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What did you witness or experience that demonstrated strength in unity?
Anderson: On the #B1GLife trip to Selma, I saw strength in unity demonstrated across the whole trip, so it’s hard to pick just a moment. When we all walked through the Equal Justice Initiative’s The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration together, many of us were emotionally activated having to relive traumatic moments of our Black American ancestors’ history and grapple with the realities of how that history shows up today. A couple of us would take a break within the exhibit to hug, cry, and talk about what we were experiencing. You knew you could turn a corner in that environment and rely on people to be ready to hold space together and dialogue together, it was an unspoken link of support running through the whole building. Grappling with unfathomable truths of history and the present moment didn’t have to be done alone, and that type of organic support lasted even beyond the formal programming experience. Outside of the formal programming, we as a UMD group had befriended fellow attendees from Illinois on our first day, and this type of familial bond across schools permeated the whole trip. You could sit with anyone at any of the meal times or on the bus and have a meaningful conversation, sometimes about mental health, sometimes about systemic racism and colorism, sometimes about gentrification in our home communities–everyone was committed to engaging vulnerably.
A big moment I experienced–and I think as a group we collectively experienced and felt strength in unity–was when we went into Selma and marched the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Going across the bridge we could feel the legacy of freedom fighters there, walking the steps they marched and put their lives on the line for many times in the fight for liberation and equity. Walking through Selma and across the bridge, we were unified with our ancestors, our history, the Selma community, as well as each other. The Selma community exemplified the power of unifying as a community, coming together to talk about their history with us at First Baptist Church, collaborating with us and linking arms with us as we crossed the bridge, and giving us the privilege of hearing how they have stuck together across decades and decades to make their community, their home, stronger together.
Edwards: The B1G Life trip to Selma was one of the most profound experiences in my career. I’m grateful to Commissioner Warren and his team for their dedication and commitment to this experience. The trip gave us so many opportunities to be in unity…within our Maryland cohort, among the Big Ten Conference, with our counterpart conferences, and best of all within the Selma community. I felt so much emotion and pride when I witnessed how our student-athletes were present, engaged, curious and thoughtful towards members of the Selma community. The elders were sharing their wisdom and teaching the younger generations. The younger generations intently listened and gave the elders hope about the future. We also learned a lot about our history of racism and systemic oppression. It was an intensely emotional experience, and my hope is that we built a bridge with the promise of doing more for our communities.
Ward: The Big Ten conference, the PAC 12 and the ACC coming together for the #B1GLife Series Trip was an incredible experience. We sat together and listened intently to the stories of those directly affected by traumatic historical events such as Bloody Sunday. Together, we drove and marched the very roads that those who paved the way for us did. We also were given the opportunity to fellowship with one another in the hotel area and come together as a unit through food and fellowship.
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