This post was written by Heidy George, Program Associate for Student Diversity and Inclusion.  

“No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.”

-Marsha P. Johnson

June is PRIDE season. A month where we celebrate all things gay with loud parades, gender bending drag shows, thumping music, rainbows, and glitter. So much glitter. This year is particularly special, as it is the 50th anniversary of the very first PRIDE parade held in the 51 blocks of Central Park in New York. This milestone made me reflect on how our community has gotten here. New York, however, as well as many other cities look different this year...

It is PRIDE season, where amidst the celebration - most non-Black, mostly cis, LGBTQ+ folk forget that Black and Brown trans and queer people carved this month out with their bodies.  Black and Brown trans women (especially) led the struggle and the riots that started the revolution which gave us the rights we enjoy today. These riots, coupled with those bloodied and bruised bodies, were the catalysts for what we now know as PRIDE.

It is PRIDE season, during an utterly unforgiving global pandemic. And if I didn’t understand how systemic racism actually works, I would certainly call Corona a racist. 

It is PRIDE season, as our world protests white supremacist and  government sanctioned police violence that forced countless Black, Indigenous and Brown families to bury their children. 

It is PRIDE season, but right now, I can’t celebrate.

It is PRIDE season, and I honestly don’t know how any of my Black siblings still have any fight left in them.

It is PRIDE season, yet Nina Pop, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Korryn Gains, Atatiana Jefferson, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, Aiyana Jones, Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Walter Scott and countless others are no longer with us.

So I ask, how many names do we have to see before we do something?

We need to do better.

If you ain’t Black, YOU need to do better. Full stop.

If you ain’t Black but you’re LGBTQ+, YOU need to do better. You don’t get a pass for being LGBTQ+. Period. 

So, what are you going to do? 

Are you going to prioritize Black and Brown voices?

Are you going to take the time to learn Black Africana history and Black Africana contributions?

Are you going to celebrate instead of appropriate Black culture?

Are you going to listen?

Are you going to donate?

Are you going to protest?

Are you going to organize?

What are YOU going to do?

If you're willing to do any of this, look for some roadmaps to guide you by visiting our page, our IG, the Women's Center, and the Office of Equity and Inclusion to get started.

Happy PRIDE everyone.

This post is written by Amelia Meman, ’15, Assistant Director in the Women’s Center.

I am trying to write this as plainly as I can because there are so many other words that are crowding racial justice spaces and many of them are stemming from the folks who could benefit from saying less in order to listen more.

Foreword: It is valid to feel and process through your pain, but the pain felt by our Black friends, family members, and community is not the same as the pain of white folks and non-Black people of color (POC). Feelings of anger, sadness, betrayal, frustration, exhaustion—all of those things make sense because we are in a time of massive unrest (and a pandemic to boot).

More importantly, it should not be Black people’s jobs to take care of and see to your pain right now. It is also not Black folks’s jobs to hold space for you to learn, to educate you, and to explain themselves.

That’s why I’m writing this. Because the burden we are placing on Black folks in all a manner of places right now, needs to be lifted. It is crucial that we center Black voices and words and prioritize creating and maintaining safe spaces for Black-identified people to feel.

Ally is a verb.

• Being an “ally” is not a moniker that one earns through good intentions, donations, or rallies attended. You will never erase your white privilege, and just so, you will always have to work hard if you want to be an ally to the Black community.
• Being an ally is a process-oriented way of being. It means being conscious of privilege and committed to learning more about social justice. It means that allyship comes from your actions and not from endpoints. In other words, allies are made by doing—not by showing. It is a title you are always earning and always striving to do better at.
• Learn how to take feedback and correction. This work is messy and difficult. “Wokeness” does not come automatically (or ever, but that’s a different blogpost). If someone is calling you in or calling you out, especially if that person is Black-identified, listen and course-correct as needed. There’s no shame in changing your mind or letting people know you made a mistake. Feedback, the good critical kind, stems from a place of trust and care. Trust that you will do better. Care for you. Feedback takes work on both sides, and if someone is offering it to you, see it as a gift.

Graphic from the Seerut K. Chawla’s Instagram.

Graphic from the Seerut K. Chawla’s Instagram.

Check in with your people.

