Black-Ass Solidarity with Students
Protest works. Period.
Welcome to This Black-Ass Life! This week, we’re discussing the history of campus protest and why it works.
l. The Facts
For as long as there have been students in universities, there has been student activism. Before there was even an America, students protested. In the 1700s, Harvard students rebelled against the food quality, leading to what was known as The Great Butter Rebellion.
This really ramped up in the 20th century, when universities became the epicenter of activism. They were the birthplace of sit-ins*, the stomping ground for marches, the setting for encampments, and the stage for work strikes.
Speaking of encampments, that strategy also has a rich history globally, and it’s often interwoven with other civil disobedience strategies. See: Occupy Wall Street in 2011, the 1968 Columbia University protests, and the 1964 Berkeley Free Speech Movement.
Further, student activism extends beyond America. See: The May 1968 protests in France, the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia in the 1960s, students' roles in anti-colonial struggles throughout Africa and Asia, and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
For as long as students have protested, they have faced police brutality, tear gas, and arrests, and many have lost their lives globally.
The Kent State shootings in 1970, where National Guard troops murdered Allison Krause, 19; Sandy Lee Scheuer, 20; Jeffrey G. Miller, 20; and William K. Schroeder, 19, remain tragic reminders of this. Similarly, Chinese authorities employed lethal military force to quell student-led demonstrations in 1989 in Tiananmen Square.
*Quick definition: An encampment involves setting up temporary living spaces or tents in outdoor areas for an extended period. In contrast, a sit-in typically involves protesters occupying a specific indoor space for a shorter duration to draw attention to a particular issue or demand action.
Why does it matter?
First, our hearts are truly broken for these young people. That the class of 2020 had to graduate high school on Zoom and in parking lots, and some of them now won’t even get the opportunity to have a college graduation, is a damn shame. We are so sorry for the world they’ve inherited. They deserve better, and they’re demanding better.
PROTEST WORKS and young people’s demands are crystal clear. They don’t want to pay tuition to institutions that use that money to support and benefit from apartheid.
These students are not directionless and confused as their detractors would like us to believe. What the critics know and the students know is that what they are doing will work because it has worked so well in the past:
Campus protests in the 1960s and 1970s, including the 1961 Freedom Rides and the 1962 University of Mississippi riot, pressured universities all over America to integrate and remove discriminatory policies.
Did you take refuge at the women’s center in college, take any Black studies classes, have a recycling canister around campus, or receive needed disability accommodations? None of these would have been possible without campus activism.
Divestment protests have also been against companies supporting apartheid, fossil fuels, and other environmentally harmful practices.
In the 1980s, college students, using the same tactics we’re witnessing students employ today, pressured universities to divest from businesses that worked in South Africa during apartheid and were successful to the tune of 155 universities divesting.
We're not here to argue about Israeli state policy. Acknowledging the suffering of Palestinians and wanting a ceasefire and their liberation is not antisemitic, nor does it imply that we do not want the hostages freed. Well over 30,000 people are dead, and that is dead-ass wrong. It's wrong.
Finally, this is a Black-ass issue. From the 1960s through today, liberation movements have always understood the importance of Black-Palestinian solidarity. Occupation is occupation, and liberation is impossible until we are all free.
What can my Black ass do?
Suggestions for how to support student protestors.
Read: Freedom Is A Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Davis.
Read: Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics by Marc Lamont Hill and Mitchell Plintnick.
II. Other Things
Black-ass happenings.
Anok Yai, the beauty that you are!
Bey has joined in on the fun with II Hands II Heaven.
Ncuti Gatwa is so charming. Our Doctor!
Michael Arceneaux is right; there’s some really great media happening on BET+, especially the fantastic Diarra from Detroit.
Speaking of, KevOnStage has a new sitcom on the platform.
The Hoochie Daddies have made a summer ANTHEM with No Regular Stud.
Our Black-Ass song(s) of the week (Jumoke):
Not Like Us is my current hype song because, duh. Coco Jones is giving early spring love with Here We Go (Uh Oh) and Bien’s Ma Cherie makes me feel good.
Things we look forward to:
I (Jumoke) recommend boiling your water if you’re in Northwest D.C. because we have an advisory!
I (Mitu) double recommend Diarra from Detroit. It is so funny and intriguing!
lll. Bops with a Black-Ass Baby
This baby is playing in mama’s face and having fun doing it, too!
Stay Black, have a snack, and take a nap today.