As black people in institutions of higher education, we are socialized to be cogs in a machine. None of the curriculum or scholarship that is produced by the majority of predominately white institutions help black/Africana people gain a knowledge of self or orient themselves to the world in a way that produces social justice for our communities. We are also told to obey interlocking systems of oppression, including racism, sexism, patriarchy and heteronormativity. Nothing about traditional Western academia produced at these institutions reconcile for the black student feeling outnumbered, under-appreciated and devalued. A black studies department at Towson University corrects these problems.
Before we do that, people need to become more acquainted with the history of Towson University as an institution. The first black student did not come to TU until the early 1960’s, this means that before that point, TU had no intention on integrating or understanding the black experience, especially the black student experience.
In response to this, in 1969, newly enrolled black students began to organize and formulate what is currently known as the Black Student Union. At that point though, it was not recognized by the University as an official organization, so, in order to accomplish that, on February 25, 1970, the Black Student Union stormed the administration building and locked the president, James Fisher, in his office and presented him with a list of demands, including office supplies, a budget and guaranteed office space in the newly created University Union. This is why the Black Student Union is the only student group that is given an office.
As a result of that, there was more progress made in black empowerment at TU. In February 1974, what is currently called the African-American Cultural Center was created with the purpose of providing student programming that illustrated black culture and tradition. As a result, in the 1970’s the African-American Studies program was born with courses focusing on the black experience. Over the years however, program enrollment was on the decline and in 2002, the program was changed from a full major to a minor.
We think that this was a mistake because currently, in terms of percentages, black/Africana students are the majority of the people of color here at TU, and we deserve an academic environment that accounts for that. People of color at TU have made these arguments before and it’s not like this is a new issue.
In an interview with The Towerlight in a November 1973 issue, BSU president Sonny Gadsen told the paper that blacks need to be “high on the priority list” and that the University should work to get books to supplement black studies in Cook Library. Several progressive articles and programming were also produced in the 1960’s to the early 1990’s at TU, but the collective consciousness of the campus has gone down because we have become complacent with our condition, but now is the time for action.
An SGA resolution is the first of many steps that the BSU will take in demanding a department over the next five to ten years. This will not be a “monument,” it will be a fully functioning component of our institution that will satisfy the needs of black/Africana peoples at Towson University. What is needed is full and unconditional institutional support, and that is our goal with this resolution. The most fitting way to conclude this piece is with some quotes from a November 1969 article from the BSU on “What it means to be black at a white university”:
Being black means to walk across campus and on my first day of class and not see one black student.
Being black means to have all white teachers and to be surrounded in class by all white students.
Being black means to open my textbooks and see pictures of white folk and read whitewashed theory, philosophy and history, which are irrelevant to me.
Being black is to watch whites look upon my natural hair, my mustache, my African garments, my black music and literature, my black community language and my other symbols of black pride as deviant.
Being black is to go into a class disadvantaged and find that I have a teacher who believes it impossible for a black student to achieve an “A” or “B” grade.
Being black is to know that my grandmother was raped and labeled promiscuous, that my grandfather was worked from dawn to dusk and considered lazy, that my father was denied a job and call shiftless, that my sister was “busted” upside the head with an ax handle, white policemen laughed and then labeled her as a troublemaker. And then finally, that I was denied an equal education and an equal opportunity and labeled as culturally deprived.
Finally, being black means to be lonely, hyper-alienated, depressed, displayed, ignored and harassed. Just the fact of being black means to be at the brink of revolt.
We need a black studies department
40 years later, the struggle continues
Published: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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By this logic, as a white student, when I enroll in a history class and learn about famous black Americans like: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Frederick Douglas, Langston Hughes, Billie Holiday, George Washington Carver, W.E.B. Dubois, Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and Booker T. Washington, I should excuse myself because their history is irrelevant to me.
This article does nothing to galvanize for your cause (which I was in full support of before reading this), and instead alienates a good portion of the Towson population that may have very well fought alongside you for the department. I would advise a different approach.
