Disdained: An Examination of Anti-Blackness and Administrative Inaction at UCLA

NOMMO NEWSMAGAZINE

DISDAINED: AN EXAMINATION OF ANTI-BLACKNESS AND ADMINISTRATIVE INACTION AT UCLA

Research Initiative by UCLA McNair Scholar Gene McAdoo

Research Initiative

Disdained: An Examination of Anti-blackness and Administrative Inaction at UCLA Gene McAdoo

Abstract:

A

nti-blackness -- the cultural disdain

anti-Black, and the negative impacts that anti-

for Blackness reflected in society’s

blackness has on Black students’ educational

inability and unwillingness to recognize

experiences and outcomes. I argue that UCLA

the humanity of those racialized as Black -- is

Administrators’ snail-like pace in meeting the

central to how all of us make sense of everyday

needs of its Black students reveals a larger

life. The history of American higher education

inability--or unwillingness-- to empathize with

reveals how Black Americans’ relationship to

and recognize the struggles of Black students,

higher education institutions has always been

directly contributing to the amount of support,

fundamentally defined by anti-blackness, and

or lack thereof, that Black students at UCLA

the experiences of Black students at UCLA are

receive. By analyzing the experiences of Black

certainly not an exception to that rule. Although

students at UCLA through the specific lens

Black students are no longer subject to the

of anti-black racism, as opposed to racism in

same overt discrimination as Black students

general, we are able to recognize the unique

in the years preceding the landmark Brown v.

ways in which Black students are marginalized

Board Supreme Court Case, anti-blackness

and underserved at the university and develop

has remained endemic to the educational

targeted solutions to improve Black students’

experiences of Black students. Using UCLA and

educational experiences. If it is at all possible

the fight for a Black Resource Center as a case

for UCLA to become an “anti-racist” university,

study, this essay explores the ways in which Black

it is imperative for Gene Block and other

students (still) experience higher education as

campus administrators to be more proactive in meeting the unique needs of its Black students.

NOMMO NewsMagazine

“

“

I’M HERE TODAY TO ASK YOU TO MAKE IT STOP. STOP THE PAIN. STOP US FROM BEING TIRED. Philonese Floyd, brother of George Floyd

s I descend into my final couple of quarters

A

Nonetheless, after the rose colored goggles are

as an undergraduate, I can’t help but have

removed, the shiny “#1 public university sticker”

bittersweet feelings about my time at UCLA.

peeled back, and I interrogated my experiences

Reflecting as a graduating senior, I am undoubtedly

slightly further, I cannot help but think about

thankful for the fact that my experiences as a

the rampant anti-blackness that I have had to

Black student were not as horrifying as 18 year

contend with day in and day out that has defined

old Gene had feared. I am grateful for my time at

my experience as a Black Bruin. Anti-blackness

UCLA and the opportunities that attending such

refers to society’s inability to recognize Black

a “prestigious” (their words, not mine) research

humanity due its “disdain, disregard, and disgust”

institution has brought me that could have been

for Blackness that can historically be traced

elsewhere. Attending UCLA has set me on the career path that I’ve always desired and for that I will forever be grateful. Likewise, I’m also eternally grateful for the (Black) community I’ve found a home in, the lifelong friends turned family that I’ve met, and ultimately for my

“

more difficult to obtain had I enrolled

back to the days of chattel slavery (ross,

“Anti-blackness is a foundational ideology to all social, economic, and political institutions in the United States, and UCLA is certainly no exception (Dumas,2016).”

2020). Anti-blackness is a foundational ideology to all social, economic, and political institutions in the United States, and UCLA is certainly no exception (Dumas, 2016). In this essay, I argue that at the institutional level, antiBlackness at UCLA largely manifests in the form of the administration’s lack of

entire village of support that has

urgency in addressing and meeting the

helped me escape this institution

needs of UCLA’s Black students, which

in one piece and move along towards my next

has the effect of contributing to the suffering of

step in the journey of life. While UCLA certainly

Black students in the form of racial discrimination,

wasn’t my top choice, my village certainly made

inadequate support resources, and ultimately

my time here bearable and even fun on occasion.

lower graduation rates for Black students.

2

Undoubtedly,

anti-blackness

at

UCLA

manifests in other forms such as daily (hourly, even) microaggressions; however, the focus of this essay will be to shed light on the ways that anti-blackness goes unnoticed at UCLA, given that microaggressions are often more readily understood as examples of anti blackness. In the supposed “coloredblind/ post racial era” we live in where the relative success of some students of color is offered as evidence of the end of racism, calling attention to the specific ways in which Black people experience marginalization in society—antiblackness— is imperative to devising appropriate solutions to improve the wellbeing and livelihoods of Black people both on campus and in society as a whole.

