Yesterday I stumbled across a tumblr account entitled ITooAmHarvard,
This account was created by a group of students of color who attends Harvard University who are fed up with institutional racism. The students said that they feel as if they are invisible on the campus and as if they aren’t valued to what they can contribute to the institution.
The ITooAmHarvard campaign are the students way of speaking out and having their voices heard around the campus. The Tumblr account is apart of a bigger campaign which includes a play written by Kimiko Masudaa-Lawrence, a japanese and black student at Harvard. The play is also called “I Too Am Harvard.” The students who started the campaign are members of the Kuumba Singers, the oldest existing black organization at Harvard University.
The idea was born during the spring of 2013, in the response of an article written November 2012 called “Affirmative Dissatisfaction ” which speaks about Affirmative Action at institutes of higher learning. The article sparked discussion on campus that brought to light Harvard’s own affirmative action policy.
The #ITooAmHarvard tumblr/campaign displays students of colors holding boards with remarks and statements that they have heard on campus or statements that they would like to pass along to their peers.
One of the quotes that stood out to me was “Having an Opinion Does not Make Me an ANGRY BLACK WOMAN”
I can relate to the students at Harvard. I also went to a predominately white institution that is sometimes seen to be on the same level as school such as Harvard and other Ivy League Schools. I attended the United States Military Academy at West Point which has a student body population where less than 10 percent of the population is African American. There were many times on campus where I felt uncomfortable and as if I did not belong. I feel like the ITooAmHarvard campaign can definitely have a huge influences on college campus around the country and so does the Kimoko
