Hello!
On Saturday, February 1, Soka had its first Students of Color Conference. Our university has been having a campus-wide conversation about race that is centered around the student movement for ethnic studies. As a white student, I was there to listen and learn, and not to participate. As the writer of a personal blog, I am not writing this blog post to create a journalistic account of this event. Instead, I want to reflect on my own experience, make use of my 10 pages of notes, and re-establish the habit of writing on topics other than my Capstone. For a more journalistic account, I highly recommend Casey Chaffin's article on the conference for The Pearl, Soka's student newspaper. On the Pearl's website, you can find many other articles (such as this one from Abbie Malabuyoc) to get you up to speed on the student movement.
The day started off at 9 AM with a panel called "Students of Color and Scholar Activism in the Struggle for World Freedom" with four activists from off campus. I wrote down a brief description of each activist, but all of them are worth looking up and learning more about. Saida Dahir is a poet artivist and first year at UC Berkeley. She is a black Muslim woman who immigrated to the United States at age three. Norah Sarsour is a Muslim and Palestinian activist centered around students, student activism, and empowerment. Dr. Jenn Yang is a researcher at UCI and the founder of Reappropriate, an East Asian feminist blog. Finally, Kevin Graham is a doctoral project specialist at UCSD. His activism is focused on advocating for undocumented students.
My biggest takeaway from the first panel came from Norah Sarsour's response to question "What do you have to say to the professors and administrators in this room?". She pointed out that the issues at Soka are representative of issues in Orange County at large, and that the fact that the community is now getting involved indicates that there has been pushback from admin. As a campus community, we tend to view ourselves as insular. However, systemic oppression from outside of the campus community is reflected on campus. Additionally, it is so rare for Soka students to engage with "off-campus people" in such a big way! The fact that students of color are bringing off-campus people to speak to us now really reflects on the administration's lack of meaningful support.
Then, we split off into workshops. I attended a workshop about reversing hierarchies through BDSM (Bondage, Domination, Sadism, and Masochism). I learned about how integral consent is to all aspects of BDSM sexual practices. Afterwards, I reflected on how normalized kink shaming is in the overall culture, and why sex is seen as something that is overall a private thing.
After breaking for lunch, we listened to an amazing keynote speech by Dr. Yaba Blay. Two main points from the keynote really struck me.
Firstly, Dr. Blay asked "Why should black professors come here?". Being at Soka is labor for black folks, and a black faculty member will face injustices here. A black faculty member would be doing more work than their white peers, and they won't get credit. As a result, they will burn out and not get tenure. She emphasized that Soka needs to have a structure to support black faculty so that black professors who are hired have a support system behind them.
Secondly, Dr. Blay pointed out that terms like "people of color" or "non-white people" center whiteness. Often, "people of color" is used to avoid saying "black". By vaguely referring to "people of color", we conflate the needs of all minorities, and erase the needs of the most vulnerable people. We need to be precise with our language, center the most marginalized, and avoid using "people of color" when we really mean "black."
After the keynote, we listened to an amazing panel discussion. The four panelists were all either current or former educators. Dr. Rocio Rosales Meza, a former professor and current energy worker, talked about how her participation in academia became destructive. She discussed how "These institutions promise you security and safety through education, but really it's an illusion," and explained that we need to make space for people to pursue their passions without a degree or decide that a bachelor's degree is enough. As someone who is preparing to graduate in the spring, I found comfort in her words. While I acknowledge that the university is a colonial institution, there is something about not going to graduate school that makes me want to apologize profusely to everyone around me.
Aneil Rallin, my two-time writing professor, brought a strong critique of the university to the panel. They said that "We need to really upend everything, because the university and its colonialist structure has got to end." I struggle to imagine a future in which we have upended everything, but I feel like ending the colonialist structure of the university is a worthwhile goal. Throughout the conference, I contemplated the idea of unlearning biases and decolonizing our minds. What if future students never learned biases or had their minds colonized in the first place? What would that world look like? How can we take steps now to create that world?
The final panel consisted of students and recent graduates from Soka and the surrounding area. One of the striking aspects of this conference was realizing that, when people referred to "we," "us," and "our community," I was not part of the collective that was being referenced. As a white student, I am very used to being in a space where my voice is centered. Even in my classes about racial issues, the professor has always been white. Throughout this panel, panelists offered advice for post-graduation life, and, although I will be graduating imminently, I knew that most of the advice wasn't for me. I hope that Soka will be able to create more environments where whiteness and white voices are not centered in the near future.
Overall, I am so grateful for the students who organized this conference, and the panelists and speakers who participated. The Black Student Union and Students of Color Coalition have done such important work to bring Ethnic Studies courses to this campus. I look forward to a time when this conference does not feel as sorely needed as it does now.
