Black Voices Letter

STORY BY BETHANY WHITTAKER

AND DARIUS FAULK

ART BY JIYO CAYABYAB DESIGN BY JIYO CAYABYAB

When we set out to launch Tusk Black Voices, Bethany and I didn’t fathom how di cult it would be. The act of putting pen to paper was never the challenge, but now that we have been given a voice on campus as Black students, what do we do with it?

This is the eternal enigma of writing while Black. A question you’ll no doubt face once the glow of publishing your fi rst article starts to fade and you are saddled with the task of being a voice for your community.

You understand all too well the bullshit we deal with in the beautiful shades of melanin we are. So how do you give voice to that experience when students encounter them in an infi nite number of ways?

We felt overwhelmed with responsibility to use our voices in ways that would do justice to a traumatic summer of racial reckoning. When we wrote about joy, we worried we weren’t angry enough. And when we wrote with anger, we wrestled with applying joy to alleviate the pain.

We found solace in the work of James Baldwin and Ta-Nehisi Coates as The Fire Next Time and Between the World and Me came to represent a dialogue we were having in our own articles—and in our hearts.

In their work, Baldwin spoke of how America destroys your soul, while Coates of how it destroys your body. We felt compelled to write about this, to shout it out to the world in hopes of making it stop.

But no matter how many poignantly powerful stories you publish, they will still try to destroy us. The conundrum then is not joy or anger, but choosing to fi nd joy even as the world provokes you to anger. As Baldwin and Coates wrote to their nephew and son to hold onto the idea of love in a world designed to destroy them, we choose to write to you, the future of we choose to write to you, the future of Tusk Black Voices. Tusk Black Voices.

There are times when you will be anThere are times when you will be angry—as you should be. But you will tire to gry—as you should be. But you will tire to the point of exhaustion, as my anger did the point of exhaustion, as my anger did me. That’s when I found new meaning in me. That’s when I found new meaning in Baldwin and Coates’s words. They spoke Baldwin and Coates’s words. They spoke about the love of their people and the about the love of their people and the ways it helped them survive. ways it helped them survive.

They also spoke of fear in knowing They also spoke of fear in knowing their family, friends, and loved ones can their family, friends, and loved ones can be taken from them at a moment’s notice. be taken from them at a moment’s notice. This is what it is to love while Black. This is what it is to love while Black.

Choose to love, though the pain of loss Choose to love, though the pain of loss is great and it will become unavoidable. is great and it will become unavoidable.

Life is a paradox where a single moLife is a paradox where a single moment can change your life but no single ment can change your life but no single action will cause that to change. It is action will cause that to change. It is choosing to believe that a million small choosing to believe that a million small interactions infused with love will do interactions infused with love will do the work of revolution. the work of revolution.

Choosing to love in the face Choosing to love in the face of destruction ensures the of destruction ensures the spiritual survival of love. It spiritual survival of love. It guarantees that although guarantees that although we may no longer be we may no longer be around to fi ght, the fi ghting around to fi ght, the fi ghting spirit lasts as long as spirit lasts as long as these battles need to be these battles need to be fought.

Our bodies carry the Our bodies carry the trauma of our ancestors. trauma of our ancestors. The stress Black bodies The stress Black bodies and souls have accuand souls have accumulated in this country mulated in this country is immense, yet here we are, still fi ghting, still loving, and yes, still angry.

Choose love and to love yourself in writing for Tusk. That love will be around long after they destroy our bodies. It will live in the collective hearts, souls, minds, bodies, and words of the generations of Black students that will follow our humble trail as writers and Black Voices. trail as writers and Black Voices.

Love, Love, Darius Faulk Darius Faulk

Anger is our fi rst response, then frustration, followed by disappointment at the plight of Black lives in America. And so I came to Tusk Back Voices with a mission to bring joy into the lives of Black folks—something often missing in our stories.

Conversations in the Black community painstakingly cycle around violence, injustice, and oppression. But Black folks embody love and light and that is what I wanted to showcase.

I chose to celebrate uplifting stories about Black life while also covering the reality of what it means to live in America while Black. Over summer, we watched our bodies be torn to shreds and our existence thrown around the media with so much malice.

At times, we felt like we weren’t doing enough, that didn’t portray the emotions we truly felt. And with that, we asked ourselves if we were doing a service or disservice to our community, and if we needed to hone in on our plan. needed to hone in on our plan.

We found “The Mecca” in the We found “The Mecca” in the works of James Baldwin and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

A sense of enlightenment came to us as we realized the works of The Fire Next Time and Between The World and Me guided our mission. That despite the pain that Black people experience, Coates and Baldwin took note not to let those experiences defi ne who we are. The love we instill in each other preserves our Black bodies in a loveless world designed to tear us down. The greatest victory is to overcome the design by loving our community, loving each other, and loving ourselves.

We saw this in the words of Baldwin and Coates as they wrote from a place of a love-fi lled existence. A place they knew didn’t exist in their time, but could knew didn’t exist in their time, but could exist with the future of Black youth. As exist with the future of Black youth. As Coates writes to his son and Baldwin his Coates writes to his son and Baldwin his nephew, we see how scared but hopeful nephew, we see how scared but hopeful they are for the future. they are for the future. We took note from Coates and We took note from Coates and Baldwin as we wrote each column, comBaldwin as we wrote each column, completely understanding their exasperated pletely understanding their exasperated longing for a new beginning or for a “fi re longing for a new beginning or for a “fi re next time.”

All of the pieces Darius and I wrote All of the pieces Darius and I wrote came from a place of love and hope that the future of Tusk Black Voices would entrust us with providing this loving guidance in a loveless world.

We stood strong in the fact that we were not going to engage in destructive media narratives of our Black bodies. With every article, we rejoiced in our culture, our hair, and the uniquely breathtaking beauty we all possess.

Even in the midst of white supremacy, injustice does not win—our love does. Our Black lives are precious and our bodies carry with them the history of our resilience. And that is enough reason to choose love.

In Community, Bethany Whittaker Bethany Whittaker

TU SK