An MIT Community Vigil for Black Lives by Chris Peterson SM '13

On Tuesday, the MIT Institute Community and Equity Office hosted a virtual vigil. As the announcement for the vigil read:

We gather in the wake of the recent tragic killings of African American people across the United States – including the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery (Glynn County, GA, February 23), Breonna Taylor (Louisville, March 13) and George Floyd (Minneapolis, May 25) – and the protests that have followed. Student leaders, faculty and staff will lead us in prayer and reflection.

The speakers at the vigil included, in order:

• Institute Community and Equity Officer John Dozier
• President Rafael Reif
• Undergraduate Association President Danielle Geathers
• Graduate Student Council President Madeleine Sutherland
• Associate Dean and Director of the MIT Office of Minority Education DiOnetta Jones Crayton
• PhD student, poet, and photographer Corban Swain⁠01 And my <a href="https://oeop.mit.edu/programs/e2mit">OEOP E2</a> mentee, almost ten years ago. Proud of the man you have become, Corban.
• Associate Professor of History Malick Ghachem
• Associate Professor of Literature Sandy Alexandre
• VP of Human Resources Ramona Allen
• Chief Diversity Inclusion Officer for MIT Lincoln Laboratory Chevy Cleaves
• AudreyRose Wooden ’21
• former UA VP Kelvin Green II ’21
• recent alumna Kendyll Hicks ’20
• MBA/MCP candidate, and PKG fellow, Aiyah Josiah-Faeduwor
• PhD student Jaleesa Trapp
• Communications Officer in the office of Graduate Education Heather Konar, accompanied by her brother Steve
• and Darlene Washington as the ASL interpreter

I think I speak for many members of the MIT community when I say that this vigil was a compelling and moving event where speakers shared their experiences, knowledge, and aspirations, as well as challenging the Institute, and the nation, to do better. So I wanted to make sure we shared it here so our prospective students and parents could see it if they wanted.

You can watch a copy⁠02 We can only easily embed YouTube clips in our CMS, so I ripped it down and reuploaded. The original, with official captions, can be found <a href="http://web.mit.edu/webcast/vigil/">here</a>. of the video below. If you don’t have time to watch the full video, you can read the transcript⁠03 Made by Rev; if you notice anything wrong or off, please drop me an email so I can fix. and/or the coverage in The Tech.

In my last post, I wrote:

On a day like today, I find myself thinking particularly of Ben’sposts on Amaud Arbery and Life of a Black Person, Vincent’s post on Black Lives Matter, and Selam’s post on Colors. Whatever there is to say about the struggle for racial justice in America today, they have all said it better than I can, so I instead of writing more myself, I want to lift their voices up: their stories have taught me so much. Whether you see yourself in their words, or learn something about how other people experience the world, I hope they mean as much to you as they do to me.

to that, I want to add Veronica’s post OUTRAGED and David’s post on being seen, which have been published since my last post went up. And I am so, so grateful for our student bloggers and speakers for speaking with the urgency and clarity that the moment demands, illuminating the path forward one difficult step at a time. You make us proud.