Wednesday, February 7, 2018 // The Statement
7B
could not get WA to apologize and had
to, instead, apologize profusely on WA’s
behalf. Andrew told Zeinab and I that
he wanted to meet with us again in the
coming weeks to discuss ways to make
the Daily more inclusive to and repre-
sentative of people of color on campus.
Shortly
after
this
incident,
I
approached Zeinab Khalil with her idea
for the column and she helped me refine
my ideas and come up with a more solid
vision for the column. I always admired
Zeinab’s critical mind and devotion to
social justice — her belief in the vision
made me so much more confident talk-
ing to other friends and using their feed-
back to create a more holistic plan for
the column. Zeinab and I agreed that we
would present our notes to Andrew dur-
ing our follow up meeting with him.
Andrew was extremely receptive and
willing to implement pretty much any-
thing we asked for. He told Zeinab and I
that he would love for us to co-found the
space. Zeinab politely declined the offer
because she was busy founding the kick-
ass Michigan Women of Color Collective
(MWOCC), an organization that signifi-
cantly transformed the face of student
activism within communities of color
during our senior year and is a huge rea-
son why MiC is so successful today.
During this conversation, Andrew
introduced me to Kayla, a senior and
another woman of color, who had been
writing for the Daily since her fresh-
man year. I remember hearing Kayla
speak at one of the Daily mass meetings,
and I always admired her boss status
from afar. She edited the Arts section
of the Daily and had been working for
the Daily for three years. Andrew said
that she heard about the column idea
and was very interested in co-founding
the column with me. Kayla then got in
touch with Jerusaliem, another talented
woman of color whom she felt would be
perfect for the third editing position.
Jerusaliem, Kayla, Zeinab and I col-
laborated on a Google Doc titled “POC
Space in the Daily” and “Name/Mission
Statement” that we have saved for you in
your “History and Constitution” folder.
These documents were basically the
building blocks for what is now Michi-
gan in Color and could probably help you
understand better the raw thoughts we
had before MiC became the monster it is
today.
Shortly after Zeinab helped Kayla,
Jerus and I finalize our Mission State-
ment, Vision and name. For the first
time, Kayla, Jerus and I met up at State
street’s Espresso Royale as the MiC Edi-
torial Team (still strangers) to write the
first ever MiC Drop (that we decided
we would publish, not coincidentally,
on Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday).
Before we published it though, Jerus and
I attended MLK Symposium events and
started spreading the word about Michi-
gan in Color and encouraging people to
apply to contribute. We individually and
collectively reached out to our friends
within the Daily, in various student orgs
and even on other campuses to spread
the word. We attended meetings to get
people to sign up and obviously, we
Facebooked and Tweeted our asses off.
All that was great, and while we’re sure
it helped spread the word about what we
were doing, we want you to understand
how important personal relationships
were in making MiC happen.
Z
einab’s Women of Color Col-
lective was an organization
that united over 200 amaz-
ing women of color from all
walks of life. At any given meeting, there
were at least 30 women ready to share
their hearts and speak their truths. In
MWOCC’s Facebook group, women of
color can post to an audience of 240
other WOC who are ready to listen and
respond with love, support and affirma-
tion. Because of the relationships that
came out of this wonderful collective,
student groups of color were able to
forge personal, social and political rela-
tions for the first time in our four years
at the U. Prior to our senior year, we had
all belonged to different communities
of color who dealt with issues indepen-
dently, rarely receiving support or offer-
ing a lending hand to other communities
of color on campus dealing with similar
issues.
Because of MWOCC, real relation-
ships happened across these lines of dif-
ference, and because of the genuine love
that transcended these imaginary walls,
real activism and coalition building
happened. Without MWOCC, momen-
tous movements like the Black Student
Union’s #BBUM (Being Black at Michi-
gan), and Students Allied for Freedom
and Equality’s #UMDivest campaign/
sit in — two student-led movements that
gained national attention that year —
would not have been able to garner as
much genuine support and allyhood as
they did. Largely because of the rela-
tionships we built in MWOCC, your
founding editors were able to attract
contributors and a solid reader base who
trusted and believed in us. MWOCC
helped us form real relationships with
women who would ride and die for us
and our movement. It helped Jerus,
Kayla and I understand one another as
more than just co-editors — by the end of
the year, we became life-long sisters in
a movement larger than we could imag-
ine. Our time together as MiC editors —
though far too short — has changed each
of our lives forever.