If it’s possible for UCLA to become the “antiracist” university Chancellor Gene Block claims is the goal, the institution must contend with the ways it perpetuates anti-blackness and find more effective means to support the holistic wellbeing of Black life on campus.

NOMMO NewsMagazine

History of Anti-blackness in Higher Education History reveals that the history of American higher education is cloaked in anti-blackness, again defined as the disdain, disgust, and disregard for Black humanity (ross, 2020; Mustaffa, 2017; Harper, 2011). Historically, higher education institutions have been unwilling to recognize Black humanity and thus, Black educability. In other words, as a result of the dominant beliefs in civil society about Black people being uneducable that can be traced back to the days of chattel slavery, higher education institutions have historically worked to deny Black students access to quality collegiate education. Moreover, in cases where Blacks students are able to obtain access to quality higher education, our experiences are often constructed and tainted by incessant anti-blackness that works to deny us adequate educational resources as we are often seen as undeserving of support because, in part, we are seen as uneducable.

Due to the inverse relationship between white privilege and Black suffering, white privilege in higher education has historically been predicated on the subordination and suffering of Black people (Wilder, 2013; Mustaffa, 2017; Dancy et. al, 2018).

Education scholar Jahlil Mustaffa writes, “Higher education’s beginning in the US, during the [antebllum] Era, cannot be critically engaged without aligning it with slavery” (2017). Without the suffering of the Black slaves who built and maintained the colonial colleges, the landscape of higher education would be arguably unrecognizable, as Wilder (2013) notes that many of the early colonial institutions that served survived largely because of their reliance on Black slave labor. In Ebony and Ivy, Craig Wilder dispels the commonly held belief that Black people were not present in colonial colleges.

“

According to Wilder, enslaved Black people often outnumbered the amount of white people present at a number of Ivy League colleges. According to Dancy et. al (2018), “Black people erected the buildings, cooked the food, and cleaned the dormitories… Colonizers advocated (from college campus podiums) for the inhumane treatment of Black people everywhere, and violence was a common experience for the enslaved on college campuses’’ (emphasis added).

The landscape of higher education as we know it would be unrecognizable without the suffering of Black bodies due to the way that many elite institutions relied on the free labor that was violently forced upon Black people for their construction and everyday maintenance of white higher education institutions.

Wilder goes on to argue that while most of the higher education institutions founded in the 18th and 19th centuries failed to survive, the overwhelming majority of the institutions that did survive relied on slave labor. Marc Parry supports this claim, as he writes, “...the number of colleges in British Americas had more than

4

tripled in the quarter century between 1745

and state as the third pillar of a civiliztion built

and 1769...All of the new colleges were

on bondage” (2013). As Wilder explains, higher

established with direct connections to that

education instituions were pivotal in establishing

[slave] economy...about 80% of the newly

the anti-black, white supremacist social order that

established academies failed. Those that

deemed Black people to be inferior and inherently

survived did so by attaching themselves

uneducable. As the primary modes of knowledge

to the slave economy” (2017). This fact

production during the antebellum period, beliefs

highlights the importance that slave labor

about Black inferiority rooted in Social Darwinism

held in the success of early American

and eugenics were foundational to the field of

colleges, and also demonstrates that white

anthropology, and thus helped legitimize the

educational attainment quite literally could

scientific racism that has been used to justify white

not have been possible without the suffering

supremacy and Black subjugation to this very day

of enslaved Black people. The landscape

(Mustaffa, 2017).

of higher education as we know it would be unrecognizable without the suffering of Black bodies due to the way that many elite institutions relied on the free labor that was violently forced upon Black people for their construction and everyday maintenance of white higher education institutions.

In terms of educational equality, the period immediately following emancipation cannot be easily characterized as one of progress nor of total stagnation for Black Americans. On one hand, this period saw the creation of over 200 institutions with the purpose of educating Black Americans ( Harper, 2009). On the other hand, the majority of

In addition to producing Black suffering

these institutions received inadequate resources in

by purposefully excluding Black people

comparison to white schools and also emphasized

from higher education learning spaces and

vocational education, essentially ensuring that

instead relying on their labor for everyday

Black Americans who attended these schools

maintenance, higher education institutions

would only receive knowledge that restricted

also perpetuated anti-blackness through

them to low-paying labor (Thelin, 2011; Harper,

their research agendas that often justified

2009). Thus, while Black Americans saw greatly

and reinforced notions of Black inferiority

improved access to higher education following

and beliefs that helped render Blackness

emancipation, a widespread effort to recognize the

as abject, inferior, servile, etc (Mustaffa,

Black humanity and educability of Black Americans

2017; Hartman, 1997). Wilder writes, “The

had yet to materialize.

academy never stood apart from American slavery— in fact, it stood beside the church

NOMMO NewsMagazine

Sadiya Hartman’s concept of burdened individuality may be useful in understanding

HARTMAN’S “BURDENED INDIVIDUALITY” encumbered freed person” (Hartman, 1997).

