Reflecting on My Nigerian Community: Learning How to Be an Ally to Survivors of Sexual Violence

Arifat (she/her/hers) is a Senior majoring in Social Work and Political Science. She is working in the Women's Center this year for her social work field placement. Content Note: This blog is written from my experience as a first-generation immigrant and a Nigerian-American. After reading I encourage to think about your own identities and communities…

Adding Red to the Nigerian Flag

https://womenscenteratumbc.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/img_2123.jpg Arifat (she/her) is a Senior Political Science and Social Work major, and a women's center Staff Content Note: I wrote this as someone who identifies as a Nigerian-American. I wanted to share the parallels between those two parts of my identities. The blog explores police brutality occurring in Nigeria with specific focus on the…

Learning to be anti-racist: Calling IN white people and non-Black people of color

That’s why I’m writing this. Because the burden we are placing on Black folks in all a manner of places right now, needs to be lifted. It is crucial that we center Black voices and words and prioritize creating and maintaining safe spaces for Black-identified people to feel.

Black lives matter. You matter. Endlessly and always.

The images and text below were originally shared on the Women's Center social media pages. We're re-sharing here to amplify the message and hold ourselves accountable to doing the work of our mission to advance gender equity and prioritize critical social justice and anti-racism.  There are few things that offer peace in this time, so…

FEMINIST KILLJOY ALERT: Stop Making Fun of Black and Brown Girls

Nandi is a Junior, English major, student staff at the Women's Center, and member of the Retriever Poets slam poetry team (Still from Girlhood (2014))   Picture this: It is 7:25AM in your high school. You are a student there again (I know, bare with me). You are barely awake, as is the natural order…

Things They Didn’t Tell Us: Recovering From Microaggressions

This post is written by Kay Hinderlie, a student staff at the Women's Center. Kay is a senior at UMBC, majoring in psychology. Imagine it’s the first day of your semester. After locating your class, you find a seat and reach into your backpack for your class materials. You check to make sure your phone…

No, I Don’t Want Michelle Obama to be President

Morgan is a senior here at UMBC pursuing a BA in Media and Communications major with minors in English and Cinematic Arts. If she's not working at the Women’s Center you can find her watching Ghost Shark (2013) with her friends.  My title is a lie. If only because I actually want Michelle Obama and her magnificent…

Too Busy Being Black

Briscoe Turner is a student staff member at the Women's Center. She is a sophomore Psychology major and Writing minor and a co-facilitator of Women of Color Coalition, a bi-weekly discussion group at the Women's Center.    Author's note: This blog is a reflection of my constantly evolving thought process on how intersectionality unveils itself…

Performing Pregnancy As A Black Woman

A reflection by Women's center staff member, Kayla Smith.   Full disclosure: I'm a Beyonce stan. I support pretty much everything she does. There are very few things Beyonce can do that I wouldn't damn near worship. Needless to say when she released pictures from her maternity shoot I was ready to bow down.   I scrolled…

“Twice as Good” On Being a Woman of Color and Overcoming Imposter Syndrome and Perfectionism

A blog reflection written by Women’s Center student staff member Meagé Clements  Growing up, my mother would always remind my sister and I that we had to work twice as hard as everyone else because not only were we women, but we were Black women. Living in a society that has always had low expectations of…