BLACK HISTORY MONTH SPECIAL ISSUE VOL. 136 ISSUE 10
jeremie theobal
Foreword Dear reader, Not long ago, I was invited to a luncheon on campus celebrating the achievements of students in our community. It was a joyous, well-deserved occasion filled with laughter and stories over multi-course meals that any ramen-fueled college student would drool over. Yet I couldn’t help but feel off. It was a perfect event. What could’ve felt wrong? Then, it hit me. Oh, I’m the only Black person here. That feeling enveloped me and stuck like glue. I felt out of sync with the place I was in with no resolution in sight. I’m sure many of my peers of color have a near-identical story and experienced these feelings countless
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times during their studies at UChicago. We’ve been told any space we enter, we deserve to be in, but realistically, that doesn’t often feel like the case. I want this issue to be not only a space where Black students feel that they deserve to be but a place where they feel empowered to be themselves, whether that be to report on the issues that matter to them, engage creatively with their Blackness, or voice their opinions on campus-wide issues. Though this issue you’re holding (or reading online) isn’t a replacement or cure-all for the gross overt and covert prejudices the University lets slip by every day, I hope this issue can become a tradition that can remind UChicago’s and the South Side’s Black communities what Black History Month is all
about: our strength to flourish even in the most harsh circumstances. The greatest strength of the Black community is our ability to endure, and that has been achieved by supporting and uplifting one another. Let’s never forget to continue doing this. Stay close and huddle a little tighter (not just for warmth) this Black History Month. Creating and leading this issue has been one of my happiest memories at UChicago that will no doubt cross my mind as I graduate this spring. Thank you to each and every person who worked on this issue; you mean the world to me. Happy Black History Month! Solana Adedokun
Editors
Supporters
Solana Adedokun, head editor Adesuwa Obasuyi, editor
Organization of Black Students (OBS) Nigerian Students Association (NSA)
Collaborators
Special Thanks
African Caribbean Students Association (ACSA) Blacklight Magazine Moda The Independent
Caitlin Lozada UChicago Black Alumni Association
THE CHICAGO MAROON — FEBRUARY 15, 2024
Our Story, Our Future, Our House: A Year Into the University of Chicago Black Council ARSIMA ARAYA, ON BEHALF OF THE BLACK HOUSE CAMPAIGN The aroma of freshly brewed coffee was lingering in the air while groups of students flocked to hear of UChicago’s campus in the late ’60s from artist and alum Patric McCoy, A.B. ’69. In a group opposite McCoy, alumni from a class apart meet for the first time. Compliments and gratitude are woven into goodbyes, with the last few words being “When is next year’s conference? I can’t wait!” Less than a year later, the University of Chicago Black Council returned to host its second annual University of Chicago Black Conference on February 4, 2024. The University of Chicago Black Council is a collaborative effort involving the Organization of Black Students (OBS), African and Caribbean Student Association (ACSA), University of Chicago Association of Black Alumni (UCABA), various undergraduate and graduate RSOs, faculty, staff, and members of the community. A priority of the Black Council is to engage the community in a genuine and neighborly way. We understand that the University has severed its relationship with the community to the point where certain organizations and people do not feel welcomed on our campus. The Council aims to synergize our existing communities and intersect
our efforts into a mobilized network of individuals working towards equity, prosperity, and solidarity between Black UChicagoans and our neighbors in the surrounding communities. One of the Black Council’s main goals is to found a Black community space, a Black House, similar to other physical student affinity spaces at UChicago’s peer institutions. The February event marked the Black Council’s second conference and fourth event within less than a year since being established. Though there is still much work to be
the Center for Identity and Inclusion, University Community Service Center, and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, andCulture (CSRPC). Through thoughtful and respectful engagement, this conference aspires to underscore the necessity for establishing a Black House on campus: building a place for meaningful interaction, support, and shared growth with Hyde Park and Chicagoland residents. To house scholarship, community building, and reflecting the beauty of the neighborhood we inhabit.
The council aims to synergize our existing communities and intersect our efforts into a mobilized network of individuals working towards equity, prosperity, and solidarity between Black UChicagoans and our neighbors in the surrounding communities.
done to strengthen the foundation of the Black community and build a house, the Council is eager to continue building and engaging this event and its mission. The second annual conference was hosted in the Logan Center for the Arts, a new collaborative partner. Additionally, the Council has gained key sponsorships from
As the population of Black students continues to rise at unprecedented rates at the University, the need for a Black House, as well as more Black advocacy on campus, is abundantly clear. In 2016, the total Black student population was a mere 5 percent. However, in 2022, Black students composed 14 percent
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courtesy of arsima araya. of the Class of 2026. Alongside the founding of new cultural and ethnic organizations rooted in Blackness, such as Black Professional Society, Nigerian Student Association, and East African Student Association, and the creation of a major specializing in the field of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity, the Black students, faculty, and staff, have pushed persistently for change at UChicago. The Black Council played an integral
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role in facilitating a space to continue these conversations welcoming all diverse parties at its conference. Last year, our featured keynote panel speakers, UChicago alum and longtime Southsider Patric McCoy (A.B. ’69), Crown School alum Briana Payton (A.M. ’20), community organizer Shannon Bennett, and Crown School professor Lisa Moore spoke on transformative shifts of the University, but were clear in their
identification of shortcomings and fundamental inadequacies within the University to address amplifying the voices of Black UChicagoans and Southsiders. The Council is always looking for donors, activists, and anyone passionate for change to further push our campaigns and initiatives. As we construct the vision of our home, we value all those who wish to be involved. Following the inaugural event,
THE CHICAGO MAROON — FEBRUARY 15, 2024
featured MacArthur Fellow and former University of Chicago Laboratory student Amanda Williams, LAB ’92 and Patric McCoy. The second, on Student Experiences, featured third-
While other universities celebrate decades worth of conferences, we’re just getting started, and we’re here to stay. We need you to make this possible. Our community of scholars, stu-
dents, employees, and professors: no matter who you are, in order to advocate for our communities’ interests and your own, we need your action, expertise, and knowledge to mobilize Black UChicago toward a University and community that reflect us and our interests.
