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Update: UM Responds As Thousands Of Tweets Describe #BBUM (Being Black at UM)

November 19, 2013, 6:11 PM by  Alan Stamm

African American students at the University of Michigan are using Twitter to share frank impressions of life at the Ann Arbor campus.

In tweets Tuesday afternoon with the hashtag #BBUM -- Being Black at UM -- students describe pride and pain. More than 10,000 tweets, including some from alumni, were posted by 10 p.m., The Michigan Daily reports.

"We’re listening, and will be sure all of your voices are heard," the university administration says in a tweet about five hours after the campaign began.

Some posted observations seem like sentiments about isolation or insensitivity that could come from minority students at virtually any high school or college. Others are outcries about life at UM, such as this:


“I would like to see the lives of black students valued more,” says senior Tyrell Collier, president of the Black Student Union.

Many vividly convey a sense of separateness.

"#BBUM is praying my black male friends don't get arrested/questioned for fitting VAGUE crime alert descriptions," tweets Tripp Darling, a coed from Detroit.

The mass sharing was suggested by the Black Student Union. Its president, senior Tyrell Collier, on Tuesday afternoon tells The Michigan Daily the goal is to to raise awareness of black students' experiences.

Collier said BSU encouraged students to tweet both negative and positive experiences, though the tweets have been predominantly negative, which he expected. . . .

“I would like to see the lives of black students valued more,” Collier said.

A 16-year-old campus organization called Sister 2 Sister also spread the word: "Tweet the #BBUM hash tag with your personal story and let YOUR voice be heard!" it posted this afternoon, followed by. "This is our time to change our situations." 

In a tweet around 5 p.m., the university said it's paying attention:

The tag rose to No. 4 on a national trending topics list by 3 p.m. 

In The Michigan Daily aryticle, writer Sam Gringlas provides context behind the social media action:

Black enrollment at the University has fallen precipitously over the past decade largely due to Proposal 2, an amendment to the state constitution that bans affirmative action policies that was passed by Michigan voters in 2006. The proposal, formally named the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, bars the University from considering race in its admissions process. . . .

In Fall 2006, black students made up around seven percent of the undergraduate population. In Fall 2013, the University reported that Black undergraduate enrollment had fallen to 4.65 percent.

Here's a sampling of today's tweets:

  • I''m Black, I go to Michigan and I am not from Detroit. #BBUM -- Bria Adriana Graham, undergraduate
  • I will not use the color of my skin as an excuse. #BBUM -- Alexis L. Wilson
  • #BBUM Being told that I would not get into the Communications program by my CSP counselor. Ask her what my degree says now. -- Denzell Turner
  • Part of #bbum means dealing with egos of privileged whites and egos of self esteemed blacks. Everyone needs to humble themselves. -- Martin Margiela
  • #BBUM now means that @umich can't say they don't know what we go through anymore. @umich can not ignore us anymore. @umich now has to act. -- "Yoruba Woman"
  • #BBUM means seeing anonymous users on @michigandaily articles bring out their inner racism on every article about people of color. -- Christian Mays, political science student 
  • When other races mistaken you for another black student….no, we all DONT look alike and no, we ARENT related #BBUM -- @BrysanTiara
  • #BBUM is understanding what it means to invest in OUR communities -- Taylor Moore
  • #BBUM means doing it for ALLLLLL the black girls on Fenkell who didn't make it out the hood. -- Tripp Darling
  • "Oh you're writing a diversity statement? You're writing about being black, right?" Is my race the only thiing that makes me diverse?? #BBUM -- Taylor Moore
  • #BBUM "You're from Detroit. So how did you survive all of the violence?" -- Lauren E;lizabeth
  • #BBUM means having to correct friends that think they're from Detroit when they're from West Bloomfield. -- Christian Mays, political science student



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