BTM | Blog Site

Pass/Fail @ UMD | Fall 2020 Thank you to BTM organizer Alysa for all of her hard work on this specific issue. Please read and share the articles below to learn more about student progress in the grading option this semester.

UMD students aren’t giving up the fight for a pass/fail grading option SGA unanimously passes resolution asking UMD to reconsider pass/fail decision “Cold shoulder”: Students blast UMD administration for grading decision at town hall Students petition UMD to return to pass/fail grading for hybrid semester UMD President Darryll Pines says decision not to offer pass/fail system is final *Read this article from this morning (12/11/2020)* Almost 80 percent of UMD students opted for at least one pass/fail class last semester

Jalen Smith

Position: Forward/center

College: Maryland

High school: Mount Saint Joseph

Hometown: Baltimore

Height, weight: 6-10, 225 pounds

Age: 20

Draft projection: First round (15-25 range)

A former star at Mount Saint Joseph, “Stix” became a first-team All-Big Ten player in his sophomore year with the Terps. During his time with the Gaels, he was twice named Baltimore Sun All-Metro Co-Player of the Year and Gatorade Maryland Player of the Year, blossoming into a McDonald’s All American and a consensus five-star prospect. He averaged 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game last season in helping lead Maryland to a share of the Big Ten title, ranking third nationally with 21 double doubles. He was the only player in the country to record at least 60 blocks and 30 3-pointers, the kind of versatility that appeals to NBA scouts. Smith and Minnesota big man Daniel Oturu are the only two high-major players in the past three decades to average 15 points, 10 rebounds and 2.4 blocks while shooting at least 36% from 3-point range.

We love and support The Black Explosion Newspaper. In the past 6 months that we've been organizing they've featured Black Terps Matter in three articles. Read into them below!

BTM organizer Saba Tshibaka was invited to speak with France 24 debate anchor Francois Pichard on the #BlackLivesMatter movement after election day (11/04/2020) in Washington D.C. 
Watch the behind the scenes recording here - https://www.instagram.com/p/CHLfJQFD3FV/

“Envisioning Safety on Our Campuses” is an initiative founded to center DC & MD college campuses through a series of roundtable discussions designed to bring together students, faculty and administrators seeking to utilize transformative justice, political education and harm reduction practices to respond to conflict on university campuses. We know that police don’t keep us safe, and that includes campus police.

If you’re a Black student (any level) faculty or administrator at a DC or MD college/university. Join our roundtable discussion series starting THIS Halloween (10/31/20) at 11:30am ET! Register now: BIT.LY/ESOCRTD

The reality is that police forces and the violent effects of policing are not keeping our campuses safe. In fact, a visual police presence creates a harsher campus climate for those most marginalized, especially Black Queer identifying students and faculty. Over 44 (2015) states allow colleges to have police forces and 92% of public universities use sworn and armed officers for the purpose of protecting the university community. This notion of protection stemmed from college president’s issues with the rise of student activism and challenges to the white, cishetero patriarchal culture present at many universities. #ReclaimYourCampus #Defundthepolice #EnvisioningSafetyonourcampuses #Copsoffcampuses

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Materials from Roundtable 1

• Resource Guide from Understanding Policing

• PDF version of slide deck (attached below)

• ESOC Roundtable Series Curriculum

• From our featured speaker, Samantha Davis

  • BROWN V. BOARD: Timeline of School Integration in the U.S.

  • Critical Resistance: Abolish Policing Toolkit

  • The History of Policing in the US

  • A Call to Action for Police-Free Schools

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On September 10th, 2020 Black Terps Matter hosted our first annual book giveaway event with the local community based organization Value Village! Thank you so much to all the students and faculty that came out!

See the introductory video for the event here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CE7dOmTjLbn/

Find our first hand recount of the event here: 

BTM organizer Saba also has a 2 year old sustainable fashion brand (Rendered Inc.), and a certified Be Green Business certificate from Maryland’s oldest sustainable business Accelerator Bethesda Green. On August 8th, 2020 she was invited to join UMD MaryPIRG's MSCAC for a very relevant discussion on race & climate. Thank you to UMD student Reese Barrett, Co-Campaign Coordinator for the MaryPIRG Student Climate Action Coalition!

Find the notes from the event

here, https://docs.google.com/document/d/11bqLHZM4AL03HR5j3N6fxAbWLXAnng5EFtOqVvALG9Y/edit?usp=sharing 

and here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cso1zfF4QsQU_f4zZNobtP8hYk5VawPsH0PqkmF05r8/edit?usp=sharing 

 

MSCAC is an organization founded at UMD that includes students from universities across the state of Maryland. Our primary goal is to enact statewide legislation to reach carbon neutrality on all Maryland public campuses. Through a combination of campus and state-level advocacy tactics and education, we are fighting for environmental justice right in our own backyards. Our efforts to keep carbon offsets within the local ecosystem and economy are part of a larger push to make Maryland a leader in climate action, with our universities leading the charge.

