Volume 103, Issue 20
The Hilltop The Student Voice of Howard University thehilltoponline.com
bl(activism)
Friday, March 30, 2018
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March 30, 2018
CAMPUS
50 Years Later: The Demonstration that Changed Howard and the Legacy It Left By: Kyra Azore, News Reporter (@KyraAzore)
“Beep beep bang bang, Ungawa Black Power,” was gleefully chanted by Howard University students in 1968 during a demonstration outside the Mordecai Wyatt Johnson Administration Building. The four-day takeover of the Administration Building, which ultimately led to the shutdown of the school, took place March 19 through March 23, 1968, and was a response to the university’s threats to expel nearly 40 students accused of disrupting the Charter Day Convocation weeks prior. More than 1,000 students participated in this demonstration. At the time, the demonstration seemed like just any other, but the takeover led to great changes in the university and would be cited by students for decades to come. “We had no idea,” said Anthony ‘Tony’ Gittens, a senior and leader during the 1968 demonstration. “We had no idea it would take on this kind of significance. We had done a lot of demonstrating for years so this was one more. We had no idea that this would be as significant as it seems to have been.” Students gathered outside Douglass Hall, March 19, 1968, before they proceeded to the Administration Building. The plan was to conduct a sit-in in President James Nabrit’s office until he said that the students would not be expelled. Demonstration leaders expected this to end with them being dragged out, as that was the usual result of their protests. Yet, word had spread on campus and hundreds of students turned out to participate, enough to fill multiple floors in the building. The administration stated that they would drop the charges against the accused students, but that was no longer good enough. The students who seized the attention of the administration refused to leave until their additional demands were met. These demands included that student discipline be handled by a judiciary committee which included student input, the incorporation of African-American history and culture into the curriculum and the immediate resignation of President Nabrit. All but the last demand were met.
tests since 1968. “Howard students have always displayed a level of consciousness, but the approach and focus has shifted,” continued Harper. “The 1968 demonstration was successful because students had definitive goals and outcomes. Once University administration responded to the pressure, students maintained a unified voice and presence that ensured the implementation of the promises that were made. There have been successful demonstrations since 1968--in 1989 students were successful in calling for the resignation of Lee Atwater as a trustee and in 2015 the #SilentShowtime demonstration resulted in students receiving the financial aid they needed.” Gittens, who served also as Feature Editor of The Hilltop, said the advice he would give to student protesters would be to “learn from the Civil Rights Movement,” realizing that it’s a long struggle and that it’s not going to happen just out of one demonstration. “It took us many years and a lot of work to get to the point of 1968 and the sit-in. And it would be helpful if [you] thought in terms of long-term struggle when the cameras go away, and the lights go out, they still have to continue to work,” said Gittens. “The people [who they want to] change their minds... they’re pretty dug in and it’ll take quite a bit to make them shift. They’re not going to do it out of some humanitarian insight because they’re business people, most of them. And they’re pretty dug in, so it’s going to take a lot of effort to make them change, it’s not going to be an overnight kind of thing. It takes quite some time.” The demonstration is immortalized in 1968 PBS documentary, Color Us Black.
This demonstration was the most successful of its kind and has served as a blueprint for other student-led demonstrations both on campus and across the nation. Later that year, a similar demonstration arose on the campus of Columbia University, which garnered more media attention. “The 1968 administration building takeover challenged both the direction and purpose of Howard University. The institution was forced to recognize and address its perpetuation of exclusionary Black elitism, the neglect of its students, and an identity rooted in adherence to the white power structure,” said members of HU Resist. HU Resist is a group of students known for their demonstrations against university decisions, most notably the allowance of James Comey’s address during the opening Convocation Ceremony of the 2017-18 academic year. “Fifty years ago, Howard students called for their university to prioritize the interests of Black people and truly become a Black University,” continued HU Resist. “Today, the same problems plague this institution. With our buildings crumbling around us, the student body has watched our current administration profit from its students and the surrounding community as it fails to secure Howard’s future. As student organizers, we have committed ourselves to transforming this university into a democratic safe haven for all Black students. We also aim to reinstitute Howard University as an instrument to serve and support the often-neglected surrounding Black community.” In the last 50 years, there have been no shortages of demonstrations by students; none have had this type of success. Many believe this is because the new generation of students lacks follow through and relies heavily on the work of students in the past, but one university professor thinks otherwise. “I don't think students are relying on the successes of past students at all. Howard University students have always used their voices to bring attention to important causes,” said Dr. Caroline Harper, professor in the Political Science department. “Earlier this month, #HowardHousingCrisis opened the door for meaningful conversations about housing availability, building maintenance, and overall student needs. However, hashtags alone don't lead to tangible change--it takes constant and coordinated efforts between students and administration to ensure that the promises actually materialize.” Harper further stated her views on the success rate of Howard University prothehilltoponline.com
(Photo/Washington Evening Star)
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NEWS
The Hilltop Staff Jazmin Goodwin, Editor-in-Chief EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT: Almani Jackson, Business Manager Shai Vaz, Assistant Business Manager Brittany Read, Executive Operations Manager Jerry Augustin, Sales Account Executive CREATIVE DEPARTMENT: Oluwatobi Oladejo, Creative Content Director Tiffany Hunt, Creative Content Assistant Lesley M. Pierrot, Layout Editor EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT: Kimberly Nnorom, Senior Copy Editor Justin Cohen, Assistant Copy Editor Kesi Felton, News Editor Clarice Metzger, Life+Style Editor Lawrence Dow, Sports Editor Brianna Sims, Assistant Sports Editor EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: eic@thehilltoponline.com
March 30, 2018
#MarchForOurLives, But Whose Lives? Exploring the Lack of Intersectionality in the Movements for Gun Control By: Nancy Vu, News Reporter (@Nancy99)
On Saturday, March 24, an estimated 200,000 protesters walked in solidarity to support stricter gun control policies along the streets of Capitol Hill. With over 800 sister marches worldwide, March for Our Lives signified the largest protest against gun violence since 2000 and connected millions through the use of hashtags like #MarchForOurLives and #NeverAgain. Celebrities, performers and speakers represented different backgrounds and demographics, lending March for Our Lives the illusion of intersectionality while supporting one common goal: ending gun violence. Actress and singer Jennifer Hudson closed the march with a cover of Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are-A Changin’. In addition to being one of the celebrity appearances at the march, Hudson lost her mother, brother and aunt to gun violence. Eleven-year-old Naomi Wadler sparked tears when she gave a touching speech on the overlooked gun violence that affects African American women and other women of color. Yolanda King, granddaughter of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., had also lost her beloved grandfather to gun violence. Edna Chavez, a resident of South Los Angeles, had the crowd chanting her late brother’s name while talking about the prevalence of gun violence in her neighborhood. David Hogg, Emma Gonzalez and other survivors of the recent Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, where a former student killed 17 and injured many in Parkland, Florida. Current students spoke about their experiences since the massacre. They also noted their agenda moving forward, which includes implementing stricter background checks and banning the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, according to the official March for Our Lives petition. However, while acknowledging the various backgrounds at the march, one question remains: Why weren’t Black people and other communities of color supported with this much unanimity when they were vehemently fighting against gun violence?