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year Sheila Tume and fourth-year Indigo Wright. Both events further the engagement of students and community in facilitating a vision for what conversation and programming the Black House should provide in light of the gaps of the University and our understanding of one another.
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What the Council does is lean on the interests and needs of our members: what encourages their attendance, what gaps exist in their interests, and how can we fill these gaps.
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the Black Council was awarded the CSRPC “Reimagining the University” Grant to roll out our two-part “Community Conversation Series: Building Our Temporary Homes.” The grant was given in order to further expand the dialogue between the parties we serve in an effort to represent our communities interests and needs. The severed relationship between the University and the South Side community is one where neighbors of the University feel drawn to programming and initiatives designed to engage them; this includes the severed relationships with graduate students, alumni, and faculty, with a recurring question being “how do we bridge divides?” What the Council does is lean on the interests and needs of our members: what encourages their attendance, what gaps exist in their interests, and how can we fill these gaps. The two events following the inaugural conference targeted the key interests of membership. The first event on Arts and Advocacy
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Fashion and Culture: Pagne For Black History Month, we are embracing the diverse heritage of individuals of Black descent. Rylanah, who has roots in Côte d’Ivoire and Benin, proudly displays her pagne (ankara) outfit. Pagne, a vibrant and intricately designed cloth, originally served as a simple wrap but has evolved with modern tailoring into elaborate attire suitable for both special occasions and daily wear. This particular pagne holds deep sentimental value as it is a
tribute to her grandmother, and many other family members also wear similar garments with unique designs to honor their loved ones. Pagne comes in various forms and serves multiple purposes. While this specific cloth was crafted in Benin, others are produced in neighboring countries within the region. The versatility and accessibility of pagne enable the younger generation to blend tradition with modernity, proudly donning traditional attire in contemporary settings. This cultural fusion
allows pagne to be embraced across all environments.
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MODA
—Rylanah Hodonou, Class of 2025 & Board Member of MODA
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Black is the Warmest Color On Kinship and Dis/identity CHELSEA EGBARIN
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One of my earliest memories is of my mother doing my hair every month in her bathroom mirror. It was a day-long affair: I’d wake to a depression in the mattress as she sat beside me, and the soft, efficient hissing of the scissors as she cut my braids by the handful. She’d take out the rest in the middle of her bathroom with a rattail comb that had probably seen generations of errant scalps before me, while I watched the dusty tresses litter the linoleum. She washed my hair with my neck craned over her sink and that same unforgiving comb, and when it came time to style it, she’d do so in rows spanning the length of my head and down my back. In retrospect, there was something incredibly sacred about this ritual we shared. I’d never been too taken with religion, but even I could sense something divine and ineffable in my mother’s labors. In the present, I know that such is the love language of Black mothers, universal and precious. It was a language in which my mother was fluent, a language eloquent yet nonverbal, a language in which there are a million ways to say “I love you,” yet this one —whispered to me as she washed my hair, braided into my scalp as she styled it—was my favorite. In my mother’s arms, my cup runneth over. Hortense J. Spillers, Black feminist scholar and professor of the African diaspora, delivers a stunning treatise on the complex gendering of the
Black female body in “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book” that comes to mind when I contemplate these memories. Specifically, she offers a notion of Black kinship that resonates strongly with my maternal musings: it is a notion of “powerful ties of sympathy that bind blood-relations in a network of feeling, of continuity.” Indeed, there are no memories in my mind consecrated with as much feeling as those of my mother, no network more un-
I wanted nothing to do with anything that would draw attention to my Blackness.
faltering nor tie more powerful than that tender economy of care in which we participated, huddled together in her bathroom mirror. But Spillers also supplies an insidious caveat to this definition with which I am intimately acquainted: in Spillers’s estimation, inseparable from lovely feeling and glorious continuity is kinship’s susceptibility to invasion. Such an act can occur, in Spillers’s words, “at any given and arbitrary moment.” This, too, shall come to pass. When I was nine years old, a white woman in church pinched the ends of my cornrows and said, “You’re so cute for a Black girl!” Her words seemed to swarm at me like locusts.