Hartman’s concept of burdened individuality highlights the limits that emancipation posed for the formerly enslaved and the ways in which their newfound emancipation was still largely shaped by anti-blackness. Additionally, burdened individuality provides a forceful rebuke of liberal narratives of progress, as it highlights the ways in which that “progress” for Black Americans was hindered by a (still) extreme “disdain, disgust, and disregard” for Black bodies, or in other words, anti-blackness (ross, 2020; Hartman, 1997). The concept of burdened individuality is useful because it highlights how, despite (non)emancipation from slavery, individuals and institutions in American society still work to subjugate Black Americans and ensure that Black Americans would be unable to realize their full legal rights. Angela Davis captures the essence of burdened the way that the “(non)event of emancipation”

individuality when she writes, “The idea of

(Hartman, 1997) transformed the master/slave

freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean?

relational dynamic. Hartman uses the term burdened If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what’s that? The freedom to starve?”. individuality to describe how the formerly enslaved “navigated between a travestied emancipation

Hartman’s concept of burdened individuality

and an illusory freedom” following the “nonevent

helps readers understand that improved

of emancipation” (Hartman, 1997). On burdened

access to higher education did not necessitate

individuality, Hartman writes, “...the advent of

the elimination of anti-blackness in their

freedom marked the transition from the pained

educational experiences. Curriculum and

and minimally sensate existence of the slave to

pedagogy were often the most contentious

the burdened individuality of the responsibility and

issues in Black education influenced by anti

6

blackness; due to the Southern planter class’

training, many Black Americans were still

continued dominance in American politics, many

restricted to jobs that paid lower wages an

policies sought to ensure that Black students

largely resembled slavery and sharecropping.

received a curriculum that would not “spoil a

Subsequently, the racial hierarchy within the

good plow hand” (Anderson, 1988), or in other

capitalist economy remained unchanged and so

words, ensure that Black Americans would remain

did the material conditions of the masses of Black

an easily exploitable class. Mustaffa writes,

people. The key takeaway here is that despite

“Both a form of cultural and direct violence,

increased access for some Blakc students, all

curriculum management was about marginalizing

Black students still experienced schooling as

Black culture and knowledge and preserving

fundamentally anti-black, or reflecting society’s

an exploitable labor force” (2017). Mustaffa

inability to recognize Black humanity. (Ross,

further notes that the curriculum at some HBCUs

2020).

emphasized manual labor and teaching Black Americans to adhere to the South’s laws and customs that demanded white supremacy and Black subordination.

Clearly, anti-blackness and notions of Black inferiority and ineducability can be traced back to the plantation and chattel slavery. At the height of chattel slavery in the antebellum south, southern

It is clear that while many Black institutions

planters stopped at nothing to restrict the literacy

expanded the access Black Americans

of their enslaved (human) property based on

had to higher education, it did so while also

the belief that Black people were best suited for

perpetuating anti-blackness by ensuring that

enslavement and manual labor. Thus, not only

Black people would only receive an education

did white Americans subscribe to beliefs about

that would prepare them for labor that closely

Black people that rendered them incapable of

resembled slavery such as sharecropping. Thus,

being educated, but there was a social, economic,

ensuring the subordination of Black people in

and political imperative to ensure that Black

the capitalist economy and “returning them to

Americans did not receive adequate education.

their place”(Anderson, 1988). It is important

This developed an ideology that justified

to understand that the period following (non)

these practices by rendering Black people as

emancipation cannot easily be characterized as

uneducable. Based on this belief, in conjunction

one of great “progress” or stagnation. Although

with the political threats that increased Black

Black Americans saw greatly increased access

literacy posed to white supremacy, slave owners

to higher education institutions in the period

strove to ensure that their enslaved property and

immediately following (non)emancipation,

descendants would be denied literacy, keeping

due to the extremely segregated nature of the

Black folks in a position where they would always

higher education landscape that restricted Black

be easily exploitable labor (Anderson, 1988).

