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EDITOR IN CHIEF
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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Thursday, November 19, 2015
#BBUM and Sankofa: Looking Back to Move Forward
ELIZABETH JAMES | MICHIGAN IN COLOR
Today
marks
the
second
anniversary of the launch of the
#BBUM
Twitter
campaign.
The
hashtag and its acronym, which stands
for Being Black at the University of
Michigan, was used during one of the
early precursors to the recent protests
that are occurring across the nation. As
a University alum, I fully understood
what led the students in 2013 to speak
up and express themselves through
the use of a Twitter campaign.
This
university
has
long
experienced various forms of racial
tension, which isn’t surprising given
the nation’s ongoing struggles in
dealing with W.E.B. Du Bois’ brilliant
assessment of “the problem of the
color-line.” Michigan is a public
university that attracts people from all
over the world, and for many it’s the
first time they are exposed to new and
different cultures, which results in
awkward situations and interactions.
Being African American in such a
setting can be particularly frustrating
because although many of our families
have been citizens of this country for
hundreds of years, we still experience
discrimination, both subtle and overt.
In 2013, members of the Black
community were deeply affected by
racist incidents that had occurred on
campus, and held a Freeze Out on the
Diag to address these issues. When
the leadership of the Black Student
Union came to me as their faculty
adviser to strategize ways to express
how they were feeling, I felt a strange
sense of deja vu.
I remembered the bittersweet
sound of my mother’s voice speaking
about how she roomed with other
young Black women on Catherine
Street because she wasn’t permitted
to live in the dormitories. Despite
her own treatment, my mother took
great pride in being a Wolverine, and
encouraged my sister and me to attend
her alma mater.
My own memories as an alum
mirrored
my
mother’s
mixed
emotions during my undergraduate
and graduate career in the late ‘70s and
early ‘80s. Back then, I encountered
confrontations
in
the
classroom
originating from both faculty and
other students who would assume
my presence was due to affirmative
action. I had actually won a prestigious
scholarship from the Detroit Institute
of Arts to study the history of art.
Constant remarks about being “well-
spoken for someone from Detroit”
led me to seek solace within the Black
Student Union and to find safe spaces
on campus which would affirm and
empower me, such as the Center (now
Department) for Afroamerican and
African Studies.
Discovering racist scrawls on the
door of my dorm room and seeing
gorillas hanging in effigy in the Diag
was devastating, but my mother
comforted me by explaining that these
were signs of ignorance and that I was
at school to awaken and illuminate
my mind. She, along with empathetic
faculty
and
friends,
offered
consolation and noted the benefits
of attending this University, not the
least of which that it was a powerful
introduction to everyday racism. I
grew stronger and less shocked by
the behavior I witnessed. Eventually,
I gained the confidence to find my
voice, and in speaking up, discovered
others who shared my perspectives
regardless of their class, creed or color.
Returning from my memories, I
listened as the students described
utilizing the traditional methods of
mobilization, including wearing black
as a sign of solidarity, attending the
Freeze Out: Follow Up Forum to speak
out for social justice and papering the
posting wall with statements about
their experiences.
Then it happened. One of the
students contacted me and alerted
me to sign on to Twitter and follow
#BBUM. What I saw there defied
description. All of my experiences
attending the University — both
positive
and
negative
—
were
scrolling past me in a burst of tweets
that left me breathless.
The use of social media as the
method of communication within this
brilliant campaign expanded the range
of the participants. The tweets began
with current students, then faculty,
staff and even administration joined
the online discussion. Eventually
alumni chimed in, some like myself
saddened that many of the same
situations that we had undergone
were still happening at the campus
we had once considered our home.
The academic in me started analyzing
the tweets: some were angry, some
staunch in their support of the
students, while others stood firmly
decrying any difference between
treatment between and among races.
Others sent messages of support
and solidarity. The numbers grew
until even the students who began
the campaign were astonished at
the ongoing wave of responses. One
thing was certain: the responding
Wolverines were honest in their
appraisal of the time spent in the
land of maize and blue. There was
no shortage of opinions from those
within and outside the campus walls.
Anyone with access to Twitter could
participate — and they did!
The media took note and began
reporting on the hashtag, its meaning
and the Twitter campaign. People
from all over the country and beyond
were sending messages and #BBUM
went viral. The students involved
were interviewed by newspapers,
radio stations and television. It was a
chaotic time, stressful and relentless,
but the tweets kept on coming.