They penetrated my veil of childhood naïveté to divulge something nasty, something that settled heavily under my skin and stayed there, thick and unrelenting. ButI swallowed my misgivings and thanked her. After_that,_ _ I _refused to let my mother do my hair. In just a handful of seconds, Spillers’s words came to pass and our delicate kinship was invaded. I wanted nothing to do with anything that would make me the subject of such comments. I wanted nothing to do with anything that would draw attention to my Blackness. I believed that if I could do my hair a certain way, talk a certain way, and look a certain way, I could achieve this. I was cruelly misled. José Esteban Muñoz has ideas about this. In “Performing Disidentifications,” the introduction of his novel Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics, he describes a performance put on by a Cuban- and Puerto Rican–American lesbian artist named Marga Gomez. In the play, Gomez lays bare the reality of being queer in contemporary Western society, a reality which is not divorceable from what Muñoz’s terms disidentification, a method for survival that marginal/ized subjects deploy in order to negotiate their place in a public sphere that “punishes the existence of subjects who do not conform.” After that day, disidentification, for me, became both method and performance, and I was determined to learn every act. To borrow the
THE CHICAGO MAROON — FEBRUARY 15, 2024
words of Muñoz, I learned to disidentify. In public, I performed; in private, I rehearsed. I was steadfast in these efforts. I learned how to look and act around my white peers in order to be more palatable to them. I learned how to negotiate my standing in their ranks from the vivacious—and often obnoxious— Black girl to a reserved and pleasant girl who only happened to be Black. This soon became a recipe for boundary confusion. I began to feel split in half: half of me was mine, as she existed in her mother’s bathroom. She was Black, and unapologetically so, and her identity was intact and uncompromised—she belonged to no one but herself. The other half was a phantasm, a half-fledged thing that belonged to the ill-conceived compliments of white women, that swallowed ire to spit up watery thankyous, that permed her hair to deflect scrutiny. At nine, performance is a heavy cross to bear. At nine, the Black girl experience is
ters. It’s sacrificing half of yourself to a white woman’s beauty standards and thanking her for the privilege. Being a Black girl is a labor of love, and though that love lingers, it stings. At 19, all the women in me are tired. In the words of Spillers, “I describe a locus of confounded identities.” I embody her vision of a “split subject,” I assume Muñoz’s “disidentificatory desires.” Sometimes I can convince myself that every microaggression I’ve ever experienced constituted a new split, a new fissure in my sense of self, and after so many severances, one day I’ll disappear. Other times I think that two halves don’t truly make a whole, and that this mind houses a lonely pair that has irrevocably grown apart. All the time I think I’m no longer a woman, but a chorus. In the rare moments when academia is a reprieve, I’m comforted by the ideas of Muñoz and Spillers, among others, and the validation in knowing that my experiences aren’t
Being a Black girl is a labor of love, and though that love lingers, it stings. a heritage of heartache—we are constantly splitting ourselves in half. It’s more than being Black, and it’s more than being a girl. It’s the conundrum of being both. It’s being told since before you could read that Susan B. Anthony fought for your right to vote, then realizing that Susan B. Anthony couldn’t have cared less about your voting rights. It’s a drug store selling two shades of Black foundation and two shelves of white. It’s the fetishization of little Black girls, the Jezebel stereotype, fathers loving their Black sons but raising their Black daugh-
singular. They point to a queer/feminist/pro-Black futurity that I crave in the abstract yet struggle to envision. Muñoz imagines a “queer life-world” in which the pains of queer existence are not censored or constrained. Spillers seeks a reconfiguration of African-American family relations that realizes the potentiality of Black motherhood, both symbolic and actual, and affords it an inviolable sanctity. But where do the estranged pieces of a split girl fit into such an idyll? The world-weary woman in me wants to find a future where we have
made our reparations for the past. She is wholly in agreement with Spillers, Muñoz, Crenshaw, Davis, and Butler…. But the child in me, sitting in front of her mother’s bathroom mirror, wants to exist in a future where the past never happened. She doesn’t want to hurt for the purpose of others’ learning. Forgiving is easy, but forgetting is harder, and I can’t begrudge her her memories. I asked my mother about her take on all this, years later. It felt like a conversation long overdue. She asked if my two halves can’t be mutually inclusive. If not coexisting seamlessly, then perhaps reconciled to a time and place where they can live in relative peace. I mulled over her words for days before ever putting pen to paper, and when I did, I landed in a split woman’s version of what is in itself a form of identification. Identity need not be static and still. Kinship is not preserved in rituals. Disidentification is in itself a form of identification. Identity need not be static and still. Kinship is not preserved in rituals. It is reinforced by them, and found in the feeling and continuity that rituals engender. Feeling is inviolable; two is not a lonely number; and my mother will love me until there is no more hair left on my head to braid. In a split woman’s version of a middle ground, I subsist. The world will not always be kind, least of all to us split women, but sometimes kinship intervenes. It gives us fulfillment, purpose, and mothers who do our hair in their bathroom mirrors. It’s given me a resilience I cherish but temper, a world-wonder I hope will only grow, and a sanguinity to tide me over. I’m bliss-bloated with the beauty of it, the beauty that kinship holds—the knowledge that I’m halfmine in some ways, but a ll-mine in others.
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Making Space MANNY ADEWALE The “Making Space” video project is a lengthy labor of love. When I initially heard the call from The M aroon to submit ideas and pieces for the very first Black History Month issue during the 2022–23 academic year, I was interested but unsure of what approach to take. I then consid-
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eos. I felt it was important to capture a glimpse of the creativity of Black UChicago students in a way that truly put them on display. I was fortunate enough to be able to capture three particular aspects of creativity from Black UChicago students, both past and present: dance, images, fashion, and the building of communal ties between Black students.
Moreover, so much of how Black people have engaged in creativity is part of an effort to create space for them to thrive and exist outside of monolithic stereotypes and misconceptions placed on them, as well as a multitude of other challenges.