Americans to HBCUs ands thus vocational

Notions of Black ineducability have shifted

NOMMO NewsMagazine

overtime; whereas in the days of antebellum

essentially paid their way to be admitted into the

slavery and even Jim Crow, these beliefs were

university are somehow much more deserving

much more openly accepted by the dominant

than the Black students who likely overcame

society, shifting perceptions about the political

numerous obstacles to be competitive for

correctness of overt racism caused for notions

admissions at elite institutions. These notions are

of Black inhumanity and ineducability to shift

also particularly harmful due to the way that their

as well. Following the passage of civil rights

prevalence can lead to Black students internalizing

and affirmative action legislation, “denial of

these beliefs about themselves, leading to lower

admission was not because Blackness meant

self esteem and lower self efficacy, and thus

subhuman but because it meant “unqualified”

contributing to a sense of unbelonging. Moreover,

(Mustaffa, 2017). In the post-civil rights era,

the language asking for “equal treatment” in

dominant beliefs about Black students shifted

admissions and hiring

to go from unacceptable (“subhuman”) to

practices used by anti-

Notions of Black in-

acceptable (“unqualified”).

affirmative action legislation

educability have shift-

such as California’s

ed overtime; whereas

Propositon 209--which

in the days of antebel-

forbade the use of race,

lum slavery and even

Furthermore, notions of Black students being “unqualified” and ultimately uneducable contribute to Black students’ sense of belonging, or lack thereof, at higher education institutions. The idea that Black students are “affirmative action admits” who do not truly deserve to attend PWIs are rooted in ideas of Black educability, as it indicates a belief that Black students could not possibly be smart enough to be admitted under their own intellectual merits. Further, the anti-blackness that underlies this argument is further revealed by how white and Asian students often point the finger at Black students for stealing “their” spots, as opposed to focusing on the pervasiveness of legacy admissions at elite institutions throughout the country.

sex, religion, and other social identifiers in state admissions and hiring practices-- is inherently anti-black, as seeking “equal

“

Jim Crow, these beliefs were much more openly accepted by the dom-

inant society, shifting

treatment” without undoing

perceptions about

the historical legacy of

the political correct-

anti-blackness and white

ness of overt racism

supremacy that has relegated

caused for notions of

many Black Americans to an

Black inhumanity and

undesirable socioeconomic

ineducability to shift

status for centuries keeps

as well.

those same inequalities in place. That is, in ignoring the historical legacy of centuries of anti-Black policies

The difference in focus between Black

and practices that have contributed to the inferior

students and legacy admissions can be

structural position of Black people, anti-Blackness

attributed simply to notions of educability and

is only perpetuated rather than ameliorated. The

deservingness; those rich, white students who

fix is in.

8

Anti-blackness at UCLA nti-blackness and white supremacy have

A

students are retained at comparable rates to their

been the root causes and driving forces

white, Asian, and Latinx peers (Bell, 2004; Flores et.

behind the persistent educational inequality that

al, 2017). This has become increasingly important

has engrossed our nation’s education system

in recent years, as more Black students have begun

since its very founding, and as an institution

to enroll at UCLA. As the Black student population

UCLA is not exempt from this phenomenon.

increases, it is imperative that the university’s

UCLA primarily upholds anti-blackness not

efforts to support Black students does not stop

necessarily through its actions, but through its

once students enroll, but is ongoing to ensure that

inaction. That is, UCLA’s willful negligence of

students have the necessary support and resources

low Black student retention rates in the last 25

to thrive in their time at the university and graduate

as it reveals a pattern of disregard

“

years is indicative of anti-blackness

at rates comparable to their peers.

UCLA’s willful negli- Historically, UCLA has done a poor job at for the educational and holistic gence of low Black stugraduating its Black students, to say the wellbeing of Black students at the dent retention rates in least. According to UC enrollment data, university. Due to the way anti- the last 25 years is indicative of anti-black- the 4-year graduation rate of the cohort blackness operates at the K-12 ness as it reveals a of freshmen who entered UCLA in 1999, level, Black students often attend pattern of disregard was 34%, compared with a graduation highly segregated and severely for the educational and rate of 55% for white students. In other under resourced high schools holistic wellbeing of Black students at the words, for every three Black students that are grossly inadequate at who enrolled as freshmen in 1999, two university.” providing Black students with the of them did not graduate within 4 years. sufficient preparation necessary Roughly 15 years later, the cohort who to excel academically at the collegiate level entered as freshmen in 2015, the most recent (Bennet & Okinaka, 1984; Massey & Fischer, data available, 64% of Black students, compared 2006; Orfield et. al, 2014; Flores et. al, 2017). with 86% of white students. While Black students’ Therefore, many Black students who enter as graduation rates have risen significantly since freshmen face many additional obstacles not 1999, the troubling gap between Black and white faced by other groups of students, highlighting students has remained almost exactly the same. the need for UCLA to take affirmative steps The gap is even wider for Black males, whose four toward providing support to ensure that Black year graduation rates sit at 57% (UCOP, 2020).

NOMMO NewsMagazine

do about Black students. Given the fact that Black students tend to enter college severely underprepared by their high schools, many are quite literally at a disadvantage before they even set foot on campus (Massey & Fischer, 2006; Orfield et. al, 2014; Flores et. al, 2017).With this understanding, the onus should shift from individual students to the university in increasing student graduation rates.

