A string of on-campus student demonstrations and communal gatherings have occurred in the past couple weeks as Macalester students grapple with their emotions and how to take action during times of local and broad racial injustice.

Among these actions, two Black Out events and one community processing event in the chapel have been facilitated and organized by the student cultural organization BLAC (Black Liberation Affairs Committee).

“The past month, things keep happening. The protests have been happening surrounding Jamar Clark. The Paris attacks. The Mali attacks. Nigeria. Beirut. Lebanon. All of this is happening and campus had been completely quiet, “ Akila Copeland ’16, Co-Chair of BLAC said. “So our intention with these events was to raise awareness on campus of all of these issues happening in the world.”

The goal with each Black Out is for students and members of the Macalester community to wear as much black as visibly possibly. The first student Black Out happened in Cafe Mac on Friday, Nov. 20. Over 50 students, staff members and administrators, including President Brian Rosenberg, showed up to gather in solidarity.

“We planned it at 11 p.m. the night before but had great turnout, and I really didn’t expect all the staff members to show up,” Copeland said. “We had most of the Student Affairs staff, we had President Brian Rosenberg, and we had so many students show up who were great allies, and it was an incredible event.”

The second Black Out occurred on Bateman Plaza on Tuesday, Nov. 24 as part of a nationwide student Black Out.

“If we were ever going to step in, the time was now; and this is part of our purpose,” Myhana Kerr ’18, Co-Chair of BLAC said. “That’s why BLAC was created, not just as an outlet for black students on campus but as an outlet for everyone. If no one is going to say anything, that’s our niche, that’s when we step in, that’s what BLAC was created to do.”

On the same day as the second Black Out, students gathered with approximately 25 administrators and staff members in the chapel to process, talk, and create spaces of dialogue and support surrounding racial injustice happening locally.

“I think Macalester attempts to address and engage these things in a head-on way, and I love that we seek out community and want to come together to process, especially when things are big and complicated,” Kelly Stone, Chaplain and Associate Dean for Religious and Spiritual Life, said. “But there is no playbook. For students these efforts are ways to be activists here on campus, in a community that really cares for activism.”

Dean of Students Jim Hoppe agreed on the importance of administrators and staff members showing up for these events and being visibly available to students.

“We have a commitment to being a community of inclusion, so when something harmful is happening in our own backyard we need to provide a space to facilitate and process together,” Hoppe said. “We are aware as administrators that it’s one thing to be supportive, but we also see patterns and recognize the need to move from support into action.”

Stone also commented on Macalester’s unique position and support systems.

“It’s also complicated because on a lot of campuses activism is met with resistance, but that isn’t what students have been met with here,” Stone said. “The President, the Provost, the Vice President of Student Affairs, and the Study Away office all showed up at the gathering in the chapel. That doesn’t happen everywhere. And the universal sentiment was, ‘We are here to support you and we want to understand what is going on for you.’”

The chapel gathering included reflecting with your neighbor and other small group check-ins.
“We had the most feedback from that event from both staff and students. It was a touchpoint that a lot of people needed,” Copeland said.
“It was a space to sit with what we were feeling and figure out what our support systems were.”

BLAC student co-chairs Copeland and Kerr agree that they want these events to serve as places to start conversation but students need to take some ownership in informing themselves after they leave these community gatherings.

“Students need to stay informed. I have my morning rundown. I have a list of almost 17 news sources. I open tabs on my computer, I go on Twitter, I scroll through article headlines, and then at least I know how people are feeling about the issues. So I can see what the conversation is,” Copeland said. “We are so plugged into social media, you have to consciously avoid what’s happening in the world, and somehow we need to stop doing that. We need to inform and educate ourselves. And you don’t have to be passionate or take a position, but you have to be aware. And even if you don’t care, someone else does deeply. And acknowledgement is a really important thing that sometimes our community forgets.”

Kerr echoed similar sentiments.

“Not that it’s unacceptable not to know, but it’s unacceptable to not try to know,” Kerr said.

Going forward, BLAC plans to work together and turn current ideas into action.

“We have a list of demands we are working on, so we are going to draft that and get org input,” Kerr said. “A lot of it has been reactionary so we haven’t had time to fully sit down and decide what it is that we want specifically, but we will organize more processing sessions as they are needed, definitely.”

Kerr and Myhana encouraged students to reach out personally with any questions, but also said students can stay up to date on BLAC efforts by checking their Black Liberations Affair Committee Facebook page.

“All of what we are trying to do is about building communities. We can talk the talk, but we want to expand the conversation and create actual action items,” Copeland said. “And that’s our job right now, figuring out what’s next in the long term and in the short term. Yes, some things are institutional and harder to change immediately, but some of it is campus culture that we can tackle now.”