top of page

step3:

make a website

by kennedy clark

how to enter awkward conversations: 

a comprehensive guide 

Looking to broaden the scope of my conversation regarding race relations on college campuses, I wanted to do something that would engage with a lot stories and voices, but in an interactive way. I thought about doing a podcast, but then Mizzou happened. And Yale. And McKenna. Numerous marginalized populations at PWIs were dealing with similar issues, systematic ones, that connected with the experiences of the black community at Michigan. In addition, the anniversary #BBUM (Being Black at Michigan), a social media campaign created by Michigan's Black Student Union (BSU), was approaching. I, being on the executive board of the BSU, felt the need to synthesize this moment in collegiate history. It is one that will likely be featured as a civil rights movement within textbooks. 

 

I then considered making a how-to pamphlet inspired by Baratunde Thurston’s satirical self help book, “How to be Black.“ The pamphlet would be mirrored after a University of MIchigan brochure, with its guidelines being satirical transformations of the quotations students posted about their experiences being black at the university. These quotations were generated #BBUM. But this idea was too central to a single university. It undermined the importance of the movement unfolding before me. 

 

In order to concisely and accurately capture the black student experience in relation to a PWI, I choose to create a website. This site would summarize the racially charged incidents happening nationwide and subsequently summarize the student responses on campus. It would use the word concessions to analyze the relationship between black students, their universities, and their administrators. Digitally produced art would play on the concept of a concession stand, a site of palatable pleasures—salty, sugary, and sweet. I would replace the subscript on candy bars with satirical statements inspired by the experiences shared via #BBUM. 

 

But when student groups started issuing demands to their universities’ administration, I felt the need to refocus on the University of Michigan’s own battles with racial insensitivity and injustice on campus. Michigan’s BSU issued demands in 2014. I decided to use Michigan as a microcosmic site of minority student grievances. Ultimately, the finished product is shaped by current events and my conflicting ideas about what would be the most efficient and beneficial display of these issues. 

bottom of page