American International College Black Live Matter Videos (2020)
Seven colleagues at AIC reached out amidst the protests against the recent acts of violence and hatred against communities of color occurring across the U.S. Feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of it all, they imagined our students were overwhelmed as well. They wanted to do something tangible to show the students their support.
We are all concerned about the effects of these events on our students. We all want to help. We thought that as an institution that uses the phrase Access, Opportunity, Diversity as guiding principles, we had to say something. We suggested that the faculty of AIC come together to make a video showing our support—and with the support of the administration, opened this up to all employees of AIC.
One colleague offered to come to campus and photograph those who wanted to participate. We asked everyone to come with a sign stating what they were pledging to do to help end racial inequality and promote social justice. Those who couldn't come to campus, or felt uncomfortable given the ongoing COVID-19 crisis could send their own images in to me.
The group came up with the phrases to book-end the video: We support social justice; and Black Lives Matter. We also decided it would be powerful to end on a black and white photograph of as many people taking a knee as we could safely get on the campus quad while maintaining social distancing.
This video is dedicated to our students. We see you. We hear you. We support you.
Credits:
Produced by AIC faculty with support from AIC faculty, staff and administration
Conceived by: Debbi Anderson, Dayna Campbell, Destinee Chambers, Melissa MacDonald, Heidi O'Connor, Anne Stuart, and Sandy Sego
On-Campus photographer: John Nordell
All other photography by individual faculty, staff and administration
Producer, Editor, and Graphics: Kat Lombard-Cook
Music: Bensound.com
Shorter edits
We wanted to show everyone who participated in our full video, but we were also aware that a five and a half minute video is not optimum for all social media platforms. We wanted the video to reach as many people as possible, and be available to our students where they interacted with the school online. I proposed two alternate cuts that were more social media friendly.
The first foregrounds the voice of one of our Black faculty, Dayna Campbell, who created a wonderfully moving message to our students. Centering the voices of Black women is extremely important, and I felt like this was a way to model our message in action.
The other is a selection of the 'I Will' statements from the body of the main video. To make the video under 2.5 mn, all duplicate messages were removed, and statements that centered on demonstrable action and centering BIPOC voices were prioritized.
If you want to know how you can work to dismantle anti-Black racism, the 21-day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge is a good place to start:
debbyirving.com/21-day-challenge/
debbyirving.com/21-day-challenge/
If you’re an AIC student and want to talk about social justice & racial inequality, you can get in touch with:
Alicia McKenzie
Assistant Director for Diversity Education
alicia.mckenzie@aic.edu
Alicia McKenzie
Assistant Director for Diversity Education
alicia.mckenzie@aic.edu
If you’re an AIC student and need to talk to someone about how racism is affecting you, Dexter Counseling Services is always here for you.
Phone: (413) 205-3248, option 5
Email: dexter.counseling@aic.edu
Phone: (413) 205-3248, option 5
Email: dexter.counseling@aic.edu
