A Night to Remember: UMass’ Black Student Union hosts annual Black History Month Showcase

UMass’ Afrodites, an on-campus African dance group, prepare to begin their preformance. (Photo by Christmaelle Vernet)

By: Christmaelle Vernet

AMHERST- As Black History Month rolls to an end, UMass’ Black Student Union organized its annual Black History Month Showcase on Feb 26. BSU released a statement earlier this month describing the event as “a night to celebrate our Black community and all the talent within it. It’s not one you can’t afford to miss.” The showcase took place in the Student Union ballroom, beginning at 7 p.m. and concluding at 10 p.m. 

 It is a semiformal event accompanied with a color palette guests are encouraged to wear , with this year’s theme being modeled after a sunset. The showcase’s main focus is being a platform for various talents from Black UMass students and celebrating the Black Diaspora. The menu reflected these aspirations, serving dishes from African, Afro-Caribbean and African American cultures. Guests enjoyed plates of Jollof rice, macaroni and cheese, sweet plantains, fried and jerk chicken, etc. Performances ranged from singing acts to spoken word submissions as well as dynamic dance performances that left the audience on their feet. 

The show was opened by upcoming rap artist Kid Fob. Performances by the UMass Gospel Choir, the award-winning Insanely Prestigious Step Team, SOCA (Students of Caribbean Ancestry and the UMass Brotherly Union were also included.

In between acts, the audience engaged in multiple crowd games such as a fashion show showing off some of UMass’ best dressed, as well as a dance contest where guests got to show off some of their best dance moves. Together with a DJ, who played music from a variety of different decades such as the 90s and 2000s. 

The evening concluded with a dance party, where participants were able to dance to some of their favorite Black classic line dancing songs such as the “Cupid Shuffle” and “Jersulama”. Closing out the event with fun, community and culture. 

NAACP’s ‘Be Revolutionary’ March in Photos

By: Tashanna Johnson

Photos are from the ‘Be Revolutionary’ march hosted by the UMass Amherst Chapter of the NAACP (National Association of the Advancement of Colored People) on Thursday, October 14 2021. This march took place after a series of racist incidents targeting Black students on campus occurred in September. Racist incidents on campus have been occurring for years.

Students stand at march. Signs read from second in on the left. “WE NEED CHANGE / ENOUGH IS ENOUGH” ; “HOLD UMASS ACCOUNTABLE FOR ALLOWING HATE” ; “BLACK STUDENTS MATTER”

 

“In years past on-campus newspaper have had places for black people…. people are putting their bodies and statements out there and their demands… This is how change happens. Change happens with dialogue and being present out here.”

Amilcar Shabazz
Afro-American Studies Professor

Students at march. White sign, written on it “HATE US CAUSE THEY AINT US!”

 “It was honestly all the black orgs together with the NAACP that’s how we were able to stay successful… We are so grateful that a lot of people showed up… It showed that they did really care about the community like that. This event needed to happen to show students that they have a support group. That they can always count on the black organizations on campus to stand for them, to fight for them, to advocate for them. Even when UMass isn’t doing it. We are so grateful that it was successful even though some of the vice-chancellors locked their doors, which was really disrespectful.”

Tina Noël
President of UMass Amherst Chapter of NAACP. Class of ’22, biology major.

Students at march. White sign reads “OVER IT.” . Brown sign reads “BLACK STUDENTS MATTER”

“No Justice No Peace”

“Black Students Matter”

“What do we want CHANGE! When do we want it NOW!”

Student chants

Students walking inside Whitmore Administrative Building. Students sign has graphic of raised fists, and megaphone. Sign reads in red text “WE NEED CHANGE!” and in black “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!’. Student is holding NAACP’s list of demands to UMass.

Students marching in Whitmore Administrative Building. Signs from far left: “BLACK STUDENTS MATTER / MEET OUR DEMANDS” ; “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”.

Students marching past South College. Sign reads “BLACK STUDENTS MATTER”.

