy and how the construction of whiteness enabled (and continues to enable) white theft of land, ideas, wealth and social capital from people of color and Black people in particular. For example, the film explained the origins of hockey, a sport dating back to ancient Kement (Egypt) and brought to the Americas by the Colored Hockey League in the Maritimes of Nova Scotia, Canada. Divulging the existence of contemporary lynchings, systematic organ trafficking, and many other horrors of modern day white supremacy, this film further pushed the small crew of viewers to recognize the hidden stories of modern and historical genocide and generated rich discussion. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see Black Power Mixtape, because there was a Black Lives Matter Vermont emergency meeting that evening, but I hear it was a great film and discussion. The BLM VT meeting was also productive, resulting in a plan to research the effect of suspensions on student mental health, alternative disciplinary processes and confront the Burlington School Board about the disproportionate mistreatment and suspension faced by Black students at Burlington High School. Check out February's Newsletter for more updates about projects that Black Lives Matter Vermont is involved with, come to this Monday's Action meeting at 7PM at the Integrated Arts Academy (6 Archibald Street), or drop by the BLM Store at 325 Main St. in Winooski for some coffee and donuts, Black Lives Matter Apparel, local artwork and good conversation. The month's film screenings concluded with Soundtrack to a Revolution, a beautiful and relatively uplifting film about the role of song in the Civil Rights Movement. The film rounded out the month of film screenings beautifully, but with only a handful of viewers, it would be inaccurate to say that the critical stories these films shared were widely heard. That being said, Do Not Resist, a film about the militarization of the police that UPB put on, was very well attended. Furthermore, the panel discussion that followed, moderated by Professor Emily Bernard and consisting of Craig Atkinson (Director of Do Not Resist), Brandon del Pozo (Burlington Police Chief), and Ebony Nyoni (President of Black Lives Matter Vermont), was intense, relevant and meaningful, for the panelists actively engaged the issue of racism in Vermont law enforcement. Just before Black Orgasm: The Fashion Show, UVM had the great honor of hosting Keeanga-YamahttaTaylor for a talk entitled #Black Lives Matter in the Trump Era. UVM Women of Color Coalition's very own Angelica Hope-Crespo introduced Professor Taylor, and her talk was nothing short of brilliant. The clarity with which she addressed the underlying historical impetus for the current political climate and outlined the case for building a wide reaching socialist revolution is beyond my ability to capture, but luckily, her talk was recorded, so you can listen to it here! In short, February was a month full of opportunities for UVM students to learn about one of the most marginalized racial groups on our campus. However, the success of Black History Month 2017 will not be defined by the photos or the posts or the events that were hosted during the month of February, but by the actions that are carried out as a result of the learning that took place. Whether that action be joining Black Lives Matter Vermont, showing up to more events that support Black liberation, educating friends and family about what you have learned, or focusing your academic work on critical racial issues whenever possible, there are a myriad of ways in which UVM students can be engaged in making change. For white people like myself, it can be easy to feel like expressing support and learning is sufficient, but black liberation requires nothing short of a revolution. As Ta-Nehisi Coates eloquently articulates in his essay, The Case for Reparations, being a part of this revolution means that white people need to make substantial contributions of wealth, time and energy towards healing the wounds our people have inflicted on people of color, especially African Americans. From joining The Safety Pin Box network or making an effort to engage racist relatives in critical dialogue, there are countless ways in which white people can be effective accomplices in the struggle against racism; just as the celebration of Black History can't be constrained to the month of February, white engagement in anti-racism must be sustained, consistent and persistent even when we make mistakes and hurt the people we love. Overcoming white fragility is not only possible, but empowering. In the end, we all have a lot to gain from manifesting the true breadth and depth of our humanity regardless of color, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religion or any of the other identities that have been used to divide, exploit and oppress. A week ago today, the Black Student Union premiered Black Orgasm: The Fashion Show. This year we had the honor of showcasing designs from two Black owned companies based out of NYC: Attaria NYC and Mario and Lee. For the first time in the history of BSU Fashion Shows, every piece was designer. JC Penny generously sponsored by lending our models jewelry, shoes and accessories for the duration of the show, but all the clothing was straight from New York. Chinasa and Jason from Attaria NYC outfitted half the scenes while Lionel and Adam from Mario and Lee covered the rest. And I daresay the results were stunning. Twenty models, all students of color from UVM and Champlain College rocked their outfits with the kind of confidence only weeks of dedicated rehearsal can produce, and if the enthusiasm of the crowd says anything about their performance, it was a successful show indeed.