• If you are white-identified, check in with other white people to see where they’re at. Hold space for them to be messy and for them to be uncomfortable. Use your privilege to be tolerant of others who are at different stages of racial consciousness. Yeah, it might feel better to unfriend your middle school friend who “does not understand why you’re supporting riots,” but frankly, this is not about your own sense of comfort and curated content. This is the time to dig in your heels, put on the armor afforded by your privilege, and either defend Black folks or help that person understand why they should care about racial justice.
• If you are white-identified, check in with the POC in your lives, especially Black-identified people, and ask how you can support them. That might mean doing absolutely nothing. It might mean being okay with silence coming from the other end. It might mean donating money, giving rides, helping provide PPE for folks in marches, etc. Please offer your support and send your love, because people are hurting right now.
• If you are a non-Black POC, check in with Black-identified folks and help to create, maintain, and safeguard Black-centering spaces. Help to uplift Black voices. Ask how you can support, and, again, be okay with silence on the other end.
• As you reach out and check in, leave space for all of the ways of being. When a bad thing happens in someone’s life, we often default to problem solving and/or wanting to get someone to smile. I get it. It’s hard to watch and empathize with people who are pained. Right now, though, we do not need the reminder of silver linings, rainbows, or bright sides. Toxic positivity does not make us feel better—it does the opposite and perpetuates this idea that the only good way to be is happy. Here’s the thing: the only good way to be is how you are.

Educate yourself.

• It is not the duty of Black folks to explain themselves or this moment to you.
• Recognize that privilege and white supremacy are not just evidenced by the words we use. It is also about behavior, patterns of behavior, and the social value we give to some but not others. For example, if you are at a rally, pay attention to who grabs the microphone and what they have to say. Pay attention to the space white folks and non-Black folks take up whether through their speech or their behavior. Pay attention when a white woman’s tears are met with empathy or care, and when a Black woman’s raised voice and anger are met with eye rolls or pushback (for being “aggressive,” or “too much”). White people have access to so much more social value and acceptable behavior—pay attention to how that can dominate spaces.
• The resources to understand white privilege and the role you can play in anti-racist work are available in many different places. Below there are a list of resources that you can search through.
• Also! You do not need to know everything in order to do this work! Quality, not quantity! Frankly, the best thing you can learn to do is reorient your yourself so that you are open to feedback, open to learning more and/or changing your mind, and not having easy answers (see more on practicing cultural humility). Those paradigms do not come naturally to most people. We are acculturated to feel shame in not knowing and to hold fast to deeply entrenched beliefs, and so this work is difficult.
• There are many ways to support Black lives and do anti-racist work. It’s not always about being in the streets. It’s sometimes about taking the time to have hard conversations with friends and family who are not totally getting it yet. It might be in taking the time to read a book. It might be in journaling and reflecting on how power and privilege come to play in your life. Just like any movement or group effort, it takes as much work as it does rest and reflection.

Are your social media posts effective in creating change? Or are they performative?

• Social media messaging comes easily. It also means little to nothing beyond helping people see that you “care” about a cause. If you want to join in on hashtags and/or social media campaigns, that’s fine, but that should only be auxiliary to all of the work you can do to support Black lives. Those things include all of the recommendations in this blogpost and put more succinctly:
  • Donating
  • Reading
  • Listening
  • Contacting government officials and those in elected office
• Always. Be. Critically. Engaged. It can be tempting to retweet, repost, share messaging from others’ making powerful statements—BUT when you’re jumping into the trend, look at the “why” and the “who” of what is being posted.
  • Quick killjoy jab: corporations do not care about Black lives right now. They care about where you would like to put your money. Just like with human activists, look at what companies DO and NOT what they SAY.
  • For a case study on this, see the origins of #BlackoutTuesday and how far it strayed from the initial campaign by Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang, two black women working in the music industry.
• Ask yourself why you are posting anything at all:
  • What purpose is this message serving?
  • Who is this message serving?
  • Who is the audience?

Graphic from the @take.back.theinternet.

Graphic from the @take.back.theinternet.

Solidarity is the way.

Quick preface: If you’re reading this blog, you have probably gotten to a place of understanding with the difference between “Black Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter.” The idea of Black lives mattering does not negate others’ importance. Rather it shines a light on the discrepancy between how certain lives are valued more than others.

• The only way through is together. This is not a feel-good statement—it is a hard truth. My survival is tied to yours and we can only do the radical work of anti-racism by understanding that solidarity is key. This means allying with causes and movements that do not necessarily center your own social identities.
• Deepa Iyer writes about the difference between transactional and transformational solidarity practices. She uses the case study of attending a rally: in transactional solidarity, one would attend a Black Lives Matter rally in support and return home to post pictures from the rally on my social media profiles. In transformational solidarity practice, one brings friends to the rally, learns more about the historical roots of the cause you’re supporting, engages in deep and meaningful dialogue, and shows up to more rallies on and on.
  • Transformational solidarity practice stretches the activist and the movement in beneficial ways. The actions taken in this practice have the potential to create meaningful change.