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Gun violence is an issue that weighs especially heavy on communities of color. According to a 2017 study published in the Journal of Pediatrics on childhood firearm injuries, it was found that “African American children have the highest rates of firearm mortality overall (4.1 per 100,000),” which is “10 times higher than the rate for white children and Asian American children (each 0.4 per 100,000).” With African Americans being disproportionately murdered at the hands of gun violence for decades and politicians ignoring their calls for action, it is inevitable that groups will rise up and protest to ensure that their grievances are heard. However, when members of the #BlackLivesMatter movement chant, yell and actively participate in civil disobedience, they are arrested. They are looked at as radical and unfitting for society. Their cause is labeled unlawful and unimportant to the majority. They are deemed a threat.
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“I believe #NeverAgain is strictly about gun control regarding school shootings, but more people of color die from police brutality, and I do not think much was said about that during the march,” said Abolade Oyetunji, a freshman political science major at Howard University.
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When the same issue of gun violence affects America’s white majority, there is outcry. There is acceptance of their pain and their refusal to comply with the laws enacted. There is a movement that is not stopped by law enforcement at every corner. There is compassion and empathy at every turn. Denay Malloy, a 17-year-old Maryland resident and participant in March for Our Lives, stood in solidarity for the cause but felt the protest was “not as intersectional as it could be.” “I’m not trying [to] discredit David Hogg and many of the other people from the Parkland shooting because they have extreme trauma and I stand with them,” said Mallow. “However, it’s not a Parkland debate. It’s a national debate, spreading through generations that the black community, and the brown community and the immigrant community have been speaking about… “So why does it take fair-skinned people, white people, to now experience some pain that we’re feeling, that we’ve been experiencing for years, for us to move like this?” Grace Ajisafe, another Maryland resident, agreed the #NeverAgain Movement should be more inclusive of people of color. “It’s important to represent the whole nation, not just one part of the nation, as in white people,” said 17-year-old Ajisafe. “I think that the only way to increase the intersectionality is for media to cover more people of color involved in the movement, to show that we are here, and people who support Black Lives Matter are here.” The “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” slogan -birthed after the killing of Michael Brown in 2014- is now being used by white protesters of this movement who, ironically, were the ones that once disapproved of its usage as the rallying call of the Black Lives Matter Movement. The appropriation of the phrase exhibits that some members of the #NeverAgain Movement are intentionally ignoring the intersecting goals of #BlackLivesMatter. This is yet again another example of society picking and choosing which voices they thehilltoponline.com
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NEWS
March 30, 2018
want to uplift and which voices they want to oppress. The survivors of the Douglas massacre who are leading the #NeverAgain movement acknowledged the lack of inclusivity. Students such as Hogg and Cameron Kasky discussed how their privilege has worked to their advantage with media coverage but admitted their black classmates have not had the same opportunity. At an Axios event, Hogg stated the biggest mistake the media has done while covering the Douglas shooting is “not giving black students a voice,” according to a Newsweek article. “My school is about 25 percent black, but the way we’re covered doesn’t reflect that.” During a Twitter Q&A, Kasky stated, “We’re an affluent community that’s why initially everybody followed this [shooting] so closely,” according to a Blavity article. “We have to represent those who unfortunately were ignored. This is not just about us. ... When we’re together marching, this is not going to be different races, different generations - this is going to be a unified people standing together against those who are trying to ignore us,” said Kasky. Therefore, it is up to the members of the movement to move forward with the intersecting goals of #NeverAgain and #BlackLivesMatter.
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March 30, 2018
EDITORIAL
Black Movements in America and Student Activism: Harmonies and Dissonances By: Dr. Greg E. Carr, (@Africanacarr)
The death of Linda Brown at 75 years old last Sunday in Topeka, Kansas, reminds us of the Black student role in modern American freedom struggles. Brown’s parents joined 12 other families from 5 states in filing the anti-school segregation lawsuits collectively known as Brown v. Board of Education. She spent the rest of her life advocating for social change. Students came to symbolize possibilities of Black progress in this settler state, anchored in hopes that study and sacrifice would equip generations to make transformative changes, within and beyond Black communities. Black movements in America, according to Cedric Robinson, emerged from enslavement with two distinctive and alternative political, economic and cultural orientations. Black elites shaped their resistance to dominant social and economic patterns, seeking removal of discriminatory bars to entry and elevation in a broader emerging American socioeconomic order. The Black masses shaped their resistance to more inwardly-oriented, collective aspirations, seeing collective opposition to permanent white racial terrorism as a structural feature of an overarching white settler state.
would call “visions of a liberated future.” HBCUs led in transformative social activism due to circumstances. Legal genius architects of Brown v Board were trapped by segregation at Howard. Student activism blended with this artificial, Apartheid-contained racial class of Black America to force collective action. Common interests began to fracture during the post-desegregation 1960s, and calls for The Black University came at the very moment when the Black elite was perched to escape close association with Black masses in search of aspirational escape. Ironically, whereas Black University-oriented thinkers from W.E.B. Du Bois and Vincent Harding to Andrew Billingsley, Eleanor Traylor and Ron Walters once worked at HBCUs, great calls for radical restructuring of higher education are more recognized now when made by Black (and other) academics perched at elite White institutions, whose cherry-picked concepts of “diversity” hardly impede their colonization of surrounding areas and re-inscribing of existing social orders.