However, by blaming Black students for our own woes, multiple (antiblack) purposes are served. To start, this perspective blames Black students for the obstacles we face that are created by anti-blackness and racial capitalism by saying that Blackness itself is the problem rather than the systems that have contributed to their disenfranchisement (Dumas, 2016; Walcott, 2020). The Many, especially those on the conservative end of

relative success of a few Black students

the political spectrum (although that isn’t to say that

and other minority groups on campus is

liberals do not adhere to this ideology), may point

offered as evidence of the end of racism,

to these statistics as indicators that Black students

thus implying that race is no longer a

just aren’t as capable as other students at thriving

barrier to equal opportunity and that those

academically, often employing deficit-based ideas

Black students who struggle are at fault

to explain why Black students tend to graduate

of their own. This notion also serves as

at lower rates than their white peers. However,

a rationale for not taking more action to

deficit-based explanations for lower Black student

support Black students. If one knowingly

achievement place too much blame on the individual

or unknowingly subscribes to this belief

and not enough focus on the structures that shape

about Black students inherently being

the opportunities, or lack thereof, an individual is

inferior, then there’s simply nothing

able to take advantage of. Conversely, I would argue

more that can be done to support Black

that these numbers say more about UCLA than they

students, as their lower graduation

10

rates are seen as a result of their perceived

Union chairperson, Black students have

inferiority and a result of “just the way things

been advocating for UCLA to create a Black

are”. If only Black students had better tried

Resource Center since the late 1990s (Daily

harder, they would do better. If they weren’t

Bruin). On two occasions, in 2015 and 2017,

so lazy, if they weren’t so... we can go on and

the ASU at UCLA released demands to the

on. Ultimately, this deficit-oriented perspective

UCLA administration asking for upwards of

is commonly heard in discussions around

$30M and the creation of the Black Resource

low graduation rates, which is extremely

Center, citing UC Berkeley and UC Santa

disappointing given the ways that these

Barbara as examples of UCs who have

explanations fail to examine the structural

implemented similar support for Black students

conditions that are out of students’ control

(Daily Bruin, 2019).

that may ultimately create barriers and obstacles not faced by students of different

“

Perhaps the best example of how this notion of Black ineducability leads to administrative inaction at UCLA is exemplified in the decades-long fight for a Black Resource Center (Daily Bruin).

backgrounds.

Again, given the long history of low graduation rates for Black students, the creation of a Black Resource Center is seemingly a foolproof way to support Black students. Instead, students

What are some

were met with resistance

tangible examples of

and often gaslighted

institutional anti-blackness

in their meetings with

at UCLA? Perhaps the best

administrators who were

example of how this notion

seemingly unconvinced

of Black ineducability leads

by the decades

to administrative inaction

of extremely low

at UCLA is exemplified

graduation rates for

in the decades-long fight

Black students (Daily

for a Black Resource Center (Daily Bruin).

Bruin, 2019; personal

Given the long history of UCLA doing a poor

conversations, 2020).

job at graduating its students, paired with its stated commitment to “equity, diversity and inclusion”, one would imagine that establishing a Black Resource Center to contribute to improved retention rates of Black students on campus would have been something of utmost importance to UCLA administrators. However, this was not the case. According to a former Afrikan Student NOMMO NewsMagazine

In 2020, we finally began to see real progress in the establishment of a Black Resource Center; however, this progress did not come without one caveat. It was decided that the CUB referendum would decide the fate

According to a former Afrikan Student Union chairperson, Black students have been advocating for UCLA to create a Black Resource Center since the late 1990s (Daily Bruin). On two occasions, in 2015 and 2017, the ASU at UCLA released demands to the UCLA administration asking for upwards of $30M and the creation of the Black Resource Center, citing UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara as examples of UCs who have implemented similar support for Black students (Daily Bruin, 2019).

“

and Ahmaud Arbery and the subsequent global uprising in response to those murders that the UCLA Administration officially announced its support of the creation of a Black Resource Center and other initiatives meant to support Black life on campus. It took two decades of work by Black student leaders for the UCLA Administration-amplified by the brutal murders of Black people at the hands of the state or white vigilantes--to finally recognize the necessity of the Black Resource Center and the urgency with which low Black student graduation rates needed to be addressed.

