Wednesday, March 14, 2018 // The Statement
4B
Wednesday, March 14, 2018 // The Statement
5B
BBUM: Our History
by Lorna Brown, Senior MiC Editor
I
t is hard adjusting here because
there are so many people who
do not look like me, and the first
thing people do is judge me by
my appearance, my skin color.”
When asked what was the hardest part
of their first year at the University of
Michigan, every Black student responded
with this answer in one way or another.
Your melanin-enriched skin is a target
you carry with you each day of your life.
What separates you from the crowd of
people you pass on the Diag, what makes
you the only person in your chemistry
class and what narrows you down to 5
percent on a campus of about 46,000.
Your Blackness is something the world
will never let you forget, especially on a
campus where there are few spaces for
your Blackness to be unapologetically
itself.
However, life was not always like this…
The year is 1979 and the Black popula-
tion is 8 percent at the University, near
double today’s.
It was a group effort across campus:
the Black Student Union, the Black Law
Student Association, the Association of
Black Social Work Students and Black
students from the University medical and
psychology schools. Each organization
came together to create the Black Action
Movement (BAM) to manifest change
for students who faced marginalization
for their skin color on a daily basis. They
demanded the University increase the
Black population to 10 percent, in order
to reflect the state of Michigan’s Black
resident population at the time, and to
overall increase the representation and
awareness of Black students on campus.
Through strikes that often lasted up to
a week and protests with students pas-
sionately holding signs and chanting,
seven years of enraged passion at the
University’s failure to create a campus for
students of color were finally recognized.
Professors canceled classes until stu-
dents’ demands were met and the faculty
and staff worked to create changes that
were insisted after years of failure to rec-
ognize their Black students. Lasting from
1970 to 1987, BAM I, BAM II and BAM
III progressively worked to increase the
Black population and bring attention to
the concerns of harassment, racial ten-
sion and discrimination on campus.
Though the University never did reach
10 percent enrollment, programs like the
multicultural lounges in each dorm and
living/learning communities exclusively
for Black students arose as a result of the
BAM movements that took place in the
early ’80s — places like the Ambatana
Lounge in South Quad Residence Hall.
Black students finally had spaces to
escape from the everyday racism of cam-
pus — spaces just for us.
S
pades, UNO and of course … the
kid that flipped the Monopoly
board over because he did not
want to pay rent to the rest of his oppo-
nents. This was how my parents met.
Long nights in the Ambatana Lounge
in South Quad. Spontaneous step-shows
between rival Greek organizations in the
middle of Angell Hall as students walked
to class. Soul Train Lines that formed on
Friday nights in the cafeteria of Mary
Markley
Residence
Hall.
Basketball
courts full of late night pick-up games.
These were unforgettable memories for
students like my parents. They found
camaraderie in the living communi-
ties that brought Black students togeth-
er from different parts of the country.
Through funded trips to attend movie
premieres and snacks for their lounges
provided by the council, the Black com-
munity grew closer.
Black history at the University of
Michigan is complicated, affirmative
action ended in 2006 and the Supreme
Court upheld the ban after a momentous
6-2 vote. The Black population at the Uni-
versity dropped dramatically, and with
that came the end of an era.
The Black living/learning communi-
ties that created friendships among Black
students who lived just across the hall
from each other disappeared. The loung-
es that were once centralized places for
Black students to easily socialize with
others of their own community until the
early hours of the morning slowly grew
empty. This is a result of the scattering
of Black students across campus. With
the loss of the living communities, con-
nections that were formed by living next
door to one another were broken. It was
much harder to meet Black people who
lived in different parts of campus, espe-
cially since the already miniscule num-
ber of students continues to falter. A
diminishing population could no longer
sustain the elements that made it home
for so many.
I
interviewed a few alumni about
their experiences at the Univer-
sity. This is what they said:
The Athlete (1999-2003):
“My experience at the University of
Michigan was different because I was a
public figure and so people were more
willing to come up and talk to me than
what was the case for most of the Black
community. I was approached and asked
questions because I was the face for the
University, for the basketball team. How-
ever, I knew at the end of the day that I
would always have a community to come
back to after long days of practice when
I walked into South Quad. There was
always someone flipping over a chair
because they were losing at Spades, and
I remember those days as being the best
moments of my college career. ”
The Sigma (1979-1984):
“Being here from 1979 to 1984 was the
peak for the Black community, we had
the largest Phi Beta Sigma pledge line
the University had ever seen and it was
exhilarating being a part of something so
special. Learning the steps and staying
up late practicing with my Line Brothers,
the parties, and competitions we used to
perform in; those are the moments I will
never forget. I made friends for life dur-
ing my time here, and I wish everyone
could have a piece of what I had during
undergrad.”