Number one, I had a problem with "None of the curriculum or scholarship that is produced by the majority of predominately white institutions help black/Africana people gain a knowledge of self or orient themselves to the world in a way that produces social justice for our communities. We are also told to obey interlocking systems of oppression, including racism, sexism, patriarchy and heteronormativity." Excuse me? Why do you need other people to help you gain a sense of self? This seems like a personal problem to me. I hate to be mean but really. It makes us all sound needy like we always need someone to blame for our problems. And Just because I am black doesn't mean that I am racist or sexist. How does me being black have anything to do with me having to obey those things? No one shoved a gun or a knife to your throat and told you you had to obey. This is again a personal thing.
The second thing I had a problem with was the reasoning or why we have a BSU at Towson. It made me want to throw up on this article I was reading before me. I mean how is violence helping your argument? It seems to me like your proving stereotypes.
The third thing that sickened me was how you talked about what it was like being black. You said in your article that it was walking across campus and not seeing one black person...well I don't know which campus you live on, but when I walk to class or around campus I see a lot of black people. Moving on I was disgusted by "Being black is to watch whites look upon my natural hair, my mustache, my African garments, my black music and literature, my black community language and my other symbols of black pride as deviant."
FIRST OF ALL I AM NOT AFRICAN! We need to wake up! Hello black and African is not the same thing, and I hate this whole word choice of African American because I am not! I am just a plain American. I didn't come from Africa and then move here. I was born and raised here! I feel as though the people who wrote this article are the same people who believe in "acting white" or "acting black" Which to me is so stupid and ignorant in itself. How can you act a color? I can't act pink can I?
The very last thing that really made me steam and hot under the collar was the last line of this article.
"Finally, being black means to be lonely, hyper-alienated, depressed, displayed, ignored and harassed. Just the fact of being black means to be at the brink of revolt."
EXCUSE ME?!?!?! So you're saying that because I am black..because my skin is of a darker shade then other minorities around me(yes there are other minorities other than black people) I am supposed to be on the brink of a revolt? Why is this? I feel as though you make it seem as if black people aren't happy in their skin. As if we are some type or alien being that just landed on earth one day. How dare you say that because I am black I am depressed, ignored, harassed, and am on the brink of a revolt. How dare you put down your own race like that. How dare you make black people on this campus look like freaks with this repulsive article. How dare you, and another thing was when you said our music and out language. What is this our? Music is universal and I don't know what language your talking about? Slang? Because that has nothing to do with ethnicity since race technically doesn't exist. Maybe you meant the way you speak but doesn't that have to do with where you were raised and not all black people are raised from the same place. I felt like you made it seem like we are all one big community that agrees on everything. Well we are not. How can you tell what music all black people listen to Or tell how all black people speak? How dare you waste paper in that newspaper with this repulsive article. This article made all black people look like a bunch of violent, depressed, black power seeking, doesn't care about anyone else looking, bunch of idiots, and I for one am not standing for it. Me not writing this would be like me agreeing to what you said, and I don't agree.
~Benjamin E. Mays
I support all forms of diversity that respect the diversity of all others.
Therefore, upon reading the title of this post on thetowerlight.com, I was extremely interested in delving further in. I agreed completely with the fact that if there is enough interest in a Black Studies Department at Towson University, it should indeed be pushed for until the creation of the department is complete.
When I finished reading, I felt singled out and blamed in some way for the current nonexistence of a Black Studies Department. I thought after reading that the person who is at the forefront of the push, whoever wrote this, was excluding me from the cause. I felt left out. I felt that I was being told that I could not fight alongside students of color for something we similarly believed in. There was no “me” in the “we” who “[thought] that [it] was a mistake” to have Black Studies “changed from a full major to a minor.” My support seemed to matter far less than a man who wrote an article in the Towerlight in November of 1973, no matter how many beliefs I feel we almost certainly share.
Do you really believe that I, who fully support and would be willing to help push for the creation of the Department, am more willing to help with the fight when I feel so isolated from the cause? To be truthful, I’m not. In fact I’m driven away from the movement.
I, a fervent supporter of the idea, am driven away by the arguments you make. How do you expect less supportive readers to react?
As far as the major goes if not enough people are interested it makes no sense to raise the tuition for all students which further isolates potential students of lesser means so someone can get a major that they and a few are interested in pursuing..... Certain limits are set in place to prevent wasteful spending, example being SGA requiring 15 signatures and members to start and maintain a SGA affiliated group. If only 5 people were members and signed it would not pass under the policy as currently written.