During the post-Enslavement period of de facto segregation, these two social movement orientations combined to fight both racial discrimination and legally sanctioned and enhanced racial violence. From segregated schools, churches, businesses and social/cultural institutions, Africans joined forces to topple the most obvious discriminatory barriers to collective advancement. This movement reached its apogee in the 1960s with the passage of major federal civil rights legislation that ostensibly reinforced the “Civil War Amendments” passed a century earlier.
As Paula Giddings noted in her 2018 Charter Day Convocation remarks, however, student movements at Howard, like movement at other HBCUs, commingle love for a people and an institution with deep disappointments and demands of better. Love is the element that makes the often-discordant strains cohere. From distance of age, both progress and retreat can be glimpsed, celebrated and bemoaned. Meanwhile, the larger society continues to attack Black bodies from every class as a frightened coming white minority doubles down on hatred, hyper nationalism and self-immolating isolationism.
Since that time, Black elites have used the Civil Rights movement to struggle to maintain their precarious individual class status while Black masses have suffered increasing local and collective social and economic insecurity in the wake of the convulsions of late global capitalism. Narratives of African liberation have been largely absorbed into American settler state mythology, wherein individual Black achievement is conflated with/celebrated as group advancement in the fight against discrimination, negating the anti-Black physical, economic and political violence that frames the lived reality of the vast majority of Black America. Education, long embraced as “the great equalizer,” fits comfortably into that narrative of individual achievement as proxy for collective advancement against structural, group-based oppression.
As Jules Harrell reminds us, a university is the faculty and students, with attendant support. What is the role of student activism in those enterprises, especially as ruptured and restructured literacies remake the nature of learning and HBCUs remain deaf to Du Bois’s call to define themselves in a post-segregation, post-industrial world? What is the role of faculty teaching, learning and research? What is the role of administrative support of those enterprises in this world?
Black student activism has always troubled the relationship between Robinson’s two alternative orientations. Frequently fueled by youthful energy and courage, students in segregated schools organized against inequitably distributed resources, conservative curricula and instruction and racial terror. These movements stretch from the emergence of common school, normal school and college and university education during the First U.S. Reconstruction through the Civil Rights movement of the Second U.S. Reconstruction. By the late 1960s, however, the Black Power Movement revealed irreconcilable fissures between the two orientations.
One of our collective roles is to always remind ourselves that love is the element that binds us together. That love cannot, must not, evade frequently painful collective work. We must always also remember that anti-Black settler state violence is our permanent common enemy, and that deep study and multi-literate collective action must frame our distinct missions as Black institutions. The choice to act collectively to contain the dissonances and search for harmonic resolution remains, for the time being, ours.
At the university level, calls for Black Studies were re-launched at HBCUs before taking flight at HWCUs. Fifty years ago this month, Howard students demanded that the university become a “Black University,” defined in part as one that became “relevant” to the needs of “the Black community” in scholarship and service. Some faculty were recruited to Howard with that specific mission, which brought them into deep debate and negotiated truces with others who did not see this as their mission. Black students at Howard and in other Black institutions attempting to determine how to both represent and advance the interests of Black communities were introduced to and became the most salient embodiment of these greater and lesser dissonances. In the fifty years since the emergence of full-throated global calls for Black Power, Pan-African Internationalism, and even for The Black University, Howard, like every other institution in Black America, has worked—and failed—to reconcile discordant strains of the two alternative class orientations. This American inharmonic may be only a localized manifestation of African experience in the larger racial capitalist world system. Following in the footsteps of their predecessors in the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s, a new generation of Howard students question that system and its local impact on everything from basic human needs (food, shelter, healthcare) and related human activity (education, employment) to what Black Arts Movement theoretician Larry Neal thehilltoponline.com
(Photo/Twitter)
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EDITORIAL
March 30, 2018
Always a Leader, But Now with a Title to Prove It: Dissecting the Impact of Howard Women in Campus Leadership Kési Felton, News Editor, (@kesifelton)
With Howard University comprised of a predominantly female student body, the importance of female leadership has been a frequent topic of discussion. The Elect Her Conference held in January was one example of the continued effort to support women on campus as they pursue not just elected positions on campus but a chance at true leadership. In honor of Women’s History Month, some women in various campus leadership positions share their experiences and what they hope to see from fellow Howard women in the future: Ashley Grey, Undergraduate Trustee 2017-2018 Women are and will forever be the shifting paradigm of society. For centuries, patriarchal dominance has been the archetype of leadership throughout the global community. While this dominance markets men as leaders of our society, "behind every great man is an even [greater] woman." These women may have traditionally been mothers, wives, sisters or even daughters. While the contributions of these women may not be noted through formalized history, their relevance is without question. This traditional involvement of women within the lives of men, which has been met without the autonomy to be agents of change within their society, has equipped women with a lens that no man can ever possess. One example of this kind of lens can be seen with the efforts of my idol Dr. Tererai Trent who used her own experience within a patriarchal community as inspiration to increase access to education for all people throughout her home country, Zimbabwe. Trent was a product of a male-dominated society that said she was not worthy of an education yet valued her brother's education --who was not as interested in learning-- over her own passion for learning. Women like Dr. Trent engrain in me the belief that through the hardships women endured throughout history, these women must be the social entrepreneurs to shift our global paradigm and to help alleviate some of the greatest challenges to equity in the emerging world. For this reason, I charge my fellow Howard women to be advocates for change because the intellectual prowess and might of a woman with a Howard education is limitless. We have seen this through alumni such as Kamala Harris, Sharon Pratt-Kelly and the Honorable Louise A. Jackson. As we end a month that celebrates women and their contributions to society, I would like to encourage Howard women to continue possessing that "whole purpose-driven, warrior princess, save the world type vibe" because it is that self-delineated power that changes nations. Jade Agudosi, Howard University Student Association Executive President Assuming the role of HUSA President was never something I ever intended on doing because I found myself, like many women do, second-guessing my capability to run for an elected position. Studies show that before a woman decides to run for Office, she has to be asked seven times, and this unfortunately is true for many women on this campus. In a male-dominated student government landscape, it is hard for women not to succumb to intimidation and discouragement; however, I found that through the support of programs such as Elect Her and the increasing number of women in executive leadership on campus, this truth can be challenged.
