Community Call to Black Beauty
You so Black! You so Black!
When you smile, the stars come out
You so Black when you born, the God come out...
Black as you need
Black as you breathe
Black as you believe
Black as you love
Black has always been enough
Black is all of the above
Black is Lift E'vry Voice and Sing
Black is letting our freedom ring and resound
Black is adjective, color, adverb and noun
Black is crown
Black is clean
So to the Black is all everlasting to the Black is passing
and every shade of Black in between, matter of fact,
anywhere you believe your Black to be at all applicable
Baby, you so Black you transcend the physical
Black is original
You so Black, Ooo!
You so Black!
When you smile, the stars come out
You so Black when you born, the God come out.
We, the staff of Campus Life's Mosaic, Interfaith and Pride Centers send thoughts of peace, love, and care to the members of the Black African American, Black African, and Black Caribbean community as they collectively grieve the recent beautiful Black lives lost due to white supremacist and state sanctioned violence. We acknowledge the difficult challenges of hate-based crimes against the Black community.
We see you.
We hold space for you.
Your life matters.
If you find yourself overwhelmed, or stressed, you are not alone. Please reach out to our staff or the UMBC Counseling Center for support.
Community Call to Remembrance: Say Their Names
Ahmaud Arbery (25). Breonna Taylor (26). George Floyd (46). Sean Reed (21).
Tony McDade (38).
Here are five names. Five victims of systemic, state sanctioned killings in 2020 alone. Five names whose stories we have come to know through hashtags, but whose names represent and create space for additional names we may never know. We stand in solidarity with the Black Africana community in the United States of America as they navigate the terrors of living in a structurally racist, sexist, patriarchal and militarist country even while being affected disproportionately by an indiscriminate virus.
COVID-19 has laid bare the inequity that is at the heart of this American project, but it has not deterred agents of white supremacy from upholding the power structures that continue to erase, silence and bury Black, Indigenous and Brown people. This machine moves forward, fueled by hatred and stoked by the multitude of interpersonal actions (or inactions) coupled with institutional policies that create, maintain, and grow its power and influence.
Community Call to Action:
At UMBC, we believe deeply in our values and the power of our community. We call Retrievers of all ethnicities, national origins, races, genders, belief systems and class backgrounds to join in allyship and advocacy toward the dismantling of anti-blackness in all forms now and in the future. Let's educate and re-educate ourselves so we can shift our words and actions.
We have work to do.
Here are just a few ways to engage and co-create positive social change in solidarity with Black Africana people:
Selected Upcoming Events
- All the Feels: Community Care Space | Wednesday, June 3, 2020 | 3:00-4:15pm | Google Meet
- Black and Latinx Alumni Welcome Social | RSVP at https://bit.ly/cblasocialjune4 or email Sara Lerma Jones at slj@umbc.edu for any questions | Thursday, June 4, 2020 | 5:00-6:30pm | Online via Blackboard Collaborate (RSVP for invitation link).
- (Free)dom Friday: Black and Proud | Friday, June 5, 2020 | 3:00-4:15pm | Google Meet
At UMBC
- UMBC Black Lives Matter
- UMBC Black Student Union (BSU)
- UMBC African Student Association (ASA)
- UMBC Caribbean Student Council (CSC)
- UMBC Ethiopian Eritrean Student Association (EESA)
- UMBC Curl PWR
- UMBC Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPOC)
- UMBC Black Faculty and Staff Association (BFSA)
- UMBC Chapter of Black & Latino Alumni (CBLA)
Beyond UMBC
- Talking About Race - National Museum of African American History & Culture
- National Urban League
- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
- Race Forward
- Showing Up for Racial Justice - List of Black-led Organizations
- GLAAD &Together
Selected Book List:
- So You Want to Talk About Race - Ijeoma Oluo
- Freedom is a Constant Struggle - Angela Davis
- How to be Anti-Racist - Ibram X. Kendi
- They Can't Kill Us All - Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement - Wesley Lowry
- The Good Immigrant: 21 Writers Explore What It Means to be Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic in Britain Today - Nikesh Shukla
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness - Michelle Alexander
- Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Your Silence Will Not Protect You - Audre Lorde