The
West
African
Ghanaian
Adinkra term Sankofa means “return
and get it,”
or looking back to move forward.
Prior to and throughout the campaign,
students researched the previous
demands presented by the previous
Black Action Movements on campus.
In addition, they compiled the coded
responses from the Twitter campaign
and created a list of demands. These
were presented in front of Hill
Auditorium at the conclusion of the
MLK keynote speech in January
2014. The gauntlet had been dropped,
and the real talk and hard work of
negotiating for a better, more inclusive
campus community would begin.
Today, the students continue to
work with administration on those
same demands, which ultimately
is the true sign of a movement, not
just a moment frozen in time. My
pride in their tenacity is unwavering,
and I’m constantly inspired by their
resilience. On the surface level, some
progress has occurred in terms of a
shift in campus climate since #BBUM
with the powerful conversations
and mobilization efforts that have
continued and grown. Part of the
problem
stems
from
the
rapid
response rate and accessible nature
of the Internet that fueled #BBUM
also leaves social media open to racists
who can hide behind pseudonyms.
Still, I remain staunchly committed to
a more inclusive University, for as my
mother wisely advised me, although
the struggle is daunting, an equitable
society is the right of every human.
The promise of a more diverse pool of
future Wolverines leaves me hopeful
that the dreams of the first students of
color who attended Michigan as well
as those who protested after Martin
Luther King, Jr. was assassinated will
one day become reality.
Sidebar: Dr. Ibram Kendi author of
“The Black Campus Movement,” has
pointed out the dearth of research
on the subject of what is deemed
the Black Campus Movement. He
notes, “The historical literature on
the BCM has burst onto the scene
over the last thirteen years since
Wayne Glasker’s “Black Students
in the Ivory Tower” (2002) at the
University of Pennsylvania and Joy
Williamson-Lott’s “Black Power on
Campus” (2003) on the University
of Illinois. In 2009, Stefan Bradley
released “Harlem vs. Columbia.”
In 2010, Fabio Rojas’s “From Black
Power to Black Studies” appeared
and Jeffrey Turner’s “Sitting In and
Speaking Out” shared some stories of
the BCM in the South. In 2012, three
more studies hit libraries, Martha
Biondi’s “The Black Revolution on
Campus,” and the special issue in the
Journal of African American Studies
on the origins of Black studies, edited
by Jonathan Fenderson, James B.
Stewart, and Kabria Baumgartner.
Richard D. Benson’s “Fighting for
Our Place in the Sun” came out
in 2014, giving a better picture of
Malcolm X’s influence on Black
student activism in North Carolina.
DAAS looks forward to co-sponsoring
an event featuring Lawrence Ross,
author of “Blackballed: The Black and
White Politics of Race on America’s
Campuses,” on February 16, 2016, with
with MESA, Housing, and the Office
of Greek Life. Ross’s work includes
interviews with UM students, along
with others across the nation.
Elizabeth James is a University of
Michigan alum, BA ’82, MA ‘84 .
Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Ben Keller, Payton Luokkala,
Aarica Marsh, Anna Polumbo-Levy, Jason Rowland, Melissa Scholke,
Ashley Tjhung, Stephanie Trierweiler, Mary Kate Winn, Derek Wolfe
EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
FROM THE DAILY
Snyder’s unacceptable response
Halting the acceptance of Syrian refugees is based in fear, not fact
F
ollowing recent terror attacks in Paris, Beirut and Baghdad,
31 governors, including Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder,
announced their opposition to accepting Syrian refugees
into their states. Though the process of admitting refugees isn’t
within their jurisdiction, the governors’ statements reflect the fear
of the general populace in light of the harrowing attacks. However,
these responses are unacceptable, as they’re based in reactionary
fear, not fact or reason, and vilify refugees who are more directly
affected by the violence than most Americans.
Snyder’s response, which he later clarified
to rather hault accepting refugees until U.S.
security procedures are reviewed, is especially
concerning considering that Michigan has the
largest population of Arab Americans in the
country. Last week’s attacks directly affected
his constituents: Among the casualties of the
Beirut bombing were three Dearborn residents.
Additionally, Michigan’s immigration rates rank
among the highest in the country, of all refugees
in the United States, 4 percent come to Michigan.
