Ramapo College celebrated Black Solidarity Week from Sunday Nov. 3 to Friday, Nov. 8. This week is celebrated annually through The Black Student Union Collective, bringing together the community through week-long interactive events to bring honor and a focus to the Black community. Most of the events offered are taken from traditions of previous years of Black Solidarity Week at Ramapo and overall in the history of their organizations.
To start off the week, the Black Student Union (BSU) hosted its annual clean up of the Hopper Slave Cemetery, which is located across from campus right off of Route 202. Participants at this event all took a rake and cleaned up the leaves from the cemetery giving honor to those that are buried there. They devoted the time to clean up all the leaves and took a second to honor the headstones of the individuals, learning their stories.
Faith Duncan, President of BSU, said in an email with The Ramapo News that the most important event is the Cemetery Clean Up. Duncan said, “As far as we know, no one else goes there throughout the year to clean off the headstones or pay respects to the people buried so close to Ramapo’s campus.” She said, “So, going there to help out and clean really means a lot to us, especially since it allows us to have a beautiful vigil for the deceased in their remembrance.”
Following the clean up, BSU and its other umbrella organizations hosted a silent march around the Grove on campus to the cemetery. There they held a vigil to commemorate the lives of their ancestors.
Later that night, BSU hosted a banquet that provided food from a small business owned by a Black woman who makes her own soul food. Throughout the vigil, walk and banquet, participants were supportive and came to honor the ancestors. President Cindy Jebb also made an appearance, showcasing her support of the community here on campus.
During the week following the walk and banquet, BSU’s umbrella organizations hosted their own events. Afro-Diaspora Dialogue hosted by The Organization of Latino Unity on Tuesday, Nov. 5 was used to discuss the overlap between Latinx and Black cultures. Then, on Wednesday Nov. 6, Ebony Women for Social Change hosted Herstory: Black Women Jeopardy where you learned about game changing Black women who have made history in our society.
Brother’s Making a Difference hosted a Reading Thru the Lines: Redlining event on Thursday Nov. 7, which incited a discussion about government-appointed redlining initiatives that have historically oppressed members of minority communities from obtaining the same benefits as other communities that are deemed “risk friendly” and “safer.” Finally, they closed out the week-long events with the Student of Caribbean Ancestry hosting their event Sound and Spoken: Slam Poetry and Karaoke Night that provided students with an open night to sing and just hang out.
Duncan said, “I think this week shows the BSU Collective’s commitment to our community in terms of unifying and learning more about each other.” She said, “It shows that we can stand strong together and celebrate our culture in a big way.”
Like in years past, students from all of the BSU organizations came out in support and came together to celebrate the week as well as other students that were not a part of the clubs. Duncan shared that this is the reason why they continue to do this event every year, as it unites the community and helps bring in more people to learn about the community here on campus.
Duncan said this event “is a great opportunity to share the importance of voting as minorities and using our privilege as citizens to make change, but it also gives us the time to sit down and talk about the concepts and ideas that really matter to us.”
Black Solidarity Week, despite it being a week in recent years past, originated as only a single day, specifically the day before Election Day. This year, however, the club viewed it as one of the most historically important times for voters in the country and more importantly voters in the Black community. Duncan says that, “We really wanted to make this week count and to stand in solidarity together.”
This event, while it is an essential part of the club, is one of the many open events that they offer to the Ramapo community. BSU strives to make a space that welcomes people to come in alliance with them and to learn more about their culture and seek to learn more and this event is just one of those ways.
rbleich@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @olurcnj, Instagram