The suffering of Black students only became legible after the viral murders of not one, but three Black people. Only after Black death did Black life at UCLA begin to receive some type of genuine support. Why? of a Black Resource Center, absolving the

What explains the lack of action on the part of

administration of responsibility in establishing

UCLA administration? I agree with the viewpoint

the Center and leaving future support for Black

of former ASU Chairperson Isaiah Njoku, who

students in the hands of the student body (95%

according to the Daily Bruin believed that “the

of whom are not Black, I might add) in the 2020

push for a center has been ongoing for decades

USAC Elections. The referendum did not pass

because the administration has prioritized other

(shout out to the organizers who worked for that

entities on campus over the Black student

campaign) as many students complained that

population”. In other words, in the eyes of the

$15 per quarter was a price they were unwilling

UCLA administration, Black students and their

to pay to support their Black peers. The mere

needs were not important enough to have their

fact that the creation of the Black Resource

academic wellbeing further addressed and

Center was trivial enough to be decided by

supported with a sense of urgency. The issue of

student body elections rather than offered

low Black retention rates has continuously been

institutional funding is indicative of the anti-black

kicked down the road, to be resolved at a later

culture that permeates throughout UCLA.

date. As long as notions of Black ineducability

It wasn’t until the brutal, highly sensationalized

rooted in anti-blackness—again, knowingly or

murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd,

unknowingly—cloud administrators perceptions of

12

Black students deservingness of said

kick the can of Black student retention

support, no support can be expeced.

down the road, always a problem to be

No matter how well meaning Gene Block

solved at a later date.

and his administration may be, anti-

What was different about the events of

blackness hinders their ability to see Black students as students deserving of being at the university in the first place,

2020 that sparked UCLA administrators to finally take action? The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud

let alone deserving of an equitable

Arbery, and the countless others that

allocation of resources and support.

sparked global protests shocked the senses

Once again the inaction on the part of the

of many white Americans and for the first

UCLA administration when it comes to

time made them realize just how insidious

graduation rates reveals

“

addressing low Black student

and deeply ingrained anti-black

“Anti-blackness and the way that anti-blackness more specifically notions of Black ineducability operates at UCLA. The invisibilized Black stuinaction of the UCLA dents’ struggles and have Administration reveals enabled Administrators to always kick the can of their inability to recognize Black student retention the humanity of Black down the road, always a problem to be solved at a students and empathize later date.” with our struggles. It’s not like Administrators

racism is in this country’s societal institutions. Soon after the murder of George Floyd, the white guilt began to flood in, white folks (and nonblack people of color) realized the ways in which they were complicit in Black suffering on campus, and suddenly after years of negotiations with the Afrikan Student Union and a

have been unaware of issues facing

failed referendum attempting to collect

Black students. For years, Black

funds to establish the Black Resource

students tirelessly advocated for the

Center--seemingly with the snap of a finger-

administration to provide them with more

-the UCLA administration announced it was

support, only to face much resistance

going to support the creation of a Black

from the Administration--again, in lieu

Resource Center. What a slap in the face

of low enrollment numbers and low

to the students who have been tirelessly

retention rates. Anti-blackness and more

advocating for more support for Black

specifically notions of Black ineducability

students, only to be gaslighted and have

invisibilized Black students’ struggles and

the legitimacy of our concerns questioned

have enabled Administrators to always

and trivialized.

NOMMO NewsMagazine

14

In her book Scenes of Subjection, Sadiya Hartman (1997) asks, “What does it mean that the...pained existence of the enslaved, if discernible, is only so in the most heinous and grotesque examples and not in the quotidian routines of slavery?”. We should ask ourselves a similar question about the struggles of Black students at UCLA: What does it mean that the suffering and struggles of Black students are only recognizable following heinous, highly publicized lynchings of Black people and subsequent uprisings?

Why were low Black graduation rates not enough to spur the UCLA Administration to take action to address the needs of Black students? Where was the sense of urgency in addressing the needs of Black students when Black students’ graduation rates were 34% in 1999? Or what about after the Kanye Western blackface party? Or the 2015 ASU demands?

Or the 2017 demands? 2019?

Derrick Bell’s interest convergence theory is useful for helping us understand why

the nation”. Bell’s interest convergence theory

UCLA Administrators finally caved in and

helps us understand that UCLA Administrators

decided that Black students deserved a Black

didn’t necessarily approve the establishment

Resource Center. Bell’s interest convergence

of a Black Resource Center for the wellbeing

theory rests on the argument that “Black

of Black students--because, quite frankly, if

rights are recognized and protected when

that was the case, it would have happened a

and only so long as policymakers perceive

long, long time ago-- but because it would help

that such advances will further interests that

UCLA Administrators and the collective UCLA

are their primary concern”. Further, Bell says,

community to alleviate their (white) guilt.