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ered the nature of the special issue and a pertinent aspect of the human experience—creativity. Historically, creativity, whether through the arts or through any other medium, has been a vital part of how Black people walk through the world. Moreover, so much of how Black people have engaged in creativity is part of an effort to create space for themselves to thrive and exist outside of monolithic stereotypes and misconceptions placed on them, as well as a multitude of other challenges. This is especially true for not only Black people in the city of Chicago but also Black students here at UChicago. Although writing is a creative medium I greatly appreciate, I knew that words would fall short of describing this idea. I immediately thought about one of my favorite pastimes: making vid-
I was fortunate enough to hear from UBallet dancers Anisa Dye and Hannah Brody, as well as Ankara Magic cocaptain Angela Abongwa. In the realm of visual art, it was a pleasure to hear from Destin Bundu, one of the founding creators of the Vi-
er and CEO of T’Kor Couture as well as one of the students involved in the creation of the annual Black Convocation event put on by the Organization of Black Students and the African and Caribbean Student Association. The most important thing that I hope you take away from this project is that creativity is life, but more specifically, it is a means of making space for oneself and others. Despite some of its progressive efforts to include Black intellectuals and students, UChicago, like many other institutions, has had its fair share of challenges in creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for Black people, among other underrepresented communities. This reality, however, has only further encouraged Black students and faculty to keep using their creativity to make space for themselves and those that will come after them—to remind them that they belong here and that the life of the mind is enriched by their experiences, their voices, and their imagination. For Black students in the College, creativity isn’t just a means of expres-
For Black students in the College, creativity isn’t just a means of expression; the creativity we engage in helps us create space for ourselves.
suals Series project and RSO. Lastly, on the topic of fashion and building community with Black Convocation, I was honored to speak with UChicago alum Dinah Clottey, who is the found-
sion; the creativity we engage in helps us create space for ourselves. These videos were recorded during the 2022-23 academic year.
THE CHICAGO MAROON — FEBRUARY 15, 2024
In this first episode of “Making Space,” we take a look at the way Black UChicago students express themselves through the art of dance in both UBallet and Ankara Magic.
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Making Space Episode 1
Making Space Episode 2
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In this second episode of “Making Space,” we hear from Visuals cofounder Destin Bundu about how Black UChicago students use the mediums of photography and videography to capture their emotions, as well as their aspirations for how Black students at UChicago can continue to make space for themselves on campus.
Making Space Episode 3 In this third episode of “Making Space,” UChicago alum Dinah Clottey shares her outlook on Black creativity through fashion with her T’Kor Couture brand. She also gives us insight into how Black Convocation came about and how it serves as one of many efforts to create space for Black students in the UChicago community. Coming soon.
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Voices from Blacklight Magazine URUNNA ANYANWU, SARAH HOPKINS, INIOLUWA ALOBA, JOSH NKHATA
urunna anyanwu 10
THE CHICAGO MAROON — FEBRUARY 15, 2024
home does not have a door SARAH HOPKINS
A wooden cabin filled with mahogany floors. The exterior is driftwood crafted with nails and salt. Floorboards bear prints from favored paths. Splinters have worn out as the sea air is unforgiving to foreign violence. Nestled in the delta, the grass grows through the slats. Green and yellow catch the secrets of the willows. The reeds graze scarred knees in carbon-soaked earth. Faint frogs grace the dew. Between the trees, the fog lies heavy. Eucalyptuses and firs rest taller than this morning was willing to. I stand barefoot on the porch before the air guides me into the rocking chair. My tea steeps in a chipped ceramic mug. The natural dialogue of creaking joints and rustling leaves is a comfort few can afford.
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Pan-Africa, Borders, Personality, and Diasporic Pains #1 INIOLUWA ALOBA
I often forget people are soft things When I press my lips together they are stiff So I forget that I am a soft thing Full of life and blood from the clay of the earth Molded by a porous land Where bodies flowed across each other like rivers Where stories transmuted before your ears But the truth of it was fixed Where everything living was a permeable substance But blood has birthed borders soaked deep in dirt, Around the rivers And diffused deep into the sea The same deep dark earth that made me Is in kin I know and love And more I will never meet We were from a mass of Earth Now fixed with more shapes Than just bodies Defined by sharp and jagged lines, Hot tears bubbling and spilling over the surface, And a couple dollar signs This continental illness has attached itself to me What was once a soft malleable thing Is now a body forced to become Evicted from becoming Now a constant stiff lip
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THE CHICAGO MAROON — FEBRUARY 15, 2024
JOSH NKHATA
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Weed: a dandelion speaks, my thumb and pointer on his hips
To be unearthed is to be unbirthed. Did you expect something more? If I’m invasive then let me up your nose. Isn’t that where fathers sit, quietly, hypoallergenically? When you sneeze I will come forth Pappus unbound. The bitten cattail. Cotton mouth surprise. Hiss. Hiss. Hiss. Since you do not call me you probably do not know I float on the wind. That is how I got here. You float too, boy. Who taught you the world was omnidirectional? You do not get to drift, listlessly back. You do not get to flit and flutter yourself home. The trade winds blow from darker continents to light. That is why it is so wonderful to be in the ground. Eyelids ruddy. Teeth muddy. So dumb, unfounded, you think the hand is a hug. Have you ever been hugged with fists clenched? The pull is like a cramp in your thigh. If you can be rebirthed now is as good a time as any. That blow is like a kiss They wish your memory away.
