The door slid along the carpeted floor. I entered the rectangular office with off-white walls and wooden furniture. On the bookshelf, I found welcoming gifts from the foundation. Sandwiched between two hardcover books, I read the title of a popular book from my college years. I blinked twice and smiled. The leadership team had placed a copy of Dr.
Did Baldwin get it right? In James Baldwin’s book, The Fire Next Time, he writes, “Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, which is the only fact we have.” Baldwin suggests our fears of death shape our drives, decisions, and divisions.
On July 4th, I ran the 10K Run for Hunger charity race. The event began at 8:00 AM, hours after a flash flood devastated multiple communities. Unaware of the catastrophe that had occurred last Friday, I warmed up with capoeira movements in my garage and jogged to the starting line.
Umoja actively serves and promotes student success for all students through a curriculum and pedagogy responsive to the legacy of the African and African American Diasporas.