Website: https://mscacoalition.wixsite.com/home

On September 3rd, 2020 Yara Shahidi hosted UMD's Back to School lecture. Black Terps Matters belives they did not do enough to promote this event, especially to the Black community. They also did not/will not provide the recording of the event. There was not more than 150 people on the livestream at any given point in the session. While this may have been put together with good intentions, she was speaking to Black people, answering questions as a Black woman and the Black community was not tuned in. 

Yara Sayeh Shahidi is an American actress, model, and activist. She gained recognition for her starring role as the oldest daughter Zoey Johnson on the sitcom Black-ish and its spin-off series Grown-ish. Follow her on instagram here.

See BTM organizer Saba's recount of the lecture here (3 minutes of best clips)

The University of Pittsburgh announced plans last week to require all incoming first-year students to complete a new course on anti-Black racism. They will be automatically enrolled for the fall term, reports say. Read more here!

Email in response to Vice President of Student Affairs, Patty Perillo September 5th, 2020.
To uphold our pillar of Transparency, Black Terps Matter posts the non-sensitive emails we send to the Administration.
Find other emails here. Find the list of our 10 official demands here.

Colby and Saba at The Lincoln Memorial  for the 57th anniversary of The March on Washington - Hosted by NAN & NAACP | Picture by Julia Nikhinson/The Diamondback

2020 March on Washington 8/28 @ 12 PM

To visiting (non-Black) members of the UMD community, Black Terps Matter asks that before watching the recording/live stream - please watch this 52 second video to better understand how your brain is always using prior information to make sense of new information coming in.

The Commitment March in Washington DC is being convened by Reverend Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King, III. This intergenerational day of action will demonstrate our commitment to fighting for policing and criminal justice. The Commitment March will take place on August 28th, 2020 - the 57th anniversary of the historical March on Washington, where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech.

On Friday, August 28th 2020, many individual students from Black Terps Matter convened in Washington D.C to celebrate the 57th anniversary of the 1963 civil rights March on Washington, an iconic event in American history. Read about the 2020 March in the Washington Post, Politico, and BBC News. We also hosted a live-stream (in collaboration with MICA) in an on-campus building (ESJ room 0202) to bring the event to students on campus, while socially distancing. Find Black Terps Matter's reference document for the event here - http://bit.ly/BTMwatchthemarch   https://dbknews.com/2020/07/24/umd-black-terps-matter-teach-demands-protest-racism/

https://dbknews.com/2020/08/28/umd-pines-bfsa-systemic-racism-unions-fall/

https://dbknews.com/2020/08/29/march-on-washington-umd-university-of-maryland-protest-george-floyd-police-brutality-washington-dc-racism-martin-luther-king-jr/

https://dbknews.com/2020/08/29/maryland-athletics-nba-strike-black-athletes-speak-out-against-racism/

https://dbknews.com/2020/09/10/umd-womens-soccer-black-representation-diversity/

https://dbknews.com/2020/09/11/black-lives-matter-umd-students/

Rev. Al Sharpton and George Floyd’s family on the steps
of the Lincoln Memorial. (Julia Nikhinson/The Diamondback)

All Eyez LLC is a student-led entertainment and media business that develops community leaders through enhancing the social experience for minority communities. All Eyez was founded in August of 2017 at the University of Maryland College Park by Andrew (Drew) Tawiah. As a sophomore student at the University of Maryland, Drew did what many young college students do. He studied hard during the week, and went out to socialize on the weekends. However, on numerous occasions, Tawiah and his friends witnessed events in the minority community shut down within minutes of the scheduled start time. So he began his career as a promoter for Entertainment groups at Morgan State University. Tawiah promoted events to Maryland students, but wanted to make an impact beyond social events.

He sought to create a safe environment where minority students at Maryland, a Pre-dominantly white institution, could not only socialize but to also have more school pride and engagement. However, he had few resources and no platform to engage them. It was not until the summer of 2017 through the help of a mentor that Drew developed a home team, “All Eyez On UMD” to change the social scene through entertainment events and community service initiatives. In All Eyez’s first school year, the organization established: (1) “UMD Durag Day”; (2) an annual charity basketball game, and (3) created “UMDMOVES”, a weekly event schedule that promotes campus events. Since 2017, All Eyez has served the minority community. Over 7,000 people have attended an All Eyez event since 2017, and in 2019 the All Eyez movement expanded to the University of Maryland Baltimore-County.

 
This is an interview with the founder of All Eyez LLC, Drew Tawiah, and one of their members & host, Ryan Floyd. These two individuals have played a huge part in the building of All Eyez LLC. This interview summarizes and touches on the reasons why All Eyez LLC was founded, the importance of hosting, and the lessons learned throughout the entire building process.

