Letters to the editor are submitted from outside The Maneater and do not represent the view of the newspaper, editorial board or staff
About the author: Mike Jirik is an Assistant Professor of Black Studies at the University of Missouri.
Disclaimer: the opinions expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not represent the Department of Black Studies or the University of Missouri.
On Aug. 16, the Legion of Black Collegians (LBC) announced that University of Missouri administrators forced the organization to change the name of one of their annual events held in partnership with the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center: the “Welcome Black BBQ” to the “Welcome Black and Gold BBQ.” Members of the Black student organization “spent several months fighting this decision” and ultimately decided to hold the event as planned because, they wrote, “we still want the barbecue to remain a staple for incoming and returning Black students to make connections and find their space at Mizzou.”
The Welcome Black BBQ is a significant event that centers community building among Black students and other people on campus who support them. The decision to forcibly change the name of the event shows that the university’s public image in polarized political times is more important to administrators than the concerns of Black students. The decision has undermined the meaning of the event and shows a lack of understanding of the tremendous importance of Black spaces on Mizzou’s campus.
A university spokesperson defended the decision to change the name of the event, “…To reflect that our campus is open and welcoming to all. Achieving excellence for all is at the core of the University of Missouri’s mission. And clearly, in striving for an inclusive university, we must not exclude (or give impressions that we are excluding) individuals with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.”
The justification arguably has had the opposite effect than the official’s stated intent. By changing the name to the Black and Gold BBQ, the university has sought to change an annual Black event into simply a university function, not an event designed by and for Black students.
In effect, the university has appropriated the event, misconstrued the meaning of ‘Black’ in the event’s title, and has ignored the history of Black student experiences at Mizzou. The decision disregards the necessity of having spaces and events by and for Black people on campus.
The “Welcome Black BBQ” is an annual event for Black students, faculty and staff to gather, mark the beginning of the new academic year, welcome new students to campus, and build community. The operative word “Black” in “Welcome Black BBQ” is significant for a Mizzou event, considering the history of Black people’s experiences with universities. The University of Missouri, like many other universities, are historically white institutions. For decades before 1950, Black people were excluded from the university and dominant ideas in academic fields such as history promoted racist ideas that were used to justify segregation, colonialism, exploitation and violence against Black people. Only through the resistance of Black students, their families, faculty and the communities that sustained them (Black students were also joined by other students as well), did the university begin to change. The LBC was founded in 1968 and in 1969 they made demands for the establishment of a Black Culture Center, a Black Studies Program, hiring Black faculty and increasing Black admissions. Buoyed by the Black Power Movement, Black students at Mizzou and other universities made such demands because they rejected the racism they experienced on campus and in society. They were demands of self-determination, for creating space to be Black on campus, to learn about the Black World and the contributions people of African descent have made to human civilization over the course of world history. They demanded spaces where Black students, faculty and staff could gather, where their perspectives are centered, discussed and where people support each other.
As someone who teaches in Black Studies, I owe my job to Black students, for they forced the university to move in a direction it would not organically have done so on its own. For those who are interested in defending and preserving spaces dedicated to Black life, history and culture on campus, we have an obligation to those who came before us who struggled to create change in their own time, from which we now benefit. We must contribute to the continuation of the long struggle for Black liberation, and by extension, the liberation of all people, in our own time. The university’s pushback against the name “Welcome Black BBQ” sets a potentially dangerous precedent. The struggle now might include defending area studies departments, programs and centers on campus, among other academic units and cultural organizations.
The Welcome Black BBQ is in the Black Studies movement tradition of creating space on a university campus for Black people from all over the world, their histories and cultures.
The event is first and foremost for people of African descent at Mizzou but, and this is crucial, it is not an exclusionary event. Other people can attend who support the event’s meaning. As one former alum wrote about attending previous BBQ’s, “Every year I went there were non-Black people there having fun, immersing themselves in a culture where they may have been previously uncomfortable.” The event is open to anyone who supports Black life, history and culture.
The name change comes at a time when the university recently disbanded its Inclusion, Diversity and Equity office, affirmative action has been overturned and attacks on teaching and learning about Black perspectives and other historically oppressed peoples continues.
Administrators say they are moving the university “towards a race-neutral approach” on issues of inclusion. Yet racism, sexism and other forms of oppression continue to plague our communities. As long as racism exists, those who are interested in building a better society must use racial analyses to demonstrate that racism is the problem. The “Welcome Black BBQ” event is part of the work of denouncing racism on campus and embracing the fullness of Africana culture.
The controversy over the Welcome Black BBQ is about more than the name of an event. It is about Black people building community in a historically hostile space. Again, the event is open to anyone who supports that mission. Being in community around shared values and culture can reveal important lessons about our common humanity. For those interested in building a better society we must listen to and defend the interests of Black students on campus, including the LBC, the African Student Association and other Black organizations. We must defend Black Studies as well as other departments, organizations and formations focused on cultural and ethnic diversity. We must protect spaces where learning, teaching and thinking critically about the assumptions on which our society is based takes place, where the study of Black life, history and culture can lead to building community with one another. For in those formations we can draw on the past, make connections in the present and build for the future.