Can we breathe now? Do Black lives matter now? Do I still need to say my hands are up don’t shoot?

As the black mother to two black men, these are the questions I ask daily, and are the questions that come up around my dinner table. I am grieved by what continues to happen to black people in this country I adopted and that I call home. I have dedicated my life to social justice, but now I ask myself if I have done enough? I was appointed as the program director of the STEM division’s HHMI Inclusive Excellence grant this past September – but, what does inclusive excellence even mean within the context of science and education? Yes, we can admit and enroll more black students – lord knows there are many of those. Yes, we can make sure that our newly enrolled black students have some money to be able to do a few things – funding for student activities and educational opportunities are always welcome. Yes, we can continue to believe that we are “doing good” because we “give” black students degrees and call them alumni. But, do we hear their cries? Is simply “giving” them a space (a room) called the Intercultural Center, and broadcasting to the world that we house the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership enough? Or, do we really open our doors, our ears, our eyes, and our hearts and REALLY listen to the Kalamazoo College black community – that will be a good place to start, for those of us who say that we do not know what to do. Our black students are a microcosm of the world, we need to listen to them.

The killing of George Floyd has reinforced the importance of the Inclusive Excellence work and has made me more resolved to continue this fight. On behalf of our HHMI IE team, and by the power vested in me by the granting agency, I promise that the inclusive excellence work will continue to fight the struggle of injustice as long as I have breath in my body.

To all my colleagues and students who want to know how to be in it with us, please check out the Guide to Allyship.

Regina