Writing Contest

• Respond to one of the prompts below with an essay or a written speech of 700-1200 words in length, or with lyrics or poetry of 350-600 words.
  
  Make clear your key points, showing why you believe what you do. We encourage you to write your piece out “long,” then edit it down to create your desired effect on readers. Let each sentence or line build our understanding.
• Communicate your point of view well for an audience of SUNY Potsdam students, addressing all students or a specific group.
  
  Consider others who might read the final blog, such as members of the faculty, staff, administration, alumni, students’ friends and families, and local community.
  
  Code meshing, or blending of language styles and terms, is welcome, as long as your intended audience (all or some SUNY Potsdam students) is likely to understand your writing, perhaps after they Google a few new phrases.
  
  We will offer suggestions for edits to style and grammar before we publish the work on our blog.
• Email your writing as a Word attachment to wblock@potsdam.edu before Monday, September 21 at 11 p.m., with cover sheet.
  
  Cover sheet: On the first page of your document, give the title of your piece; the specific prompt you’re responding to; and your full name, SUNY Potsdam email address, and phone number. On the second page, begin your writing.
  
  Choose your font, but make the format easily readable. See length requirements above.
  
  By submitting your writing, you give us permission to publish it on our blog, but you will retain any future copyright.

Contact the Writers' Block Director, Jennifer Mitchell, at wblock@potsdam.edu.

FYI: Have a look at these pages, which were created for you this summer. They’re by no means required, but we want you to be aware of them.

• BLM Potsdam timeline of protests held in Potsdam during summer 2020;
• SUNY Potsdam Libraries’ study guide to BLM and key issues; and
• SUNY Potsdam Writers’ Block statement on racism.

Respond to one of these four prompts, created by students and alums. (Search them on LinkedIn to learn more). You can adapt the bulleted questions to your own focus if you need to. Or share your other writing in the Open category.

We welcome writing from SUNY Potsdam students of all identities and backgrounds, whether racial, gender, class, abilities, national, linguistic, or more. Only two of 15 bulleted questions in the prompts address writers of a specific identity group.

1. Identity, Healing, & Change
2. Innovative & Strategic Activism
3. Moving from Observation to Action
4. Rethinking the Necessity of Public Institutions
5. Open Category

Identity, Healing, & Change
Each of us lives in several identities that intersect in distinctive ways. Our own intersections pose unique challenges and allow us to develop different perspectives on power, oppression, trauma, and freedom. Considering your own racial and other identities, how might you choose to use the attributes that shape who you are to create healing and justice? Respond to any of these or similar questions.

• How do you find moments to breathe in your identity? What outlets do you use to process and unpack the trauma BLM seeks to heal?
• When was the first time you found beauty in your blackness? How has that moment shaped the way you feel about the BLM movement and who is included or not included in it?
• What is the value of amplifying the multifaceted nature of blackness in BLM? Have all forms of blackness been uplifted in the movement?
• How have you learned to navigate the intersections that your own identities create? How can aspiring activists use the power of their identities to help advance the healing and social changes the BLM movement strives to put into effect?

From Imani Doumbia, current student, Campus Life communicator and Writers’ Block tutor.

Innovative & Strategic Activism
It’s one thing to be exposed to the wrongs of our society, but how do you plan to move forward by expanding BLM activism in innovative ways? Significant change will require persistent activism adapted to different circles of people. We all occupy several social spheres: some students may be student-athletes, some may be student leaders, some are artists or performers. Others may be involved in their home communities or are trying to become involved in their future profession.

We can only expand the conversation by becoming agents of change in our respective social spaces. As agents of change, we must push the narrative within our social spaces in order to counteract the damage done. In our own social spheres, whatever they are, we should all find ways to have conversations about racial justice in all its forms. Respond to any of these questions or similar questions.

• What could it look like for you to become an agent of change in your social spaces, pushing the narrative in new ways, in order to create new forms of activism and shared understanding?
• How will you continue to challenge the norms of your social spaces to be more inclusive and action-driven?
• In the age of innovation and social media, how do you plan to innovate new forms of activism through which you could influence your respective social spaces?

From Kevin Agyakwa, SUNY Potsdam & Syracuse University alum, former Writers’ Block tutor and public relations professional

Moving from Observation to Action
Your actions may have a long-term influence on your college as an institution. As you think about your next steps for institutional change, keep in mind that this work did not start with you, and it will not end with you. Racism is a system that is bigger and stronger than our generation, and we cannot handle it alone. Although we may not be able to solve racism in our lifetimes, it is our responsibility to dismantle any narrative that tells Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color that we are inferior to others. To dismantle such narratives, we must create spaces to share the history of Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color while acknowledging the lies of white supremacy which we were taught.

We achieve this goal by dismantling and disrupting institutions that uphold white supremacy and the perceived inferiority of people of color. You can start by looking at your communities, schools, places of worship, and, most importantly, your daily cross-racial interactions. What policies can you change to impact future Black, Indigenous, and People of Color students, faculty, and/or staff here at this college? Describe a problem and the necessary positive changes that you think need to start on campus if we want to disrupt and dismantle racist institutions and narratives over the long-term future.

Respond to any of these questions, or define your own similar questions on this theme.

• What spaces on campus are only occupied by White people? How are White students being impacted by these all-White spaces?
• How are committees, groups, clubs, and departments striving to be anti-racist without representation of people of color?
• How has terminology silenced students who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (i.e., language like “civility,” “minority-majority,” and “grit”)?
• How have students who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color created institutional change on predominantly White campuses, in the past and in the present?
• Should the entire campus community try to achieve cultural competency or cultural humility? And why? (Cultural competence can be “loosely defined as the ability to understand, appreciate and interact with people from cultures or belief systems different from one's own” (APA, March 2015). Cultural humility is the “’ability to maintain an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented, or open to the other, in relation to aspects of cultural identity that are most important’” to the other person (APA, August 2013).)

From Latesha Fussell, SUNY Potsdam alum, doctoral student and professional in higher ed diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Rethinking the Necessity of Public Institutions
The path of the BLM movement has proved that we cannot discuss methods to end incidents of violence against Black bodies without examining structures and institutions which allow violence to exist in the first place. The recent murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tony McDade, and countless others have driven a much-needed discussion in both the Black community and society at large. These conversations call on aspiring activists to imagine how to transform or end current forms of certain institutions, including incarceration, policing, housing, education, and healthcare. This challenge requires a lot of analysis and patience, and a strong will to imagine what shape our world should take.

Have you envisioned what a racially just society would require? Consider these and similar questions:

• In what ways has the broad BLM Movement challenged you personally to rethink the way certain institutions operate in your community? (see previous paragraph for list of institutions)
• In your rethinking, have you examined the necessity of any of these institutions (one or more)?
• What does a world beyond the current existence or form of any of these institutions look like? How do you imagine the world after important changes are made?

From Jwuan Murphy Rodriguez, SUNY Potsdam alum, former Writers’ Block tutor and college admissions professional

Open Category: Your Written Work Already Completed, Summer 2020
Share writing that you have already written and that you are proud of. The writing could be on a general BLM theme or not; we’d like to showcase and celebrate students’ writing, from social media posts, poetry, and lyrics to essays written for courses. These pieces will not be eligible for cash prizes.

Related links, just for your information and not required for your writing.

• Campaign Zero, BLM policy changes to end police abuse of force
• Black Lives Matter.com
• Movement for Black Lives, M4BL
• Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ Lives
• March for Our Lives “Our Power” video
• This Ain’t Another Statement! This is a DEMAND for Black Linguistic Justice!