On July 9, founders of the Black at UBC community began sharing Instagram posts detailing the reflections of Black students at UBC on Instagram. Since then, the page has posted over 80 testimonies sharing the lived experiences and thoughts of Black students at UBC.
The account was created after a global outpouring of testimonies on racism in higher education this June.
“I decided to make the account because I was inspired by those pages,” said third-year student Melanie Mpanju, the founder of the Black at UBC page. “I don't think a lot of people know about [the extent of racism at UBC].”
Mpanju, who is a dual citizen of the US and Canada, has observed distinctions between the two countries’ attitudes toward race. For her, racism in Canada is a comparatively subtle problem — but it is no less damaging.
“In the US, it’s in your face, it’s overt,” she said. “Whereas in Canada, it’s hidden. So I think in the Canadian context, it’s even more important that you have spaces like the Black at UBC page to bring attention to … incidents on campus.”
Black at UBC is not the only account dedicated to sharing the Black experience. Similar accounts have been made to address concerns at both Western and Carleton University. These accounts share many underlying themes, including those of insensitive speech and pro-colonial curricula.
Exposing trends in insensitive speech
As of August 15, 38 per cent of posts on the page noted usage of derogatory terms by non-Black members of the community, either as insults or as uncensored readings of primary source material in the classroom.
“A white anthropology professor played a George Carlin video discussing how white people should use the n-word,” wrote one student on the Black at UBC page.
“When I put up my hand to argue that the word can only be reclaimed by the communities that it affects, the teacher gaslit me and told me that I was ‘boundary marking.’”
Types of Discriminatory Actions Reported by @BlackatUBC Contributors
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This behaviour also extends deep into social life at UBC: one UBCO DJ expressed frustration over “consistently [witnessing] multiple white people say the n-word” at parties.
Another UBCO student recalled a feeling of “extreme powerlessness” as she listened to “a large room of entirely white people yelling the n-word through the lyrics.”
Beyond insulting words, examples of insensitive speech include statements that exclude or ‘other’ Black students, who are often a small minority in programs at UBC.
Non-Black community members in positions of power reportedly made Black students feel unsafe or uncomfortable in the university environment, from criticizing Black students for providing dissenting opinions to calling a group of Black women a “gang of violent people.”
In almost all of the posts it is the things that are said that has made life more difficult for Black students: an assertion made by a professor that Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization, the use of the N-word at a party, or persistent hypersexualization by other students.
One student called the experience of being Black at UBC “traumatic.”
“If I could turn back time, I would have done more research as to where I was choosing to go.”
Pro-colonial curricula at UBC
In June, a Sauder class was criticized for its portrayal of slavery and colonialism in a class activity. Posts from the Black at UBC page show that insensitive portrayals of colonialism and imperialism are far from isolated incidents.
15 per cent of posts on the page criticize professors for portraying colonialism without a critical eye, or for reportedly continuing to perpetuate colonial ideals in the classroom.
“In my first-year economics course, my professor argued that economists have historically refused to study economics in Africa, in the fear of being eaten by ‘locals,’” wrote one student.
Over 32 per cent of the posts posted on Black at UBC were directed toward professors. In testimonials, professors took up the bulk of insensitive portrayals of colonialism or imperialism. The account featured several accounts of professors expressing ideologies sympathetic toward perpetrators of historical injustice.
Demographics Implicated in @BlackatUBC Testimonies
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Steps toward healing and reform
Following online activism and Vancouver protests challenging anti-Black racism, UBC has pledged to “dismantle the tools of oppression and white supremacy” fundamental to community systems.
In a series of broadcast messages to the university community, President Ono recently committed to reforming academic and student life at UBC. One of his goals is to “support the diversification of the professoriate … to Black and Indigenous faculty members.”
Mpanju considers this key to making the university a more welcoming space for Black students.
“At UBC I’ve never been taught by a Black professor,” she said. “Being represented in academia is just so important, because students can only do so much. We need more figures in places of hierarchy to represent us to speak to our values, our culture.”
Since the account’s creation, the page has garnered over 2,000 followers. The account has also attracted the attention of school leaders and institutions, from President Ono to the UBC Engineering department who have also followed the account.
“I think it's important for professors to also just listen to what students have to say, even if it's hard to be able to sit in that discomfort,” said Mpanju.
“I'm glad that a lot of professors have picked up on the page, but it'll definitely be important for them to continue. This isn't just one incident or issue.”
Outside the realm of school policy, Mpanju hopes that spaces like the Black at UBC help heal the Black community on campus.
“I'm glad that Black people are … being brave enough to share what has happened to them on campus,” she said.
“At the end of the day, it's a safe space by Black people, for Black people. And I’m glad that despite everything that's going on, we're still feeling comfortable to speak our truth.”