Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to inform you of a matter that requires our immediate attention. Three Black male students have been summoned to appear at the Office of Student Conduct to face disciplinary actions for their participation in the peaceful occupation of the Student Center last week. The summons indicate that the nature of the offense is simply: choosing to remain in the Student Center after its normal operating hours and not leaving when asked. However, two of these students will face serious consequences that undermine their academic progress if sanctions are enforced. It is simply inconceivable that Black students should find themselves shut out of EMU for peacefully sending a symbolic challenge to racist messages telling them that the university is no place for them. Please join faculty in speaking out for these students.

Here are some things you can do:

Email President Smith (president@emich.edu; 734-487-2211) and ask him to intervene to have all charges related to the student protest dropped.

Contact Michael Smith, Associate Director of the Office of Student Conduct, Community Standards and Well-being (msmit288@emich.edu; or call 487-2157 and ask to speak to a director or coordinator) to let the Office know that you disagree with the disciplining of students exercising their right to peaceful protest.

Spread the word on social media and get the community involved: #ourhouseEMU

If you would like some talking points, here are some generated by the faculty who met with the affected students this morning:

—Given the important history of civil disobedience in the United States and the fact that Objective 3.1 in EMU’s Strategic Theme for Student Engagement and Success is to “support students in becoming actively engaged global citizens with strong cultural awareness,” our students have a right to engage in peaceful protest on our campus.

—That the recent acts of racist aggression on campus combined with the heightened racial tension produced by the current presidential race are substantive facts that must be taken into consideration by judicial officers in assessing if the student’s conduct should be deemed disorderly.

—That the students’ “inappropriate use of a University facility” is directly related to the University no longer providing them with a 24 hour facility in which to gather.

—That the only “inappropriate use of University facilities” going on here is the misuse of University resources on the disciplining of peaceful student activists.

November 9 will mark two years since the murder of Aura Rosser by an AAPD officer. When Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie declined to indict the officer, community members analyzed the materials from the Michigan State Police investigation and wrote The People’s Retort to the Prosecutor’s Report. In May of 2015, the prosecutor removed all the investigation materials, claiming they did not have adequate space to store it online. Recently, the prosecutor’s office re-released the investigation materials citing a renewed interest in the case. Perhaps they are referring to the renewed interest in AAPD’s conduct because the Human Rights Commission called for a civilian review commission or because an independent auditor is beginning an audit of the department. Perhaps the renewed interest is also because RAW recently released transcribed excerpts of interviews with eyewitnesses whose testimony contradicts the claim of AAPD Chief Baird that the officers’ actions “likely saved the life” of one of those eyewitnesses, Victor Stephens.

In any case, you can now review the investigation materials for yourself here. It’s never too late for justice for Aura!

Walter Kraft, Calvin Phillips, and Bob Heighes lead a strategy huddle in which it’s decided that Black student protestors will be filmed and their names/student ID numbers requested so that they can be summoned to disciplinary hearings.

“Leave Niggers.” That’s the most recent of at least four acts of terrorist vandalism to which EMU students have been subjected.

President Smith and other administrators have scrambled to piece together talking points, and an action plan for addressing—and, we hope, correcting—the ways that EMU as an institution remains an actor in the economy of white supremacy. We’ve heard little that reassures us, beyond proposed teach-ins, commissions, and other normative examples of bureaucratic response to ongoing Black trauma.

Let us not waste much time reminding white university and community members about how white supremacy is at work at EMU; suffice it to say that bench warrant arrests are high, students of color are far more likely to receive police “attention” than their white counterparts; there are more than a few academic departments without a single Black faculty member. We could go on.

However, what concerns us at present is that we’re learning that the brave Black students who staged a generative, love-infused sit-in at the Student Center last night, and who were threatened during that sit-in with expulsion, arrest, and having their videotaped/photographed images used against them, are now beginning to receive emails from the Office of Student Conduct. “Leave Niggers”/expel Black activists—the irony is sickening.

Therefore, in the wake of today’s 300-people-strong demonstration against racism, we are calling on committed EMU faculty to reach out to us using this contact form, to let us know if you’re willing to go to bat for these students.

If you’re not comfortable with putting yourself on the line in this way, but still wish to act, email your colleagues to raise awareness about these events, and email administrators to ask that instead of harrassing activists, they redirect their energy to combatting campus racism in all its forms.

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Happy Native American Heritage Month! Native Youth Alliance will be holding events in the Ypsilanti area all month.

In this video, watch Nathan Phillips, Ypsilanti resident and indigenous environmental activist from the Omaha Nation, break down the confrontation at Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota. Nathan visited Standing Rock in recent months and gives us a firsthand account. Thousands of water protectors have gathered for months to block the Dakota Access Pipeline and hundreds have been arrested. Nathan needs to return there and is looking for help with a car or ride. Please email nativeyouthalliance [at] gmail [dot] com if you can help.

Watch this space for more indigenous reports from Nathan.

We could introduce you to the racist white woman whose hateful Instagram post is going viral—

or we could just introduce you to the star high school football player she’s envious of:

[Ashton Brooks is the first woman to play varsity football at Dow High School in Midland, Michigan. She’s also the best kicker in her league.]

[Editor’s note: A lot of people don’t understand why municipal branding campaigns like “Ypsi Real” are destructive. We’re at work on a lengthier piece about this, but for now, we share with you a brief post by the catalytic Keep Hoods Yours collective.]

Another sign of the continuing efforts to push gentrification further into East Oakland; nobody from the East calls it “Heartlands.”

These kinds of pole banners, as seen in other areas being targeted by predatory gentrifiers, are an attempt to reintroduce working class hoods to a new audience of incoming yuppies by assigning the neighborhood a new name in order to disassociate it from its existing cultures & present it in a way that’s more compatible with the values of wealthy yuppies. These banners are literally advertisements selling East Oakland as a repackaged commodity for anyone with enough money to buy & colonize as if there aren’t already generations of relationships, families & cultures there.

If you check out the Heartland Merchants Association’s website, the people responsible for pushing for the banners, they claim their goal is to “revitalize” (gentrify) East Oakland by promoting it’s “charming shops and culture filled neighborhoods” (for culture vultures to consume, water down & appropriate) & “shopping appeal” & “vibrant business activity” that provides “a feast for fashionistas and hair-design devotees with many quaint eateries and small businesses.” Apparently even “home improvement and antique enthusiasts will find everything needed for even the most unusual projects.”

They’re kind of hard to reach, but we’ll gladly repost photos/videos of these garbage ass banners getting dissed.

#GentrificationIsViolence #Decolonize #ClassWar

#YpsiReal