Snyder has previously expressed his support of
taking in Syrian refugees in the past, noting their
positive contributions to the economy.
Therefore, Snyder’s remarks seem aimed
to cater to party opinion — all but one of the
31 governors who denounced the absorption
of Syrian refugees were Republicans. As an
elected official, it’s Snyder’s responsibility to
advocate for his constituency, not for what his
party wants to hear at the national level.
Since 2001, the United States has absorbed
745,000 refugees. Of that 745,000, only two
refugees have been arrested under charges of
terrorism. The people seeking refuge in the
United States aren’t the ones trying to destroy
Western culture — they’re trying to flee
persecution and find a safe environment where
they can uphold their values and beliefs.
While President Barack Obama’s call for
the United States to take in 10,000 Syrian
refugees in the next fiscal year is a step in the
right direction, it fails to take into account the
United States’ burdensome asylum process.
In the past four years, the United States has
taken in barely 2,000 refugees from Syria,
with just 200 refugees admitted between 2011
and 2014. Such slow rates of entrance may
be attributed to the laborious and incredibly
strict asylum process for Syrian refugees. It
can take up to two years for a Syrian seeking
asylum seeker to finally be granted permission
to move to the United States.
A Syrian refugee must apply for asylum
through the UN or a U.S. embassy, conduct
face-to-face
interviews
and
participate
in extensive background checks to prove
that neither they nor any member of their
extended family gave so much as a cigarette
to a member of a “terrorist group” recognized
by the U.S. government. Such a system
undermines the principle of “innocent until
proven guilty” that’s meant to pervade our
justice system. Such a system perpetuates
Americans’ fear of foreigners.
Our politicians’ xenophobia is cause for
alarm, as the nature of the Syrian refugee hasn’t
changed in light of these attacks. If anything,
the attacks make refugees’ escape from the
Islamic State more urgent.
What’s so abhorrent about the responses
of our country’s leaders is that they capitalize
on their constituents’ fear, claiming a stake in
tragedy to bolster their own political agenda.
Many
Republican
politicians,
including
presidential candidate Donald Trump, pegged
France’s strict gun control laws as a leading
contributor to the magnitude of the devastation
in Paris. Republican presidential candidate
Ted Cruz and other GOP candidates said they
would allow Christian refugees to settle in their
states, as if Muslim refugees aren’t disposed to
the same risks as their Christian counterparts.
But, since people are afraid, they listen.
They listen closely. They internalize these
assertions made under false pretenses and
create a discriminatory and potentially
dangerous environment for new immigrants.
As if it isn’t already hard enough for refugees
to seek asylum in the United States, those who
make the cut quickly find that they have come
to a country where they will be marginalized
by merit of where they come from, not their
own personal beliefs.
This baseless discrimination clashes with
the values of acceptance of others and of
religious and cultural freedom that America
stands for. Snyder should take note of these
facts in order to foster a state in which all
residents, whether they were born here or
not, can exercise their rights without fear of
unfounded prejudice.
Containing terrorism
W
e have all heard about the gruesome
ISIS terrorist attacks in Paris on the
evening of Nov. 13. These attacks
took the lives of at least
129 victims and injured
hundreds more. They were
the first attacks that ISIS
carried out in Europe.
ISIS, also known as the
Islamic State, has long
communicated its intent
to expand terror from the
Middle East to Europe
and the United States.
ISIS has had the ability to
attack in Europe and the
United States for far too
long because of its large number of foreign
recruits (estimated to be around 30,000 by a
United States intelligence report) who have
the agency to re-enter their home countries
and launch attacks.
However, U.S. President Barack Obama has
consistently chosen to be reactionary toward
ISIS as opposed to combating the threat itself.
Since Aug. 8, 2014, the United States has been
launching airstrikes against the Islamic
State in Iraq. The airstrikes are a reaction to
its startling territorial gains, including the
acquisition of Mosul, the second-largest city
in Iraq, in June 2014.
The beheadings of American journalists
James Foley and Steven Sotloff helped to
prompt the expansion of airstrikes into Syria
in September 2014. These airstrikes haven’t
sufficiently stabilized the region, considering
that ISIS thrives in conquered areas with a large
number of Arab Sunni populations and that the
organization has attracted recruits from nearly
80 countries. ISIS has been very active in the
last few weeks. Besides the terrorist attacks in
Paris, ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide
bombing in Baghdad that killed 19 people on
Nov. 13, suicide bombings in Beirut that killed
43 on Nov. 12, and for the deaths of 224 on a
Russian aircraft that crashed on Oct. 31.
