Hampshire College to host BIPOC mural memorial focused on BLM, police brutality, and social justice
Hampshire College is promoting a “Mural Memorial” specifically advertised to build community for BIPOC students.
Hampshire College states that the memorial is designed to honor “the Black Lives Matter movement and the ongoing fight for justice and police accountability.”
Hampshire College is currently promoting a “mural memorial” that honors the Black Lives Matter movement, and is stated to be specifically for BIPOC individuals.
On Hampshire College’s website, the college is promoting an hour-and-a-half long event that is stated to be centered around what is described to be a “‘Say Their Name’ Mural Memorial.”
In the description of the mural, Hampshire’s website states that the mural memorial is meant to “[honor] the Black Lives Matter movement and the ongoing fight for justice and police accountability.”
The description adds that the event is meant to serve as an “update on the Say Their Name mural and discuss justice for George Floyd, Marcellus Williams, Breonna Taylor, and others.” The event description also tells students or faculty interested in the event that the mural is “designed to build community among people of color, offering identity-based support.”
Specifically, the description adds that “BIPOC students are encouraged to invite a friend” to the event.
The mural memorial event is set to be hosted on Thursday, February 27 for roughly one-and-a-half hours.
In addition to the post’s description, a promo poster was included on the site to promote the event, which adds further context to the event, and was also posted onto Instagram by Hampshire College’s Lebron Wiggins Pran Cultural Center (PCC).
The PCC stated on Instagram that the event was “desgined to build community among BIPOC students, offering identity-based support and reflection,” and is targeted towards “a just and equitable future.”
In addition to the PCC’s description of the post stating that the mural is focused on addressing “police brutality,” the mural memorial states that it is being organized by “the Lebron-Wiggins-Pran Cultural Center & UMOJA: The Black Student Union.”
Listed in the promo as a point of contact for the event is Latoyya Pleasant, Hampshire College PCC’s Director for Community Advocacy and “SOURCE,” the college’s “Students of Under-Represented Cultures and Ethnicities.”
SOURCE is described as a “coalition of groups that exist for [BIPOC] students,” and is organzied due to how “[t]hese groups have a long history of organizing a number of impactful initiatives that look at community building, campus awareness, and institutional change on topics related to race, under-representation, and social justice.”
Campus Reform has contacted Hampshire College for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