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Social Contract CHRISTIAN TURK
Breach in the social contract, Out of reach no social contact, Disconnect from what they erect and what they wreck, Where their eyes spy our demise under disguise, I despise how the eagle flies, Watch the mouse hide, Where political perso-nas in power preach peace they’ll never see, While poverty pervades as people pray to prophets they’ll never meet, Don’t trust in their treaties, The pen collects dust, As the mechanisms for change cover with rust, King is the corrupted corporation. Not your litigation or situation or observations or pedigreed frustration or liberation or declaration. This world feels like an abandoned project, I seen we was like a raisin in the sun, Had a dream where momma was raisin’ that gun, Sitting on her bed and then the wall splattered, Silk and satin sheets turn blood red, The weight of war and want in this world weakens and weathers even the wealthy woman, Board this train of thought or train the brain to fight the drain. Momma, please stay sane, Momma, can we get raisin cane? Momma, why you always got your hair done straight? Momma, how you prepare your child for all the hate? Momma, you think he sealed our fate? Think he just picked a date, To let the world descend, Leave you without a friend? Federal facilities falter and our factions fissure, Do you really trust the actions of the commissioner? Instigate incite irritate, Burn the night and fell the floodgate, Unseat the magnate: emancipate. Disconcert their comfort, Seize their symphony, Concert your chaos, Breach the social contract.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON — FEBRUARY 15, 2024
This year we want to recognize Black American icon: Dr. Robert Tanner Freeman. As one of the first six students to attend the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, he became the first African American to graduate with a dental degree in the United States on March 10, 1869. He subsequently practiced dentistry in Washington, D.C.
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The Independence: Independence: Our Role, Our Mission, and Our Purpose The Independence was created in March 2023. This publication seeks to take control of the narrative of Africa through different mediums of expression in the fields of politics, art, science, music and beyond. We are one. We are together. We are Africa.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE INDEPENDENCE
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Sub-Saharan African migrants in Tunisia; gold smuggling in South African banks; the rise of East Africa in African footballing competitions. There has been a clear void on our campus, a lack of awareness of the news and events coming from the most diverse continent in the world: Africa. Through the creation of the publication, the members of The Independence sought to fill that void and provide a platform for expression. We wanted to further the knowledge of both African and non-African students, and to perform other such functions as are commonly identified with an independent student publication. We place a lot of emphasis on community. The Independence is not a space for only Africans and members of its diaspora. While focused on Africans, the publication was created to hear all voices from all perspectives, as long as those voices were discussing Africa and its diaspora. We hope to use this display of African intelligence, artistic versatility, and articulateness to reinvigorate
the forces and motives of expression and self-determination. The mission is twofold: to create an environment on campus that provides a medium for expression to African students and to provide a space for these same students to engage with and produce
The Independence is not a space for only Africans and members of its diaspora. news and opinions on matters relating to the continent of Africa and its diaspora. The Independence provides a platform for students to express their perspectives and create content about or relating to the African continent or its diaspora in the fields of politics, economics, sociology, philosophy, art, music, and fashion. In the Science & Technology section you can find articles on A.I. and its future in Africa, or the expansive field of mycology in Africa. In the Politics & Economics section
you can find discussions of the global implications of the Nigerien Coup, and the merits of the African Continental Free Trade Area. The Independence provides the opportunity to all students on the University of Chicago campus to learn and engage with the African continent and remain updated on current news and events, as well as a space for opinions on these matters; this allows for the minority to address the majority with their own voice, not one created for them. While organizations on campus such as the African Caribbean Students Association and the Organization of Black Students provide a space for black voices, we are providing a space for Black stories and Black understandings. This Black History Month issue acts as a service to the Black community - for more Black voices, stories, and understandings to be heard. The Independence stands with South Africa and for justice for Palestine. To find out more about The Independence and ways to get involved, follow us on Instagram @independenceuchicago or check out our website https://www.independenceatuchicago.org/.
THE CHICAGO MAROON — FEBRUARY 15, 2024
Making a Place: How Black Students Fit Into UChicago’s White Situation SENAI WALKER The University of Chicago holds a precarious position within its surrounding community. For some students, that will not be a controversial statement, but, for others, the University’s reputation as a “liberal” institution allows them to feel comfortable and passive toward the University’s politics. People often tend to conflate intellectual exploration with progressivism despite the fact that those concepts are not mutually exclusive. However, for those who have given it a second thought, the placement of the University itself offers an interesting question. How did Hyde Park become so distinctly white while being surrounded on all sides by an overwhelmingly Black Chicago South Side? It is no secret that the University of Chicago’s relationship with the surrounding community has been fraught since the University’s founding. From the beginning, the land granted for the University was paid for by wealth generated from slave labor and founded, endorsed, and endowed by slave owners. In the early 20th century, the University’s intentionally racist real estate policies only aided in gentrifying this small square of the South Side with a rapidly growing Black population. Safiya Johnson, A.B. ’14, who worked in recruitment for the University, reflected on her interactions with the community as a representative of UChicago. “I recruited in Chicago, and
UChicago’s name and history of Black displacement and racism are very well known in the community. How do you go from ‘We agreed to be a part of the community and be with you and help you,’ and then it’s, do they believe you?” Even in the modern day, the University of Chicago controls one of the largest private police departments in the United States, which allegedly en-
“I just want to be treated like I belong here; I earned my place like everyone else here did.” gages in racist policing and profiling on and around the university campus. This increase in police presence only further fans the flames of distrust in the relationship between the South Side community and the University. However, the current University climate appears to be focusing less on these injustices and more on the performance of white-savior “giving back” to the community they gentrified. While this is going on, UChicago’s Black students seem to occupy a delicate place as both occupiers in this South Side community and people who are interested in connecting to a community with a culture very similar to their own at home.
