Sisterhood Newsletter, Issue 2

Sisterhood

kenyon

ALUMNI NEWSLETTER vol 1 • Aug. 2020 • issue 2

LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT men, international students, and upperclassmen with extenuating circumstances.

Dear Alumni, Having half the Kenyon population on campus will make club activities more Greetings and welcome to our second monthly edition of the Sisterhood disjointed, but we hope that we can work around this.

Alumni Newsletter!

Continually, a result of this move and in response to reorganizing housing the First of all, thank you all for your positive responses to our first newsletter, school will no longer have Division Housing. This means that the 8-person North we want to continue to curate this for you so that you can stay updated with Campus Apartment that was originally allotted to Sisterhood will not be active this Sisterhood and the Kenyon community as a whole. As we go forward, we want to year. This would have been the first year Sisterhood would have had a designated provide opinion pieces, updates apartment for members to live on the state of the campus, and in. We were excited to host discuss frankly the issues that We are still dedicated to providing a safe programming and provide a safe impact students of color. place for womxn of color at Kenyon to thrive. space for womxn of color to We are excited to share some live/build community, and while fresh content with you, as well as it is unfortunate, these are the some updates surrounding Kenyon protocols that we must follow College and the upcoming school year. No doubt, with the impact that coronavirus right now. In the meantime, we will put our energy into supporting the students continues to make on this country, this school year will be more difficult than on and off campus and plan Division Housing activities for the future. ever. Our planning, connecting, and hosting of events will be severely limited, but we are still dedicated to providing a safe place for womxn of color at Kenyon to With Love, thrive.

Vineeta Chauhan, President A column further on will describe the updates Kenyon has made to the strucCherish Banks, Vice President ture of the school year -- namely, limiting Fall semester residency to underclass-

CURRENT EVENTS

Kenyon On July 14th, Kenyon announced updated plans for the 2020-21 school year. Instead of the original plan to have all students return to campus with increased health safety measures, Kenyon introduced a plan to return only underclassmen, international students, special petitioned cases, and CAs to campus for the Fall, the rest of the student body continuing their studies online. Should the coronavirus situation get better, Kenyon hopes to return everyone to campus in the spring, but if not, freshmen and sophomores will go remote and upperclassmen will be invited instead. This is the administration’s attempt to provide a safe learning environment for Kenyon students while also attempting to keep the special connection that the in-person Kenyon community offers. If you would like to read more of the details that have been provided to students, then we can direct you to this link.

ALUMNI HIGHLIGHT: BRITTNEY MILES ‘13

have is to allow the people at Kenyon to grow beyond who you knew them to be. College is a transition period and most of you are in a process of becoming something unknown, which will likely continue after you leave the hill. There were people I barely talked to while I was at Kenyon, who I talk to regularly now. And Allow the people at Kenyon to grow beyond there are people I talked to who you knew them to be. Most of you are in every day at Kenyon whose phone numbers I don’t have. a process of becoming something unknown, Give folks space to evolve and allow your relationships which will likely continue after you leave to adapt, including your the Hill. relationship to Kenyon as an institution.

This month, we are highlighting Brittney Miles ‘13, who is now a PhD candidate in the sociology program at the University of Cincinnati.

BUILDING COMMUNITY

Having served as the first president of Sisterhood in its resurgence during the 2010-11 school year, Sisterhood was a refuge for women of color who wanted to be in coalition and dialogue around our intersectional experiences and identities. That made it home. Sisterhood was often able to transcend the petty drama between folks who didn’t get along. The space was more important than our individual issues. Sisterhood was my first opportunity to do critical praxis work around feminism.

I could actually connect the dots between the work I was reading in class, like bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Gloria Anzaldúa, with what I was experiencing in my school community.

AFTER KENYON

I am a PhD student in Sociology at the University of Cincinnati, where I am an Albert C. Yates fellow. I am also completing a graduate certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. My research centers Black girlhood, specifically in the areas of (a)sexuality, disability, and embodiment. My upcoming project explores Black women’s and girls’ beauty work; I examine how we use fashion, hairstyling, and make-

up as embodied resistance. I completed my Master’s of Education in Social and Cultural Foundations in Education at DePaul University. I recently published a single-authored article titled, “Theorizing Conscious Black Asexuality through Claire Kann’s Let’s Talk

about Love” in MDPI’s journal, Humanities. You can also check out my co-authored paper, “Unapologetic Blackness in Action: Embodied Resistance and Social Movement Scenes in Black Celebrity Activism” in the journal Humanities and Society, written with my friend Shaonta’ Allen. Follow me on Twitter at @ BlkSchlr_BMiles.

