Writing our way toward Justice: A Black Lives Matter Writing Contest and Blog for SUNY Potsdam Students
Writing Our Way Toward Justice: A Black Lives Matter Writing Contest and Blog
for SUNY Potsdam Students
New deadline: Monday, October 12 at 11 p. m.
Nine cash prizes are available.
SUNY Potsdam Students, how do you respond to the Black Lives Matter movement? How could you best impact our shared future to achieve the goals of racial justice in the U.S.? Please share your short writing on one of the prompts listed below. We will publish a number of your writings in a public blog. We hope to invite responses to your writing from the student community and to share videorecorded readings of some pieces.
Eligible writers: We welcome writing from SUNY
Potsdam students of all identities and backgrounds, whether racial,
national, linguistic, gender, class, and/or abilities.
Nine Cash Prizes: Our panel will choose pieces to publish and will award prizes to some of those. We plan on a minimum of six $50 prizes and three $25 prizes*. Runners-up will be recognized. Prizes will go to pieces that involve us most fully in thinking about your perspective. Our panelists are Dr. John Youngblood, Dr. Claudia Ford, Dr. Sabena Thomas, Dr. Matt LaVine, Clifton Harcum, Imani Doumbia, Sara Cantwell, and Dr. Jennifer Mitchell.
The contest and blog are sponsored by SUNY Potsdam Writers’ Block.
*Thank you to alum
Latesha Fussell for tripling our funds with a generous donation.
Requirements for Student Writing
· Respond to ONE of the prompts below. You may submit an
essay or a written speech of 700-1200 words in length, or lyrics or poetry
of 350-600 words.
Make clear your key
points, showing why you believe what you do.
We encourage you to write your piece out “long,”
then edit it down to create your desired effect on readers. Let each sentence
or line build our understanding.
· Communicate your point of view well for an audience of SUNY Potsdam students, addressing all students or a specific group. (Tell us your chosen audience on your cover page.)
Code meshing, or blending of language styles and
terms, is welcome, as long as your intended audience (all or some SUNY Potsdam
students) is likely to understand your writing, perhaps after they Google a few
new phrases.
We will offer suggestions for edits to style and grammar before we publish the work on our blog.
Consider others who might read the final blog, such as members of the faculty, staff, administration, alumni, students’ friends and families, and local community.
· Email your writing as a Word
attachment to wblock@potsdam.edu before Monday, October 12 at 11
p.m., with cover sheet.
Choose your font, but make the format easily readable. See length requirements above.
Cover sheet: On the first page of your document, give (1) the title of your piece; (2) the specific prompt you’re responding to; (3) your genre (essay, speech, lyrics, or poetry); (4) the audience you've chosen to write for (all SUNY Potsdam students or a group of them); and (5) your full name, SUNY Potsdam email address, and phone number. On the second page, begin your writing.
By submitting your writing, you give us permission to publish it on our blog, but you will retain any future copyright.
Contact wblock@potsdam.edu with questions. You'll reach the director, Dr. Mitchell.
FYI: Have a look at these pages, which were created for you this summer. They’re not required, but we want you to be aware of them. Italics indicates link: BLM Potsdam timeline of protests held in Potsdam during summer 2020; SUNY Potsdam Libraries’ study guide to BLM and key issues; and
Choose One of these Writing Prompts
Respond to ONE of these four detailed prompts below. Or, contribute writing to the Open Category.
1. Identity, Healing, & Change
2. Innovative & Strategic Activism
3. Moving from Observation to Action
4. Rethinking the Necessity of Public
Institutions
5. Open Category
In responding to your chosen prompt, consider the bulleted questions. You can respond to any of those questions, or you can just be inspired by them.
We welcome writing from SUNY Potsdam students of all identities and backgrounds, whether racial, gender, class, abilities, national, linguistic, or more. Only two of 15 bulleted questions in the prompts address writers of a specific identity group.
1. Identity, Healing, & Change
Each of us lives in several identities that intersect in distinctive ways. Our own intersections pose unique challenges and allow us to develop different perspectives on power, oppression, trauma, and freedom. Considering your own racial and other identities, how might you choose to use the attributes that shape who you are to create healing and justice?
Respond to any of these questions -- or to a similar
question that addresses the prompt above.
o How do you find moments to breathe in your
identity? What outlets do you use to process and unpack the trauma BLM seeks to
heal?
o When was the first time you found beauty in
your blackness? How has that moment shaped the way you feel about the BLM
movement and who is included or not included in it?
o What is the value of amplifying the
multifaceted nature of blackness in BLM? Have all forms of blackness been
uplifted in the movement?
o How have you learned to navigate the
intersections that your own identities create? How can aspiring activists use
the power of their identities to help advance the healing and social changes
the BLM movement strives to put into effect?