Internally, race relations within the student body trendtoward amicable ignorance, which allows non-minority students to engage in discussions of race passively, from a distance. The general feeling across campus is that the University is a model of progressivism and enlightenment that has no prejudices to confront. This sentiment exists among white students because the racism on campus is not as overt as in some of our peer institutions, and therefore, they act as though it essentially does not exist. The Black population at UChicago is incredibly small, at only 6 percent, according to the 2022 Common Data Set. For this reason, the creation of groups meant to provide a community for Black students, such as the Organization of Black Students (OBS) and the African-Caribbean Student Association (ACSA), have a relatively high membership within the small proportion of Black students. For many Black students, these are the primary channels through which they have found community. Even though they themselves may not be part of these organizations, chances are they know someone who is. Watson Lubin, A.B. ’23, described his view of finding community on campus through being in the orbit of spaces like OBS and ACSA. “[UChicago has] particular groups of students who are otherwise disadvantaged, so I know they cater to students from rural America; veterans, increasing-
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ly; FGLI; but Black students? No. I’ve always found that support for Black students has come from all of the social organizations created by and for Black people,” Lubin said. For example, one of the prima-
tween classes to be larger than the divide between races. Because of this, any acknowledgments of race relations on campus are viewed as a collective problem between all racial minorities on campus. Many have
courtesy of the association of black alumni. ry disadvantaged groups to which the University has catered specific programming are first-generation, low-income students (FGLI). Their programming involves providing a host of resources for designated FGLI students to assimilate and prosper within the university community, in an academic, professional, and cultural context. Though not every FGLI student is Black, nor is every Black student FGLI, these identities often intersect. From this, it can be inferred that the University views the divide be-
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termed this the “POC problem”, in which issues specific to one particular race or minority have been placed beneath an umbrella that is nonspecific to their status. Conversations about confronting these issues have been pervasive on campus for a long period of time. In 2013, UChicago Blackness, a Tumblr blog on which students posted anonymously about Blackness on campus, was launched. The posts vary in subject matter and contributors. Posts came not only from Black students
reflecting on their experiences but also from people other races discussing their perceptions of Blackness in this community. Some posts are as follows: “I feel like I’m the vehicle through which children who aren’t used to diverse communities learn empathy and decency. I don’t want to be. It’s not my job. I just want to be treated like I belong here; I earned my place like everyone else here did.” “Black students here have it hard because everything we say, all of our actions are largely reflective of [B] lack people everywhere. If we get an answer wrong, if we mispronounce a word, if we make a mistake, it’ll be remembered. If we aren’t polite, we’re another rude [B]lack person. I’m just saying, it’d be nice if we didn’t have [to] carry the weight of the race on our shoulders. But maybe that’s not white people’s fault, they’re just fascinated.” “In response to the person who asked what it’s like as a white person to be part of the UChicago bubble on the [South Side]: it’s uncomfortable. I’m the type of person who likes to say hi to people on the street and strike up conversations at the Green Line. While I have had several genuine and meaningful interactions, I hate that my whiteness automatically associates me with the privilege and wealth of the University. I am privileged, and my whiteness is part of that, but in my home city, I can interact much more comfortably with a diverse range of people because there isn’t the shadow of the University and its politics.” Students are able to freely discuss these differences, but the University is hesitant to use specific language regarding race to acknowledge it. This is somewhat contradictory, as according to the University’s core principles, it believes itself to be a pinnacle of active debate and free expression. However, this is at odds with the lived experi-
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follows: “Outreach, specifically, with the Black students that are at UChicago right now, just because I feel like I would have appreciated that when I was a student. Being able to share some of the things that I learned at the University—things that would make life easier that the administration would not tell you.” The strength of the Black community throughout history has been through resilience and reliance on each other internally, and that is no different at UChicago. Johnson recalls forging these connections not only through students but through University staff as well. “African-American students, coming from poor and violent communities, you may find
yourself talking to the person standing at the corner there for your safety, or talking to the woman making your omelet, or talking to this random person because they come from communities that you are familiar with.” Mentorship within the Black community at the University of Chicago plays a crucial role in helping current students succeed. Shared experiences and supportive relationships contribute to the flourishing of Black students on campus. As knowledge and support are passed down, even from unconventional spaces, Black students connect with a diverse array of peers who collectively support each other in a space not cultivated for their success.
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outside of the bounds of the University for structured, serious leadership and community, finding sanctuary within organizations like OBS and ACSA, which provide Black students with the political voice needed to confront the might and reputation of the University of Chicago. Many Black students have found their collective voice as part of these affinity groups but are faced with obstacles regarding finding mentorship with people of color to which they can relate. To overcome this, the University of Chicago Association of Black Alumni (UCABA) has attempted to cultivate a stronger relationship between Black students of the past and present. Kayla Moore, A.B. ’17, described her motivation in being part of UCABA as
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“The University is quite content to talk about free speech, and I think—and this is where the color blindness is most blinding—it’s not ever the case that we are talking about hate speech.”