VITAL SIGNS: Creative Arts for Black Lives

Mini-grant collaboration with Black Terps Matter, The Clarice, The Office of Diversity & Inclusion, and UMD's MICA Office (Multi-cultural Involvement Community Advocacy)

In an effort to support student voice and action related to the Black Lives Matter movement, Black Terps Matter is partnered with The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, UMD Office of Diversity and Inclusion and UMD Office of Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy (MICA) on Vital Signs: Creative Arts for Black Lives Mini-Grants.
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Five (5) mini-grants of $500 USD each will be awarded to individual UMD student artists and UMD student organizations who create artistic and creative projects that affirm Black life and vitality, and respond to and/or interrogate white supremacy and anti-Blackness through the lens of their own identity!
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Both Black-identifying and non-Black-identifying creators may apply. For those applicants that are Black-identifying, we invite you to use this opportunity to creatively process any joy, pain, or vitality that you want to express. For those applicants that do not identify as Black, we ask that you approach your project and examine your topic from your own perspective with introspection and a critical eye.
We encourage students of all forms and levels of artistic experience to apply. Applicants do not need to be affiliated with a student organization.
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You may write a written piece (150-300 word) to describe your piece, a short video (a minute max), or create a vision board carrying your idea!

Deadline to submit a project proposal for Fall 2020 grants: Sunday, August 16, 2020 at 11:59PM ET

Black Terps Matter took all active counterparts, students, faculty, and organizations alike, in making our official demands to tackle systemic and institutionalized racism. Though these aren’t the only objectives, these demands are critical in defining a new normal towards dismantling systemic injustices occurring in our higher education systems and community. With these demands, we aspire to create a healthier campus culture and monumental steps towards freedom, equality, equity and justice.
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Our demands include:
1. Properly memorializing Lt. Richard Collins III

Lt. Richard Collins III was a former Bowie student, friend, and son who was murdered via a hate crime at the University of Maryland on May 20, 2017. He was murdered by a white supremacist UMD student who previously faced a hate crime charge, but got dismissed due to lack of evidence. He deserves justice. He deserves a proper burial, so we may mourn in peace.

2. End the militarization of UMD and sanctioning safe residential halls and environments by removing armed police and decreasing their presence.

3. Re-evaluate the hyper excessive budget funded to UMPD and redistributing those resources to Black organizations, the Nyumburu Cultural Center and the African American Studies Department

4. Change the curriculum for all entry-level courses to include topics surrounding race and making AASP 100 a required course for all students

5. Make mandatory racial bias training for all faculty, staff, professors, and student organizations including the history of racial bias and education on microaggressions, at least once every school year

6. Increase Black faculty, staff, advisors and admin

7. Increasing the number of BIPOC represented within the Counseling Center and Health Center, especially those who have past experience in handling issues of discrimination or racism

8. Creation of racial incident hotline through the Counseling Center for BIPOC mental health

9. Develop race relations evaluations to be completed by students each semester and made public

10. Divest from the Maryland Correctional Enterprises & economic security for prisoners

How you can help.
We've made this easier than ever through putting all action steps in a small document called the 'action plan'. Please do the plan and share with like-minded colleagues. Thank you again! 

Click to view and complete the first '8 Points of Action'

Watch short event debrief video here

Make some time to watch through the videos from our July Awareness Month Program here (video linked in description of event)

How you can help
1) If you're on instagram or facebook, please follow our page & repost our post about the protest 
- IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCue1xSJWJI/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackTerpsMatter
2) If you know/are a part of any organization affiliated with UMD and working to create policies for reform/awareness, please fill out this very short form so we can make sure to acknowledge the progress you/they are making - https://sprw.io/stt-b3493f
3) Share the attached graphics on your choice of social media or fwd this email!
4) Donate to the movement - We're currently collecting donations to cover organizing costs for the following items: masks, hand sanitizer, blankets (pre-loved from the thrift store). If you have any of these items please make sure to drop them off/bring them to the event, if you'd like to donate for the purchase of these items please send donations to the links below with the subject line BTM Donation
paypal.me/Rose171717
https://cash.app/$celestialsaba
https://venmo.com/code?user_id=2071078109184000681
5) If you can help us in any specific way please don't hesitate to schedule time to chat and introduce yourself over zoom https://calendly.com/sabat/black-terps-matter-office-hours

Are you interested in learning much more about Black History, as well as about political education and global history that the corporate media often ignore? If so, the Nyumburu African (Black) History & Political Education Workshops are a great way to achieve that knowledge!

Until the COVID-19 virus crisis is controlled and cleared up, the NACPE African/Black History & Political Education Workshops will be online on a virtual platform.  If you are interested in these online workshops, please reply directly to this email (solomon@umd.edu) for more information and to acquire the direct link to each successive online workshop. 

These FREE workshops are an excellent way to learn more about everything from Black (African Diaspora) History to Political Education to Media Literacy, and much more.