NCAA Diversity And Inclusion Social Media Campaign: Strength in Unity

The NCAA’s annual Diversity and Inclusion Social Media Campaign was first launched in 2018, in partnership with the Minority Opportunities and Interests Committee and the National Student-Athlete Advisory Committees, to use social media to create a dialogue around diversity and inclusion and to communicate the benefits of inclusive environments in college sports. This year, it will run from Oct.18-20 with different points of emphasis each day.

Day 1: Exploring My Identities | Day 2: Allyship is… | Day 3: Strength in Unity

The theme for Thursday, Oct. 20 is “Strength in Unity…” We asked the Maryland participants in the Big Ten’s #B1GLife Series: Selma to Montgomery trip this summer about how they witnessed strength in unity. 

Jada Anderson (Student Affairs graduate assistant), Cynthia Edmunds (Sr. Associate AD - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion/Organizational Effectiveness) and Destiny Ward (student-athlete, track & field) share their thoughts.

What did you witness or experience that demonstrated strength in unity?

Anderson: On the #B1GLife trip to Selma, I saw strength in unity demonstrated across the whole trip, so it's hard to pick just a moment. When we all walked through the Equal Justice Initiative's The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration together, many of us were emotionally activated having to relive traumatic moments of our Black American ancestors' history and grapple with the realities of how that history shows up today. A couple of us would take a break within the exhibit to hug, cry, and talk about what we were experiencing. You knew you could turn a corner in that environment and rely on people to be ready to hold space together and dialogue together, it was an unspoken link of support running through the whole building. Grappling with unfathomable truths of history and the present moment didn't have to be done alone, and that type of organic support lasted even beyond the formal programming experience. Outside of the formal programming, we as a UMD group had befriended fellow attendees from Illinois on our first day, and this type of familial bond across schools permeated the whole trip. You could sit with anyone at any of the meal times or on the bus and have a meaningful conversation, sometimes about mental health, sometimes about systemic racism and colorism, sometimes about gentrification in our home communities--everyone was committed to engaging vulnerably.  

A big moment I experienced--and I think as a group we collectively experienced and felt strength in unity--was when we went into Selma and marched the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Going across the bridge we could feel the legacy of freedom fighters there, walking the steps they marched and put their lives on the line for many times in the fight for liberation and equity. Walking through Selma and across the bridge, we were unified with our ancestors, our history, the Selma community, as well as each other. The Selma community exemplified the power of unifying as a community, coming together to talk about their history with us at First Baptist Church, collaborating with us and linking arms with us as we crossed the bridge, and giving us the privilege of hearing how they have stuck together across decades and decades to make their community, their home, stronger together.

Edwards: The B1G Life trip to Selma was one of the most profound experiences in my career. I’m grateful to Commissioner Warren and his team for their dedication and commitment to this experience. The trip gave us so many opportunities to be in unity...within our Maryland cohort, among the Big Ten Conference, with our counterpart conferences, and best of all within the Selma community. I felt so much emotion and pride when I witnessed how our student-athletes were present, engaged, curious and thoughtful towards members of the Selma community. The elders were sharing their wisdom and teaching the younger generations. The younger generations intently listened and gave the elders hope about the future. We also learned a lot about our history of racism and systemic oppression. It was an intensely emotional experience, and my hope is that we built a bridge with the promise of doing more for our communities. 

Ward: The Big Ten conference, the PAC 12 and the ACC coming together for the #B1GLife Series Trip was an incredible experience. We sat together and listened intently to the stories of those directly affected by traumatic historical events such as Bloody Sunday. Together, we drove and marched the very roads that those who paved the way for us did. We also were given the opportunity to fellowship with one another in the hotel area and come together as a unit through food and fellowship.

How can we achieve change and improve our communities by working together?

Anderson: Working together--coalition building, collaborating, redistributing resources, mutual aid--is the backbone of creating and maintaining change. We cannot achieve change alone, it is only through community that any movement has created and sustained societal progress. Isolation and individualism is the antithesis of this, and I think our trip to Selma really showed us, through both the Selma community and the work of organizers like the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, that we have to rely on each other to improve our communities, both locally and globally. We can do this in small ways, like engaging one another in dialogue to think more critically about community issues, especially issues that do not directly affect us, putting ourselves in one another's shoes. And we can mobilize together to advocate for changes in material ways as well, such as organizing protests, food/resource drives, and more things than I can't even think of on my own. All of our ideas, backgrounds, and stories are needed to inspire creative ways of approaching change and creating new realities for our communities.

Edwards: Unity is most significant and meaningful when individuals are willing to come together for something greater than what one person can do on their own. It's about the whole, not about the self, which heightens our capacity to have greater impact. Unity requires a solid commitment of diversity and inclusion: our respect and intentionality to make room for differences as well as our commitment to create an environment of mattering and belonging that is sustained by our differences.

Ward: We can hold one another accountable, not fall victim to white fragility, and emphasize the deterioration of systemic racism and oppression.

How do we at Maryland embrace our diversity and how does that make us stronger together?

Anderson: At Maryland, we embrace our diversity by acknowledging both who is and isn't at the table of important decision-making, working to meet needs and asks of student groups who have worked tirelessly to advocate for change, and critically engaging with our history no matter how awful or how good. Just a couple ways we can see this manifesting is through the the Words of Engagement Intergroup Dialogue program which calls students in to engage in critical dialogue about diversity, equity, and justice issues, as well as through university engagement in larger initiatives outside of campus like the #B1GLife trip. I also in the past seen this in the Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy (MICA) office's engagement with Piscataway elders to ensure local tribal nations are leading conversations on land acknowledgment and landback, and various celebrations and programming around heritage and pride months. None of these are endgame solutions nor do they stop the conversation on diversity, they are great starting points to keep actions going over time and demonstrate to us what happens when we work together and rely on each other across positions, departments, titles, and ultimately across difference. None of these things at Maryland are done by one person, and it is my experience and sincere hope that this type of collaboration continues, improves, and creates space for even more people at the table and for people to create entirely new tables for even better changes to be made for our community. 

Edwards: The campus has a strong institutional commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. It’s embedded in our institutional values and in our university strategic plan. Our leaders regularly use this language and often talk about its importance throughout our campus community. We are creating this DEI footprint in Athletics, and our commitment will be anchored in our culture, climate and community. It’s important for us to be purposeful and intentional about making space for differences so that every member of our community feels a sense of belonging, connection and pride. That’s what makes us stronger together.

Ward: I think that a black athlete group would be helpful in enhancing the unique experience of being Black at a predominantly white institution by allowing them the opportunity to have safe space and understanding. Racist remarks and micro aggressions should not be tolerated.