On Saturday, February 1, Soka had its first Students of Color Conference. Our university has been having a campus-wide conversation about race that is centered around the student movement for ethnic studies. As a white student, I was there to listen and learn, and not to participate. As the writer of a personal blog, I am not writing this blog post to create a journalistic account of this event. Instead, I want to reflect on my own experience, make use of my 10 pages of notes, and re-establish the habit of writing on topics other than my Capstone. For a more journalistic account, I highly recommend Casey Chaffin's article on the conference for The Pearl, Soka's student newspaper. On the Pearl's website, you can find many other articles (such as this one from Abbie Malabuyoc) to get you up to speed on the student movement.
The day started off at 9 AM with a panel called "Students of Color and Scholar Activism in the Struggle for World Freedom" with four activists from off campus. I wrote down a brief description of each activist, but all of them are worth looking up and learning more about. Saida Dahir is a poet artivist and first year at UC Berkeley. She is a black Muslim woman who immigrated to the United States at age three. Norah Sarsour is a Muslim and Palestinian activist centered around students, student activism, and empowerment. Dr. Jenn Yang is a researcher at UCI and the founder of Reappropriate, an East Asian feminist blog. Finally, Kevin Graham is a doctoral project specialist at UCSD. His activism is focused on advocating for undocumented students.
My biggest takeaway from the first panel came from Norah Sarsour's response to question "What do you have to say to the professors and administrators in this room?". She pointed out that the issues at Soka are representative of issues in Orange County at large, and that the fact that the community is now getting involved indicates that there has been pushback from admin. As a campus community, we tend to view ourselves as insular. However, systemic oppression from outside of the campus community is reflected on campus. Additionally, it is so rare for Soka students to engage with "off-campus people" in such a big way! The fact that students of color are bringing off-campus people to speak to us now really reflects on the administration's lack of meaningful support.
Then, we split off into workshops. I attended a workshop about reversing hierarchies through BDSM (Bondage, Domination, Sadism, and Masochism). I learned about how integral consent is to all aspects of BDSM sexual practices. Afterwards, I reflected on how normalized kink shaming is in the overall culture, and why sex is seen as something that is overall a private thing.
After breaking for lunch, we listened to an amazing keynote speech by Dr. Yaba Blay. Two main points from the keynote really struck me.
Firstly, Dr. Blay asked "Why should black professors come here?". Being at Soka is labor for black folks, and a black faculty member will face injustices here. A black faculty member would be doing more work than their white peers, and they won't get credit. As a result, they will burn out and not get tenure. She emphasized that Soka needs to have a structure to support black faculty so that black professors who are hired have a support system behind them.
Secondly, Dr. Blay pointed out that terms like "people of color" or "non-white people" center whiteness. Often, "people of color" is used to avoid saying "black". By vaguely referring to "people of color", we conflate the needs of all minorities, and erase the needs of the most vulnerable people. We need to be precise with our language, center the most marginalized, and avoid using "people of color" when we really mean "black."
After the keynote, we listened to an amazing panel discussion. The four panelists were all either current or former educators. Dr. Rocio Rosales Meza, a former professor and current energy worker, talked about how her participation in academia became destructive. She discussed how "These institutions promise you security and safety through education, but really it's an illusion," and explained that we need to make space for people to pursue their passions without a degree or decide that a bachelor's degree is enough. As someone who is preparing to graduate in the spring, I found comfort in her words. While I acknowledge that the university is a colonial institution, there is something about not going to graduate school that makes me want to apologize profusely to everyone around me.
Aneil Rallin, my two-time writing professor, brought a strong critique of the university to the panel. They said that "We need to really upend everything, because the university and its colonialist structure has got to end." I struggle to imagine a future in which we have upended everything, but I feel like ending the colonialist structure of the university is a worthwhile goal. Throughout the conference, I contemplated the idea of unlearning biases and decolonizing our minds. What if future students never learned biases or had their minds colonized in the first place? What would that world look like? How can we take steps now to create that world?
The final panel consisted of students and recent graduates from Soka and the surrounding area. One of the striking aspects of this conference was realizing that, when people referred to "we," "us," and "our community," I was not part of the collective that was being referenced. As a white student, I am very used to being in a space where my voice is centered. Even in my classes about racial issues, the professor has always been white. Throughout this panel, panelists offered advice for post-graduation life, and, although I will be graduating imminently, I knew that most of the advice wasn't for me. I hope that Soka will be able to create more environments where whiteness and white voices are not centered in the near future.
Overall, I am so grateful for the students who organized this conference, and the panelists and speakers who participated. The Black Student Union and Students of Color Coalition have done such important work to bring Ethnic Studies courses to this campus. I look forward to a time when this conference does not feel as sorely needed as it does now.
Best wishes,
Lydia
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