Black Academia This Week Vol. 3

April 23rd, 2021

Once again I must say thank you for deciding to read another volume of Black Academia This Week. As I have mentioned before this blog post is written to supplement the IGTV series on @blkgradstudent. Hopefully you enjoy this weeks addition of Black Academia This Week.

1: Derek Chauvin found guilty for the murder of George Floyd

I know this is not related to the Black academic space, but I find that this week is an exception. When the trial of Derek Chauvin first started, I found myself glued to my screen. The worst came to mind, and I remember thinking, this might be a real life reenactment of the Netflix show Seven Seconds. In these situations, it usually does not end up being positive for my community, so with this conviction I do feel some relief. I state some relief because this conviction does not mean police brutality is over for people of color, nor does it bring back George Floyd. To me, this case is a reminder that police are not untouchable when it comes to brutality. It is a baseline, one that will hopefully lead to radical change. My prayers go out to George Floyd’s family as I know you still bare the weight of his death. As for everyone else, know that we still are trying to breakdown barriers of systematic racism. For this instant we celebrate, but we have more work to do.

2: North Carolina A&T Wins Honda Campus All-Star Challenge

Congratulations North Carolina Agricultural & Technical (A&T) University for winning the 32nd Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (HCASC). The HCASC is an academic competition for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and this year over 300 students from various HBCUs came together virtually. The questions in the HCASC can vary from a range of topics from science to the arts, challenging teams to have a dynamic range of knowledge. The award for one of these HBCUs winning is an institutional grant for their school. This year the 4 person team from North Carolina A&T took home their first win in this competition. They went head to head against Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU) to win in the championship round to win. If you’d like to check it out or take a look, the championship can be watched here: 2020 HCASC Championship Round.

3: Becoming Collegiate Academy opening in Jacksonville

Becoming Collegiate Academy a Black owned elementary school is coming to Jacksonville, FL. This was a lifelong dream by Cameron Frazier who speaks of the school using the popular saying “for us, by us” to represent what the school means. One of the biggest motivators for him creating Becoming Collegiate Academy is having a school where students get an education they are reflected in. Because of this the community is highly excited to have this school coming to Jacksonville. For more information, check out the video above or take a look at their website, https://www.becomingschools.org/.

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