Speakers at a panel on racial justice urged the Syracuse University community on Saturday to look beyond campus and become more involved in the surrounding area.

SU’s Student Association hosted the Syracuse Racial Justice Panel and Discussion on Saturday afternoon in Goldstein Auditorium. About 50 people attended the event, with the majority of attendants joining virtually.

Local activists and community leaders at the event spoke about the challenges of activism and the importance of cooperation between SU and the larger Syracuse community. Clifford Ryan, founder of OG’s Against Gun Violence, urged SU students to “come off the hill and get involved” in the city.

“We’re not townies, we’re human beings and we care about our community,” Ryan said. “I support Syracuse (University) every time they’ve called on me to speak and support them.” 

SU students need to address a campus culture that separates the university from the city surrounding it, said Koy Adams, an SU graduate and representative of Black Lives Matter Syracuse.

When Adams first arrived on campus, he said he was told to avoid south Syracuse, where part of his family lives.

“People told us to avoid townies, so [does that mean] don’t go to my cousin’s house on the Southside?” Adams said. “This creates a taught behavior to look at the Southside and say ‘ew’ and creates a parasitic relationship between the institution and the city.”

Yusuf Abdul-Qadir, director of the central New York chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the university should share its knowledge and resources with the Syracuse community.

“(SU produces) some of the most amazing experts in the world, but somehow we can’t solve the issues of hypersegregation down the hill,” Abdul-Qadir said. 

Saturday’s panel was part of a series of events SA organized in conjunction with University Union and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to show solidarity with Friday’s March on Washington. SA began the series Friday with a live stream of the March on Washington followed by a solidarity march around campus. SA will screen the film ‘Selma’ on Sunday in Goldstein Auditorium.

“You have to really engage, you really have to be able to have the tough conversations, you have to be able to listen to the action steps and see how you could best support those action steps if we want to facilitate and have real change,” SA President Justine Hastings said at the panel. 

Other panelists at the event included representatives from The Black Leadership Coalition of Central New York, Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse (ACTS), the Syracuse chapter of the National Action Network, and SU’s Our Time Has Come scholarship program. 

Panelists also spoke about activism burnout and how student activists can take care of their mental health. 

Abdul-Qadir has struggled to balance activism with other parts of his life.

“Existing sometimes is an act of revolution,”Abdul-Qadir said. “Every time we get up on the stage, it’s traumatizing to have to relive all these issues. I don’t want to speak about these issues, but it’s essential that I do.”

Published on August 30, 2020 at 11:23 am

Contact Isabelle: ijtavare@syr.edu