Our American school careers have generally afforded the majority of us to have a brief overview of African American history. We all know “enough,” you know? We know about Dr. King, Rosa Parks and The Little Rock Nine. We know about Ruby Bridges, the Jim Crow laws and the March on Washington. If we’re extremely culturally inclined, we feel even more in touch with Black culture because we’ve watched "Roots," "Django Unchained" or "Selma." Our country is in the midst of an intense racial awakening, and the events that have unfolded this week at the University of Missouri have astounded many and shed more light on the increasing number of problems that African Americans are facing.
Racial tension has been a problem on Mizzou’s campus for years, but it has taken a graduate student’s refusal to eat for eight days and almost an entire football team’s resistance to play for change to ignite. Although the President of the college and even some faculty have resigned from their roles on campus, the issues are far from over. Violent threats have erupted via social media and have spread to an HBCU campus hundreds of miles away from Missouri, leaving an even larger number of black students feeling as if their safety on campus is in jeopardy.
1. Being black in America right now is hard.
No matter the level of achievement one is able to reach in their lifetime, the one thing that will never change is the color of their skin. On a daily basis, people are having experiences where they feel as though their race is a major factor. As a result of events unfolding in this country, men and women everywhere are afraid to make simple mistakes such as forgetting to turn their blinker on when switching lanes, to wearing a hooded sweatshirt in their own neighborhood. Regardless of skin color, we all have most likely had an experience where we felt like the odd one out. Something about us was different from those around us, and it left us to dwell in a vulnerable state. Sometimes being different is uncomfortable and hard, and in America right this moment, a large portion of the black population would stand in agreement with the statement that being black in America is hard.
2. Fear has no color barrier.
At its essence, fear is a universal feeling; we all have something that we are afraid of. No matter how dumb you may feel when you share your fears with others, they have validity. A throwback to high school psychology reiterates this in the description of the “fight or flight” response. The explicit threats of violence toward property and people that have appeared on social media and have been confirmed by law enforcement are frightening. They are enough to make your blood run cold, enough to have you wonder if you could experience the same thing on your very own campus. Right now black students at Mizzou and at Howard are faced with a fight or flight decision. Do they choose to fight; do they choose to stand up for their education, for the safety that the institutions they chose are supposed to provide for them? Or do they take flight; do they leave because they feel unsafe and unsupported, unwanted? If someone was publicly threatening your life solely based on your appearance, what would you do?
3. Together, we are stronger.
Although we may not have the same experiences in relation to racial tension, the one thing we do all have in common is a right to be respected and heard. A single voice can make a difference, but several voices can start a movement. It takes an extreme amount of courage to do what the football players at Mizzou have done; to put aside the thing they love, the thing that is such an important part of their overall school decision and jeopardize it for a bigger cause. Together they have fueled progress, garnered attention of the country and stimulated administrative change at their university. As peers of Mizzou students, we have to commend their courage; we have to let them know that the statements they have been making are not in vain, that their lives and concerns matter not just because they are black but because they are people. We have to utilize the voices we have as individuals, the power of social media and our individual campus communities to let them know they matter. A simple hashtag at the end of an Instagram post, a nice tweet to one of the players, the sharing of a post on Facebook can go a long way.
College equals community. We are all students, we are all working hard to be successful, to make our families proud, to make a difference. I am a #ConcernedStudentof1950, and I urge you to decide if you will be, too.
