Binghamton University played host to the Black Student Union’s “Solidarity March” on Monday, to honor the 51-year-old “Black Solidarity Day.”
Founded by former Panamanian ambassador for the United Nations Professor Carlos Russell, Pipe Dream reports Black Solidarity Day serves to “unite all people of modern African descent” in which participants cease “engaging in […] commercial activities” to demonstrate their economic power.
Although this year’s theme is dedicated to American black immigrants and their contributions, BSU meetings prior to the march emphasized happenings in Nigeria, the Haitian Revolution and police brutality in the US.
Binghamton BSU Educational Coordinator Elizabeth Plantin said regarding the last item that “a lot of police tend to kill Black men, Black women [and] Black trans lives, and they get away with this.”
BSU Student Association Representative Calista Bryant added Black Solidarity Day is necessary as Binghamton is a predominantly white school which can cause (black) students to feel isolated and alone: “I really did not see people who looked like me, people who I felt like I could really connect with.”
The march began with Saint Ange performing the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Then, the gathering made its way out of the Union and marched toward Glenn G. Bartle Library. …
Following a moment of silence, the march continued down the sidewalk, with chants of “Black Lives Matter” and “No justice, no peace, no racist police” echoing through the crowd. The assembly later paused to acknowledge the lost Black femme and Black trans lives of Breonna Taylor, Nina Pop, Riah Milton and Tony McDade. Further stops were made along the way to honor Elijah McClain, Walter Wallace Jr., Kevin Peterson Jr. and activists who have died protesting against SARS in Nigeria.
As a memorial for Black Solidarity Day, the BSU had lined the Spine with black flags bearing the names of those who died due to police brutality and systemic violence.
Perhaps next year the BSU could invite Binghamton’s own Jennifer Lynn Stoever who teaches English, general literature and rhetoric. Given that one of the her specialties is the so-called “cop voice” — a sound “that exerts a forceful, unearned racial authority via the sonic color line to terrorize people of color — any white allies in attendance could become quite … enlightened.
MORE: Students behind racist drawing at Binghamton U. say it was ‘social experiment’
MORE: Conservative students attacked at Binghamton last fall sue university
IMAGE: Teacher Dude / Flickr.com
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.