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it was expressed that there was an expectation that the University would take up the responsibility of diffusing the hostility around campus, but that expectation was not met. One “side” was calling for accountability on the part of the University and its policing practices; the other was calling for accountability regarding the use of racially motivated language against the Black community on and off campus. So if the University is historically hostile toward the surrounding neighborhoods and is unaccommodating to and not protective of its small Black student population, then what channels exist for the on-campus community? Black students have often looked
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ence of many of UChicago’s present and past students, many of whom say that they have never been more hyperaware of their race than at UChicago. Lubin describes this phenomenon as the University’s “color blindness.” Lubin claims, “The University does not talk about race. I think, to the extent that it ever has, in my past four years, it was because of seismic, earth-shattering world events. The University is quite content to talk about free speech, and I think—and this is where the color blindness is most blinding—it’s not ever the case that we are talking about hate speech.” Lubin explains this precarious balance specifically in times of campus crisis. The University of Chicago has long held itself on its soapbox of being a beacon of free expression on college campuses, but many question whether or not this insistence on freedom of expression enables hate speech. In 2021, a UChicago graduate student was murdered in an armed robbery, and the tragedy sparked a new wave of calls for increased police presence on and around campus. Despite best efforts, the University bubble was proven penetrable, and students can still face the violence that plagues the South Side community daily. There was a widespread understanding that the University of Chicago was supposed to be exempt from this kind of tragedy, and Lubin recalls the reaction on campus during the immediate fallout as being fueled by grief but still reflective of the racial and socioeconomic bubble that separates UChicago from the rest of the South Side. “That always made me feel a little weird. The idea was people weren’t necessarily as up in arms that just anybody died, but it was one of us. Then it was an us versus them. and that’s where I feel like people were operating from,” Lubin said. In times like that of racial division,
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The Daressy After “The Anniad” by Gwendolyn Brooks JACOB WHITE
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Pushed through the bitter winter Left in the dark grey of day Watch the higher god’s cinder And the lower god’s sunrays Exposed to the bone marrow Listening to wind’s whimper Ponder lack of holy gaze
So he severed his left hand And returned to him promptly Soil becomes arid sand And he’s rejected softly Anger furnishing the room Like frost over the lakefront January afternoon
Ponder lack of nourishment ’Neath nights of Chicago black Overhead an onyx dish Glittering lights of aeroplanes Silhouettes the old man’s cane His body holds a worn slack Tours to the state of Iraq
To the liquor store he goes Snuffing out his mental woes Contemplating his next move In the old Golden Shovel And a jazzing tune which soothes Creating a mind out of gravel Organized of the disheveled
Recompense he must enact A burden of being dark Muscles which were once strung taunt It’s pain his body was taught On long roads his mind embarks Solutions are inexact What lay in store for this ole cat
And conviction comes quickly Shifting like a moccasin Dareus lays in waiting For the man, salivating Just outside his homely den With warlike mentality And jar of flammable gin
Oh muse, please give me the sight To tell Dareus’s tale Soft rain turns to hellish hail Pitter patter behind him The employer to his right: “Cut off your favorite limb And just maybe we will bite”
When Helios reaches midday It’s in flames, the house is doused An infernus overlay Overtaking neighborhoods From highways to lakefront bays Baptizing the city’s sin In new light Chicago’s razed
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Cowering behind outrage Cleansed in blood, fire, and white sage Ash-coated after the rain Americana, heathens A world filled with the insane He tells of lack of treatment For the leg which had went lame
Skin sinking into the night Makes a dramatic return In the broadest of daylights Swarm of butterflies come home From our neighbors to the south Kaleidoscope on the dome To the hearth from where they roam
And following addiction Affliction for lack of pain Child jumps after balloon burst Letting its contents spill out And it could not get any worse State’s body laying about He is victorious now
Numbered streets they finely comb But he keeps to the shadow Makes the invisible home Overlooking the lake foam Turbulent currents to sweep Canals from rivers to seas In lit up basements he sleeps
A divine reformation Beckons foreign sensation The White House is no longer The Capitol is in ruin Boisterously the people cheer Institutions lay somber “Democracy” left to prune
High off gallant revelry Carried on sweet melody His words flood the urban-scape Preaches corners on milk crates This winter ’gining to reel Revolutionary voices Ideas bound to charm and kill
La-dub, blood pulses in his ear The moment stills to silence Hard to hear wind as it splits Worlds exist within seconds Dead body on broken stilts Future fervor unknown Momentarily atones
Oh the heat is surely felt From LA to New York and All her sparkling cities It becomes a dangerous pelt From Atlanta to Houston Burning all her sister lands Raised as if were preacher’s hands
Death begets rebirth in Spring What song of revolution Does our Dareus now sing Vibrating absolution Heavenly inspired verse The worldly onlookers scream Waves of sound shaking the hearse
Riots become reprimand Disobedience simmers Watching, Dareus snickers Enjoying intrepid dance Piercing skin like Latin lance Messiannical wicker Dismantles seats of power
Revolutionary sleep Hibernation runs soul deep He’s forced to final rest They love that which they once detest Cold like the sun never rose The world continues to mull In now warm soil, poplar grows
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And they look for one to blame Evading imprisonment He runs to his Olympus Finding shelter in gods’ hands Protected with veil of shame Mice smell an aura of pride Putrid pear, from the inside
