Black Student Union organizes blackout for Black Lives Matter
Utah State University’s Black Student Union was a calm voice this week amidst a cacophony of campus protests.
For BSU’s president Jasmine Lee, the club’s Black Lives Matter demonstrations aren’t about protesting, they’re about showing solidarity to “shed light” on a national issue.
Rather than shouting and picketing, the club organized a campus-wide “blackout” Tuesday, inviting all who wanted to participate to wear black clothes as a show of solidarity.
A diverse group of demonstrators then met that evening in the Taggart Student Center to discuss how the Black Lives Matter movement applied to them individually.
For some, it was a matter of showing solidarity with all humans — for others, motivation to teach people they interacted with about awareness of their own privileges and responsibilities.
For junior Edward Borenstein, it was a means of discussing racial privilege and the hypocrisy that he says come with it.
“When ever have you had a problem that you say, ‘Oh stop talking about it, it’s going to go away?’ You don’t do that to problems, it’s just when it’s inconvenient to you,” Borenstein said amidst chuckles from the crowd.
Growing up in the south, Borenstein said he was taught to believe the Black Lives Matter movement was inherently racist and violent, so he felt he was in a unique position to dispel that stigma.
“I’m trying to be a voice that shows people there is such a thing as white privilege,” Borenstein said, “and we need to acknowledge these people and what they’re facing.”
For Naden Mohamed, BSU’s vice president, the Black Lives Matter movement is a means of reclaiming her identity. Growing up near Ogden at a predominantly white high school, Mohamed said she felt like she was always the “token” black person.
“I didn’t realize the toll it was taking on me being that token,” Mohamed said.
Though she realized USU was a predominantly white university when she chose to come here, Mohamed said she wanted to use the opportunity to make a change and help dispel “the misconception that the black experience is the same.”
“I just wanted to be that person that could educate [people] without lecturing them,” Mohamed said.
Lee said she wanted to hold demonstrations at USU on behalf of the Black Lives Matter movement to help promote BSU events with more long-term significance. And if the diversity of the demonstrators present is any indication, Mohamed and Lee have made a difference in educating their peers.
“It’s been happening in society where it’s just like, this is for this group, this is for that group, and if you step over into unmarked territory, we’re not comfortable,” Lee said. “At the end of the day, we’re all human, we’re all one big happy family, we’re all getting a degree.”
@alyssarbrts