I know that was a lot. If you’ve read to the end here, then you might be feeling many different things. Offended, confused, validated, relieved, upset, guilty–and that’s okay. This is the time and the space for sorting through the discomfort of anti-racist work.

Please know that I write this with as much love (albeit tough) as I can muster. I believe in you.

Quotation from Lilla Watson, Aboriginal Australian visual artist and activist.

Thank you to the Mosaic Center for curating many parts of the following Resources list in their recent posting on myUMBC. As UMBC’s leaders in helping our communities embrace and affirm diversity and inclusion, the Mosaic Center is more important than ever. The Women’s Center is, as ever, in close partnership and solidarity with the Mosaic, and we will always commit to that. Thank you, Mosaic Team, for all you do to make the UMBC community and our world a better place.

Resources*

* There are a lot of resources below. A lot. This work is not being timed. There is no deadline. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Many folks feel an urgency to read! All! The! Things! And yes, this work is urgent but also must be sustainable. Take breaks. Breathe. Set SMART goals when it comes to reading, learning, and digesting so as not to burn yourself out. 

Books:

• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis
• How to be An Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
• They Can’t Kill Us All : Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement by Wesley Lowry
• The Good Immigrant: 21 Writers Explore What It Means to be Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic in Britain Today by Nikesh Shukla
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde 
• When They Call You A Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Tatum
• White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
  • BONUS: The Opt-In Podcast: Interview with Robin DiAngelo
  • BONUS: White Fragility and the Rules of Engagement (PDF) by Robin DiAngelo
  • BONUS + CAVEAT: What’s Missing from White Fragility by Lauren Michele Jackson
• The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
• The Fire This Time edited by Jesmyn Ward
• Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
• Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
• Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
• Road Map for Revolutionaries by Elisa Camahort Page, Carolyn Gerin, and Jamia Wilson
• Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins
• Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper
• The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs
• This Bridge Called My Back edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa 
• A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
• Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks

Readings:

Podcasts:

• 1619 (New York Times)
• About Race
• Code Switch (NPR)
• Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw
• Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
• Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
• Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
• Seeing White

Collections:

Resources for white parents to raise anti-racist children:

• Books
  • Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins by Carole Boston Weatherford
  • Many Thousand Gone: African Americans from Slavery to Freedom by Virginia Hamilton
  • One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
  • LIST: Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners: books for children and young adults
  • LIST: 31 Children’s books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance
• Podcasts
  • Parenting Forward podcast episode ‘Five Pandemic Parenting Lessons with Cindy Wang Brandt’
  • Fare of the Free Child podcast
  • Integrated Schools podcast episode “Raising White Kids with Jennifer Harvey”
• Videos
  • PBS’s Teaching Your Child About Black History Month
  • Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup from Pretty Good
• Follow
  • The Conscious Kid: follow them on Instagram and consider signing up for their Patreon

UMBC Organizations:

• UMBC Campus Life’s Mosaic, Interfaith, & Pride Centers
• 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)

More Organizations:

• 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

The images and text below were originally shared on the Women’s Center social media pages. We’re re-sharing here to amplify the message and hold ourselves accountable to doing the work of our mission to advance gender equity and prioritize critical social justice and anti-racism. 

There are few things that offer peace in this time, so we turn to the words of other truth-tellers and light-bringers like poet and writer, Lucille Clifton. Her words continue to resonate through our society.

To our Black community: we lock arms in solidarity with you and we hold space for the many ways grief speaks through us. As allies and helpers and friends and family, we hope to continue defending your voices, uplifting them, and offering only belief, hope, and love.

Black lives matter. You matter. Endlessly and always.

To white and non-Black people of color: we bear witness to the visceral tangibility of white supremacy and systemic violence. It has always been here. It runs through everything—and the stark truths of oppression are made clear today. We will not turn away. We must turn towards the radical truth of our privileges and our complicity and our responsibility.

There is work yet to be done and we commit, as ever, to being in it with you.

#BLM #BlackLivesMatter #UMBCTogether

The Women’s Center is working to introduce care and healing spaces to our community and will be working with campus partners to provide additional space for healing and learning. Please follow our myUMBC page for details as they develop.

Throughout distance learning and the campus closure, the Women’s Center staff are still working remotely and are available for individualized support. If you or someone you know is seeking support to process this critical and traumatic moment in our personal and collective present, please email womenscenter@umbc.edu to set up a virtual meeting or phone call.

Images designed by Women’s Center Assistant Director, Amelia Meman.