Between the scenes, Antwoine Roper and Rob Parris engaged the audience in candid spoken word about diving deep into the struggles of oppression, family dynamics and religion. Antwoine traveled from Georgia to share his poetry, while Rob Parris is the former President of the UVM Black Student Union and a senior at the University of Vermont. Later in the show, BSU Publicist Nkosi Edwards and Max McCurdy took the stage spitting rhymes. Backed up by DJ and BSU Vice President Gabriel Martin-Scruse, the duo filled the room with their passion and joy as they told stories through music. BSU President Ivonne Headley and her sister Ivette directed the whole event as MC's, guiding the audience through every moment with their flawless rapport. The entire event was suffused with the power of #blackgirlmagic and #blackboymagic, but we also got to see some physics magic orchestrated by our very own Damien Nieves. The cheers and the calls, the laughter and the active engagement of the audience brought the show to life, but behind the scenes, there were myriad contributors making sure everything fell in place. From the very beginning, Richie Eltosam and Rob Parris dreamt up the show's focus on highlighting black sexuality in a nuanced way. For almost a year, they have been designing the scenes, choosing the music and finessing the finer details of the event as artistic directors. Ivonne Headley was also intricately involved in all aspects of the show and Morandah Garrett from Champlain College served as an incredible coach for the models, helping to run rehearsals nearly every Sunday for the last month and a half. JC Penny and our designers, performers, numerous photographers from the Cynic and beyond, the Davis Center staff, and of course, our brilliant models were all critical in making the show a success, but behind all this, another woman was working magic. BSU Treasurer Brianna DaSilva orchestrated the complicated process of sorting out travel logistics for the designers and performers and organizing ticket sales, not to mention running backstage during the show itself. Her hard work is the least glamorous of any part of running the show, but absolutely indispensable. Without her dedication, and the hard work of everyone involved, the show could never have expressed the depth of strength, power and beauty in the people of color at UVM, especially Black students, that was so poignantly conveyed in this year's exceptional fashion show. A week later, I am still humbled by the hard work everyone involved poured into this show; it was by every means a night to be remembered. If you would like to see more photos from the show, you can find them on UVM's Black Student Union Facebook page. I will also be posting a short film in the next few weeks, and the UVM Cynic did a feature article on the event if you're interested in more details. With the school year officially over, I wanted to take a moment to look back and appreciate everything that the Black Student Union has accomplished this year. From collaborations to events to new partnerships, it was a full and exciting year. Below is a list of all the events and collaborations of this year, but it is not the number of events nor the recognition that BSU received this year (the exec board team received the Roger Summers award at the MCSC Banquet this spring) that is cause for celebration. Rather, it is the continued engagement and hard work of everyone in the BSU Community that truly made this year a success. A special shout out to Ivonne Headley, Brianna DaSilva, Gabriel Martin-Scruse, Nkosi Edwards and Lule Aden for all their contributions this year; it was an immense honor to serve on the exec board with y'all this year and I've learned more from each of you than I can ever express in words.
That being said, an exec board without members is like pulling an all nighter without coffee; this year's members were awesome. Though numbers weren't always that high at general body meetings, the enthusiasm and passion with which new members and outgoing seniors alike engaged in the BSU this year made everything possible. Harmony Edosamam, the incoming President for next year, has been especially inspiring in her vision for transforming BSU into an advocacy organization for black students and people of color at UVM and across Vermont. With Daneil Whyte as Publicist (who's already gotten the ball rolling with a BSU snapchat), Alexa Herrera as Community Outreach Coordinator and Gabriel Martin-Scruse and myself returning as Vice President and Treasurer, respectively, it is sure to be another fantastic year. Wishing you all a peaceful, rejuvenating and meaningful summer, Sonya P.S. If you haven't already seen Meghan and Nishani's film, it is on the front page of our website. Definitely check it out and share it with everyone you know! BSU EVENTS AND COLLABORATIONS 2016-2017 Fall Semester •Soul Food Social - September •Apple picking field trip for SFS •Attended Zumba class with Alianza Latinx - Sep/Oct •Crazy 80’s Halloween Party collab with UPB - October •Invited Real Food Revolution to speak at general body meeting/helped with Food Day - November •Resume Building Workshop collab with Career Center and Alianza Latinx - November •Collaboration with WOC and Screened the Documentary 13th and held discussion - Nov •Collab with Feel Good Grilled Cheese - Nov/Dec •Apple Picking - Sept •Went to Middlebury to see Shaun King - Nov •Talent Show collaboration with Campus Programs - 5th Spring Semester •MLK Gallery Walk - January •4 Part Screening & Discussion of Hidden Colors - Feb •Mac n cheese fundraiser - Feb •Art exhibition - Feb •Fashion Show -Feb •Teen night with DREAM - April •Carnival event in collaboration with VSTEP, Campus Programs and Caribbean House - April •End of year MCSC Celebration - May |