Office of Diversity

An Urgent Message from the University Diversity Officer

From the UDO to CSUEB Community,

I own, that for me, the current socio-political circumstances are personal, visceral and fear-inducingly real.  The visions of the past 3 months that have commoditized and media-normalized  the murder of African-Americans feels relentless, endless and horrifyingly consistent. This message is not meant as an answer or a letter of false-platitudes; rather it is a letter of acknowledgement of the pain, the exhaustion and the helplessness that many of us feel. It is my belief that all the emotions are further exacerbated by the current circumstances created by a global pandemic that reinforces the lack of control felt in our lived daily lives.

CSUEB is a community, we are a community of individuals who can create a place that shows care, kindness and concern for each other. The hope that I have in human possibility and us as a community is reflected in the words of Dr. Maya Angelou who said, “when you know better, you do better”. 

At every stage in humanity’s growth, along with horrible tragedy and willful violence  there are movements of anti-oppression and a refusal to accept current circumstances. CSUEB is our community, our own locus of control and we can commit to ensuring that our community is one that aspires to be anti-racist and one that operates out of the theory of social justice. We control how we show up in community with each other, we control how we make each other feel, seen, included and appreciated at work or as learners whether online or in-person. We control how we as community operationalize consistent anti-oppressive ways of being.

I believe in us as community, I believe in our capacity to maintain and further create an inclusive environment where discrimination, hate, and violence are not tolerated. Our mission as an institution is our statement to the world that we, CSUEB, are actively here only to lift up, interrupt and ensure a more equitable citizenry. We have strength in our own communal-love and we are the individuals who can think critically, push-back on oppressive practices and create more equitable spaces in the communities where we live. 

We are CSUEB; we mourn together, we recognize that some of us are feeling emotions that many may not understand but we acknowledge that they exist and that they are real. This is not an “I’m Sorry” moment, this is an “I will do better” and “We will do better” moment because WE are CSUEB. We have the human-capacity in the people that comprise our community, we have the talent, we have the creativity, we have the intelligence, we have the compassion and WE HAVE EACH OTHER.  We control our own narrative as an institution we have already committed to being “socially responsible contributors to society” and we will actualize it.  You are not alone in your thoughts or feelings. We see you, and we value you.  If you need someone to dialogue with about this feel free to reach out to me.

The paradox of education is precisely this – that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated. The purpose of education, finally, is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions, to say to himself this is black or this is white, to decide for himself whether there is a God in heaven or not. To ask questions of the universe, and then learn to live with those questions, is the way he achieves his own identity. But no society is really anxious to have that kind of person around. What societies really, ideally, want is a citizenry which will simply obey the rules of society. If a society succeeds in this, that society is about to perish. The obligation of anyone who thinks of himself as responsible is to examine society and try to change it and to fight it – at no matter what risk. This is the only hope society has. This is the only way societies change.-James Baldwin

In Appreciation and Solidarity,
Kimberly Baker-Flowers
University Diversity Officer

Letter from the University Diversity Officer in Response to COVID-19