For more information and to stay up to date, follow @ umassnaacp

Black Women in Medicine: New Student Organization Aims in Bringing Future Black Medical Professionals Together at UMass

By: Elienishka Ramos Torres

AMHERST – Many new student groups are forming at the University of Massachusetts, and among them is Black Women in Medicine. The group, which began its formation in early Spring 2020, has a mission in fostering community among pre-medical Black female students at UMass. 

Black Women in Medicine President Attiya Nurse, a junior majoring in biology and nutrition, said that the group started as a cool idea between friends, “I talked to [the other e-board members] after one class we all had together and we agreed that this would be something great to bring to the UMass community.” 

Nurse’s original inspiration came from her time at another school. “I had previously attended University of South Florida where this organization had started. When I transferred to UMass, I really thought it was something that was missing here.”

According to statistics gathered from University Analytics and Institutional Research conducted on the UMass population, only 6 six percent of the fall 2020 undergraduate student population were Black/African American. This means that the number of pre-medical Black students at UMass is also small. Navigating life as a pre-medical student at UMass, Nurse “couldn’t connect” with peers and questioned her sense of belonging in the spaces that she was in. 

Junior microbiology and anthropology double major Norsha Hydol, vice president of Black Women in Medicine, said that’s an issue the group plans on tackling: “We want to create a welcoming community for everyone on campus that would like to go into the medical field outside of just classes and really create a family.”

While creating a community at UMass is one goal, a main part of the group’s mission is addressing health discrepancies of Black people in the United States, which is caused by the lack of proper health services. While the COVID-19  pandemic has disproportionately affected low income racial minorities the most, the United States has a long history of racist and negligent health practices against Black people. 

Nurse believes that a rise in Black medical professionals would lead to less health issues that “disproportionately affect Black people.” 

One of the most striking examples of this is white medical professionals underestimating the pain that Black patients are in, which comes from a centuries old racist belief that different races have different pain tolerances. Both publicized experiences and studies have shown that doctors underestimate the pain their Black patients are in, in contrast to their non-Black patients. The findings in one specific study showed that physicians underestimated the pain of 47 percent of their Black patients in comparison to only underestimating the pain of 33 percent of non-Black patients. 

Structural racism has also unequally affected Black people in the U.S. in other areas of healthcare, as well. 

Research gathered by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed that Black women were more likely to die at birth than Hispanic and white women. And, according to research from the National Center for Health Statistics, although heart disease has been a downward trend across different ethnic groups, Black people in 2016 were most likely to experience hypertension, and Black and non-Black-Hispanics were more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes.

The leaders of the organization’s long term goals also align with the group’s mission. 

Nurse hopes to become a clinical researcher studying obesity and diabetes, and wants to specialize in internal medicine while in graduate school. She wants to “bring awareness to the need to change the U.S. food environment in urban areas and help advance nutrition knowledge and communications in underserved communities.” Hydol aims on becoming a family physician after attending medical school. 

Black Women in Medicine plans on addressing the pandemic, lack of minority health professionals and health issues affecting the Black community, but Nurse says the group’s “main focus right now is finalizing the RSO process” that will help them establish themselves more within the campus community. 

For additional information, updates, and ways to support:

Instagram: bwm_amherst 

Email: bwmumass@gmail.com

Bias-Incidents are on the rise (again) at UMass, and students aren’t satisfied with the university’s response.

By Tristan Smith

The shouts of derogatory names could be heard from the rooftops. Nazi Swastikas have been  drawn on the whiteboards. Racist and homophobic slurs have been engraved onto the communal bathroom walls. Signs that proclaimed: “Black Lives Matter,” were stripped down and torn to pieces. 

At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, many can attest that hate has been a trend on campus for years.

According to the UMass Amherst bias-incident report page, there have been approximately 42 reported hate-incited incidents on campus over the past two years. Recently, two have occurred since the start of the new academic year. 

A Job to Die For

By Nat Luftman, Alice Troop, and James Cordero

Being a Residential Assistant (RA) or a Peer Mentor (PM) at UMass Amherst is a true honor. In our roles as the Residential Life staff who support students living on campus, we have built meaningful relationships with dozens of residents and have fostered various living-learning communities. Thanks to our status as unionized workers, we are able to collectively bargain for dignified working conditions and wages.