UMD's BSU hosts collaborative 'Step Up' meeting with Howard students

Members of Black Student Union at ‘Step Up’ general body meeting on Monday, December 5, 2022

The Black Student Union discussed the different levels of privilege and generalization of Black students in their ‘Step Up’ general body meeting on Dec 5.

The meeting— attended by both University of Maryland students and Howard University students— consisted of the game ”Step Up” where members listened to statements of personal experience and identity and took a step forward if they related to the statement. 

“If you almost always see members of your race, sex, religion, or class represented on television or the newspaper and media, positively, take one step forward,” Vice president of programming for BSU Rhiley Jones said. 

Nobody moved. The game opened the discussion about differences in privilege, giving members like sophomore neuroscience major Abi Ohaegbu a moment to voice their opinion.

“Even though we’re different, we’re still seen the same,” Ohaegbu said.

Students then discussed how the game proved that Black students grow up with different levels of privilege. Some believe all African Americans should not be generalized as having the same upbringing.

“If you grew up in an economically disadvantaged or single-parent home, take one step back,” Jones said.

Only a handful moved back. Sophomore government and politics major Mason Minus believes there is significance to the number of people that did not move.

“One thing is recognizing that even though we’re people of the same race, we all have different backgrounds. It’s something that we don’t always think about,” said Minus, the president of BSU at this university.

Minus said that Black students whose upbringing had a certain level of privilege must be cognizant of others and keep in mind the stigma of being Black is prevalent in the public eye.

The meeting concluded with a set of questions to get feedback for the next activity. When Jones asked members what they believed the purpose of the exercise was, the answer was consistent.

“The purpose of the exercise was to understand different backgrounds and household experiences between us,” said sophomore secondary education major, Zyare Hill, who is the historian of this university’s BSU.

Sophomore technology and information design major Wayde Parham, vice president of finance at this university’s BSU, believes that the differences in culture are important to learning how to collaborate with those cultures. 

Jones said the focus of the meeting was highlighting a common intersectionality shared between Black students.

“Intersectionality is very important, and differences in the African diaspora need to be highlighted and appreciated without misrepresentation,” Jones said.