- University Board of Regents Meeting
At a recent University Board of Regents Meeting, University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman gave a speech addressing campus diversity, climate and inclusion. She proudly cited the University’s role in the two 2003 Supreme Court cases addressing affirmative action as one of the proudest moments during her presidency” (Gringlas et al, The Michigan Daily, 2014). That black undergraduate student enrollment fell to 4.65 percent from 7 percent after the passage of Proposal 2, is inexplicable and contradicts the University’s celebrated commitment to the “consideration of race in admissions as part of a holistic review of each candidate” (Gringlas et al, The Michigan Daily, 2014). President Coleman acknowledged the challenges that students of color face on campus, alluding to several incidents of racism (i.e. Theta Xi’s “Hood Rachet Party”), albeit without specific acts.
2. University Board of Regents Meeting Cont.
Students from BAMN (By Any Means Necessary/The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights, and Fight for Equality) and Northwestern High School in Detroit shared remarks and protested during the section of the University Board of Regents Meeting open to public comments. It is important to note the difference in agenda between BAMN supporters led by national BAMN organizer, Kate Stenvig and the Black Student Union, led by LSA senior, Tyler Collier.
In reference to the BAMN coalition, BSU President Collier proffers, “We have a good relationship, but we do want to differentiate the agendas. We want to achieve the 10 percent demand; we don’t think affirmative action is necessary” (Gringlas et al, The Michigan Daily, 2014).
3. Related University Black Student Protests
Although the Black Student Union has unjustly received negative backlash (see posted public comments at the end of several articles online) in reaction to their demonstration at the University’s annual MLK Symposium and Twitter campaign, they have served as a catalyst for Black student activism and outspokenness regarding the suppression and oppression of black students at universities around the country including Harvard University where the Black students have produced their own version of protest through an Internet-based photo campaign inspired by a play of the same name called “I Too, Am Harvard”. The photos, posted on a Tumblr blog, feature Harvard students holding signs with phrases others have spoken to them. (DeFrancesco, http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/black-students-at-harvard-speak-out-through-photo-campaign/73787, 2014)
4. Related University Black student Protests
At UCLA an organized group of studious black male students led by third-year Afro-American studies student Sy Stokes (cousin of Arthur Ashe), produced a spoken word video dramatization protesting the blatant racism existing at all levels of the institution’s campus life. Stokes filmed his spoken word protest outside UCLA’s Campbell Hall where, on January 17, 1969, UCLA students and members of the Black Panther Party, John Huggins and Bunchy Carter, were assassinated inside during the Black Campus Movement (1965-1972). Stokes’ dramatization reveals a shocking and galling statistic regarding the small percentage of black students at UCLA: “The school has more national championships (109) than black male freshmen (48)” (Sy Stokes, 2014). A gnawing sense of alienation and isolation motivated Stokes to organize his unique protest movement by video posting on the Internet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEO3H5BOlFk&feature=player_embedded
5. Catalysts for Action
Although not directly related to the #BBUM campaign at U-M, the UCLA protest provides additional context for helping observers understand the purpose for which these and many other protests in the past were spawned. From my perspective, just as the assassination of Malcolm X, Bloody Sunday (Sheriff Jim Clark ordered state troopers to chase down King and his marchers who sought voting rights on March 7, 1965 between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama), and the Watts rebellion triggered the Black Campus Movement in 1965, the killing of Trayvon Martin, and other innocent, unarmed black youth (among other gross injustices such as the exploitation of NCAA student athletes) could be another significant catalyst for a renewed movement among black students who are tired of institutionalized racism in higher education and the legal system (Rogers, p.74).
6. The University of Michigan’s Resolution
“In response to the (#BBUM) campaign, the University of Michigan administration announced it would create a leadership position dedicated to recruitment of minority students. The school would also expand a program in which students had discussions about ‘inclusive leadership, personal and social identity, and bystander intervention,’ according to a letter from the provost, Martha Pollack.”
(Jolie, Lee, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/03/05/black-students-harvard-tumblr/6013023/, 2014)
7. David Tarver, a voice, advocate and positioned to impact
On January 20, 2014, David Tarver was privileged to speak to the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) North Campus Community at the annual Martin Luther King Spirit Awards event. His address walked the audience through the civil-rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s as seen through the eyes of “a kid from Flint, Michigan.” He touched on the impact of the civil-rights movement, and the impact of Dr. Martin Luther King, on our past, present, and future. The core message in his address was that Dr. King helped to set the template for our humanity, and that that template is more important than ever in an age of rapid social, cultural, and technological change.
It remains to be seen what sustained progress will result from the efforts of the Black Student Union at the University of Michigan and similar Black student activism at other predominantly white institutions around the country. What is clear now, however, is that education remains the most salient social struggle for black people and apathy or inaction will cause us to not only repeat history, but, more tragically, suffer even greater injustice than we have prior to the Black Campus Movement’s beginnings in the mid-twentieth century.