Racial inequality has plagued our nation since its beginning. While some argue equality was granted when the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, it does not include the unspoken oppression, discrimination and marginalization against Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC).

Brutality against Black people can be traced back to the origination of this country; however, the specific creation of the Black Lives Matter movement, which advocates for ending police brutality, was created in response to some significant tragedies involving Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Deborah Danner, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and many other victims of the ripple effects of slavery and racism within this country.

Dr. Angie Chuang, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder, focuses on the intersection of race, identity and representations of “otherness.”

“If you’re dealing with a diversifying population at a time when segregation is in the law, that’s terrible, but it’s visible,” said Chuang. “If you’re dealing with it in 2020, it’s visible in other ways, but much harder to put your finger on because it’s not written into the law, or there aren’t signs that indicate that we still live in a hierarchical society with a lot of discrimination.”

The impacts of racism continue to affect our country. According to Dr. Hillary Potter, an associate professor of ethnic studies at CU Boulder, “Because of people and structures needing to rely on this tradition of power and those power differentials, that means that there are going to be people who are marginalized.” 

Today, the country faces consequences as marginalized people are growing exhausted. Yet, marginalized people continue to speak out through various forms of protest.

“It’s important from a researcher’s perspective to see that this is cyclical,” said Chuang. “There’s a lot of things that are happening that haven’t happened before with what’s happening with professional sports and the general corporate America awareness. At the same time, there’s a reason why James Baldwin wrote his book, The Fire Next Time, he called it that. He was writing about riots and protests in the 1960s and he was basically saying it’s gonna happen again.”

Marginalized groups, and partially members of the BIPOC community, have been fighting for equal rights in this country for a long time, and in the year 2020, they continue to march through the streets fighting for the same rights that have been covered up or against discrimination renamed through different legislation.

The only difference is that now, the media is not ignoring racism. There is raw footage of police brutality; and there is proof of racial microaggressions, racial gaslighting, racial profiling and racial stereotyping.

Dr. Brenda J. Allen, who is the Vice Chancellor for diversity and inclusion at the University of Colorado Denver and a professor of communication, observed this moment in history critically.

“This seems different,” Allen said. “That is this moment, in terms of race, anti-racism, anti-Black racism. What I see, in many cases, are genuine attempts to want to understand in ways that, as I have been doing this work a long time, I have not seen. So many White people and so many White people in different positions and so forth responding, some are reacting, but responding in the way that they are.”

The Bold’s timeline is not meant to be a comprehensive account of Black inequality and injustices throughout history, but rather encompass the events from 2020. This has been an extremely traumatic and trying year, but has opened America’s eyes to the injustices that the Black community face and what steps need to be taken in order to reach an anti-racist, progressive world. The timeline below is compiled of events relevant to Black Lives Matter, with an emphasis on events in the Denver metropolitan area and Boulder County, outlining the proximity of the movement to the University of Colorado Boulder.

[timeline src=”https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18h1zYqRphv2ix8i4e41-C7OUCqiRPUwZODGZypoB-xQ/edit#gid=0″ width=”100%” height=”650″ font=”Default” lang=”en” version=”timeline3″ ]

Next Steps

To many people, it may feel as if we have regressed as a country. It’s a feeling that even scholars like Potter are experiencing. 

“We have reverted in a sense because of the more blatant actions that some people are taking, but that racism was always there,” said Potter. “So it’s been kind of like where there was a time for a couple decades there where it just wasn’t so outward and where we were seeing some progress like policies and laws that we were moving towards racial equity. And then now, it kind of feels like we have come to a halt and there is so much more conflict around that.”

While it may feel as though the path towards racial equality has stalled, Allen shares the belief that race was developed as a means of discrimintation, and “just as it was constructed, then there’s a way forward in deconstructing it,” she explained. 

For Chuang, this moment in history could be a turning point for our society.

“We’re in a position where we can really change as a society, and how we change, whether that change is positive and inclusive or all Americans, or just some Americans, or if we fracture as a society,” said Chuang.  

To move forward towards a future of equity and equality, Allen recommends people take the first step of learning about racial injustice.

“We have to really understand implicit bias,” said Allen. “We have to understand institutionalized racism and therefore look through our policies, procedures and practices. We have to understand that if we don’t check our history, if we don’t understand it, that saying is something like ‘we’re doomed to repeat it.’ So I think higher education, and education period, has an obligation to educate people and equip us so that we can indeed fight against this.”

Staff Writer’s Note

It’s important to remember that there is always hope and we cannot lose momentum in the fight towards racial equality. We can start by continuing to hold the leadership within CU Boulder and all of Colorado’s college campuses accountable for taking real and meaningful actions towards creating more of an anti-racist and inclusive community. Chancellor Philip DiStefano plans to implement his eight action steps. As students, faculty and staff, we need to continue to monitor the effectiveness of the Inclusion, Diversity and Excellence in Academics (IDEA) Plan ourselves and continue to push the leadership team to take more action. We need to support the Black Student Alliance and any community on campus that is dedicated to the establishment of a more inclusive and accountable campus. We need to continue signing petitions, educating ourselves and informing others that the time to act is now. We need to remember that Black Lives Matter is a movement, not a moment. 

Black Lives Matter has a list of 2020 goals that they hope to achieve, which include vigorously engaging communities in the electoral process, educating their constituents about candidates and the issues that impact us the most and promoting voter registration among Generation Z, the Black community and allies. 

As we go through the 2020-2021 school year, it is important to make sure we are doing our own part toward creating a more just society. Take the anti-racist modules and continue to go above and beyond and keep learning. Attend meetings with groups that are doing real work in the communities. Speak with your peers about the importance of educating themselves and supporting these underrepresented communities. Keep up to date with what is going on in the world. If you truly believe that all lives should matter, all lives cannot matter, unless Black lives also matter.