GIVING BACK

I still visit Kenyon regularly for the Alumni of Color Mentoring Program; I come back to support ODEI and because that’s what helped me survive college.

I have almost no fond memories of Kenyon. It was racist, classist, filled with misogynoir, and unwelcoming to me, so I’ll offer some advice. The best advice I

BEYOND SISTERHOOD

I still regularly talk to the two women of color from Kenyon who were instrumental in helping me get Sisterhood running, Nicolyn Woodcock ‘12 and Symone Roberts ‘15. Symone was the second president of Sisterhood after me and was able to grow the organization in ways I couldn’t have imagined.

Also, in my time away from Kenyon, I have fostered a stronger friendship with Rowana Abbensetts-Dobson ‘13. She helped me continue to heal from some of the traumas of Kenyon, and you should support her company Spoken Black Girl Publishing (@spokenblackgirl).

If you would like to be a featured alumni, please contact sisterhood@kenyon.edu.

CURRENT EVENTS

BSU

student spotlights

In support of BSU’s ongoing organizing around the issue of policing in Gambier, Sisterhood members attended the virtual Gambier Village Council’s Public Safety and Personnel Committee meeting On Monday, July 27th. Mayor Leeman Kessler and other members of the council answered questions from Kenyon students and some faculty for a large portion of the meeting, the mayor even continuing to answer questions in the zoom chat after other board members decided to move on. One concern that we have for the time being is that the new contract with the Sheriff is still in negotiation, so the document has not been made public yet. We are sure more questions will arise once we are able to see the full contract. At this time, there does not seem to be any consideration of abolishment of the Sheriff ’s contract since, according to Chair Brooks, “public safety needs to be considered … specifically traffic control as speeding cars pose a real danger in the Village.”

The sheriff is still sent when anyone in Gambier calls 911.

The new plan calls for the sheriff to instead work day shifts, from 8am to 4pm, most likely on the weekdays and for special events. Essentially, this will be cutting down the Sheriff ’s weekly patrol time from 80 hours to 40 hours per week. Mayor Kessler made sure to point out that this was not a punitive measure, but rather reflective of “fiscal restraint” and the “sense that both deputies and Village residents will benefit from daytime vs. nighttime interaction.” This is not official though, as the final revised contract cannot be revealed until the council approves it, which they have not yet. Though sheriff night patrol is technically eliminated, the sheriff is still sent when anyone in Gambier calls 911, including calls at night. When asked about this, the mayor reported that Gambier cannot request that the sheriff is not sent when someone calls 911. This is significant, since many cases of harassment on Kenyon’s campus towards students of color have occurred at night.

When questions arose about what resources will be available as alternatives to calling the police, the council cited New Directions, a local resource for domestic violence issues in the county. Continually, they promised a non-police connected resource list would be made for the community and posted on their website soon.

Many students asked questions related to what would happen if Kenyon were to walk away from the contract Gambier has with the Knox County Sheriff ’s Office. Kenyon, though not specifically referred to

HIGHLIGHTING CURRENT MEMBERS OF SISTERHOOD This issue, we are highlighting Aaliyah C. Daniels ‘23, an English and Political Science double major who hails from New York City.

Below, we have published a version of the open letter Aaliyah wrote addressing what it is like to be a Black student at predominantly white institutions such as Kenyon.

To whom it may concern: My name is Aaliyah C. Daniels. I am a rising sophomore at Kenyon College hoping to double major in Political Science and English with an emphasis in creative writing. I identify as a Panamanian and African-American woman.

A couple of weeks ago I attended the meeting of Sisterhood and Men of Color where we discussed

race-related issues at Kenyon with Kenyon professors of color. For me, the ending message of the meeting was to speak up and tell the professors, peers, and administration what you needed a person of color on campus. It has taken me a while to gather my thoughts, but I have been analyzing my life as a student of color in predominantly white institutions, and the feeling of erasure is always present for me.

I do not feel this erasure due to not seeing any other Black or Hispanic educators or students.

