By Daenique Jengelley
Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Since March, the phrase ‘we are here for you’ has been echoed by so many but my fear is it will not be followed by action. I fear this is a trend and not a transformation and that black people and people of color will continue to be silenced in our jobs, academia, homes, and in the world. I fear we will continue to become absorbed with our lives and forget those who are still suffering and grieving. I am grateful for the pause the entire world had this year. The veil of ignorance lifted on some and for the freedom fighters, they were joined by many who used to remain and even suffer in silence.
So how do we move, not on, but forward?
-By taking the phrase ‘we are here for you’ and standing by it
-By having continued conversation and promoting awareness training
-By allowing and creating safe spaces for students of color to have conversations where they are supported by people that look like them
-By being fearless and not afraid to shake things up
-By de-tokenizing the Black, Indigenous, people of color you know
-By not thinking of this is a job, where you only pretend to care, but to truly transform and become anti-racist
-By not delaying change because you are afraid of it
For a transformation to even make a dent historically there is so much more work to be done. We are over 400 years behind, so please, do not be offended if we are not applauding you or patting you on the back for your efforts. It’s not enough.
We all have an urgency to stay connected, to step up, to keep up because communities are still grieving, protesting, and living in horror.
I wrote the beginning piece of this blog over a month ago. I was chewing on the idea because I knew I was assigned to write for the month. But I wanted to include the latter portion.
I am visiting my parents for a week and they live in a suburb in Georgia. Last night, I went to pick up dinner. As I am waiting at the curbside pick-up, a truck drove past with a huge flag on the back. It looked similar to the American flag, yet it wasn’t, but a version of it with a blue stripe. I thought hmm, it truly represents America because this does not represent pride for anything other than being a racist. Yes, it’s a police/blue lives matter flag, however, being an officer of the law is a job and being black is for a lifetime. To boldly claim you stand by injustice no matter what, quite honestly, disgusts me. I am disgusted by the caucacity in 2020. I’ve always been disgusted but it’s something about having access to all the resources, being completely aware yet choosing to turn a blind eye and cut down trauma that just doesn’t sit right with me. From sitting in meetings and being told we are here for you, except we can’t talk about politics, as if black lives are a political issue, to seeing an armed white gunman walk by police officers unscathed, it all doesn’t sit right with me. Please, we need to do better.
Resources:
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/lack-of-black-doctoral-students/587413/
Anti-racism resources
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BRlF2_zhNe86SGgHa6-VlBO-QgirITwCTugSfKie5Fs/mobilebasic