Despite these extensive attacks by ISIS,
Obama maintained his view that current
efforts against ISIS are sufficient at the recent
G-20 summit in Turkey. He was asked about
underestimating the Islamic State, if the United
States should send more troops to Syria and
about elusive success combatting ISIS. When
asked if American policy should increase
forces in Syria, he stated, “We would see a
repetition of what we’ve seen before, which
is if you do not have local populations that are
committed to inclusive governance and who
are pushing against ideological extremes, that
they resurface, unless we’re prepared to have a
permanent occupation of these countries.”
It seems to me that Obama provides an excuse
for not sending ground troops by suggesting
that he doesn’t want to repeat former President
George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Obama
believes that the invasion of Iraq in 2003 failed
to create stability in the region because the
locals weren’t prepared to combat extremism.
It’s true that the locals were unprepared to
combat extremism, but they were unprepared
to do so in the wake of a hasty United States exit
from the region in 2011.
David Ignatius summarizes the situation in
an article for The Atlantic, “How ISIS Spread
in the Middle East.” Ignatius describes how
attempts by the United States or Islamist rebels
ASHLEY
AUSTIN
to topple authoritarian regimes in the
Middle East create power vacuums.
Extremists will fill the political
vacuums if the United States and its
allies don’t build strong local forces
that can suppress terrorist groups.
The
United
States
must
be
persistent in its efforts to aid the local
forces — if it withdraws too soon as it
did from Iraq in 2011 under Obama’s
orders, terrorists will seize power.
Iraqi forces weren’t ready for the
withdrawal of American troops, and
Obama’s policymakers chose to look
the other way for too long as ISIS
spread between 2011 to 2014. From
2014 onward, the United States has
sought to only contain the threat of
ISIS through airstrikes — not the full
military engagement necessary to
topple the Islamic State.
ISIS is only becoming stronger,
and it’s time to eliminate the threat
of terrorism once and for all in the
Middle East. For the last 14 years,
the United States has been involved
in proxy wars in the Middle East
that haven’t sufficiently eliminated
violent extremism its perpetrators
seek to spread everywhere. We
have lived in a world constantly
threatened by terrorism for most
of our lives, provoking fear in many
of us. Whenever I attend sporting
events, fly on an airplane or board
a train, there’s always that fleeting
second in which I think back to 9/11
and other terrorist attacks. I never let
this fear dictate my actions, but it’s a
fear that I cannot escape.
There are few places in the world
that extremists don’t seek to attack,
and I know that my fear isn’t unique to
being an American. I sometimes think
back to my harrowing experience
on an overnight cruise between
Italy and Greece in 2008. When on
the cruise, we were informed that
there had been a terrorist threat and
potential bomb placed on board of
the ship. It was difficult to surmise
the details of the threat announced
on the loudspeakers because the
announcements came first in four
other languages before English.
Passengers spoke in panicked voices
over the announcements.
I remember my mother holding
my hand and leading me back to the
room that I shared with my sister.
Italian police officers and bomb
squads raided every room on the ship,
including the room that I shared with
my sister. I became hyperaware of
how trapped and vulnerable I was on
this ship in the middle of the Adriatic
Sea, so far from home. My last
memories of this experience include
looking out a porthole at the topaz
sea and wondering how such hatred
could exist. Evidently, there was no
bomb on board, but this experience
taught me that terrorism has a broad
affect that can touch you anywhere
in this world.
Terrorism cannot be contained
to the Middle East; it will extend
itself to strike us when we least
expect it. The time has come for
more
extensive
attacks
against
ISIS in Iraq and Syria that may
have to include ground troops.
The Islamic State is far from being
contained as Obama stated it to
be on the morning of Nov. 13 in a
“Good Morning America” interview
and maintains presently. Al-Qaeda
and its outgrowth, ISIS, have been
terrorizing their own societies and
the world for the last 14 years, and
they have the capability to continue
to do so.
The reality is that we must demand
policies that recognize that this
group is a top threat to our ability
to live in a democracy and a world
where civilians don’t have to fear
assassination just because they don’t
adopt Islamic extremist ideology.
— Ashley Austin can be reached
at agracea@umich.edu.
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