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“So You’re Askin’ About ACSA?” CHRISTIAN TURK, ON BEHALF OF ACSA When asked what the African and Caribbean Student Association (ASCA) is, copresident Darasimi Adeyemo said he likes to think of it as a shoulder to lean on. “During my first year, after COVID guidelines began to ease up, it felt like one day I just woke up in a completely new city with new faces and new responsibilities. I felt untethered. ACSA offered me a community in a way I hadn’t experienced before. Throughout a year filled with new challenges at every turn, ACSA reminded me that I was not alone. And that goes a really long way. That’s what I want to be able to give back.” Similarly, copresident Arianna Lafontant characterized ACSA by its unique opportunity to be both “a space where people can not only learn and have sophisticated discussions about the issues that plague our communities but also go out with friends and listen to afrobeats and dancehall.” To one of ACSA’s creative directors, Yannick Tanyi, “being a part of
ACSA means not only being in a community that goes beyond friendship but a people that you can call family.” Community service chair Aminata Ouattara believes ACSA serves as a reminder of the powerful presence and community of Black students on campus, especially at PWIs such as UChicago. ACSA provides a safe space for African and Caribbean students and
in UChicago’s rigorous and challenging environment. Last quarter, ACSA held events such as African and Caribbean music listening parties, Pan-Africanist theory discussions, paint and sip study breaks, pumpkin carving, and gender and sexuality workshops. Cochair of social media and communications Amy Diaby hopes, “ACSA events are particularly help-
“ACSA offered me a community in a way I hadn’t experienced before.”
others to learn, experience, and enjoy African and Caribbean culture by hosting weekly events throughout the quarter. The group’s mission is to unite and uplift the voices of the Africans and Caribbeans who have found themselves within the UChicago community. By celebrating differences and similarities throughout the diaspora, ACSA establishes itself as a support base for Black students
ful to people who are first generation or living in the diaspora because we are able to showcase our culture and learn about others. Sometimes we have a disconnect with back home, and the ACSA events try to rebuild the connection between the world back home and the very different one at UChicago.” The biggest event of the year is the culture show. In previous years,
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This past fall, ACSA raised money to help fund Read2Lead, a nonprofit organization that focuses on literacy and the construction of libraries
The pedigree of survivorship, resistance, and freedom that flows through the veins of those who come from and descend from many countries in Africa and the Caribbean empowers its members to be champions of justice everywhere.
in Ghana. On top of this, ACSA has also hosted a Pan-Africanist seminar and discussion to cover theories and teachings from those such activist and scholar Walter Rodney of Guyana, Marcus Garvey of Jamaica, W.E.B. Du Bois of the United States, and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. Looking towards the future of ACSA, Adeyemo and Lafontant both emphasized two continuing goals. The first is the importance of ACSA as a vehicle to welcome and introduce underclassmen. Adeyemo believes that “mentorship is a cornerstone of community building. Upperclassmen should con-
Since I’ve arrived on campus, not only have I found a Guyanese community, but ACSA has been one of the most comfortable spaces and feels like a home away from home for me.
pus leader in combating injustice both here and across the world. To this end, ACSA holds events such as fundraisers and seminars. Last spring quarter, ACSA held a fundraiser for those affected by the war in Sudan.
to tap into its alumni connections to strengthen community ties between those who are here now and the many more that have graduated
tinue reaching out and being available to the first- and second-year students to share the lessons they’ve learned here.” The second goal is embracing ACSA’s community. ACSA would like
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the culture show has highlighted Black excellence and art across the diaspora with dance performances, pageants, poetry readings, comedians, and of course, a delicious dinner afterwards featuring African and Caribbean cuisine. Creative director Malaz Nour says this year will be “bigger and better than it was in years past, featuring more community participation from small businesses and artists in Hyde Park.” In addition to its wide array of cultural programming, ACSA is also a prominent political organization on campus. The pedigree of survivorship, resistance, and freedom that flows through the veins of those who come from and descend from many countries in Africa and the Caribbean empowers its members to be champions of justice everywhere. Because of these values, ACSA stands for justice and equality for all. Along with organizations such as the Organization of Black Students, the Organization of Latin American Students, the Arab Student Association, the Indigenous Students Association, MECHA, the Pakistan Students Association, and South Asian Students Association, ACSA is responsible for being a cam-
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before. Additionally, Adeyemo and Lafontant highlighted that ACSA will continue working on branching out into communities in the Chicago Area. Currently, Ouattara is currently working on an event to reach out to migrants in the Chicago area. I was familiar with ACSA before I even applied to UChicago. I remembered hearing about ACSA at an admissions session and immediately following the organization’s Instagram account to see all of the amazing projects they were working on. Since then, I knew I wanted to run to become a first-year representative and immerse myself in ACSA’s environment. Growing up, I had only ever met a handful of Guyanese people who were not a part of my immediate family. Since I’ve arrived on campus, not only have I found a Guyanese community, but ACSA has been one of the most comfortable spaces and feels like a home away from home for me. Whether you want to learn, listen to music, eat amazing food, or just meet new people, I truly hope that everyone can find a community and family in ACSA and continue to strengthen and support the presence of African and Caribbean culture here at UChicago.
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