“Rather, relief from racial discrimination has

White guilt is powerful, and it’s often the sole

come only when policymakers recognize

motivating force in situations where white

that such relief will provide a clear benefit for

people provide meaningful aid or support for

NOMMO NewsMagazine

Black people. That is, support typically isn’t

the responsibility on Black students to defend and

offered based on whether or not there is some

support themselves as they navigate an anti-

perceived injury and the support would alleviate

black institution. Additionally, it is easy to observe

the harm caused by said injury; rather, support

how the colorblind lens leads to the inability to

from white people in power often typically

empathize with Black struggle, because if one

comes when it will go a considerable distance

does not even see Black struggles as problematic,

in alleviating white guilt. White people tend to

then there aren’t even any issues to empathize

support Black causes only after realizing how

with in the first place. In other words, if Black

their indifference to the struggles faced by Black

students are simply getting what they deserve

people has directly contributed to or made them

because of their own fault, there is nothing to feel

complicit in Black suffering.

bad about. The commonly held belief that racism

With these understandings of the relationships between (lack of) empathy, white guilt, and anti-blackness, it’s very easy to see that UCLA Administrators moved so quickly to support the creation of a Black Resource Center to cover up for their decades of indifference towards Black Bruins’ academic achievement. For one, in the alleged colorblind society we live in today, racism and anti-blackness is difficult to identify within the frames of liberal discourse

is a thing of the past or does not operate at the institutional level at UCLA implies that race is no longer a barrier to equal opportunity; and in that case, Black people and Blackness itself become pathologized

“

and become the problem that needs to be fixed, rather than inequitable societal structures.

The commonly held belief that racism is a thing of the past or does not operate at the institutional level at UCLA implies that race is no longer a barrier to equal opportunity; and in that case, Black people and Blackness itself become pathologized and become the problem that needs to be fixed, rather than inequitable societal structures.

because they are often spoken of as if they

As I mentioned before, if

are boogie-monsters our country left in the

it is possible for UCLA to

past. So when Black students complain that a

become the “antiracist”

blackface party hosted by a UCLA Fraternity is

university Gene Block claims

indicative of a larger culture of anti blackness at

is the goal, the institution

UCLA, those complaints are easily dismissed

must address the ways that

as minute acts of individual prejudice because,

anti-blackness hampers the

quite simply, racism doesn’t exist anymore, as

educational experiences

indicated by the racial “diversity” of the campus.

of its Black students. Although the long overdue

The colorblind lens worn by administrators

establishment of the Black Resource Center is

allows administrators to easily dismiss claims

certainly welcomed as a positive step in the right

of anti-black racism while also freeing them

direction, this alone is not enough for UCLA to

of any guilt for the lack of action they take in

be able to dust off its hands and claim that anti-

supporting Black students, essentially shifting

blackness has been “solved” at the university.

16

Too often, Black students are forced to

services. Blaming problems on students just

tirelessly advocate for themselves and as a

won’t do anymore.

result, many of the programs and resources

Antiblackness--which is the analytical lens

at the university created to support Black and

which has supported much of this essay-- is a

other underrepresented students were only

theoretical framework whose central argument

created in response to student activism, as

is that anti-blackness is endemic and central

is the case with the Academic Advancement

to how all of us make sense of human life

Program, Community Programs Office, and

(ross, 2020). This means that anti-blackness

countless other programs and initiatives.

permeates all of our social institutions and

Going forward, the UCLA Administration must

social relations in such a way that it is virtually

be more proactive in being responsive to

inescapable. Using this lens to understand

the needs of Black students. This might look

Black student experiences at UCLA reveals

like being more proactive in recruiting Black

that even around “well-meaning” people (both

students in programs where they are typically

white and nonblack people of color) at a “liberal”

underrepresented--as is the case with many

university in the post racial era, anti-blackness

research programs housed under AAP-- rather

is still endemic, as pervasive and normal as

than blaming the lack of Black students on

the weather and climate according to Christina

these students not applying, thus falling back on

Sharpe (2016). The mere fact that the decades

deficit oriented (read: antiblack) views of Black

of readily available examples of anti-blackness

students and relieving themselves of any further

that take place at UCLA day in and day out

responsibility for addressing the problem. The

were not convincing enough to move the

frequent claim heard in the hallway of Campbell

UCLA Administration to support the creation

Hall that Black students “just don’t apply”, is

of a Black Resource Center is indicative of

also echoed throughout countless programs

the way that the university has been unwilling

and services on UCLA’s campus. Has anybody

to recognize and affirm Black humanity, and

ever stopped and asked Black students why

ultimately exemplary of the anti-black culture

they don’t apply? Does anybody care enough to

that permeates the university. Moreover, the

ask? Administrators must be more proactive in

fact that many campus services and programs

working to recruit and retain the Black students

finally began to recognize the ways in which

that are in their programs or utilize their

students why they don’t apply? Does anybody care enough to ask? ”

NOMMO NewsMagazine

“

“ Has anybody ever stopped and asked Black

they were undeserving Black students only after the viral deaths of Black people reveals an inability to empathize with the everyday struggles of Black students.

