Activist loading… A story of on-campus organizing
Activism is a lot to ask of someone who continually feels the reverberating effects of their marginalization. And because advocacy work requires you take on a hypervisible position, negative personal consequences often follow. In my experience, being painted as the “angry Black woman” is a trope I have been all too familiar with and this has had consequences on my academic, work and personal life.
Advocacy work is often underpaid, undervalued and can even be an expected undertaking of the marginalized populations affected (disabled, POC, LGBTQ+, etc.). Being a member of these marginalized populations, you have a vested interest in seeing the work through, while also potentially being directly impacted if you fail. It’s an extremely difficult position to be in.
Although I’ve often been labelled a “student activist” I’ve never truly felt that I’ve earned that title. Perhaps this is because my support system never made me feel like I was alone, or maybe because exceeding expectations is every Black girl’s norm *collectively flips hair*.
My story begins when I served as the Marketing Executive of the University of Waterloo’s Black Association for Student Expression (UWBASE for short). UWBASE is an equity-seeking club on campus whose mission involves fostering a sense of community within the Black community and educating the UW body around matters regarding the African diaspora.
UW itself, has a long history of being the face of technological innovation in Canada. And while the school is also recognized for their co-op program and their initiative in undertaking the HeforShe campaign, the school has built that reputation while neglecting a number of student-run social initiatives and clubs on campus. Take for example, the fact that as a club that serves and represents all Black students at UW, our organization only received $75 of reimbursable funding per term.
Seventy-five dollars.
And the only way for equity-seeking groups to get enough funding to actually survive is to have designated funding for a service dedicated to their cause. In 2016, UW’s student union, the Federation of Students had 3 incredible equity-seeking services, the Food Bank, the Glow Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity, and the Women’s Centre. To add to that list, UWBASE wanted to create a service for all POC students to address racism and xenophobia on campus—makes sense right?
Wrong.
In the winter of 2016, folks from UWBASE, myself included, set up a meeting with UW’s Equity Office to discuss creating a service or providing any additional support to students of colour.
We were informed by the Director of Equity (I just want to clarify this was not entirely her fault as she was just repeating what upper administration would have probably told us) that in order to legitimately identify a need, we would have to gather demographic data on the ENTIRE student population. The expectation to validate the need was both disappointing and unfeasible for a group of undergrads in a school of 35,000 students. Unfortunately, we were forced to drop the project after a few medium articles and online campaigns as we got bombarded with the fury of Reddit users due to claims that UW is entirely a meritocracy.
Fast forward to November 2017. I was the Vice-President of UWBASE and had just spent some time ranting on Twitter about the institutional barriers faced as an equity and culture focused club on campus. Vice caught wind, then CBC, and then chaos ensued. A team of 6 incredible Black women, also BASE members, were my rock. We ran late night PR sessions before every media interview, researched our interviewers, and figured out their angles. We held meetings with anyone who would listen, took phone calls, answered emails—while, you know, being full-time students with exams, assignments and jobs.
Funny enough despite all this preparation, we still couldn’t get past the angry Black woman narrative some journalists were trying to push. In our interview with the school newspaper Imprint, that same stereotype reappeared as we were asked to do a photo op for the paper. We thought this was the perfect opportunity to showcase who we really were — students just like any other, just trying to make a positive change on our campus. I instructed all those who were in the photo to show up wearing their best business casual attire and we showed up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to the photo shoot.
Rather than portray us as personable and approachable as we had requested, smiling from ear to ear, the photographer failed to capture our vision of the movement, in her insistence that we present straight-faces. We obliged, but after capturing one such picture, we unanimously concluded that smiling was the way to go. So it came to our surprise to see that the cover photo was indeed the one image which we felt portrayed us as intimidating. And although it most likely wasn't done with the intention of perpetuating these stereotypes, it was disheartening to see the manifestation of implicit biases at such a crucial time.
“You don’t need to turn an institution into a state of anarchy to be an activist; activism can occur in many ways that we don’t even realize. Being in a Black woman’s body is inherently political. Our existence exudes resistance and social activism while simultaneously rejecting patriarchal and white supremacist norms.”
Despite our struggles, on March 21st, 2018 (unplanned but ironically the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination) over 300 students came out to vote in favour of a service dedicated to addressing racism and xenophobia on UW campus. This was one of the highest turnouts for a General Body Meeting in the history of the Federation of Students.
UW Federation of Students General Body Meeting March 21, 2018 vote in favour of a service for racialized minorities
The service, named RAISE (Racial Advocacy for Inclusion, Solidarity and Equity), launched this past Winter 2019 and, wow, do we have our work cut out for us. Since our official launch in February, we’ve helped develop a formal reporting mechanism for instances of discrimination of all types, instituted and facilitated a successful annual conference, developed peer support hours, and personally trained every volunteer selected for such a role. We are also in conversation about promoting RAISE’s mission in UW Housing, Health Services, and Orientation, while developing anti-oppression training for staff, faculty and students. We host weekly “Vibes Nights” to develop a sense of community within our POC community and allies. But most importantly, we constantly try to show up and stand up for our community with a reflexive and ever-learning attitude. We’ve held vigils, made ‘controversial’ statements about relevant events in Waterloo, hosted community protests, and presented at numerous local, provincial, and national speaking engagements, all while constantly being questioned about our purpose. Our team outdoes itself every single day and I am in awe of their resilience and commitment to the mission and values of RAISE; it’s a constant reminder of why I advocated for this in the first place.
You don’t need to turn an institution into a state of anarchy to be an activist; activism can occur in many ways that we don’t even realize. Being in a Black woman’s body is inherently political. Our existence exudes resistance and social activism while simultaneously rejecting patriarchal and white supremacist norms.
Standing up for someone being discriminated against at work, correcting the pronunciation of your name, or even wearing your hair naturally are all forms of resistance we can engage in every day. That being said, it’s important to note that there is privilege in having the community, support, and mental stability to engage in such actions.
But for those heavily engaged with more vigorous activism: I see you. Your work is unspeakably impactful not only now but for years to come. Please do not forget that self-care is fundamental in activism so please do not neglect it.
Some tips for those who want to engage in activism from my short time as a student activist:
Take receipts! Get everything in writing, email, or even audio record if you have to.
Never go alone: If you’re setting up a meeting with someone outside of your activist circle don’t go alone. People are less inclined to say something outlandish if they know there are witnesses
Never take no for an answer: There’s always a way around, sometimes you just have to do some digging first
Leverage your allies: They are there, and in high places, so do your homework, network and find out how you can help each other out
Don’t forget about yourself: the world will keep spinning, white supremacists will still exist but so will activists, so take that well-deserved nap
Finally, I’d like to leave with some words from the incredible Dr. Angela Davis: “I think the importance of doing activist work is precisely because it allows you to give back and to consider yourself not as a single individual who may have achieved whatever but to be a part of an ongoing historical movement.”
Being an activist is understanding you are part of a collective and acting in accordance with the greater good of the collective.
Continue leaving legacies,
Fiqir