Identity Matters Tags
I posted this in our facebook group but I wanted the profs to be able to contribute to conversation:
I was reading: http://blackatbrynmawr.blogs.brynmawr.edu/black-at-bryn.../
And a few things in emma's post really stood out to me. She writes:
"After taking the tour, I sent a page-long email to the Pensby Center, our campus diversity office, about my experience. On my mind at the time was the potential for a translation of the UNC tour to create conversation about spaces on campus that are unknowingly fraught with racial tension on Bryn Mawr’s campus. I wrote:
“Professor McMillan took us on a brilliant and moving historical tour of the campus that addressed UNC’s interactions with black people dating all the way back to slavery. Because UNC’s history is deeply entrenched with slavery, they have wounds surrounding on-campus campus race-relations that run deep. However Professor McMillan’s tour not only drew out the individual stories of black people on UNC’s campus that have been negative or forgotten, he also brought their legacies in graceful conversation with the campus today. While the tour began at the landmark statue of ‘The Civil War Soldier,’ an imposing piece facing fearlessly towards the North, he ended with a discussion of black people on UNC’s campus such as Zora Neale Hurston who fought tirelessly and refused to let racist attitudes dictate their experiences, ultimately creating the UNC that stands today.
… I was thinking of doing some research in special collections this fall to see if I could orchestrate a similar tour on Bryn Mawr’s campus. The Black and Blue tour really resonated with me for the reason that it allowed me to both understand some of the harsher realities of UNC’s past as an academic institution, but also made me proud of just how far it has come since — I can only imagine how powerful this could be at Bryn Mawr.”
At the end of the letter I asked for the Pensby Center to give me guidance on next steps: what people on campus I should contact, what resources I should tap into, etc. A few days later, I received a one line reply that noncommittally suggested a meeting in the Fall. I found myself discouraged. I didn’t think that the intent of the Pensby Center’s reply was to brush me off, but I felt as if my idea was trivialized. Without knowledge of the resources I would need to complete the project and uncertainty about the support I would receive, I didn’t follow through with the idea at the end of the summer break.
This project has already been a tremendous undertaking, we are only halfway through the Spring semester and so many people have been imperative to the continuation and creation of the project. There are many processes and details that I most likely would not have had access to as just one undergraduate student. If it hadn’t been for the now infamous “Confederate flag” incident on campus, this project would most likely never materialized — the idea would have been long lost in a short email exchange in-between academic terms. After the incident on campus and the reactions among the college community, I once again thought about my idea for a tour — this time I knew I had to market my idea to the right audience. The tour is first and foremost an opportunity for the re-remembering of lost histories and a potential space for reflection among the campus community. After the events on campus, I reached out to President Cassidy with the idea. After receiving an almost instantaneous email of tremendous support, I was able to forward her email and my idea to faculty and staff members who took the idea seriously. Within a week, we had arranged a meeting among a number of our community members. Out of this experience, I learned just how difficult it can be to find agency for these forgotten histories. It is too easy to only focus on these histories in times of institutional and social distress."
I was thinking about the activity we did about the silent conversations outside in the circle. I was thinking maybe we could do something similar if we host something during this day? Those questions about race at BMC were pretty important. I remember thinking that day outside our listening conversations would sort of be like that. The work we did about race at BMC was really deep and I think we could revisit some of that and bring that to the community. I know that the symbols part of my group's 360 workshop was also really productive. I think the silent questions and access to quick info about racial history at bmc, maybe presentation boards? A sort of silent gallery about what we've learned? On facebook in response to the President's office statement that didnt use the word "race" once in the explanation of the "Community Learning Day" Grace wrote: I don't even know if they're trying to sweep it under the rug. I think they're just clueless. How did this day get abstracted on so many levels? Some of the sessions aren't even about race. Moreover, this event grew out of community conversations in response to a specifically anti-Black racist incident, and it's not that racism against other marginalized groups doesn't deserve space to be addressed, but it's totally possible to go to this event and sidestep talking about anti-Black racism entirely.
I think we could help hold the administration accountable? Just help or supplement with the work they're doing that we also studied? Thoughts?