As Black History Month came to an end last week, I reflected on my identity as an African American at Brown. My contemplation has left me with more questions than answers, but there are a few things I know to be true. African Americans hold a unique identity within the United States and the African diaspora. This identity should be recognized and celebrated both during and after Black History Month.
Black and African American are often used interchangeably. African American is a term that some define as an ethnic group in the United States who are descendants of enslaved Africans. In contrast, Black is a racial designation that encompasses various ethnic groups across Africa and the African diaspora.
Black people make up 13% of the U.S. population and only 9% of Brown undergraduates. This year’s first-year class saw a 40% decrease in Black students. Although the majority of Black people in the U.S. are African American, meeting an African American student at Brown has been an anomaly in my experience. The Black population at Brown seems to consist mostly of first- or second-generation immigrants from countries like Nigeria or Ghana. While I am grateful for the diverse range of Black identities I have been exposed to in college, I am always struck by the small African American presence on campus. I am not alone in my experience of feeling like a “minority within a minority.” Students have written about the issue at Harvard, Penn and even here at Brown.
Race-based affirmative action at schools like Brown was created in part to mitigate the discrimination faced by African Americans in the wake of Jim Crow and slavery, yet we seem to benefit the least from it. This isn’t to say that first or second-generation Black students are overrepresented, but that African American students are woefully underrepresented — and this is a form of erasure.
During the spring of my first year, I went to a Black Student Union meeting where we watched and discussed “I am Not Your Negro,” a documentary about the life and work of James Baldwin. I raised my hand to share my experience of being African American at Brown — the heavy weight of going to an institution built on your people’s forced labor and the isolation of being a minority within your community. In response, one of my peers said that it wasn’t my fault that I didn’t know where I came from. I can recall several other instances where my Black peers gave me befuddled looks when I said I was from the United States. I grew up with a strong cultural identity, knowing that African Americans have lived in this country since before it was founded. Our ancestors tilled this land, built this economy and died for a country that regarded them as three-fifths of a person. Do our unique historical, artistic and political contributions to this country not constitute a cultural identity?
Now more than ever, our African American identity is under attack. Last month, some federal agencies prohibited observances of Black History Month, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth. This comes after a years-long campaign to ban the study of African American history under the pretext of combating “Critical Race Theory” and “wokeness.” Most recently, the Trump administration mandated that all universities get rid of race-conscious programming and threatened to defund universities that do not comply. These efforts are attempts to whitewash this country’s racist history and deny the history and culture of African Americans.
As everyday citizens, there is only so much we can do in the face of this unprecedented erasure. But as students and community members, we must demand that Brown do more to make this campus an accepting and representative environment. Black spaces on campus must recognize our cultural identity, not invalidate it. Even in light of federal attacks on race-based admissions, the University must strengthen its efforts to encourage Black and African American students to apply and attend.
Lastly, I’d like to leave my fellow African Americans with a message. In a political era where our history and literature are under constant threat, we must claim our culture with pride. This starts with showing up in the classroom, the community and Black spaces on campus and demanding more from this institution and our peers. During Black History Month and beyond, we must stand firm in our cultural identity.
Kendall Ricks ’27 can be reached at kendall_ricks@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