The Socialite (1979-1983):
“Although I was not a part of any
clubs, I had the time of my life here. The
lounge is where I met my best friends,
beat people in Spades, and tried to learn
Calc. Being at the University of Michi-
gan gave me the confidence I needed to
succeed in the real world. The programs
in the dorms that created activities for
the Black kids helped me to find people
who experienced the world like I did.
Although, I wish that it was something
that all minorities had because creating a
space for people who are marginalized is
so important in this world.”
T
he lounges remain, but the his-
torical context and the memo-
ries of those who once occupied
these spaces do not. The multicultural
lounges now serve as spaces where mem-
bers of non-marginalized communities
can enter.
With the recent removal of a short
orientation
requirement
for
use
of
multicultural lounges like CAMEO in
Couzens and the Ambatana Lounge in
South Quad, the history and camarade-
rie that once centralized Black students
and other minorities alike is now forgot-
ten. Ambatana, the lounge named for the
Swahili term “stick together,” has unfor-
tunately lost its meaning when students
began referring to it as the “Afro-Amer-
ican Lounge.” With the decreased use of
these lounges by minority students and
the fear of creating spaces that were “too
exclusive,” the lounges had to accommo-
date students from the entire campus,
including those who made us feel unwel-
comed. A door closed on history is now
silenced by the effort to create inclusive-
ness, but takes away from the meaning of
what created these safe places, to begin
with.
Ironically, the most notable differ-
ence is what remains invisible to us all:
the immense number of kids who were
denied the opportunity to attend this
University because affirmative action
was voted out. Considering that the state
of Michigan currently has a population
of 14.2 percent Black/African American
residents according to the 2017 census
report, it does not make much sense as to
why our University’s Black population is
so small. Black students especially have
lost the opportunity that they once had
to attend one of the highest-ranked uni-
versities in the country. For Black stu-
dents like my parents, education paved a
pathway to a lifestyle outside of the one
that society fabricated for them. We will
never know the accomplishments of stu-
dents who were denied the opportunity
to attend this University: a chilling real-
ity we all need to face.
Efforts to create a community for the
Black population by the Black Student
Union, the National Pan-Hellenic Coun-
cil and many other Black organizations
on campus should not be overlooked. For
example, the screening of “Black Pan-
ther” put on by BSU united Black students
from around the campus. NPHC events
highlight the tradition and the impor-
tance of Black Greek life, and academic
groups like the National Society of Black
Engineers bring Black engineers together
in a field that lacks Black representation.
Without the tireless ventures from these
programs that help bond the Black stu-
dents at the University of Michigan, we
certainly would not feel as united.
Black History Month might be over, and
soon the school year will conclude with
melting snow and longer days. Before
we know it, our time as students will
come to an end. The moments we share
and relationships we build are a testa-
ment to our community. Simply because
we know what it means to overcome the
targets placed on our backs by society
and the outside world as a whole. Sim-
ply because our journey to defy what has
been fabricated to deter us will never be
easy. Simply because having a supportive
community that unifies us through every
moment of our journey is imperative to
our success in a world of homogeneity.
Simply because … We matter.
A special thank you those who were
interviewed for this piece; without you,
this would not be possible.
Courtesy of Lorna Brown
A step show by the Phi Beta Sigmas in the Markley cafeteria in 1981.
Listings of Multicultural Lounges in every dorm
Swahili meaning in parentheses
· Ambatana (Stick Together) or Afro-American
Lounge and Yuri Kochiyama Lounge: South Quad
· CAMEO: Couzens Active Minority Ethnic
Organization: Couzens
· Asubuhi (Morning): West Quad
· Umoja (Unity) and Vicky Barner Lounge: Alice Lloyd
· MLK Jr. Lounge: Bursley
· Abeng (Conch Shell): East Quad
· Angela Davis Lounge and Aarti Sharangpani Lounge:
Markley
· Grace Lee Boggs Lounge: Baits
· Nikki Giovanni Lounge and César Chávez Lounge:
Mosher Jordan
· Audre Lorde Lounge: Newberry Residence
· Mahatma Ghandi Lounge: Oxford
· Rosa Parks Lounge: Stockwell
· Edward Said Lounge: North Quad
Courtesy of Lorna Brown
Ambatana picnic at Fuller Park in 1982.