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In 2016, weeks before the presidential election, my mother lost her valiant battle with cancer. On her death bed, as hate rhetoric spurred acts of violence, she openly worried about a future in which her Black grandchildren’s lives were devalued and their bright lights extinguished.
Eight years later, it is surreal to bear witness again to an election season rife with attacks on our American values of truth, freedom, equity, and inclusion. Many of us are feeling angry, weary, and uncertain about our future with the selection of Donald J. Trump as the next President, and to them I say—in this defining moment—we must stand together on the frontline against injustice as protectors of our students’ light.
We always knew that regardless of the election outcome, our moral imperative would remain the same: to carry the torch of courage and progress handed to us by our ancestors to fight for justice and equity in our multiracial democracy. Higher education has long been recognized as a beacon of light—a powerful catalyst for opportunity and full participation in society. The Campaign for College Opportunity remains unwavering in our commitment to illuminate higher education as the pathway to opportunity, guaranteeing that the beautiful tapestry that is our nation’s majority—Latinx, Black, Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native, low-income, and undocumented people—are supported in achieving their American dream.
This sea of shadows calls upon us to be upstanders in the face of threats against advancing racial equity for our students. We have both a moral and legal obligation to eradicate systemic racial discrimination in college access and success, and for two decades, the Campaign has unapologetically called out discrimination in higher education and made bold, student-centered solutions our North Star. When the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision last year to severely restrict the use of race in college and university admissions, we issued a clarion call for equal opportunity through our Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, Empowering Action initiative. This year, we moved California to adopt groundbreaking policies to support the limitless potential of minoritized students and set a new blueprint for equity in higher education. Today, we invite allies from every corner of our nation to join us to resist the counterforces that threaten to envelop American progress. Together, we must uplift proven strategies and double down on our commitment that all people—regardless of race, ethnicity, zip code, income-level, or documentation status—are afforded the transformative power of a college degree.
United, we must renew our commitment to protect and defend a multiracial democracy. It is the multitude of angelic troublemakers who will unite to safeguard college opportunity for today’s students and future generations. We have faced challenges head on in the arc of history and have persevered; this time is no different. Our students and families are counting on us to stand our ground and use every available tool in our continued fight for justice.
As I reflect on the words of my mother, I am resolved by the wisdom of civil rights activist James Baldwin, “One discovers the light in the darkness, that is what the darkness is for; but everything in our lives depends on how we bear the light.”
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