Gospel song floods the Vandal Ballroom as University of Missouri Associate Professor Ty-Ron Douglas walks off the podium and into the audience Wednesday night.
The director and program coordinator of the Office of Multicultural Affairs — Jesse Martinez and Vivi Gonzalez, respectively — had just introduced Douglas with the help of freshman diversity scholar Kayla Ellis-McGee.
“Today I learned from Douglas the importance of building relationships and connections to create change,” Ellis-McGee said. “I truly believe that his goal is not to just come up here and present a drive-by of information — as he called it earlier — but instead to connect with everyone and build relationships and grow with us and our community.”
After Douglas’ entrance, he asked the audience if everyone in attendance — including University of Idaho President Chuck Staben and Dean of Students Blaine Eckles — could be family for the time they shared together as he delivered the Black History Month Keynote Address.
“(Homophily) is a common field of interest,” Douglas said. “It’s important, especially in times like these where we have a lot of things that we don’t have in common. When you can also establish a space of commonality, it’s important in building relationships and doing what I call ‘border crossing.’”
In addition to his work as a professor and public speaker, Douglas has published 45 times, contributed to 12 Shades of Man: Testimonies and Transitions to Manhood, co-wrote So Amazing… Her Story: Secrets to Finding and Keeping a Great Man with his wife and wrote Border Crossing Brothas: Black Males Navigating Race, Place, and Complex Space.
Douglas shared his experiences as a young black man growing up in Bermuda. He discussed how he has been aware of space and movement in the formation of identity.
While Douglas shared terms like “mesearch” and “wesearch” — his ways of explaining the exploration of the identity and one’s self, their expertise, their passions and their stories and those of the people around them — he laughed over personal anecdotes. One story in particular received a chorus of laughter from the audience.
“I was in primary three in Bermuda, so about grade two over here, and I remember talking too much and my teacher, who I have great respect for, at that time I had a big crush on her,” Douglas said. “I was talking too much in class and she said to me one day ‘you need to stop talking, be quiet and just do your work’ or something similar. I’m trying to impress her because I’ve got a little crush but at the same time, I’m trying to protect my reputation, so I was like ‘well, excuse me, miss, I’d like to let you know that you’re being facetious.’”
Douglas transitioned from more lighthearted stories towards more serious topics.
He discussed how white supremacy and injustice have altered the realities of moving through space as a person of color. He talked about seeing pictures of black athletes next to academic achievement boards filled with only white students. He also spoke of watching young law interns pass by a mural in their courthouse that included a portrayal of a lynching. Douglas showed the audience how these and other parts of the system of racial injustice have contributed to the society we know today.
“After a while, you begin to just expect things to remain as they have always been,” Douglas said. “I want to give you some language. In order to continue to have homophily, we’ve got to understand that we’re not trying to do each other harm. Some of you are sitting there going ‘oh, lord. Where’s he going?’ Some of your hearts are beating, your hands are getting a little sweaty? Well, good. We’re family. We have to have some conversations about some realities that impact all of us.”
As the end of the event drew closer, Douglas shifted his speech toward actions that community members can take to educate themselves and to make their spaces safer and more inclusive.
In addition to featuring Douglas, the event celebrated and highlighted the winners of the MLK Art and Writing Contest that closed at the beginning of the semester. Winners include graduate student Caitlin Palmer and undergraduate students Emily Pearce and Candace Sorenson. Graduate student Staniela Nikolova and undergraduate students Nichole Etchemendy and Lexy Jones earned honorable mentions.
Douglas encouraged attendees to reach out to him to continue the conversation he began with this address. He emphasized the importance of working against injustice all the time, not just during the official months where minorities are celebrated.