Black People Make This World Better... And You Know It

Let me start out with saying, the title of this post is true and you know it. Our music, so good that back in the day white artist *cough Elvis Presley cough* would take our songs and perform them as their own. Our fashion, i'll just say that. Our hair, *cough boxer braids cough*. And much more that I won't dive into because that is not the reason I am writing this post. I am writing this post to let you know that Black people are out here doing the darn thing and working towards not only making the Fulbright Program more diverse, but making sure the Fulbright Program is equipped with the tools necessary to support Black Fulbrighters. Because honey, let me tell you, at this moment in time the Fulbright Program does not have the correct tools to help Black Fulbrighters navigate through countries that have little to know respect for Black people in general. Putting aside all of the degrees and accolades we have earned and received, and having the powerful name of Fulbright grantee behind our names is not enough to shield us from the negativity we get.

This past weekend I had the privilege to be surrounded by Black Fulbrighters as we delved into our struggles and created solutions and action plans to help Black Fulbrighters better navigate through their grant year.

Insert. Fulbright Noir: The Genesis

I am legit crying, not because I am sad, but because I am filled with joy to the point where all I can do is allow tears to run down my face. When I first heard of Fulbright Noir I had already started my grant year and was struggling and frankly felt that besides the less than 5 Black grantees I knew, we were the only ones out here suffering. I was angered. I could not possibly conceptualize why Fulbright would send us to countries with no preparation and with no training for our Posts to help us in these difficult situations we had to navigate through. Our jobs were to go to these countries and either teach, do research, be a student, but having to go out of our way, with no extra compensation, to educate entire countries about how being racist is bad was not in the job description. To the four young ladies that saw this need last year and said then that there needs to be something to shift this narrative, we love you because that is exactly what needs to happen.

You are not allowed to want more diverse people (race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.) and then not help us. We sat in a circle and shared. It is not my place to share other's experiences, I can only speak on mine, but when I tell you this "prestigious" institution failed us.... Not only do we have to work twice as hard to be afforded the opportunities of a mediocre white person in our same position, but now that we have gotten to that place we are responsible to, like I said, educate entire countries.

We came up with tangible solutions, both immediate and long term, to help Black Fulbrighters. Things from just making sure our Commissions and Post understand that a Black person is going to have a different experience than a white grantee. And that's anywhere, that is not specific to any one country. The goal of this conference was to not only share our experiences and be able to lean on one another for support, but to hash out these ideas to send to the head office so they know what needs to be done.

Because here's the thing, the Fulbright program has been going on for years and there have been Black grantees going overseas for years as well, so this is nothing new. We were not the first group to leave America and embark on these journeys, so the fact that it took until 2017/18 to start this shift is saddening. The majority of us in the room were either alumni or were ending our grant so the things that we are doing now is to help make sure that future grantees are given the support they need and the support they deserve.

My basic rights as a Fulbright grantee should include that if a racist act happens to me, whoever is "in charge" of me should be able to help and have concrete solutions for me. It should not be days of going back and forth via email trying to get help. It should not boil down to me having to go to the higher ups and beg for help. I should not have to try and convince them that these things are happening to me. Do you know the pain of having to re-tell your story several times and each time your cry more and more because you are tired of having to try and convince people that these things happened. It's as if the Black experience is not valid.

As a collective we understand that this needs to be done. Because if we don't speak out, nothing will be done. Now, you all know that I am not afraid to speak out on injustice. If I see something wrong, ima say something about it because I refuse to let someone else go through what i've been through. Everyone knows a closed mouth doesn't get fed, we know this. So I am not gonna sit back and starve, we are not gonna sit back and let the future generations starve. Our foot is down. We are done sitting back and waiting for the program to figure it out. They will hear our stories. The revolution will be televised, blogged, put on website, written in a book, you will see it and you will understand why this happened and why we have sacrificed so much. We will no longer allow the reality of being Black abroad to be swept under the rug. We shall be placed on the mantel for everyone to see and for everyone to conceptualize what we are doing.

Fulbright Noir: The Genesis

We are here. We are speaking and making moves. We are doing the darn thing and it doesn't stop here. It doesn't end in Brussels. This is the launch of a better future for the next group of Black grantees and the next and the next, for the years to come.