NJIT Opens Black History Month with Message to Protect One Another
New Jersey Institute of Technology, an urban university known for providing opportunities to underrepresented students, kicked off its Black History Month schedule this week with the theme of "Embodying Black Excellence."
Keynote speaker David Jones, recently appointed as NJIT's Chief Diversity Officer, expressed the school's strong support for the Black Lives Matter movement while urging students to resist all oppression.
"I'm proud of y'all for being here," Jones said to the standing-room-only audience in the Campus Center ballroom. "Together we will make NJIT the university community for everyone regardless of your cultural identity. Everyone will be able to show up and be your authentic self.
"As we as a nation designate Black History Month, for me Black excellence means we celebrate Black History Month, the excellence of Black beauty, Black people, Black culture, Black history, 24/7/365, and 366 in a leap year," Jones said. He noted many names of Black people — celebrities, ordinary citizens, past, and present — who died young because of tragedy. "How many times does Black excellence have to be taken from us before our bodies, our lives, are seen as worthy and given the dignity it so rightly deserves?
"While all of this hate continues to impact people in communities that are minoritized, by a system that was never designed for them, then none of us are truly liberated," Jones said. He noted oppression against Lenni Lenape natives, who were the original Newark-area settlers, against Black people forcefully brought to America enslaved, and currently against Asian people, the LGBTQ community, and Jewish people.
Jones said people in the NJIT orbit can help by being self-aware, and aware of what others experience; empathetic; and live as what he called "visionary leaders based on love" — "I came to NJIT, he said, "So I could help contribute in that way."
Recent news spotlights the university taking such advice seriously. In August 2022, $1.1 million was granted by the U.S. Department of Education to help 250 Newark high school students prepare for college. In September, NJIT convened its most diverse class in the university's history. In October, U.S. News & World Report ranked NJIT eighth nationwide for ethnic diversity in public universities. In January this year, NJIT awarded summer scholarships to Bobbi Wilson, age 9, and her sister Hayden, 13, after they made national news for being racially profiled while performing spotted lanternfly extermination outside their own house in Caldwell.
"This is a key event, not just for our Black community but for everyone who makes up the diverse family of NJIT. The diversity on this campus is off the charts," said university President Teik C. Lim, himself an engineer of color. "NJIT is proud to take this time to celebrate the impact of Black history and culture on this university, on the nation and on the world as well. The diversity of NJIT is among its greatest strengths."
Lim cited Jones, Board of Trustees member Norma Clayton and alumnus Clifford Samuel as Black Highlanders who influenced him. "It has been documented exhaustively that diversity contributes to positive learning outcomes … learning happens when we are exposed to a broad array of perspectives. We are fortunate to be one of the most diverse campuses in the entire nation," Lim said.
The opening ceremony also featured emcee Samuel Manu, a senior mechanical engineering major; a rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner by residence life coordinator Shamier Manu; a rendition of Lift Every Voice and Sing, known as the Black national anthem, by senior biology major Debbie Ann Spence; and music by New Jersey-based trio The Young Picassos.
"The event was amazing. The speaker, what he said was outstanding," said Brandon Lee, an African-American freshman from South Brunswick majoring in mechanical engineering. Lee said he wants to learn more about his family's background and he would like to become involved in cultural organizations on campus. "I really felt encouraged. … I learned that Black excellence can be just showing up and doing what I can to improve the liberation of minority groups."
"We've got to love harder. We've got to take care of each other. We need to do a better job of looking out for each other," Dean of Students Marybeth Boger said. "I've got to rely on the world beyond me, Black, white, everyone, to look out for my son when I'm not there, in the same way that I hope all of you students know that we as an administration look out for you. This is not where we begin. This is not where we end. This is just a reminder of the work that we must continue to do as a community here at NJIT and beyond."