want to assume a leadership role on our campus, and more importantly, it was recognizing how much I care about Howard University and all those in which is touches. When we look at even the most recent elections that have taken place on our campus, it shows how much women have started to find their own voice and truly wish to become servants of truth and service on our campus. With now 5 out of the 6 undergraduate schools and colleges being under female leadership in the 2018-19 term we have already begun to set a new standard for the women on our campus. As one of two female Presidents on our University’s campus this year it touches my heart to know how we have been able to help change the narrative of what it means to be a leader on this campus. By no means was the journey easy but the road was one that I enjoyed walking. It has taught me so much about myself but more importantly it has taught me how I can best serve those around me and where I can make improvements to be a better leader. I made the decision to step into a leadership role as a way to help give Howard University students the the same amazing experience that Howard was able to offer me. It was a way for me to encourage people on our campus to achieve everything they want to do and help them to find opportunities that in their own journeys in order to reach success. I continue to encourage women, especially during this month, to not just seek positions of power but continue to be leaders who seek to create and implement change where it is necessary. God has instilled in all of us a special light that was designed to make an impact on the world. He would not have given us this vision if he did not think we could achieve what he had already set before us. As women on this campus we need to continue to be advocates for other women to accomplish their goals and set a higher standard for those who strive to always put their best foot forward, not just for themselves but for the many young women who aspire to be leaders that will come after the legacy that we have started. Jacquelyn Grant, President of the NAACP Howard Chapter I believe the greatest lesson I learned as a leader on campus is to not compare my self worth to productivity or failures. There were times that I didn't always get it right. Events. People. Decisions. But I am no less worthy of my calling because of it. The second greatest lesson learned was that service to people doesn't negate self-care. You can do both and must do both to truly be a vessel.
In the 57-year existence of the Howard University Student Association, this is the first year we’ve had two women hold the office of President consecutively. Although I am proud of this accomplishment, I am more pleased to see that under the leadership of myself and my predecessor, Allyson Carpenter, more women on campus have been stepping up into executive leadership positions within student government and it is my hope that this trend continues.
Ashley Grey
Jade Agudosi
Jacquelyn Grant
Mara Peoples
Mara Peoples, Cathy Hughes School of Communications Executive President & HUSA Executive Vice President Elect Women in leadership roles continues to be a growing topic in our world and specifically on our campus at Howard University. Recently, we have seen a growing increase in how our young black women are finding their own style of leadership and seeking to show Howard University how necessary it is for women to assume leadership positions on our campus. For me, it was by following my passions of truth and service that lead me to thehilltoponline.com
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EDITORIAL
March 30, 2018
Common Ground: A FAMUan’s Observation of Howard University Student Activism By: Dr. Keneshia N. Grant, (@keneshiagrant)
I came to Howard University as one of the many Black Americans who are in love with the idea of The Mecca, especially its student activism. The women of Howard University’s Alpha Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, decided that their first public act would be to protest racism and sexism by marching in a women’s suffrage parade where they were not welcomed. My affinity to their political spirit inspired me to join the sorority. As a student leader, I was often frustrated by the slow and circuitous nature of change in politics. I was even more enraged by older folks in the community who seemed to be just fine with what I thought were ancient and opaque systems. The first time I watched Eyes on the Prize, I was thrilled to see Stokley Carmichael’s courage and willingness to push the older folks in the establishment to be unabashedly Black as they made demands for civil rights after 1965. To my mind, Howard would be heaven for a former student government nerd. I looked forward to taking a permanent supporting role in the background, like the cool professors who helped young firebrands plan and strategize when I was in school. In many ways, I found what I was looking for at Howard. When I arrived on the campus in August of 2014, #HU18’s “Hand’s Up, Don’t Shoot” photo was going viral. My students were emailing to tell me that they might miss a class or need an extension on their work because they were in Ferguson working. (They sent pictures to prove it *moon emoji to the finesse squad*) As the years have passed, I have been fortunate to teach, learn from, and be inspired by current Howard University students who are continuing the activist tradition. Young people who’s name ring bells in their hometowns and around the nation walk The Yard at Howard University. I am thinking about #HUPOLS011 students like Justin Edwards, of Lafayette, LA and Clifton Kinnie of Ferguson, MO. There are others, like Deja Bryant “the NAACP voter registration girl,” who become legends after they get to Howard because of their work on this Yard. This outward-facing student activism is the kind of work with which I was familiar before coming to Howard. There is another, inward-facing, side to student activism at Howard University about which I was unaware before joining the faculty. Many HBCU students learn about the 1968 takeover of Howard University’s Administration building in the mandatory introduction to African American history classes that the protest birthed. Folks in the HBCU diaspora hear less about the protests that followed, the 1974 tuition protest and the 1989 Lee Atwater protest. These in-
ward-facing protests—really, demands for Howard to be its best self—continue in the student activism that we see today. From the outside looking in, it seems the model for getting things done at Howard is to rally outside Douglass, then march to the A building. Nowadays, protests also include formal invitations to the media to publicly shame the university. After years of talking to students about their approach, there are parts of the inward-facing Howard student activism culture that I may never be able to understand. This is in large part because I come from a public, state school. During my time at FAMU, students lived in perpetual fear that the state would close or merge our school. I cannot imagine a scenario that would call for a public lashing of my beloved FAMU. Our clear understanding that we were far from invincible made us very careful about our inward-facing. In many ways, it also made us more shrewd and effective in our outward facing activism. As we take time to consider the next 50 years of student activism at Howard University, everyone should pause to reflect and seek common ground. The University administration must work harder than they already have to include students in decision-making in every part of the organization, especially in the high-ranking places where they have never been welcome. For example, there should be meaningful student participation on every major committee and in the faculty senate. The student trustees should be allowed complete access to that body, so that they can operate as peers with other members of the board. Do not take the genius of the students for granted. At the same time, students should use the lessons of the past to strengthen them, while realizing that we operate in a different environment. Learn your rights as students, along the University’s rules, and use these to advocate for change first. Where there are no systems to facilitate your participation, organize yourselves to create these systems rather than working to dismantle the school from within. Do not take the existence and strength of your school for granted. When you must fight, do so in private on your yard, as not to make your beloved Howard University vulnerable to attacks from the outside. Howard University does not belong to any of us, it belongs to the Black Diaspora. While she is in our care, let us find common ground and strive to balance the outward-facing and inward-facing activism, so that she is here for the generations yet unborn.
