Student Life Sponsors Juneteenth Panel–“Gen Z Is “Gettin’ It Done!”

NOVA’s Office of Student Life sponsored, “Juneteenth: A Freedom Day Panel Discussion,” on Friday, June 19. Juneteenth marks the end of the slavery era in America in 1865, when slaves in Texas learned of their freedom.

The event consisted of five panelists and moderator, E.J. McDuffie, student life advisor at NOVA-Woodbridge. More than 75 attendees took time out of their day to listen and learn about this important holiday that fell amidst recent racial tensions following the death of George Floyd and other innocent African Americans.

As moderator E.J. McDuffie was introducing panelists, interlopers “zoom bombed” the meeting with graphic images and vulgar comments. Panelists patiently waited as they locked down the meeting and ushered distractors out. McDuffie then seamlessly moved forward with the event.

Panelists included:
Tiffney Laing, former student life coordinator at NOVA-Loudoun. Laing left NOVA to continue building her very successful business, Bevy & Dave, an award-winning educational toy company devoted to changing the narrative of Black history and building leaders with ancestral stories.

Jimmy McClellan (not that Jimmie McClellan), assistant director, Life Sciences, for the College Park Scholars Living-Learning Program at University of Maryland and chair of the Young Democrats of Maryland LGBTQ+ Pride Caucus.

Rosa Sherrod, academic advisor at NOVA-Loudoun and participant with Excellent Options, a parent-initiated program that partners with schools to eliminate the “academic achievement gap.” Rosa grew up in Watts in South Central Los Angeles and was the first person in her family to attend college. She is a wife and mom to five African American sons.

Bonnie Fisher is an ally, a status she believes to be essential. She believes it is her responsibility to bring other White people with her on the journey to being a better ally and to help elevate Black voices. She formerly worked in higher ed. as a career counselor and is now a healthcare recruiter for CT Assist.

Christine Williams is an elementary suspension instructor living in Orangeburg, S.C. Her background is in higher education, diversity and inclusion. She currently works with young Black boys who have been suspended from school, teaching them until they are readmitted.

The objective of the panel was to provide insight on Juneteenth and the importance of the holiday to the Black community. With greater awareness during this time of social change, having an understanding of the roots and significance of this holiday is critical to serving as an ally.

In her introduction, Christine Williams mentioned that 2020 mimics the late 1800s or early 1900s. “If we think that [racism] was ‘in my grandparents’ age,’ or ‘back then,’ we are wrong.”

Rosa Sherrod explained some of the history of the holiday, that Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and 13th Amendment, but it took two years for word to reach those enslaved in Texas that they were free. Juneteenth is a “celebration of our freedom from slavery. It is a celebration of who we really are,” she said.

Tiffney Laing was asked why July 4th is more prominent than Juneteenth.

“The Bevy & Dave series exists because the focus of history only gives part of the story. There is a huge part most don’t know. Juneteenth was removed from textbooks to focus on Independence Day. But Independence Day did not include black people,” Laing said. “If one person is a slave, everyone is enslaved.”

Laing continued, “Our ancestors helped to build this country. You can’t talk about America without mentioning African-Americans.”

When asked about her earliest memory of Juneteenth, Christine Williams responded, “I grew up in a Black, Black household. I was born in 1992, but I didn’t learn about Juneteenth until 2012. It made me sick that I had never heard about it. I grew up in schools going to plantations for field trips, but I never heard Juneteenth mentioned.”

“Every year, I reflect on why I celebrate,” Williams said. “We still aren’t free. Laws stop us from getting loans. We are stopped from getting jobs. I am stopped from wearing my hair my way. Laws keep you enslaved mentally and emotionally.”

Williams went on to say that African Americans built this country through forced labor. “Without that, most of this wouldn’t exist. There must be laws passed to recognize me as a person, to not fire me. My focus is on where to put my Black money. How many merchants look like the people who built this country? How much power not only my Black skin has, but also my Black money has. I will use it to empower my own people,” she said. “My babies will know ‘that was my mom, my daddy that built this place!’”

According to Bonnie Fisher, it is White people’s job to teach each other how to be respectful to our Black brothers and sisters. She told a story that several years ago, she was in a graduate course with Williams and someone asked ‘Christine, Can I touch your hair?’ Another time, they were shopping at a furniture retailer, and the manager said proudly, “All this was built by inmates.” Fisher’s response was, “Oh, modern day slave labor!”

“I can only imagine how painful it is as a Black person to have to speak to White people and educate them on how to treat people as people,” Fisher said. It is White people’s job to teach each other how to be an ally. “It is my job for the rest of my life,” Fisher said.

McClellan agreed, “It is exhausting to constantly have to answer questions. Don’t rely on Black and Brown people to constantly educate us on these issues.”

On the subject of protests and riots, Rosa Sherrod discussed pervasive psychological racism. Amid COVID-19, there are many more underlying ailments with where we are as a nation; as a people.

“If we do nothing else, we need to go back and learn African American history. When we don’t have it, we repeat it,” Sherrod said. “People ask, ‘Why is this suddenly happening?’ It has been happening. We need African American teachers, doctors, lawyers. We need to help ourselves deal with hundreds of years of psychological racism.”

“How can we stop it now?” asked Christine Williams. “No one has all the answers. There are too many problems to solve, but we have to start somewhere. I’ll tell you one thing, though; Gen Z is gettin’ it done! I know what’s about to come out of this. You’ve messed with the wrong generation! Gen Z is doing it! Keep fighting, because you’re on the right side of history. It’s going to be worth it, but we have a long ways to go.”

Special thanks to members of NOVA’s Office of Student Life, particularly E.J. McDuffie, Nigel Word, Student Life coordinator, Woodbridge and Mike McMillon, Student Life coordinator, Loudoun.