In the drizzling rain, nearly 40 students gathered around the Pegasus Statue outside of Glenn G. Bartle Library to participate in a walkout against racism on Wednesday afternoon.
Students silently marched across campus to take a bus to the University Downtown Center (UDC), where they were joined by over 60 fellow protestors.
Hosted by the Human Development Emancipatory Activist Task Force (HEAT), the walkout aimed to draw awareness of racism on campus and Binghamton University’s response to several recent incidents.
According to Sunja Joseph, a member of HEAT and a senior majoring in psychology, the activist group is composed of students who are tired of the administration’s apathy toward issues that affect marginalized communities within BU and the College of Community and Public Affairs (CCPA). HEAT first began in response to incidents that occurred during this academic year, chiefly the discovery of multiple racist drawings in residential halls last fall and an incident in which students were threatened with arrest for unlawfully posting flyers in the UDC on March 28.
“It created a lot of hysteria and upset among students of color who had legitimate fear over their living areas being violated,” Joseph said. “Since, nothing substantial has been done to make sure that our university is a welcoming space for students, staff and faculty of color. We [came to] the College of Community and Public Affairs because this school claims to be the college of social justice.”
According to Kalissa Sawyer, a member of HEAT and a senior majoring in human development, the goal of the event was to vocalize the silence, oppression, lack of action and racism that exists within BU. The event included a silent protest of students marching up the stairs from the first floor to the fourth floor of the UDC, meant to symbolize the silencing of marginalized groups’ concerns and voices by the University. Students had the option to place duct tape over their mouths as they marched.
After walking the four floors, the group returned to the UDC lobby to commence a speakout, where students such as Briana Jones, a member of HEAT and a senior majoring in human development, were able to read open letters to Laura Bronstein, dean of the CCPA and executive director of the Institute for Justice and Well-Being. Bronstein was not present in the building during the event.
“The original plan was to call Dean Bronstein down to listen to our concerns and hear our voices,” Jones said. “The fact that the dean was conveniently not in the building, and her door closed, says a lot about her cowardice and her fear of her students and fear of retribution. [Part of] what I would have liked to share to Dean Bronstein would be, ‘I am a black woman, and I cannot dissociate myself from anti-black racism.’”
Students in the human development program learn about racism, privilege and injustice within the classroom, but students like Serena Wilson, a member of HEAT and a senior majoring in human development, said they need to understand that these themes are more than just theories.
“We know the definitions and what it means theoretically, but what are we actually doing?” Wilson said. “These theories are based off of reality. We stand here as people of color and as allies. This isn’t a joke. Now is the time to do something. Lives are at stake.”
A variety of demographics, ages and professions were present at the event. Students such as Abdul Waheed Ahmad, a Fulbright scholar graduate student from Afghanistan studying public affairs, volunteered to talk during the speakout.
“As a fellow student and member of this community, I would like to say that I’m inspired,” Ahmad said. “We should keep [our fight] rolling, whether it’s against [Bronstein] or someone else.”
According to Sawyer, Bronstein has become an inadequate dean to a school that revolves around social justice, and speakers wanted her to know they were not going to give up their fight for justice.
“Countless times she has ignored her students within all the schools under CCPA,” Sawyer said. “She has interrupted women of color, she has claimed reverse racism and she has refused to show up when her students have gathered. She is scared because what we are saying and what we are demanding is fulfilling the purpose of what social justice truly is. It is not enough to hide under [the title] of this school and pretend to be an activist.”