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March 30, 2018
LIFE+STYLE
Caught in stYle
“Thrifty”
“Calm”
Raaziq Brown Senior Human Development Major/Electronic Studio Minor Bronx, NY
Sulaiman Lloyd Senior Legal Communications Major/Sports Administration Minor Brooklyn, NY
Jacket: Levi’s Cardigan: thrift store Shirt: Uniqlo Pants: Uniqlo Sneakers: Nike SB’s Accessories: gifts “I wear my black by being myself.”
Hat: E Pluribus Unum Jacket: Levi’s Shirt: E Pluribus Unum Jeans: G Star Raw Sneakers: Air Force One Low “Black Leather” Pack “I wear my black in bunches.”
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“DYNAMIC”
Savannah Parker Sophomore English major Bowie, MD Jacket: thrift store Shirt: buffalo exchange Pants: thrift store Shoes: thrift store Purse: buffalo exchange “I wear my black loudly, poetically, and fearlessly.”
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March 30, 2018
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LIFE+STYLE
March 30, 2018
Black Culture and the Digitally Driven World By: Jaylin Paschal, Contributing Writer (@creativelbrtn)
When the popular hashtag #GrowingUpBlack took over the Internet, an eerily familiar feeling was experienced by Black Internet users nationally. It felt like discovering you had millions of long-lost cousins throughout the diaspora you could connect with over everything from having bonnet-adorned mothers calling you to “pass the remote” to having drawers full of condiment packets. The Internet has served as an ultimate connector, uniting the ideologies and experiences of blackness while simultaneously showcasing our diversity of thought and background. By giving all of us the ability to connect, technology has created a digital “Mecca,” where blackness is curated and elevated to its highest form. With the Internet, blackness has the opportunity to cultivate itself and expand tenfold. This manifestation has thrust blackness and black creativity to the forefront of mainstream culture – but for whose benefit? On one hand, the accessibility of technology has provided Black culture with the ultimate platform. The Internet is widely uncensored, vastly connected and deeply nuanced. Organization and communication tools online have allowed Black Americans to seize and to amplify moments of injustice to national outrage. We have the ability to communicate directly with our oppressors by simply hitting the “@” key. Through hashtags we have remembered, promoted and supported our own. With tech, black creators are given a soapbox, a theater, a gallery or a storefront. Essentially, tech gives us a chance we were never previously granted. Tech has proven the power of black culture; a culture with the ability to set trends overnight and redirect the course of American politics through threads and retweets. Oh, and it helped make the point that we’re really, really funny. Some users have scored endorsements, movie appearances or record deals,
making black creators hyper-aware of the power their creativity holds in corporate America, which is all too eager to capitalize off of our culture and ideas. It’s important when analyzing the complex relationship between Black culture and tech that we address the exploitation and erasure countless black creators have faced. It is worth asking: Could these tech corporations survive without the existence and commodification of black creativity? Could PR firms develop coherent social strategy (Wendy’s latest promotional rap EP is a prime example) without borrowing blackness? Black culture has given so much to the increasingly globalized and digitally-driven world. As the number one consumer of tech devices in the country, the Black American has dominated popular sites like Twitter and Facebook, elevating them to their powerhouse status. Vine also survived mostly off of the creativity and comedy of black content creators. Additionally, this content has found itself bringing in money in other ways for various industries. Digitally coined phrases like “on fleek,” “lit,” “bae,” and “shade,” which originate from young, hilarious (and often LGBTQ) black users, have earned fast fashion brands like H&M and Forever 21 thousands of dollars. Viral compilation dances give local news anchors something to try when they’re looking to appear “relatable” on slow news days. Hashtags and tweets from the “Black Twitter” community are practically why sites like Buzzfeed can thrive off of listicles. So much of what circulates throughout mainstream culture has roots in blackness. Yet, so few black people receive credit or compensation for their ideas. As our culture is repackaged, watered down (read: whitened) and sold for millions, the digital-savvy youth creating the trends keep the cycle going by continuing to simply be themselves. We continue to create as the brevity of online “trending topics” leads to an immediacy of appropriation. As soon as we say it, they sell it. The exploitation all but exhausts the minds of young creators who must eventually learn how to defend themselves through artists’ rights and on intellectual property grounds. In the meantime, Black creators will continue posting in the digital space with hopes that jokes about taking the chicken out of the freezer and beating the streetlights home will remind us that while others may emulate, they will never truly experience blackness.
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LIFE+STYLE
March 30, 2018
COMIC
By: Devariae “Yae” McDaniels | @YaeTBG & Raaziq Masud|@RaaziqMasud
“Blactivism”
“Ideal Activism”
“Healthy Living”
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LIFE+STYLE
March 30, 2018
How One Howard Dropout is Determined to Give Back to Fellow Bisons By Clarice Metzger, Life+Style Editor (@_itsClarice)
Your first introduction to Khalil Saadiq may have been in 2014. He is the former Howard University student responsible for the viral #DontShoot photo taken at Cramton Auditorium in response to the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, Khalil began his matriculation through Howard University in 2013 as an economics major. During his time at Howard, he became a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Society of Collegiate Black Men, Freshman Leadership Academy, was the Director of Student Advocacy for Howard University Student Administration, leveraged the power of social media to display solidarity following the events in Ferguson and somehow managed to keep his GPA above a 3.0. He was doing all he had set out to do when things took a turn during his junior year. Due to an unforeseen account balance, Khalil was forced to leave Howard in 2016. “I knew I was letting a lot of people down,” said Khalil in regards to leaving the university. “But at some point you have to make the decision that you’re either going to be victim to your circumstances or you’re going to control it.” Two years later and Khalil is in complete control. Currently stationed in Landstuhl, Germany, he has just published his first book, “Winning Your Race: Unconventional Truths from a College Dropout,” a comprehensive guide on how to discover self motivation on your own terms in order to properly equip yourself to win your race. As if this isn’t enough, he has announced the Winning Your Race Scholarship to help offset the cost of school for a Howard University student. Keep reading to find out how you can win. Tell us about your time at Howard and how it came to an abrupt end during your junior year? Howard is the Mecca for the experience it provides its students and not necessarily for the lessons that it intends to teach its students. I’m a testament to that fact. I’m a first generation college student so none of my family had ever been on campus. I ended up visiting [for the first time] on a Friday during the springtime in March. Election season was in full swing and it was the first time I ever saw a black man my age in a tailored suit. When I saw the Yard in the middle of election season with the sun shining, I just knew that I needed to be there. So I went and everything was going well. I had a full academic scholarship that I needed a 3.3 [GPA] to keep and I ended up earning a 3.2. I was awarded an ROTC scholarship but the ROTC department distributed the funds a semester too late. So during my junior year I owed Howard for an entire semester and I’d taken the classes already. Howard doesn't let you apply a scholarship to a back balance so when the funds were distributed for the scholarship in January [2016] it couldn't be applied to my previous semester. So I went to the A Building with a third of the balance so that I could get onto the payment plan and after giving them the check, I was told I could enroll in classes the following day. I was unable to enroll, I went back and they said they made a mistake and instead of applying that money to set up a payment plan, they applied the money to my total balance. So at that time to enroll, I would have had to pay one third of the new total balance to initiate the payment plan. I felt like I had been finessed so I left.