From Imani Doumbia, current student, Campus Life communicator, and
Writers’ Block tutor
2. Innovative & Strategic Activism
It’s one thing to be exposed to the wrongs of our society, but how
do you plan to move forward by expanding BLM activism in innovative ways?
Significant change will require persistent activism adapted to different circles
of people. We all occupy several social spheres: some students may be
student-athletes, some may be student leaders, some are artists or performers.
Others may be involved in their home communities or are trying to become
involved in their future profession.
We can only expand the conversation by becoming agents of change in our respective social spaces. As agents of change, we must push the narrative within our social spaces in order to counteract the damage done. In our own social spheres, whatever they are, we should all find ways to have conversations about racial justice in all its forms.
Respond to any of these questions -- or to a similar
question that addresses the prompt above.
o What
could it look like for you to become an agent of change in your social spaces,
pushing the narrative in new ways, in order to create new forms of activism and
shared understanding?
o How will
you continue to challenge the norms of your social spaces to be more inclusive
and action-driven?
o In the
age of innovation and social media, how do you plan to innovate new forms of
activism through which you could influence your respective social spaces?
From Kevin Agyakwa, SUNY Potsdam & Syracuse University alum,
former Writers’ Block tutor, and public relations professional
3. Moving from Observation to Action
Your actions may have a long-term influence on your college as an
institution. As you think about your next steps for institutional change, keep
in mind that this work did not start with you, and it will not end with you.
Racism is a system that is bigger and stronger than our generation, and we
cannot handle it alone. Although we may not be able to solve racism in our
lifetimes, it is our responsibility to dismantle any narrative that tells Black
people, Indigenous people, and People of Color that we are inferior to others.
To dismantle such narratives, we must create spaces to share the history of
Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color while acknowledging the
lies of white supremacy which we were taught.
We achieve this goal by dismantling and disrupting institutions
that uphold white supremacy and the perceived inferiority of people of color.
You can start by looking at your communities, schools, places of worship, and,
most importantly, your daily cross-racial interactions. What policies can you
change to impact future Black, Indigenous, and People of Color students,
faculty, and/or staff here at this college? Describe a problem and the
necessary positive changes that you think need to start on campus if we want to
disrupt and dismantle racist institutions and narratives over the long-term
future.
Respond to any of these questions -- or to a similar
question that addresses the prompt above.
o What spaces on campus are only occupied by
White people? How are White students being impacted by these all-White spaces?
o How are
committees, groups, clubs, and departments striving to be anti-racist
without representation of people of color?
o How has
terminology silenced students who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color
(i.e., language like “civility,” “minority-majority,” and “grit”)?
o How have
students who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color created institutional
change on predominantly White campuses, in the past and in the present?
o Should
the entire campus community try to achieve cultural competency or cultural
humility? And why? (Cultural competence can be “loosely defined as the ability
to understand, appreciate and interact with people from cultures or belief
systems different from one's own” (APA,March 2015). Cultural humility is the “’ability to maintain an
interpersonal stance that is other-oriented, or open to the other, in relation
to aspects of cultural identity that are most important’” to the other person (APA,August 2013).)
From Latesha Fussell, SUNY Potsdam alum, doctoral
student, and professional in higher ed diversity, equity, and inclusion.
4. Rethinking the Necessity of Public
Institutions
The path of the BLM movement has proved that we cannot discuss methods to end incidents of violence against Black bodies without examining structures and institutions which allow violence to exist in the first place. The recent murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and countless others have driven a much-needed discussion in both the Black community and society at large.
These conversations call on aspiring activists to imagine how to transform or end current forms of certain institutions, including incarceration, policing, housing, education, and healthcare. This challenge requires a lot of analysis and patience, and a strong will to imagine what shape our world should take. Have you envisioned what a racially just society would require?
Respond to any of these questions -- or to a similar
question that addresses the prompt above.
- In what ways has the broad BLM Movement challenged you personally to rethink the way certain institutions operate in your community? (see previous paragraph for list of institutions)
- In your rethinking, have you examined the necessity of any of these institutions (one or more)?
- What does a world beyond the current existence or form of any of these institutions look like? How do you imagine the world after important changes are made?
From
Jwuan Murphy Rodriguez, SUNY Potsdam alum, former Writers’ Block tutor, and
college admissions professional
5. Open Category: Your Written Work Already Completed, Summer 2020. Share writing that you have already written and that you are proud of. The writing could be on a general BLM theme or not; we’d like to showcase and celebrate students’ writing, from social media posts, poetry, and lyrics to essays written for courses. These pieces will not be eligible for cash prizes.
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Related links, just FYI and not required for your writing. More links available above, after “requirements” and before “writing prompts.” Italics indicate links.
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