WBSU supports, empowers black womxn by 'Showin' Up'

While the Black Lives Matter movement as a whole warrants discussion, the adversity faced by black womxn in particular often lacks media coverage. As part of their annual campaign for Women’s History Month, Wisconsin Black Student Union sought to shed some light on these issues.

In an attempt to spur conversation and raise awareness of the struggles of black womxn in society. WBSU held Talk To Me Tuesday: Showin’ Up for Black Womxn in the Multicultural Student Center Tuesday.

According to WBSU liaison Knisha Boswell, TTMT is a discussion-based event focused on showing up and being allies to black womxn. The evening opened with an activity oriented around privilege, then transitioned into open group discussion.

“I’m just hoping to open people’s eyes to different types of privilege and to help people identify where they could help out, where they could be a better ally,” Boswell said.

The opening activity was intended to “help people identify their privilege and then check their privilege,” according to Boswell. Attendees were read statements and asked to raise their hands in response to the ones they identified with. Topics included access to food in childhood, disabilities, portrayal of respective cultures in media, being victims of violence as a result of age, gender and sexuality as well as family environments. She said the exercise was meant to highlight different points of privilege among groups of people.

The following discussion brought up the theme of problems that black womxn face and the lack of support they receive from other members of society. Discussion questions prompted attendees to discuss social groups that support black womxn and the portrayal of black womxn in media.

“With the current situation of so many black womxn, and also black and brown womxn missing in the D.C. area and even all over the world, it’s crucial to talk about the womxn’s role in society and the womxn’s role in history and what it has been and what it will be,” WBSU member Breanna Taylor said. “I feel that the only way we can really get to the root of that is to talk about issues like this.”