A post curated by Women’s Center director, Jess Myers.

Last week, the Women’s Center celebrated our Returning Women Student Scholars + Affiliates graduating this semester at our pinning ceremony. While distance learning in a pandemic has disrupted and cancelled many things over the past semester, we weren’t going to let this tradition get cancelled! So, as with most things these days, we took to our computers and phones to celebrate virtually!

A “group photo” via a screen shot during our Webex Graduation Celebration! 

This event has become a tradition in the Women’s Center as a means to celebrate our continuing and graduating returning women students who are UMBC students 25 years and older seeking their first undergraduate degree. These students are called “returning” because they often have various circumstances that have kept them from what our popular culture deems as a traditional college path and they are now “returning” to college to pursue their degree. Student scholars in this program not only receive scholarships to help financial supplement their tuition, but also benefit from tailored support and programming from Women’s Center staff through individualized meetings, programs, and events that meet the specific needs of older students on campus. Each year we have between 20-25 scholars and affiliates participate in this unique program.

In usual times at this special “pinning” ceremony, graduating seniors receive their Women’s Center Returning Women Student Scholars + Affiliates pin to wear at graduation along with a yellow rose. This year, we sent their pins to them via snail mail and they pinned themselves!

Upon their pinning, each scholar says a few words. Despite being in their own homes and not sharing physical space with each other, graduates still invited us to share in their joy, excitement, gratitude, and sheer exhaustion. “I finally made it!” rang through the Women’s Center lounge walls along with laughter and tears.

Anyone who has spent time in the Women’s Center knows that working with this special group of students is one of my favorite experiences in my role as director of the Women’s Center. At a University which celebrates, grit and greatness (even during non-pandemic times), no other student cohort exhibits both with such deep grace and humility. As individuals and as a community, they are brave and unstoppable.

So, it is with great joy that I invite you to join me in celebrating these fantastic students and their accomplishments. Below are some of our graduating students who in their own words* share what they were involved in at UMBC, what’s next for them after UMBC, and some sage advice for other adult learners.

I also invite you to read a UMBC graduation news story I had the privilege of writing that  features a more in depth view of 4 of our students’ experiences at UMBC and their quest to graduation.

Happy Graduation!!!

Shanice Bramwell, Newcombe Scholar
Major: Health Administration and Policy (HAPP)

A self-submitted photo of Shanice. 

What was your experience like as an adult learner?
Adult learning is more complex than traditional learning. I loved that the Women’s Center gave me a place to belong.

Looking back on your experience, what is your advice for current Returning Women Students?
Realize that it will include many sacrifices in order to do well. We work twice as hard because of our family load and our school work load. Organization and creating realistic schedules will come in handy.

What are your plans after graduation?
More school, work, and family!

Karla Gonzalez, Newcombe Scholar
Major: Social Work

A self-submitted photo of Karla and her family. 

What you were involved in at UMBC and what was your experience like as an adult learner?
During my time at UMBC, I was involved with the Social Work Student Association (SWSA) and volunteered at many events as well as participated in the monthly meetings. I was the service event board member position through fall semester 2019. It was during spring semester 2019 that I became involved with the Women’s Center and I wish now that I had become involved as soon as I came to UMBC.
As an adult learner, I wanted to fit in, I wanted to have a college experience like traditional students and I wanted to take advantage of all the resources available on campus. Although I knew I could never really have a traditional college student experience, I met so many people that helped make my experience at UMBC, wonderful. These included professors that were helpful in me learning the material (like human biology), other adult students who could relate to my experiences as well as younger students who treated me as any other student, not caring that I was ten years older than them. I am grateful for the Social Work department, Women’s Center, the Off-Campus Student Services (OCSS), the Career Center and the Writing Center. These resources really helped me have a great experience at UMBC.

Looking back on your experience, what is your advice for current Returning Women Students?
My advice would be to allow yourself to get out of your comfort zone and participate in different activities. OCSS offers adult learners activities like family game nights and it was great to connect my two worlds, parenthood and “student-hood,” even if it was one night. I know it’s easier to come for class and leave right away, but take that time to make connections with other students, with professors, to get the best out of your learning experience.

What are your plans after graduation?
After graduation, I will be attending the University of Maryland School of Social Work as an advance standing student.

You can learn more about Karla’s story and experience at UMBC through this UMBC graduation news story featuring 4 returning women students. 

Josephine Gyasi-Baaye, Bryson-Neville and Aegon Scholar
Major: Social Work 

What was your experience like as an adult learner?
My experience as an adult learner was motivated by my set goals as and a determination of achieving a professional growth. At UMBC, I was a member of Sigma Alpha Lambda.

