Columbia’s Anti-Black History (feat. Rosalyn Huff & Colby King)

Today, I’m presenting an episode from my “News and Arts” show, which I host on WKCR-FM, Columbia University’s student-run radio station.

On this show, which aired live on May 9, 2019, I spoke with Rosalyn Huff and Colby King, two undergraduate students at Columbia University. Both are members of the Black Student Organization’s Executive Board; Rosalyn (a rising senior) is the Political Chair and Colby (a rising sophomore) is the Community Outreach Chair.

On April 24th, the BSO published a report titled “A Brief History of Anti-Black Violence and Policing at Columbia University,” which both Colby and Rosalyn helped write. The 16-page history includes a statement regarding Barnard College’s profiling of Alexander McNab on April 11th; a timeline from 1968 to 2019 of anti-black violence and policing at Columbia University; and a conclusion addressing the University at-large. The report is a striking testimony to the persistence of racism at Columbia University.

Rosalyn, Colby, and I spoke at length about the report, the various experiences included in the timeline, and our experiences as Black students at Columbia University navigating legacies of anti-blackness. We talked about the University’s relationship to Harlem, the hypocrisy of attending the school, and their goals and intentions for the report.