Written by Isaiah Young
As a black student at American university, I have seen a multitude of issues that affect people who look like me. “To be sold 54 prime Negros in Mary Gradon Center 2nd floor” I read on my phone screen, with a picture of a slave selling ad. I instantaneously felt a pit in my stomach; why was this happening here? Didn’t this school say they were inclusive? Don’t black lives matter? At the Black Lives Matter paneled talk on the 6th, Erika Totten, a BLM advocate here in D.C, asked a simple yet staggering question. Do Black Lives Matter At American University? Think. Breath. Ponder. Not a single person in the room said that they did. Not a single Faculty member. Not a single student. Not a single Ally.
“I don’t receive that”, Erika Totten said while she turned to the crowd. I thought about this quote for the entire time I was at this event. She explained this quote to be a message that black students shouldn’t let any form of racism get to them. Erika was one of many people to speak at the Black Lives Matter event last week. She goes on to explain that before the event, she had totally forgot her makeup. Some people didn’t get the significance of what that meant to her. She said this make up was to cover up her war wounds. War wounds from white supremacy. White. Supremacy. Along with her makeup she says that she always wears combat boots, because as a black person she’s always on edge, and never knows when she will have to fend for her life. She even went on to tell us about Deray, a BLM activist in Baltimore who is always wearing his bubble coat. Totten said he believes that he coat is a security blanket, just like her combat boots are to her. Being a black person in a predominantly white space, we are always on edge. We are always in fight or flight mode. We are always wearing our combat boots. We are always hesitant.
Eagle summit. Every incoming freshman is brought to campus to see what AU has to offer during the summer. They stay 2ish days and are split into groups where they learn about the diversity, organizations, and living spaces on campus. The diversity. Diversity…? When we talk about diversity, let’s be clear, AU’s diversity is something that is distorted to bring black students to campus. According to college factual, 55% of the student make up is white while the rest is people or students of color. While some people may believe this, being a black student on campus, I don’t believe that 55% of the student body is white. To connect this back to my point, the diversity aspect that is sold to students that look like me, is something that makes us come here. At a summer program like Eagle Summit, selling that a campus like American University is something of a diverse make up is…. Hmmmmm let me think. False. On American University’s own website they claim they have an enrollment of around 7259 undergraduate students. The previously mentioned 55% of the student body is about 3,992 students. 3,992 students. What is funny is that on the college factual website, they show that more students are actually white. They state that 4,236 students are white, and only a mere 476 students or about 6% of the student body is black. I say this to show that the university only uses black students as a diversity claim. We are used as pawns in a game of ‘diversity’ the university loves to play. We are used as tokens to show or compare to neighboring universities and their ‘diverse’ student bodies. So do our black lives truly matter here? Do our black lives matter here or are we being used as cloaks of diversity for the university?
Earlier this year, one of the original founders of the Black Lives Matter was brought to campus, Patrice Cullors. She, along with two other queer black women, created the movement in response to the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012. She was greeted to a full house of students and faculty. When she was asked questions about activism, she gave answers everyone was looking for. When she was asked questions about black lives, specifically black lives at American University, she asked a question back. What exactly do we do for black lives, or what does the university do for black lives? I was stuck. Me being one of the biggest black lives matter advocates, I wondered what I’ve done for black lives. Then, I questioned what the university has done for black lives. Fall semester, I was exposed to some of the most racist Yik Yaks that I have ever seen in my life. The response of the students lead to these Yik Yaks being printed out, and posted all over campus. This movement was known as “#TheRealAU”, where students didn’t wait on the university to respond to the racial climate. Weeks later, Gail Hansen, one of the most reactionary people I have met, put out a ‘response’ to the #TheRealAU movement. She said, and I quote “Faculty, Staff, student leaders —– and alumni—– are reaching out and acting individually and collectively to advance us in this mission. They are the Real AU”. Black students have created a hashtag that symbolizes their experience in a predominantly white space. This hashtag has embodied the narrative that Erika Totten was speaking of, always being on edge and in fight or flight mode. Black students felt like they could finally have something to themselves, even though it was a product of something that negatively affected them. When Gail put this ‘response’ out, black student activists were furious about it. People said that this was one of the most passive aggressive messages to black students while they have been enrolled at American University. So if faculty undermine a black student movement, to be reactionary, do black lives really matter at AU?
The question Do Black Lives Matter at AU, is a question that I have been asking myself since the Black Lives Matter paneled talk last week. I started to look back on all the occasions that I have experienced that this university didn’t care about black lives. All the times when this university sat back and watched us strap on our combat boots, like Erika Totten, and go into war so to say. Last semester, in all of its dismay, was one of the roughest semesters for some of the black students on campus. In one of the freshman dorms, a black student had a dry erase board on her door and people of her floor decided to write “go back to Africa you nigger”. The university, well Gail Hanson, claimed that student leaders, faculty, and staff were #TheRealAU and they were working to end the racism on campus, but this happened after that letter was pushed out. If these people were working together to end the racism on campus would this have happened? Did they really care about the racial climate and what happens to black lives on campus? No but seriously, Do Black Lives Matter at AU?
The racial climate on campus has been at an all-time high, some people believe. From people wanting to protest Patrice Cullors coming to campus, to the failed administration. Organizations on campus have tried to hold people accountable and try to enlighten so to say. The Darkening, not an official club, holds structural racism trainings every month to show people different facets of racism. This organization was the first organization to respond to the racist yik yaks last semester. They were the ones to create and push out #TheRealAU hashtag. This organization has been one of the most active on campus with holding dialogue about race and making sure that faculty and students know that these acts hurt black students. This organization is one of the stepping stones in showing the university that Black Lives do Matter on campus. Other organizations that work to prove to the university that we matter, are the NAACP chapter. They were brought back to campus last semester. They are chartered as a political organization, unlike Black Student Alliance for example which is a social org. The NAACP works with the national chapter and also holds events like The Darkening, where they have allies and other students come to talk about racism. Both of these organizations have been putting pressure on both student and faculty to go to mandatory structural racism trainings.
Along with these organizations on campus, students have taken to Student Government to hold racist accountable on campus. Kiersten Gillette, a senior on campus, has created, drafted, and pushed for her bill about cultural sensitivity training for clubs, students, and faculty. While this bill hasn’t been implemented just yet, Gillette has worked ever so diligently on getting it passed. Next year it would be mandatory for all members of all clubs, all incoming students, and faculty to take cultural sensitivity training continuously, not just one time. These people have been working so hard to show and prove that we too matter on this campus, but why do we always come up short? Why do we continue to be devalued?
American University, situated in the N.W quadrant of Washington, D.C has painted this image of a diverse student body. Students of color, Black students. Black students are told that this campus is inclusive and supportive for us, that our black lives matter here. Two weeks ago, on the 6th, Erika Totten posed an interesting question at the Black Lives Matter paneled talk, “Do Black Lives Matter at AU?”. Not a single person, in a room full of around 75 people, said they did. No faculty, staff, students or even allies. With that being said, do black lives truly matter at American university
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