Looking back on your experience, what is your advice for current Returning Women Students?
My advice to all adult learners is never to give up on themselves as a student… and take advantage of campus resources.

What are your plans after graduation?
As mother of three, I plan to work part time and continue with graduate school this Fall. I have been accepted into the University of Baltimore for their Master’s in Social Work.

Samantha Homa, Affiliate
Major: Geography and Environmental Studies

A self-submitted photo of Samantha. 

What you were involved in at UMBC and what was your experience like as an adult learner?
I thoroughly enjoyed participating in service learning as a Peer Facilitator for the Introductory to an Honors University (IHU) courses for four semesters. As an adult learner, I felt very grateful for my professors, UMBC staff, and classmates because I could appreciate their effort in my learning experience. This was something I definitely did not see my first semester. That is growth and the beauty of perspective.

Looking back on your experience, what is your advice for current Returning Women Students?
Try to understand what you need to be productive and satisfied in all areas of your life. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it because you may be surprised to find out others are going through the same struggles as you.

What are your plans after graduation?
Enjoy more hikes with my handsome hound Harry! Work part time and continue to take a few more courses at UMBC to eventually apply to medical school!

Nia Latimer, Newcombe Scholar
Major: Social Work

What was your experience like as an adult learner?
Initially, I was nervous about being an adult learner, but when I saw the diversity on campus, I was very comfortable and never made to feel out of place in my classes.

Looking back on your experience, what is your advice for current Returning Women Students?
Be open and don’t be afraid. You have support! The Women’s Center helped me tremendously being my home away from home.

What are your plans after graduation?
I plan to attend and have been accepted to UMB’s School of Social Work’s Advanced Standing graduate school program.

You can learn more about Nia’s s story and experience at UMBC through this UMBC graduation news story featuring 4 returning women students. 

Joanna Riley, Newcombe Scholar
Major: Social Work 

A self-submitted photo of Joanna and her son in their UMBC gear while out for a hike.

What you were involved in at UMBC?
I was a student in the Social Work program and during my free-time I visited the Women’s Center. I live an hour away from campus and a single parent to a 10 year old. It has been hard to be active with the other students on campus because I have to return home to take care of my son.

Looking back on your experience, what is your advice for current Returning Women Students?
I would tell people to utilize the Women’s Center as much as possible. I felt so out of place and the Women’s Center was the one place I felt at home. If I had more time I would have loved to attend more events and workshops.

What are your plans after graduation?
I will be in Social Work Advanced Standing at University of Maryland, Baltimore campus.

Terece Young, Bryson-Neville 2018 Scholar
Major: American Studies and Sociology 

Self-submitted photo of Terece

Whhat was your experience like as an adult learner?
My experience at UMBC as an adult learner was challenging and rewarding. When you look around your class and see you are the oldest one or get mistaken for a professor on the first day of the semester, it’s easy to get discouraged. However, as time went on, I began to see that me being older was a benefit, because I had life experience to rely on, which helped with discussions, writing papers, projects, etc. I don’t know if I would have done as well in school fifteen years ago, so in hindsight, I am glad that went for my degree when I did.

Looking back on your experience, what is your advice for current Returning Women Students?
My advice for current Returning Women Students is to use your age and life experience to your advantage, especially when in comes to writing papers, projects, discussions, and problem solving. No one else sees things from our point of view. Also, the Women’s Center is an amazing place, so use it. I would go there sometimes to study or relax. If you have a problem, they are there for you, and will always make you feel better and find a way to help. I don’t know if I would have made it without the Women’s Center and the people that work there.

What are your plans after graduation?
The plan I have for after graduation is to move to Florida where my dad and sister live. I want to work in the pro wrestling business, and luckily, wrestling is very popular in Florida, so I am going to find a way to get involved. I was accepted to Full Sail University for their MFA in Creative Writing Program. In the program, I plan to focus on writing for wrestling.

Lauren Hall, 2018 Newcombe Scholar
Master of Arts in Teaching 

What you were involved in at UMBC?
I was a Returning Women Student Scholar for my undergraduate career, a Graduate Assistant with the Education Department during my grad career. This year, I submitted a piece to the Bartleby Literary Magazine and I was the Creative Non-Fiction section winner. That piece also won me the Braly Award for Creative Non-Fiction.

Looking back on your experience, what is your advice for current Returning Women Students?
…Never give up. Even if you get bad marks on a project, keep trying. I got a D on the first paper I wrote as an adult learner but I’m graduating as a celebrated UMBC writer with a 4.0