I can’t breathe. Hordes of people march down the streets wearing masks and bearing signs. They hold their fists in the air and chant the phrase. I can’t breathe.
“Say their names,” they shout as they march. Jacob Blake. Tony McDade. Dion Johnson. George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. These are just a few names of individuals who have been injured or killed due to police brutality in 2020, sparking nationwide protests.
The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has been around for years now. It was formed in 2013 after the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. But protests across the country revived the movement amid the COVID-19 pandemic this summer after the death of George Floyd, who was killed in May after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes.
Despite the nearest official BLM chapter being in Vancouver, Canada, Moscow and the Palouse saw its fair share of protests in solidarity. One organization, the Moscow Anti-Racism Alliance (MARA), was formed early this summer to create a conversation about race and racial issues in Moscow.
“We started out as just a really chill group of friends,” Cydnie Gray, co-leader of MARA and a UI alumnus, said. “Eventually we decided that we were more motivated to become more active and organized in the community.”
The organization held its first event, the Moscow Solidarity March, on July 12. At the event, protesters marched from East City Park to Friendship Square.
“I was expecting some pushback,” Gray said. “I’ve been a part of this community and I’ve been a resident of Idaho for most of my life. So, I kind of am familiar with the climate and the culture that exists here.”
There was a lot of positive feedback from the community, but there were some people who didn’t understand or agree with the movement. Most of the negative pushback
the group received was over the internet, Gray said.
“We didn’t really see a lot of counter protesters,” Gray said. “Though we did have people suggesting online that they were going to be showing up with their weapons.”
The threat of armed backlash is not an uncommon theme within the area. Mikailah Thompson, a Lewis-Clark State College graduate, spoke at a BLM protest in Lewiston. Within one mile of the protest, a group called Protect LC Valley arrived with weapons, stating they were going to protect the city from looting.
Thompson said the BLM protest had been planned as a peaceful event, but there were fears in the community that looting or rioting would occur. Thompson told her family not to come to the event in fear of repercussions.
“(It was) in the back of my mind, this could go left. What if it does go left?” Thompson said. “I was thinking about myself. I was thinking about my family. I didn’t want any of my little nieces or nephews there in case things went left.”
Despite the anxiety in the beginning, the event remained peaceful with nearly 2,000 people showing up in support of BLM, Thompson said.
While Thompson said she does not consider herself to be a public speaker, after the Lewiston event she went on to speak at various events in the region and helped organize an event for Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved people in 1865.
At the Juneteenth event, Thompson worked to raise awareness of the holiday and share information on Black history. Especially with the pandemic and the widespread awareness surrounding BLM, it’s as good a time as any to be demonstrating Black history, Thompson said.
“Now more than ever, people are actually listening,” Thompson said.
Thompson went on to speak about her experiences as a biracial woman at various events, including the MARA protest.
“My job is definitely to bring awareness and speak up when I can,” Thompson said. “And speak up loud enough so that it is memorable, and people do understand what I’m feeling and what my family is feeling and what my ancestors felt.”
Making Black voices heard in rural towns is especially important because people in those areas often have less exposure to other cultures and fewer relationships with people of color, Thompson said.
DeVonte Smith, a University of Idaho student, said living in a rural community where there’s less of an established Black community can be very difficult.
“It’s not really the being Black part that’s hard,” Smith said. “It’s the being in rural North Idaho part that’s kind of hard.”
Before coming to UI, Smith had previously gone to school at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. After transferring in 2018, adjusting to the campus at UI was difficult for a number of reasons, including a lack of diversity on campus, Smith said.
“There was no community really,” Smith said. “It was different (in Alaska) because there were other brown people walking around on campus. (I’m) not saying that someone having brown skin or black skin automatically makes them relate to me, because all of our individual experiences are different, but it is something that can be reassuring in times of stress.”
Before coming to UI, Smith worried about what it would be like to live in North Idaho as a Black person. There were a lot of rumors about North Idaho being a haven for white supremacist groups, Smith said.
“The worst things that have probably happened is just the stares,” Smith said. “When I first got here a lot of people stared, and I couldn’t quite place why. Yeah, I’m very queer and yeah, I’m very proud to be in bold colors and all of this stuff, but it always felt a little bit deeper than that, especially on campus.”
In the wake of BLM protests in Moscow and across the nation, UI administration and organizations have released multiple statements about the movement and protests over the summer.
UI President C. Scott Green sent out two memos to the campus population in June. In the first memo, Green outlined ways UI plans to make a more inclusive environment for all people on campus. He outlined a strive for education and an updated plan for “comprehensive diversity.” However, the memo received backlash from people within the campus community who felt it was too passive and did not suggest any real change.
