Menah's Mediations
Black History Month Menah’s Meditation: We Will Prevail
Nine years ago, at the beginning of Black History Month in 2016, I started as the Vice President for Strategic Affairs and Vice Provost for Inclusion and Diversity at Virginia Tech. My responsibility was to lead and advance the university’s strategic planning process, and also to lead and advance InclusiveVT, our institutional and individual commitment to Ut Prosim (That I may serve) in the spirit of inclusive communities, education, and excellence. I was giddy with excitement – the excitement that comes with a new job, in a new beautiful place, with new people, and new possibilities. For most of those nine years, I have continued to hold onto that energy of excitement and anticipation for this anniversary during Black History Month.
Yet, it would be dishonest of me not to admit that I approach this Black History Month in 2025 with a heaviness in my heart and spirit. It is impossible to completely compartmentalize the current reality. It is a reality that many of us anticipated, perhaps dreaded, yet were forced to accept. The electoral college process led to an aggressive, disruptive, and unpredictable reality.
Perhaps we could not have anticipated the seemingly catastrophic tornado-like fury of arrows emanating daily. The arrows unleashing not only chaos, but also trauma, impacting jobs, communities, the environment, well-being, health, and environments around the world. This is our reality.
It is a reality that is anxiety-inducing, stressful, and traumatizing.
I have accepted this reality, and I have decided to remain as calm, logical, and rational as I can.
Part of me, however, is mourning. It is mourning the presence in the universe of a seemingly angry and destructive energy. Yet, if I step back into history, I realize that much of the universe and much of the leadership in the world has been led by a seemingly angry and destructive energy.
At the same time, I can (and hope that others can also) calmly hold multiple feelings and emotions, so that we can hold mourning; we can hold anger; we can hold sorrow; we can hold joy; we can hold suffering; we can hold optimism; and we can hold pessimism – all at the same time, in our expansive hearts and spirits.
Holding this tension across a continuum of emotions requires a strong core. We must not succumb to despair and desperation; we must not succumb to being part of the apathetic and agnostic middle; we must not succumb to paralysis; we must not succumb to fear; we must not succumb to apprehension and speculation. We must not.
As Nikki said, sometimes, we properly cry. And, after we cry, we must get back to work. And I have learned that sometimes, we cry while we are still working. There have been many times over the course of my career, I stepped into the solitude of a bathroom stall, cried and sobbed. And then, walked out that stall, washed my face and the tears, stood up straight, walked out and back to the awfulness of disrespect and dehumanization, and continued to work.
This is what this moment calls for, and because we are at Virginia Tech, we will prevail.
As an unapologetic Black feminist-womanist-activist, whose great grandmother was enslaved on a plantation in Alabama, whose mother picked cotton in rural Texas and became a college professor, and whose father from Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa, became a nuclear physics professor, before his appointment was terminated because of racism, I have developed a well-like reserve of power, conviction, determination, resilience, persistence, and a radical commitment to justice, fairness, and righteousness. My commitment is not only to Black women. It is to humanity.
And though we may be transitioning away from the words, “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” we cannot and must not transition away from our mission at Virginia Tech, as a land-grant institution, committed to providing access to those who are often ignored and overlooked. We cannot and must not transition away from our motto – Ut Prosim, that I may serve. And we cannot and must not transition away from InclusiveVT – our institutional and individual commitment to our motto Ut Prosim (that I may serve), in the spirit of inclusive communities, education, and excellence. We cannot and must not shy away from our Principles of Community and our collective commitment to create a community that resembles Dr. King’s vision of the Beloved Community, grounded in respect and acknowledgement of differences. We are creative and innovative. We will find other ways to talk about what we can and must do as a university, an education institution, a place and space of learning, teaching, research, and service.
And I’m excited to see what new ways, new offices, new programs, and new hubs will be emerging. I encourage our community to eagerly be on the lookout for these important transitions and evolutions in response to our new social and political environment, because I am more convinced than ever about the necessity of continuing to advance the concepts embedded within the prohibited words. Across the globe, there are ever more fractures in our ability to engage with, respect, and understand differences. There are ethnic and tribal conflicts globally. There are political differences globally. The skills of conversation, diplomacy, and peace-making across difference are ever more important as we think about economic, environmental, political, cultural dynamics.
I hope at Virginia Tech we can continue to prepare our students to be of service to anyone, anywhere, and anytime, because they understand these important issues.
Black History Month is not just a time and month to celebrate and recognize the contributions of African Americans to America, it is a time to celebrate and recognize the contributions of Americans to America; it is a time to celebrate “our country ‘tis of thee,”; it is a time to celebrate the virtues exemplified by the descendants of those who were enslaved and their deep reserve of power, conviction, determination, resilience, persistence, and a radical commitment to justice, fairness, and righteousness; it is a time to celebrate, even in the midst of frustration and anger. It is a time to remember that spirituals arose from the horror of enslavement, and that a sphinx will rise from the horror of this moment.
Let us celebrate while we are disappointed, horrified, and angry. Let us summon our resolve; let us summon our creativity; and let us commit to the long march of freedom and justice, inspired by all those who have marched before us.
We are Virginia Tech. We will prevail.
This article was inspired by Nikki Giovanni. It was purely human-generated and not written by AI.
Learn more about Black History Month at
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-month