current situation. At some point you have to make the decision that you’re either going to be victim to your circumstances for the rest of your life or you’re going to control it. Either you get into the passenger seat of a car and might go where you want to go or you get into the driver seat and figure it out. It depends on the type of person you are but I think most people in our particular age bracket have it in them to go behind the wheel and drive the car and I would just encourage people to take advantage of that feeling as soon as they feel it. What have you been up to since leaving Howard? So after I left, I was home for about two months then I joined the military. So I enlisted in the army as an X-ray tech. Now I work directly for my leadership in an administrative role. What’s the inspiration behind your new book? I was going through a lot when I was at home by myself and with the selection of a few people who kept in touch with me when I left Howard, I was incredibly alone. My mom was not talking to me, my brothers were at school and I didn’t have a car so I was just at the house all day trying to figure out what my next move was going to be. I was reading a lot and I was tapping into myself a lot so at one point it just hit me while I was there like I’m going to be alright. I’m not just going to be alright, I’m going to be great. Everything I told myself I was going to be and more. I’m able to tap into this because of the adversity I experienced. My journey is not special. People will hear my story and be like wow you have an incredible story but my story is only incredible because there are so many people who can relate to it. So if I can just get people to look at their own situations differently then I can inspire them to be the best version of themselves. What advice do you have for your fellow Bison? It’s important to stay very very very very true to your journey. When you’re at a university where a lot of things look really good, it’s easy to get discouraged by that like and feel like ‘I don’t look that good’ or ‘my journey doesn’t look that good.’ I think so many of us who maybe weren’t exposed to that volume or that quantity before Howard, we let it sidetrack us and we begin to try to make our journey look like that or try to fit into a mold that we think will get us attention or success or applause. The more people who go to Howard and who are true to themselves the better. Aggressive authenticity is so important. To be eligible for the Winning Your Race Scholarship, students must be enrolled at Howard University for the upcoming Fall 2018 semester and in the graduating class of 2019, 2020, or 2021. The winner will be selected based on his/her ability to effectively connect with the content in “Winning Your Race” and their reason listed for deserving the scholarship. Please visit focusxfortune.com to apply. This interview has been condensed for clarity.
I decided that instead of going into debt trying to fix it I was just going to get it on my own. I didn’t really have it in my character to make a go fund me and I felt that my tenure as an undergraduate student was kind of over. What was that feeling like when you realized you could no longer attend Howard? It was ugly because I felt like I was quitting. I felt like I was letting a lot of people down--actually I knew I was letting a lot of people down. I don’t like not finishing what I started. It was really hard coming home to my mom. That sucked. It was the worst ---- ever. What did you learn from the experience? You reach these points in your life where you know on the inside what you have to do. You just know it. The more you fight it, the worse you make your thehilltoponline.com
Caption: Khalil Saadiq Courtesy of Khalil Saadiq
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LIFE+STYLE
March 30, 2018
“FEAR”: A Social Commentary” By Jequcory Davis, Contributing Writer (@groovycory)
Kendrick Lamar never fails to draw us in politically with his lyrical social commentary, and his last album DAMN. was no exception. There are a number of gems to unpack and take a lot from including “XXX.” (police brutality), “FEEL.” (Who’s praying for Kendrick Lamar) and “YAH.” (religion). But the most important song on the album is not one of the three songs above — it’s “FEAR.” In four verses, “FEAR.” unpacks important topics in the black community without sounding preachy, unrelatable or boring. It’s timeless — “FEAR.” is a song that transcends our current political climate: It could just as easily be played at the height of Jim Crow and still be relevant. In the song, Lamar uses himself as a muse, detailing terrors that he experienced three times in his life-at ages 7, 17 and 27 respectively. Lamar has said that “FEAR.” contains the best verses he’s ever written, and it’s hard to disagree with that sentiment after reflecting on the lyrics. “Why God, why God do I gotta suffer? Pain in my heart carry burdens full of struggle. Why God, why God do I gotta bleed? Every stone thrown at you resting at my feet.” These bars are forthtelling of Lamar setting up to dig deep in this seven-and-ahalf minute long song. “Why God, why God do I gotta suffer” sets the tone for what is to come. It’s a daily question the black man in America has to ask himself. Whether it’s the weariness that comes from repeatedly seeing unarmed black people get shot or the discouragement of being denied for a job that one is clearly qualified for, there’s always a looming heaviness that comes with being a black man in this country. The first verse is important. It details the relationship of young Kendrick and his mother. Any young black man can resonate with the things Kendrick details in this verse. “I beat yo ass keep talking back” equates to anytime a child says something back to his/her mother after she makes a definitive statement scolding her child. “I beat yo ass who bought you that” means “I didn’t buy it, you can’t afford it, where did you get that from?” “With tears in your eyes, runnin’ from Poo Poo and Prentice, go back outside I beat yo ass little nigga” equates to “if you lost that fight don’t come back in here with your head down or I’m beating your ass. Go back outside and avenge that loss.” “I beat yo ass, you know my patience runnin’ thin, I got buku payments to make, county building on my ass, tryna take my food stamps away” highlights a sad reality many black mothers live in. They’re stressed out from seemingly