At UCLA, Black suffering must be extravagant before any possibility of redress is put on the table. Put simply, the current administration has demonstrated that it has trouble recognizing and taking steps to ameliorate the suffering of Black students even when it’s presented right to their faces. How can the same individuals who have been indifferent to the struggles of Black students on campus for years be trusted in leading the university to fulfill its stated goals of becoming an anti-racist instittuion? For the sake of the wellbeing of current and future generations of Black Bruins, the time for leadership change at UCLA was yesterday.

18

Author’s Note Gene McAdoo is a 4th year African American Studies major with a minor in Education.

In his time at UCLA, much of Gene’s work has centered on supporting Black students through college access, recruitment, and retention. Gene has worn a variety of different hats in his time at UCLA, but the accomplishments he is most proud of are his work with the UCLA VIP Scholars, where he works with Black high school students to ensure their competitive eligibility for “elite” universities such as UCLA (shoutout to C13), and his work as a UCLA McNair Scholar, where he conducts academic research on anti-blackness in Los Angeles high schools and how Black students might go about resisting and challenging anti-blackness in their everyday educational experiences.

After graduating, Gene plans on pursuing a doctoral degree in Education and is currently waiting to hear back admissions decisions from several programs. Outside of labor, Gene loves hanging out with friends, eating good food, and (before he got banned from Playstation Network) beating all his homies at 2k. For any direct comments or questions about this essay, he can be reached at mackcandoo3@gmail.com NOMMO NewsMagazine

References Admin. (2015, October 23) Afrikan Student Union at UCLA Releases Demands. Nommo Magazine. https://nommomagazine.com/?p=2580 Anderson, James D. (1989). Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935. Chapel Hill :The University of North Carolina Press.

Bennet, C. & Okinaka, A. (1984) Explanations of Black Student Attrition in Predominantly White and Predominantly Black Universities, Equity & Excellence in Education, 22:1-3, 73-80, DOI: 10.1080/0020486840220109 Bell, Derrick, 1930-2011. (2004). Silent Covenants : Brown v. Board of Education and the unfulfilled hopes for racial reform. Oxford ; New York :Oxford University Press.

Dancy, T. E., Edwards, K. T., & Earl Davis, J. (2018). Historically white universities and plantation politics: Anti-Blackness and higher education in the Black Lives Matter era.

Urban Education, 53(2), 176-195.

Dumas, M. J. (2016). Against the dark: anti-blackness in education policy and discourse. Theory Into Practice, 55(1), 11-19.

Dumas, M. J., & Ross, K. M. (2016). “Be real black for me” imagining BlackCrit in education. Urban Education, 51(4), 415-442.

Flores, S. M., Park, T. J., & Baker, D. J. (2017). The racial college completion gap: Evidence from Texas. The Journal of Higher Education, 88(6), 894-921.

Harper, S. R., Patton, L. D., & Wooden, O. S. (2009). Access and equity for African American students in higher education: A critical race historical analysis of policy efforts. The Journal of Higher Education, 80(4), 389-414.

Hartman, S. V. (1997). Scenes of subjection: Terror, slavery, and self-making in nineteenth-century America. Oxford University Press on Demand.

Orfield, G. Kucsera, J. V., Siegel-Hawley, G. (2014). Are We Segregated and Satisfied? Segregation and Inequality in Southern California Schools. Urban Education, 50(5), 535–571. DOI:10.1177/0042085914522499 Massey, D. & Fischer, M. (2006) The effect of childhood segregation on minority academic performance at selective colleges, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 29:1, 1-26, DOI: 10.1080/01419870500351159 Mustaffa, J. B. (2017). Mapping violence, naming life: A history of anti-Black oppression in the higher education system. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30(8), 711-727.

20

Parry, M. (2020, July 23). Stained by Slavery. Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://www.chronicle.com/article/stained-by-slavery/ Ross, K. (2020, June 04). Call it what it is: Anti-blackness. Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/opinion/george-floyd-anti-blackness. html Ross, k.m. (2020). “Fugitive Resistance in the Afterlife of School Segregation. Grant, C. A., Woodson, A. N., & Dumas, M. J. (Eds.). (2020). The Future is Black: Afropessimism, Fugitivity, and Radical Hope in Education. Routledge.

Sharpe, C. (2016). In the wake: On blackness and being. Duke University Press.

UCOP. (2020). Undergraduate graduation rates. Retrieved February 23, 2021, from https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/ug-outcomes Wilder, C. S. (2014). Ebony and ivy: Race, slavery, and the troubled history of America’s universities. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. Wilderson, F. B. (2020). Afropessimism. Liveright Publishing Zhu, Tyler. (2019, March 1) ASU calls for UCLA to address issues affecting African-American students. The Daily Bruin. https://dailybruin.com/2019/03/01/ asu-calls-for-ucla-to-address-issues-affecting-african-american-students

NOMMO NewsMagazine

22