Although that does not help, it is not the sole reason I feel so disconnected from these white institutions. I would argue that personally, I have always had Black/ Hispanic spaces and mentors inside or outside of school that have replenished my need for represen-

CURRENT EVENTS

BSU in the contract as far as we know, does not pay the Sheriff ’s Office and the Village of Gambier. Students were told several times that campus safety and sheriff / deputy office work together, so in order to fully address that issue we should look into campus safety policies and plans. Mayor Kessler stated: “Campus safety has their own relationship with the sheriff ’s office and you would need to speak with them about that as well as how their jurisdictions pair up and overlap.”

Ultimately, the mayor explained, if Kenyon were to walk away, the college would get the same coverage as “people out in the sticks.” This was not elaborated on, but we were told that the main difference is no regular patrol. The committee does not think it would be a source of animosity between the Sheriff ’s Office and Kenyon students to cancel the contract, as others expressed concerns that they think it would be. The mayor and the rest of the Public Safety and Personnel Committee heavily encouraged students who face incidents of harassment or discrimination to make written reports of the events, as this is supposed to assist in documenting concerns against the Sheriff.

Have questions, concerns, or complaints about what occurred at the meeting, what the next steps are, or about specific incidents that have occurred on campus or off? Mayor Klessner invites the community to reach out to him at mayor@villageofgambier.org.

This could be especially important in cases of police harassment or other issues in which you don’t feel comfortable reporting directly to the sheriff / the police department.

Professional Networking We are thankful for all of the alumni who have reached out in the past few months to offer us support. Thanks to you all, we have some awesome plans in the works, one of which centers on providing professional development workshops for our current students. Having alumni of color share their knowledge, resources, and support to us as current students will be exponentially helpful in making sure that we have the correct guidance going forward in our careers. Events like these will also be helpful since we most likely will not be able to have in-person Alumni of Color Networking weekends this year. We will update you as these events come along, but if you are interested in being involved, please reach out to us at sisterhood@kenyon.edu! We hope to connect alumni and current students in as many ways as we can!

tation and comfort. I would like to preface this letter large amounts of success. I remember reading the by saying that I do not know if anyone feels the way last chapter and crying because he had chosen to I do, but this feeling of erasure comes from the way pass as white after seeing another black man killed nonwhite races are taught to me, my peers, and the and continuing to pass as white after falling in love white students around me. with a white woman. It was disheartening. After that I realized this during my first semester at Kenyon, novel, we read Plum Bun by Jessie Redmond Fauset, because I had the juxtaposition of learning about followed by The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. I will African American spirituality and African American litadmit -- halfway through Plum Bun I completely erature at the same time. I learned that black trauma checked out of this class (in a very obvious manner, is everywhere, especially in literature. Every novel which my professor did check in on me about), but but one that I read in my literature class in one way I was afraid to question the literature or to bring up or another made being black seem unappealing. I another point of view about what discussions should truly felt be had, uncombecause None of my past teachers had discussed fortable none of talking my past Black joy in class or analyzed black text about teachers through a lens of joy until I had taken the had dishow these course on African American spirituality. cussed black Black charjoy in acters class or chose or spent a period in time choosing to pass as analyzed black text through a lens of joy until I had white because being black was too hard. taken the course on African American spirituality.

I remember my favorite novel was The AutobiograIn this class, my professor taught about trauma, phy of an Ex-colored Man, because a decent portion resilience, celebration and joy. I will admit that if I of the novel discussed ragtime and the joy that came hadn’t had this class first semester, I probably would out of it. However, in class we never commented on have transferred colleges. I learned about how the joyful elements of ragtime. Instead, we discussed through slavery and oppression came magic, faith, every moment in which blackness was deemed too and strength. I wasn’t getting that out of any of my difficult or how the main character spent a large other classes. I had been discussing in essays and duration of the novel debating whether to embrace class discussions how being black was too hard, and it their blackness because it held them back from wasn’t worth it. I was learning that I was a black wom-

CURRENT EVENTS

merchandise Our merchandise store is in the works! We are busily preparing some new and fresh designs for clothing and accessories so you can rock some Sisterhood swag. Supporting Sisterhood through merchandise will ensure that we have enough funding to properly host events and provide resources for our members.

Our projected launch time will be around the end of August, and we hope you’ll consider supporting us once we go live!

