Just a few hours before she delivered the keynote speech at 麻豆视频鈥檚 2022 Anti-Racism Conference, Bettina Love, Ph.D., met with 麻豆视频 students, faculty and staff for an informal discussion and book signing.
The gathering was less a discussion of Love鈥檚 newest book, 鈥淲e Want To Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom,鈥 and more a chance for attendees to get to know the award-winning author and ask questions.
Seeing herself
Love was introduced by Shemariah J. Arki, EdD, assistant professor in 麻豆视频鈥檚 Department of Africana Studies. Arki met Love at an academic conference nearly 10 years ago and they became friends.
While attending the conference, Arki was in a hallway when she heard 鈥渁 dynamic voice. Speaking like somebody from my community, talking like they鈥檙e talking to me, but talking about what it means to do this work,鈥 she said.
鈥淭o see someone in that space, allowed me to see myself in that space. And 10 years later鈥︹ Arki said.
As Arki introduced Love, she invited the people in attendance to expand the conversation beyond discussing the book and talk about what it鈥檚 like to be a student at 麻豆视频 and 鈥淲hat can we do, as a small, thoughtful group of committed folks, to transform this place that we鈥檙e in?鈥
Love鈥檚 path to academia
Love first spoke about how she became an academic. 鈥淚 never thought I would be an academic,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat was not my trajectory at all: I played basketball. I was really, really good at it. And so that鈥檚 what I wanted to do. I wanted to play basketball for the rest of my life.鈥
鈥淚 got to college and realized that I wasn鈥檛 that good. I was good. I wasn鈥檛 that good. I stayed on the floor more than I was up. I had to figure out something else.鈥
So, she started reading about her options and exploring academics outside of basketball. She was fortunate to have several mentors who suggested that she should become a professor. As a first-generation college student, Love wasn鈥檛 quite sure what professors do. She asked one of her mentors, 鈥淲hat does a professor do?鈥 His answer? 鈥淵ou write and you talk sh*t,鈥 he said. So she said, 鈥淪ign me up. Sign me up. And that鈥檚 how I became a college professor.鈥
Finding common threads
Mwatabu Okantah, associate professor and interim chair of the Department of Africana Studies, shared that he had a path to academics that was similar to Love鈥檚. He explained that 麻豆视频 recruited him for the track and field team. 鈥淲hen I got to this level, running track,鈥 Okantah said, 鈥淧eople that I could outrun before I got here were running away from me. So I had to figure out something else to do.鈥
Okantah and Love have another thing in common: They are both parents of twins.
The importance of a space
Okantah also shared some of the story of the origins of Oscar Ritchie Hall, born out of some of the protests on campus in the early 1970s. Black students on campus had asked for a Black studies program, more Black faculty and staff, and a Black cultural center on campus.
鈥淭his building is literally the fulfillment of the dreams of earlier generations,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t looks the way it looks because we wanted to create a space where saw ourselves, a space where we could come in out of the cold, a space where not only could we study ourselves, but we understood that it wasn鈥檛 just for us: Other people needed to know our story.鈥
When baseball great Jackie Robinson鈥檚 mother visited campus, Oktantah was excited to meet her and took great pride in showing her around Oscar Ritchie Hall. She asked him 鈥淲hy are you separating yourselves?鈥 He replied 鈥淲e are not separating ourselves 鈥 but can鈥檛 we have a house? Can鈥檛 we have something that鈥檚 ours that we can invite other people into?鈥
Okantah said, 鈥 Because if you come into this space, outside of the student center, this is the most diverse place on campus.鈥
Creating a sense of belonging
Love agreed with Okantah, citing statistics that indicate historically Black colleges and universities produce 50% of Black doctors, 50% of Black lawyers and 50% of Black CEOS. She said, 鈥淭here are over 3,000 colleges in the United States and you mean to tell me that 20 colleges are producing 50% of Black doctors, lawyers and execs? That鈥檚 a huge understanding of what belonging can do.鈥
鈥淲hen we have our own, when we have an opportunity to see ourselves, to feel protected, to feel loved, that鈥檚 community,鈥 said Love. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 pumping out 50% of Black lawyers and Black doctors. I鈥檓 in Atlanta, Georgia: I can see and I know what it does.鈥