BRUNSWICK, Maine — Civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson was welcomed back to Bowdoin College on Tuesday with the sound of hundreds of fingers snapping. This form of applause is reserved only for certain speakers with whom students feel a special kinship, according to Ashley Bomboka, president of the college’s African-American Society.
Mckesson, a 2007 graduate of Bowdoin, returned to visit classes, meet with new college President Clayton Rose and speak about his experiences as perhaps the most visible face of the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
Tuesday afternoon’s conversation, “The Intersection Between Education and Justice,” was moderated by Bomboka and Bowdoin Student Government President Danny Mejia-Cruz.
Clad in his trademark bright blue down vest, jeans and bright orange Nike shoes, Mckesson spoke about the civil rights movement in 2015, “white privilege” and social justice. He encouraged students to “step into the world and do the work” required to make the change he believes is necessary to correct race-based injustice throughout the United States.
Mckesson noted to much snapping from the crowd that when he arrived at Bowdoin, his class included “probably 15 to 20 black people,” and he added, “I see way more black and brown faces than when I was here. I’m like, ‘Look at y’all.”
A native of Baltimore, Mckesson was twice president of Bowdoin Student Government. He then worked for schools in New York City, West Baltimore and Minneapolis.
Spurred to action
In August 2014, after then-police officer Darren Wilson, a white man, shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Mckesson took a leave of absence and went to St. Louis to protest. He has since traveled the country to document via Twitter protests of police violence, including in his home city this April after Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man, died after his spinal cord was severely injured while in the custody of Baltimore police.
Mckesson and other activists formed the protest movement “Black Lives Matter.” There are 229,000 people who follow Mckesson on Twitter.
Mckesson co-founded the online newsletter titled “This is the Movement,” as well as the websites WeTheProtestors.org and MappingPoliceViolence.org, which tracks the number of black people killed by police. He also co-founded Campaign Zero, which outlines a 10-point plan to work toward “a world where the police don’t kill people by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions and ensuring accountability.”
In April, after Gray’s death in Baltimore, Mckesson spoke to the Bangor Daily News by phone about the violent protests that prompted the government to declare a state of emergency.
“This unrest is the condition of the pain manifesting,” Mckesson said at the time. “What would you do if the people who were supposed to protect you not only got you killed but got away with it?”
He said Tuesday the movement gained momentum after Brown’s death in Ferguson in 2014.
“There was something about Mike’s body lying in the street … for 3½ hours that changed people,” he said. Mckesson spoke of different protests, using Twitter to “amplify” the message and help protesters and leaders keep track of the movement.
‘I’m not the movement’
While Mckesson is the most visible face of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, he insists he is not its leader.
“I’m not the movement. I didn’t start the movement, and I can’t stop the movement,” he said. “One of the things we learned about the civil rights movement is that if you make one leader and that leader falls, it’s all over. If I fall, it will go on.”
Named one of the world’s 50 greatest leaders by Fortune magazine, Mckesson met earlier this month with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and he recently met with members of President Barack Obama’s administration at the White House. On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton responded to Mckesson’s request for a meeting, tweeting, “Let’s meet; we want to hear from anyone ready to address this urgent problem and work toward solutions.”
On Tuesday, Mckesson challenged Bowdoin students to talk about racial issues in ways that do not inspire fear, defensiveness or a retreat to stereotypes.
“I can name white privilege, I can see white privilege, and I can see its impact,” he said. “[But] somebody who has it has to use it to disrupt it.”
Asked about the toll activism has taken on his personal life, Mckesson said he’s become used to receiving death threats on Twitter, but he still only tweets about his travels after he’s arrived.
“I don’t think I’m angry anymore,” he said. “I don’t think I’m afraid anymore. I’m trying to be focused … on ending the crisis.”
But he said he’s still angered when protesters are met with teargas and smoke bombs, as well as by lies about “Black Lives Matter” and the modern movement against racial injustice.
“In Baltimore, the police shot smoke bombs,” he said. “The smoke bombs set off a trash can, and the trash can catches on fire. Then the Baltimore Police Department tweeted that protesters set the trash can on fire.”
At Bowdoin
Mckesson described Bowdoin as “a magical place” and recalled reading the first page of Plato’s “The Republic” while he was a student.
“I fell in love with my mind here,” he said. “It made me believe in people differently.”
But by attending a liberal arts college in one of the whitest states in the nation, Bowdoin students of color — especially those from more racially diverse urban centers with high percentages of nonwhite residents — are often exposed to a new, sometimes hostile culture.
Earlier this month, the college’s president sent a letter to students and staff, warning of racial epithets directed at students and staff. Another well-known Bowdoin alumnus, Hari Kondabolu, recently explained how attending Bowdoin after growing up in Queens exposed him to white privilege and hostility based on his skin color.
Mckesson addressed that issue Tuesday. Acknowledging that Bowdoin is “imperfect,” he said, “Did I have my moments of, ‘Get me out of here?’ Definitely.” But he added that his role as a class leader perhaps offered him a different experience than other students of color.
The greatest challenge facing students at Bowdoin and everywhere, Mckesson said, is that they underestimate their power.
“You have four-year tenure here,” he said. “The best Dean [Tim] Foster can do is, like, wait you out.”
Asked by a student his opinion of a planned “Teach In” on Oct. 1, Mckesson encouraged the student to “see what they do. Make people show up differently to you. [Former Bowdoin president] Barry [Mills] and I fought all the time. I’d say, ‘You’re mad, I get it, we’re just going to have to figure it out.’”
But he said the “comfort” of the college lulls students into thinking the world is better than it is.
“Change requires work,” he said.