Idaresit Thompson

The moment she woke up to loud gospel music blaring from the kitchen, she immediately groaned.

We pondered about what it was about Blackness that so many people felt ownership over it. I joked about how so many felt they possess an experience that they would never have.

At UBC, a second-year graduate student at the Social Justice Institute, Savoy Williams, brought forward an allegation of racial profiling by a security guard, raising questions about the role of policing here in Vancouver. Two years ago, former UBC Thunderbirds football player, Jamiel Moore-Williams was tackled and repeatedly tasered by seven police officers from the Vancouver Police Department for a jaywalking violation. Recently, former Board of Governors Chair Michael Korenberg resigned after receiving backlash for liking anti-Black tweets. Despite this, the Black community at UBC is fighting. Not just for survival or acknowledgement, but the right to thrive: to partake in a freedom that celebrates and foregrounds all Black lives.