having to carry the world on their shoulders every day and trying to make ends meet, the stress of which can impact their relationship with their children. Kendrick ends that verse by saying “Seven years old think you run this house by yourself? Nigga you gon fear me if you don’t fear no one else.” The fear that a mother can instill in a child that young is important. The mother is showing that the world can be cold, even at the hands of those you love. She’s teaching her son how to be strong when she tells him to go back outside and not to steal because if he gets caught, the harshness of the criminal justice system will be upon him. In this verse, Kendrick shows us how strong the black woman is. The young Kendrick was often fearless, but his mother recognizes that fear is necessary for survival; she wants to mold him into a strong black man if the evils of the world don’t take him down. If you’ve never heard “Die” by Beanie Sigel, go ahead and listen to it because it’ll help you understand Kendrick’s second verse a little better. It’s a verse rooted in the many ways Kendrick Lamar could have died at 17 years old. The reality is all of them are possible fates for a young black man. “I’ll prolly die anonymous, I’ll prolly die with promises” translates to “I’ll probably die and be forgotten. I’ll probably die with a world of opportunity in front of me, none of which I was able to fulfill because I died so young.” Sad realities, but both are real problems growing up as a young black man surrounded by poverty and violence. There’s not enough time to digest one death before the next one happens. He ends the verse by saying, “I’ll probably die cause that’s what you do when you’re 17,” and that’s the perfect way to drive the point of that verse home. So many young blacks die young and some feel that’s just what you do cause that’s all they’ve seen in their young lives. In the last verses, Kendrick grapples with the concept of fear--fear of losing everything he’s sought after and obtained, fear of going back to struggling even though he’s made it so big and fear of not being creative anymore. What you can really find in these last verses is a fear that those who fought for our freedom had to deal with so many years ago: fear of losing humility and fear that this world is wicked. He harps on police brutality and the fear of dying young as both problems that existed in ‘68 that still exist today. “FEAR.” might seem like a creative, thought-provoking record, but I think it’s more than that. It explains things within the black community that we sometimes struggle to articulate while creating an avenue for solidarity because of its relatable narrative.
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LIFE+STYLE
March 30, 2018
The Black Kennedys: How The Shakur Family Bridged Rap And Politics By Xavier Handy-Hamilton, Contributing Writer (@fnr_zay)
“I just cried, as all mother’s cry, for the beautiful boy who said he and Mike Tyson would never be allowed to be free at the same time…” On September 7, 1996, after a Tyson fight that ended so abruptly the crowd was convinced Bruce Sheldon took a dive, another fierce warrior was defeated. In a rapid sequence of events that mimicked the swiftness of Iron Mike’s 1:49 minute victory, a late-model Cadillac pulled up to the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane littering the passenger side of Death Row CEO, Suge Knight’s, sedan with bullets. Four of which entered the body of the label’s superstar, Tupac Shakur, creating wounds that resulted in his death nearly a week later. “We were guarding the hospital out there,” Tupac’s brother and fellow rapper, Mopreme Shakur, explained when describing the last six days of Pac’s life at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada to Vlad.tv. “We surrounded the hospital. We took security points.” Being as this wasn’t the first (or even the second) time someone tried to murder Tupac, the Shakur family’s presidential-esque, military detail could be viewed as just precautions prompted by paranoia. But when Tupac’s familiar lineage and cultural leadership are emphasized, it is easy to gather that this Las Vegas shooting mirrors the Dallas dismemberment of President Kennedy’s Lincoln Continental. “We had just had an assassination attempt,” Mopreme stated.
“Socrates had a mother. She too had to watch her son drink hemlock. She too asked ‘Why?’ Tupac has a mother…” Unlike the Irish O’Kennedy’s whose forefather, Patrick, arrived in America around 1850 where he shortened his surname before his son; JFK’s grandfather; amassed a coal fortune, the Shakur’s are unaware of their genealogy. The story of the Shakur family is not an Alex Haley, Roots, type of episodic with an elaborated story beginning with them looking at the stars aimlessly retracing the meaning of their names. In fact, at first the Shakur family wasn’t even a ‘family’ in the tradition sense but rather a closely connected group of revolutionaries that began when Jeral Williams and his adopted brother, Anthony Coston, become active a growing militant civil rights organization, the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) in the late 1960s. It was during this time that Jeral changed his name to “Mutulu Shakur” while Anthony adopted the moniker “Lumumba Shakur,” leading to their connection with key figures in the resistance—including Tupac’s godparents, Assata Shakur (who also acquired the powerful surname) and high-ranking Black Panther Party member, Geronimo Pratt—planting the roots of their new family tree. And while the Kennedys used their influence and finances throughout the first half of the 20th century in hopes to traditionally impact American politics, the Shakurs sought to shift the country by implementing Communist/Marxist teachings and their new affiliations with the Republic of New Afrika and the Black Panthers to deplete political and racial oppression in the United States. This is where conception of the Tupac comes into play. At the age of 21, Alice Faye Williams left her home in North Carolina and settled in the city of New York. Here she met Shakur family forefather, Lumumba
Shakur. And while their marriage died with Lumumba’s murder in 1971, after attaining a position as the section leader of the Far-Left Black Panther Party and being acquitted of 156 counts of conspiracy for her involvement in the infamous Panther 21 case, Afeni gave birth to Tupac Amaru Shakur in the same year as the death of her ex-husband. Afeni’s close relationship with former-brother-in-law, Mutulu, fostered a romance between the two. This short-lived but vital relationship created a foundation for her young son to grasp the political teachings that he permeated through his talents.
