The event will be an interactive workshop that includes quilt making.
In July 2015, Sandra Bland was added to the long list of women of color who died during their encounters with the police along with Yvette Smith, Alesia Thomas and Mya Hall.
For many, these names strike unfamiliarity, but Ohio University’s Women’s Center, LGBT Center, Multicultural Center and Unified Sisters hope to shine light on the victims of police violence and create a conversation surrounding the national #SayHerName campaign.
The Women’s Center will co-sponsor and host the “#SayHerName: Remembering Black Women and Girls Killed by Police” in the Multicultural Center at 7:30 p.m., Thursday. This event will be an interactive workshop, which will involve stitching a quilt where attendees can embroider messages or names of the victims murdered by the police.
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M. Geneva Murray, the director of the Women’s Center, said the program will start with a presentation surrounding #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName. Participants will be given the opportunity to learn embroidery following the presentation.
“We are utilizing embroidery because it will require participants to think carefully about what they’re doing, especially if they are unfamiliar with embroidery,” Murray said in an email. “It’s an exercise in concentration on the meaning of the quilt and who it is for.”
Daijah Abram, a member of the Unified Sisters, said Murray invited the group to co-sponsor the event because of the group’s mission.
“Our mission ( for the Unified Sisters) is to empower and uplift women and give them a voice,” Abram, a junior studying screenwriting and producing, said. “That includes giving a voice to those women who cannot speak themselves.”
Recently, OU has faced criticism with incidents related to race and gender, but delfin bautista, the director of the LGBT Center hopes this event opens up the possibility for more conversations.
“We have problems with issues related to racism, and we also have problems related to issues with gender and sexism,” bautista, who uses they/them pronouns and the lowercase of their name, said. “It’s important that this be the first of many conversations where we look at these catch phrases ‘Black Lives Matter,’ ‘Queer Lives Matter,’ and what do we mean by that? Are we being inclusive?”
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Murray said she hopes students who attend the event take away the encouragement of critical thinking and engagement.
“We want them to ask questions, refer one another to reputable news sources, discuss what institutionalized racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia can mean to individuals living in our society,” she said.
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