Resources from Aaliyah Articles: • Braids were used to relay messages of escape during slavery in Colombia • The dance form “Step” was used as communication as a substitution for drums by slaves West Africa • Here is a compelling article about the lack of joyful black books Below is a list of books that have joyful elements or present joy in black characters more: • The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae • Sag Harbor by Colsen Whitehead • Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan • Not Without Laughter by Langston Hughes • Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie • On Beauty: A Novel by Zadie Smith • Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History

by Vashti Harrison • The Mothers by Brit Bennet • Another Brooklyn: A Novel by Jacqueline Woodson • The History of Voodoo, and Rastafarianism Film: • Amistad • Birth of Nation (Nat Turner Story) • Moonlight • Black Panther • The Wiz • Boys n’ the Hood • BlackkKlansman • Fences • Loving

be sure to follow us @kenyonsisterhood

survive. My grandmother says all the time, “We are an who had to strive for whiteness to be beautiful or cockroaches, even the apocalypse can’t catch us,” and successful.

I believe her, but my academics have never painted In Quest for Justice, I was learning that many black people that beautifully. philosophers believed that slaves were needed for soWhat I want is for blackness to be taught beauticiety to survive and people continued to play “devil’s advocate” to justify that behavior. My professor would fully, for all people of color to be taught as survivors because what we do as people is survive. I will be look at me during conversations about black people honest when I say that black death does not make me being poor or disadvantaged to speak more on it. I cry anymore. This may be because I have grown up in would witness white students making 3/5 comproHunt mise Points, jokes What I want is for blackness to be taught where in the funermiddle of beautifully, for all people of color to be of class and taught as survivors because what we do as als your no one friends corrected people is survive. and them. family It was due to racism (systematic or environmental) or just so disheartening. I hated that my white peers only random violence is common and treated like a rite of learned that being black is being in a constant state passage. I was told at a young age about the one in of trauma. I hated that I was given the responsibility three (one will be in jail, one will be dead and one to prove them wrong. I hated that this had been the norm in my education since I was in the eighth grade. will make it out) so death does not faze me. However, joy, resilience, and what we create out of that pain I had read The Bluest Eye twice by the time I had reached the literature class, and I was excited because does so much more for me as a student. It teaches me that I will survive. It teaches non-black peers that this was the first time I had a black professor teach my existence isn’t one of pain and suffering. It does this book. My professor was a great: a provocative so much to teach people that we do so much more thinker who pushed me to become a better essay than suffer. writer, and outside of class, conversations were titilI want to challenge anyone who teaches about any lating. But, when we read The Bluest Eye, it followed race outside of white to not think of joy as a therapy the protocol of every other class I had based on this session but as a necessary part of teaching cultures. novel. I was waiting to discuss Pecola in a different I say this for English, science, history, film, political light, to make it clear that her insanity at the end of science, pre-med, etc. There are so many stereotypes the novel wasn’t her fault. I wanted my professor to about other races being more accepting of pain, or point out every moment in which someone could that we expect it, or that we deserve it. If you teach have saved Pecola, or how the the idolization of joy, then maybe people won’t look at another race’s whiteness leads to black girls being abandoned, and joy as taboo or undeserving. They will recognize it as endangered, but most importantly, I wanted her to survival, treat and be in this admiration classJoy, resilience, and what we create out of -- or maybe room that pain does so much more for me as a even join. as if it On could student. It teaches me that I will survive. the left preIt teaches non-black peers that my exisare some vent examples the tence isn’t one of pain and suffering. of joy next growing Pecoout of la, trauma, or some novels that present this more easily because as a black girl I read The Bluest Eye as a for black people. cautionary tale for black girls lacking self-love. At one There are more resources and as the summer and point, I was Pecola and The Bluest Eye saved me in a my years at Kenyon continue, I would love to add lot of ways. I understand the classroom is meant to more resources of joy coming out of trauma from teach, not heal or become therapy, but it is also not more than just the black culture. These are not all meant to hurt or disfigure. When I see black reprethe answers. Trust me -- I do not know it all, but my sentation, I was always taught to expect a reflection research in the juxtaposition of joy and trauma that I of oneself. have been doing the last couple of months has been I was taught in my African American spirituality very transnational for me. I am also willing to learn, course that black people are resilient. I saw the talk, and research some more. reflection of people like my grandmother, aunts, and Thank you, uncles. They are strong. They’ve withstood a lot in Aaliyah C. Daniels life due to being Black, or Hispanic. They are survivors, and my professor presented African American If you would like to be a featured current student, Spirituality as the story of survivors -- as if the class please contact sisterhood@kenyon.edu. was a mark of celebration. I loved that class because all I’ve ever been taught is that we as people of color