“There are those who never wanted to be angry at the conditions but angry at the messenger who reported…” In congruence with how Joseph Kennedy, Sr. forced his political ambitions on his son, Tupac was also bred to be a leader. Yet, his lack of generational wealth combined with the country’s racial ignorance forced him to use his talents in ways that forged a more rugged route to Martin Luther King’s storied mountaintop. While it took people like Medger Evers martyring himself in his driveway and John Lewis taking the violent ride to freedom for JFK to support basic human rights, Tupac’s life forced him to immerse himself in his message. In contrast to President Kennedy, Pac didn’t watch the dogs bite his people from an office rather he became the dog that told his peers to bite back. During his 25 years on Earth, Pac proved that rappers are the minority’s true politicians as he did more for the live of blacks than any president before or after his existence. Not only did he facilitate a gang truce during the 1992 Watts Riots while creating a code of conduct for gang relations which is still followed to this day, Pac also contributed to numerous community activism movements. However, his most meaningful impact comes from the stream of consciousness delivered by his music. Tupac’s merging of his family’s teaching with the avenues given for him to succeed allowed for him to use his short life to build a bridge to mental sovegernty that – like the Edmond Pettus – the majority have habitually trying to stalled the oppressed from crossing. This is done by the way America manipulates the way Tupac’s overall career thesis was conveyed. By severing his duality, America has limited Tupac to either this “troubled soul” whose likeness can be found in a suburban Urban Outfitters store or a gang-banging societal scapegoat. Creating an idea that one can’t possess the capacity to be compassionately fierce. What this does is remise the fact that Tupac used the supplies around him to create a painting of poverty’s beautiful deformities. A bothersome reality that forced some to dilute his teachings the same way they turned his godmother into a “murdering terrorist.” This is the key difference between the Shakurs and the Kennedys. While America ignored Jack Kennedy’s ties to the Chicago Mafia, it was quick to highlight Pac brandishing his associates as the “mob” as possible gang-affiliations and denounce his political validity. This is the plight that halts the voiceless from crossing Shakur’s bridge. As a minority, when you’re wrong, you’re wrong and when you’re right, you’re still wrong. There are little chances for one’s truths to be heard before he/she is villainized. Because of this, the message of the Shakur family has been diluted so that a fabricated coastal conflict and a prison escape are emphasized. Thus, leaving room for a generation to assume Tupac wanted the genre to be filled “thugs” (word to Lil Xan). When, in reality, he is the last of the Black Arts, Black Power poets whose life become the muse for the Nikki Giovani poem, All Eyez On U, that perforates this article and a descendant of a powerful family lineage that taught the world to never shoot the messenger.
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SPORTS
March 30, 2018
Blackballed for Protest: From Mahmoud Abdul Rauf to Eric Reid By Lawrence Dow, Sports Editor (@LJeeeeezy)
Eric Reid was one of the first players to kneel alongside Colin Kaepernick while they were both teammates for the San Francisco 49ers during the 20162017 season. Reid continued his protest this season, repeatedly kneeling during the season. As a free agent this year, Reid has yet to be signed. Other top safety free agents such as Tyrann Mathieu, LaMarcus Joyner, and Morgan Burnett have all been signed. Reid is rated by Pro Football Focus as an above average player at his position, so many have wondered if his protests against police brutality have cost him a job in the NFL much like they have cost Kaepernick. While the NBA has been praised for what has been seen as its more socially liberal stance, its owners reacted much the same to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf as NFL owners did for Colin Kaepernick. Abdul-Rauf was a basketball player for the Denver Nuggets when he started his own protest during the national anthem to bring light to what he perceived as the United States’ long history of tyranny and aggression against Muslims. Abdul-Rauf would be suspended for only one game but would be quickly traded and would find it impossible to even get a try out though he was 29 and coming off one of his finest seasons in the league. Abdul-Rauf would be forced to go overseas to attempt to continue his career, only ever playing one more season while averaging a paltry 12 minutes a game for the Vancouver Grizzlies. Abdul-Rauf ’s story is one that exploded in recent months in the same vein as the focus on the lack of a contract for Colin Kaepernick. As Kaepernick has continued to go unsigned as far inferior quarterbacks have
been signed, many have prognosticated that Kaepernick will never play another snap in the NFL. This is not a universally held belief as Jon Gruden, head coach of the Oakland Raiders, believes Kaepernick will soon be signed due to what he describes as a lot of interest in the quarterback. Kaepernick has stayed in football shape and even recently held a workout to prove his football skills have not deteriorated. Whether or not Kaepernick and Reid get signed, it is clear that their protest achieved its goal of reminding the American people about the injustices they feel are faced by African-Americans in the United States of America. Abdul-Rauf said he never regretted protesting during the national anthem even though he lost his career over it because he always had a clear conscious. Hopefully, Kaepernick and Reid will get to have clear consciousness without having to sacrifice their careers like Abdul-Rauf was forced to.
(Courtesy of Sporting News) Eric Reid kneeling during the national anthem
The Sacramento Kings Owner Show Support for Social Issues By: Evan Brooks (@Evan_Brooks)
Stephon Clark was a 22-year-old black male who was shot in Sacramento, California in his grandmother’s backyard. Police stated that initially they believed that Clark was pointing a gun at them, but in actuality, it was just Clark’s cellphone. Officers fired 20 shots at Clark killing him instantly. The city of Sacramento became engulfed by activism as protestors flooded the streets in wake of Clark’s killing. Protesters even blocked the entrance to the Sacramento Kings game on Sunday causing the Kings organization to obviously address this issue. Protesters stood outside the Golden 1 center as they stopped fans from entering the building for the Sunday game vs the Atlanta Hawks. Police came together outside to try to break up the protesters to eventually allow fans to enter but it did no good. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive spoke to the fans after the game stating “We at the Kings recognize people’s abilities to protest peacefully and we respect that. We here at the Kings realize that we have a big platform. It’s a privilege but it’s also a responsibility. It’s a responsibility that we take very seriously and we stand here before you, old, young, black, white, brown, and we are all united in our commitment.” Kings guard Garrett Temple also spoke on the issue stating “If I didn’t have a job to do, I’d probably be out there with them, peacefully protesting because what’s going on has to stop, it has to stop.” The Sacramento community was moved by these words at Ranadive clearly see’s that something needs to be done. He is very supportive of these protest and he along with his players know that justice needs to be served. The game as you could imagine was far from sold out. The two teams played in front of about 2,000 fans in an arena that holds 17,000 total. The vast number of empty seats caused the Kings organization to give fans that were in attendance a free snack and non-alcoholic beverage. Players like Temple and owner Vivek Ranadive understand that there is more to life than sports and that these are real-life issues that need to be solved. The issue of police brutality and discrimination lives on and needs to be addressed; The Sacramento Kings are supportive and are doing all they can to make it known that these acts need to stop. The Kings are doing the right thing by addressing issues that continue to be problematic in the United States. When will it ever stop and how long will it be until African-Americans are no longer discriminated against? thehilltoponline.com
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March 30, 2018
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