By Dianne Anderson

For their strong advocacy against anti-Blackness, students at Cal State University system got some well-deserved recognition, along with a decent amount of scholarship dollars to help encourage their passion to continue the fight.

Armand Jovaughn Egere pushed hard after the pandemic to get his grades high, engaged in extracurricular activity with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and practically lived on campus working and studying.

He hardly had time to grab a bite to eat, but when he did, it was at the campus pantry.

He was surprised to learn he was nominated, but he said the $5,000 Black Student Success Scholarship will go a long way in his life.

“At home, there are bills to cover. I could use this money to get a car, I’m also one of the students with food insecurity, so it forced me to tap into the resources on campus, to the food pantry for a quick snack, and right back out again,” said Egere, third-year arts major at CSU Dominguez Hills.

For him, advocacy is about closing the gap of understanding of students from immigrant origins in the Latinx community. He wants them to know the common bonds and history of Black and Brown people.

“It’s a crazy world out there,” said Egere, who is Nigerian. “When it comes to addressing anti-blackness, it’s how to unlearn those habits that are progressing in our society. In the Latinx community and culture, there are colonial teachings passed down generations among their families.”

Those teachings remain stubbornly entrenched today, he said, carried down from Central American countries that were taken over during colonial times when people were taught the unfortunate view that Black is bad.

“It was to undermine Blacks, even though a large majority of Latinx culture is a part of the Afro-diaspora as well,” he said.

Egere is the only Black student working at the Latinx Culture Resource Center, and only student pressing anti-Blackness talks to help bring Black and Latinx together on common ground. He looks to include biracial students, Black and Latino, around the identity crisis that can occur with two strong cultures on both sides of the cultural divide.

But he emphasizes it’s not about pointing fingers.

“It’s no fault when it comes to them not knowing if they haven’t been taught to unlearn all that,” he said. “There has been a purposeful division with colonialism to stop oppressed people from banding together. It’s built-in hatred that they have propagated over centuries.”

There is hope in numbers. If both groups work together, not fight each other over which culture has experienced the most pain, he feels that it could help improve the quality of life for students and support each other toward empowerment.

“There’s no reason to fight each other when we have a common enemy,” he said. “Working alongside the Latinx Cultural Resource Center, I help them coordinate events with the Black Resource Center on campus. We have each other’s backs.”

Earlier this year, California State University announced $4.6 Million in one-time funding to its 23 universities to advance Black student success and elevate Black excellence across the system.

Amy Bentley Smith, spokesperson for the California State University Office of the Chancellor, said the scholarship is separate from the $10 million the CSU allocated in its budget over three years for systemwide Black Student Success programs and initiatives. That funding allocation supported grants to CSU campuses, as well as seed money to launch CSU, Sacramento, as the location for its new Statewide Central Office for the Advancement of Black Excellence.

The $30,000 for the six recent scholarships was funded through the CSU Foundation.

“The CSU hopes to be able to offer this as a recurring scholarship. Determination of how many students would be awarded the scholarship in subsequent years would depend on the level of funding,” she said in an email.

Among the criteria to receive the scholarship, students needed to demonstrate an interest in Black community issues, community service related to Black student success, and express current leadership qualities or the desire to be a leader in advancing anti-racism, equitable access to higher education and service related to Black and African American communities.

Chloe Thomas, also a CSULB student honoree, is a third-year marketing major on path to work within the sports and entertainment industry. Eventually, she wants to start her marketing agency and help small and Black-owned businesses get the support they need.

Her own struggle to find community and belonging as she was growing up fueled her passion for advocacy. In high school, she realized that the best way to find community is to create spaces for it to exist.

“Now, that looks like entering spaces designed to support Black students and being a voice for those in my community who feel voiceless. I enjoy seeing changes being made that empower Black students,” she said.

She also feels that the scholarship will alleviate some of the economic burden many students of color face on campus.

“I think as students of color it can be really draining to focus on school, activism, and finances. Having this scholarship means being able to afford centering my attention on academics rather than working to pay for tuition or housing. It provides a mental and emotional freedom more than anything,” she said.

Anyone interested in being a sponsor of future Black Student Success Scholarships should reach out to the CSU Foundation at foundation@calstate.edu,” she said.