Responding to the recent deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Ezell Ford at the hands of police, student activists on Ivy League campuses have mobilized to coordinate a response. Armani Madison ’16, president of Brown’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter, and Jordan Ferguson ’17, president of the Black Student Union, have teamed up with two students from each of the Ivy League schools to form the Black Ivy Coalition.
The coalition, established last month, released a statement encouraging people to take action and demand the end of injustice toward people of color in a Sept. 22 Huffington Post article. “The whole idea of the article was to compel American society to revalue black lives,” Ferguson said.
Denzel Cummings, a student at Penn, initially contacted Ferguson with the idea to write an Op-Ed to the New York Times. As Black Student Union president, Ferguson said it was important for him to get involved, and he brought Madison into the fold. “We really work in tandem,” Ferguson said.
“It was essential for black student leaders to get involved with (these) civil rights issues,” Cummings said.
Though the coalition’s statement was never published by the Times, the Huffington Post article raised awareness of the coalition, resulting in further publicity from BET.com and Black Enterprise, among other outlets. The media attention has sparked the interest of other schools, such as the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Tennessee, to get involved, Ferguson said. “We want to figure out the best way to get other schools (and people outside the Ivy League) involved.”
Since the coalition is in its formative stages, its primary goal is to spread awareness about ongoing racial prejudice. “There’s this misconception that civil rights ended racism, but that’s not necessarily the case,” Ferguson said.
The coalition is “primarily focusing on activism through policy reform,” Cummings said, adding that group members will focus on publicizing their ideas during the fall semester and executing events during the spring semester.
Though creating dialogue remains its primary goal, the coalition also has some concrete goals for the year. Madison said it will fight against police brutality in the upcoming year by pursuing legislation requiring officers to wear full-body cameras.
Madison said he and Ferguson will work to bring the coalition’s ideas back to campus. Brown’s NAACP chapter will attempt to reflect the ideas the coalition represents by engaging the community through political advocacy, social media awareness and coordinated demonstrations, Madison said.
“We represent something larger than Brown,” Ferguson said, adding the coalition will form committees at each Ivy League university to communicate with the larger organization.
He cited the recent Ferguson Teach-in as a positive example for future events, while Madison said he would work to improve relations between the Department of Public Safety and students.
“We want to provide a space for students of all backgrounds,” Madison said.
Moving forward, the coalition has great potential, but figuring out its next steps will require diligent thought, Ferguson said.
“We want to do something, but we want to do it right,” he said. “You want to make sure the message you want to convey is really clear.”
This movement is an exciting opportunity for college students across the country to engage in dialogue, Ferguson said, adding that it also lets students tackle issues of racism and prejudice.
Ferguson said he was encouraged to see students from all eight Ivies combine forces and resources. “As the Ivy League, we are always pitted against each other in terms of rankings and socioeconomic status. … It’s nice to see us all working together to one common goal.”
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