We can’t stress enough how impor-
tant keeping the trust and genuine rela-
tionships will be in the years to come.
Because MiC has developed a name
for itself, it is unlikely you will have to
worry about outreach (after the first few
weeks, we were overwhelmed with the
amount of submissions we were getting).
But that’s not our point.
Y
es, you are editors and man-
agers of this column, but
what you are working with
is so much more important
than marketing and statistics. MiC was
attractive because there was a need for
a platform that amplified the voices of
people of color, but it was
successful
because people knew, loved and trust-
ed someone involved with Michigan
in Color. While keeping this trust will
undoubtedly look different than gaining
it, it will require from each of you just as
much reflection, humility and love as it
did from us.
And trust us, you will receive it in
return. The amount of support, affir-
mation and love that we got from
those interacting with this space got
us through our toughest days. You will
receive random e-mails from people
across the nation telling you that they
appreciate your work. You will be show-
ered with compliments in Tweets and
Facebook posts. You will have allies who
defend your work every time someone
posts a stupid and ignorant Facebook
comment under an article. You will run
into people on campus who remind you
how much they love you for the work you
are doing. And you will be worthy of all
of it because you are amazing, brave and
dedicated to this movement. You are the
facilitators of a discourse that needs to
be happening in our nation. You are the
enablers of voices and narratives who
have been silenced, discouraged, mar-
ginalized and oppressed for far too long.
You will be playing defense and
offense at the same damn time. You will
be defending this space from anything
that tries to harm it (we wouldn’t be sur-
prised if, as it gains more traction, the
“no whites allowed” element becomes
more controversial). You need to truly
believe in our MiC Drops and embody
MiC’s Purpose and Vision because you
will need to defend them time and time
again if you haven’t had to already. You
will be playing offense because you will
have to constantly ask what communities
of color on campus need and want out of
MiC and then ask yourselves whether
MiC is fulfilling this need. A huge part
of your job is to continue to develop this
space so it is all that it can be for POCs at
or affiliated with Michigan.
And the job description ain’t the half
of it. You will each be a full-time poster
child for this space, whether you like it
or not. This reality is why you should be
able to defend anything and everything
you do as editors, students, activists and
young adults. There will be times when
your activism — both in and outside of
MiC — will come under attack (in our
experience, especially if you are pro-
Palestinian). You need to support one
another during these times but contin-
ue to be brave and unapologetic about
the work that you do because it’s not
about you. It is so important to embody
MiC’s vision and purpose in all that you
do, because your undying belief in this
movement is the reason spaces like these
are visible, replicable and powerful. In
these moments of controversy, consis-
tency and conviction is key. You need
to think about the bigger picture at all
times: could the backlash, criticism and
verbal violence from white peers be
exactly why a space like MiC needs to
exist for us? If communities of color are
upset or unsatisfied, what could we be
doing better to ensure they feel welcome
and represented in a space created for
them?
Our intention is not to scare you (and
we know you’re too badass and commit-
ted to be scared anyway), but we want
you to know that the worst thing you can
do for yourselves, for others and for MiC
is to undermine the power and impor-
tance of this work. As you change lives
this year, don’t let modesty get in the
way of recognizing and celebrating the
revolution you are leading, but be hum-
ble enough to learn from those around
you every step of the way.
W
ith much love and respect,
Your Founding Editors
Jerusaliem Geb
Rima Fadlallah
Kayla Upadhyaya
I felt that
my campus’
publication
should make
room for a
space like this
if it was going
to claim to be
representative
of all students
on campus.