“Words and actions matter, especially in times of national unrest and fearfulness,” Green wrote in his second memo. “They can calm or provoke, heal or hurt, and at their best, motivate meaningful change for good. The memo we sent out earlier this week regarding diversity and safety missed that last mark.”
In the second memo, sent out two days after his initial remarks, Green explained “there is no room for disagreement” when it comes to issues of human rights and racial injustice. He explained that while his initial remarks were seen as passive or writing over the issue, the UI administration sees the importance of listening and bringing an end to racism and racial injustice.
President Green, Provost and Executive Vice President John Wiencek and Office of Equity and Diversity Director Yolanda Bisbee signed a “statement of inclusion and diversity” published on the UI website, The Equity and Diversity Unit, which includes campus offices such as the Women’s Center, the LGBTQA Office and the Office of Equity and Diversity, also issued a statement of solidarity.
The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) has hosted several events aimed to educate community members on racial issues, including a series of speakers featuring activists and writers focusing on education on racial issues.
“Our office is aware of the systematic racism that occurs,” Jesse Martinez, OMA director, said. “So, for the six years that I’ve been here we’ve done a lot of programming around that.”
Martinez said after the BLM protest this summer, OMA hosted other events and provided support surrounding these issues as well. After protests started, OMA reached out to students who identify as African American or Black to discuss how the office can best support them.
OMA has also been working with various campus partners such as the Counseling and Testing Center and UI administration to host events centered around education on racial issues, with speakers joining to share their experiences.
All events have been over Zoom due to COVID-19, but most events, even over the summer, had over 200 people in attendance with a combination of students, faculty, staff and community members participating, Martinez said.
“We hope that with this speaker series that there’s some individual growth that all of us are doing,” Martinez said.
As the conversation builds on campus, Black faculty, staff and students have come forward to explain changes they’d like to see on campus in order to better support the Black community.
Dr. Sydney Freeman, an associate professor in the College of Education, Health and Human Services, has recently published articles documenting his experiences as a Black faculty member in a predominantly white institution (PWI) and offering a list of policies PWIs can enact to better support their Black members.
Freeman’s ideas include providing Black student scholarships, hiring more Black faculty and staff and educating university alumni and donors.
Freeman also helped form a Black faculty and staff organization, the Black Lives Matter Advisory Group, over the summer. The organization’s primary goal is to provide Black faculty and staff a space to discuss their needs on campus, as well as show UI administration the best ways to support Black students.
The organization is still in the beginning stages and has yet to be recognized as an official campus group. Freeman said some university employees worry about the implications for their professional lives if they align themselves with a Black faculty and staff group, which has hindered progress in establishing the group somewhat.
“Some of us come from different places,” Freeman said. “Some of us come from Africa, some of us come from the Caribbean and some of us come from New Jersey. We all bring that to our own experience here, so all of that we have to navigate.”
A primary goal for the faculty group is the creation of a Black cultural center on campus with its own director. Getting a director for the cultural center may be a challenge due to UI’s budget struggles, but remains extremely important in order to support Black students and faculty on campus, Freeman said.
It’s also crucial to create a culturally competent environment for students as they arrive on campus, Freeman said.
“Many of our faculty and staff may not have access to interacting with Black students and depending on what part of the country they’re from, they may have cultural differences,” Freeman said. “(We should try to) become more culturally competent and understand where they’re coming from, not just assuming students should assimilate to the Pacific Northwest.”
Thompson agreed that education is an important step towards allyship for the Black community and the BLM movement, whether it be as an organization or as individuals.
“There’s racism in so many subliminal ways that a lot of people don’t understand,” Thompson said. “I think after you do the research and everything, you’ll start to notice that how the world operates is really sickening.”
Thompson suggested those who want to educate themselves should do research into history, read literature and attend events aimed toward educating. Martinez said education starts on an individual level.
“When you’re talking about that education, it’s really about self-reflection,” Martinez said. “It’s important to understand our privileges and identities.”
Both Thompson and Gray also mentioned the importance of white allies using their privilege to support POC and the BLM movement.
“We can leverage our privilege and we can leverage what skills and what sort of strength that we have to amplify this movement, and to encourage inclusivity in our local areas,” Gray said.
Thompson added a great way for white allies to use their privilege is to simply step in when POC are in uncomfortable or potentially unsafe situations.
“It’s just everyday things whether it’s being stared at in the store, whether it’s being followed in a store, whether it’s being questioned by a security guard or cop,” Thompson said. “If you see someone’s a POC and uncomfortable, it doesn’t take much to step in and say, ‘You cool man?’ You know, whatever it is to make sure that we feel comfortable.”
Story By Brianna Finnegan
Photos By Brianna Finnegan & Courtesy
Design By Danielle Hawkins