While struggle must be recognized, it should not—and does not—define a community. As Andalus Disparte, U3 Arts and Vice-President (VP) Political & Advocacy for McGill’s Black Students’ Network (BSN), said in an interview with The Tribune, “We want to strike a balance between […] educational events that focus on Black history […] but also highlighting Black joy. There’s a tendency during Black History Month for programming to focus a bit too much on Black struggle, but we are so much more than that.”
Members of BSN work tirelessly to provide and support a community for Black students on campus. Established in 1970 when there were only 15 Black students at McGill, BSN was the Black Students Association. In 1986, it became the Black Students’ Network.
Since then, BSN has consistently mobilized and advocated for tangible change.
“The BSN started the McGill South Africa committee, which […] was campaigning against the school’s financial ties to South Africa […] and in the end, McGill divested during the 80s,” Disparte explained. “Later, in 2020 […] the Take James Down movement was spearheaded by BSN and that was successful—the James McGill statue that used to be in front of the Arts Building is no longer there.”
During Black History Month at McGill, BSN aims to support other Black student groups, run events and educate the broader McGill community. In an interview with //The Tribune//, Yousof Eldood, U1 Science and VP Operations & Comms for BSN, expanded on this.
“My favourite event that we do is Black Talk with CKUT,” Eldood said. “There will also be a soul food [event] [….] where essentially there’ll just be some food from Black culture somewhere to kind of give people a taste, and to serve as a point for the Black community to congregate, talk, have a good time, and just enjoy themselves.”
Disparte also touched on some other events from BSN’s upcoming Black History Month calendar, which was released on their Instagram.
“There will be a book club […] we’re gonna be […] reading The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison [….] There’s a speaker event happening […] with multiple professors.”
These events allow for important matters to be brought to the forefront, BSN President Orlane Donkpêgan Dopinos, U4 Arts, explained in an interview with The Tribune.
“Every single Black club on campus feels compelled to […] organize an event this particular month to talk about something that’s relevant to their own subcommunity.” Donkpêgan Dopinos said. “There’s a lot more attention on us and we take advantage of that as much as possible to discuss things that are specific to Black people.”
But while Black History Month creates a period of sustained visibility and acknowledgement, allyship is no less important outside of February.
“I think that part of being a good ally outside of Black History Month is definitely realizing that there’s a tendency when we talk about racism, to reduce it solely to casual racism […] but really […] those things are institutionalized,” said Disparte. “It can be very valuable to call out your friends or if you see something happening and not […] requiring Black people only exclusively to use their voice.”
As of 2021, Black students made up 4.6 per cent of McGill’s student body. Despite Dopinos noticing an increase in Black students at McGill since 2021, she also recognizes the power in not accepting the statistical predisposition of being a minority, and instead bolstering opportunities to grow community ties.
“What’s more important is what you do with that community. How you guys rally up.” Donkpêgan Dopinos said. “How do you guys support each other? How do you guys make sure that your needs are being heard? How do you create spaces where you feel supported, where you feel valued academically, culturally, socially as well?”
To learn more about the BSN and their events, visit their Instagram page
