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Syracuse University’s Black Graduate Student Association held a die-in Monday on the Quad to express solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

During the protest, nine people laid motionless for 10 minutes to represent the killing of Black people in the United States. The die-in was held to show SU community members that Black students still don’t feel the university is listening to their concerns, said Natalie Weathers, a graduate student who helped organize the event.

“We’re getting across that we have yet to be heard, acknowledged and validated for us to move forward and make progress to dismantle the system,” Weathers said. “There are people on campus that need to be validated, and we want them to know they have our support.”

Though university officials have implemented some diversity and inclusion initiatives that #NotAgainSU has demanded, Weathers doesn’t think a lot has changed on campus. #NotAgainSU, a movement led by Black students, held two sit-ins last academic year to protest SU’s response to a series of racist incidents reported at or near Main Campus.

Graduate student Cornelia Stokes said some of the diversity and inclusion committees SU has launched can be useful for starting conversations, but she would like to see more tangible change.

SU announced Friday that it has created a Student Activism Engagement Team to support student protesters and communicate their demands to SU officials with the power to affect change. The Board of Trustees also launched a committee last winter to review and provide recommendations on SU’s diversity and inclusion policies and programs.

“When do we stop talking about it and be about it?” Stokes said. “Where is the real, concrete change?”

More concrete change would show that the university is aware of racism on campus and isn’t ignoring it, said Kamille Cooper, a graduate student who attended the demonstration.

Weathers encouraged students to get involved in the BLM movement in any way they can. The BLM movement has helped lead protests this summer in cities across the country following the alleged murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in May.

Protests can put students in a vulnerable space, especially during a pandemic, but demonstrations are necessary for dismantling oppressive systems, she said.

“You see a lot of people talking about policy, diplomacy, getting different people into positions — that’s the same rhetoric that continues to perpetuate, but it’s the exact same system,” Weathers said. “So we need to see something different and intentional, not just a passive program or book or committees.”

Published on August 24, 2020 at 11:06 pm

Contact Isabelle: ijtavare@syr.edu