Husker Dialogues 2020: Batool Ibrahim

Curt Bright Author

08/24/2020 Added

20 Plays

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Husker Dialogues is a diversity and inclusion event designed to introduce first-year students to tools they can use to engage in meaningful conversations to help create an inclusive Husker community.

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[00:00:00.189](upbeat music)
[00:00:13.690]I've always been an ambitious learner
[00:00:15.900]and fought hard for my many achievements in life.
[00:00:19.140]Upon entry at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln,
[00:00:21.930]I have claimed spaces that were not historically mine.
[00:00:25.590]As a first-generation Black Muslim woman,
[00:00:28.810]I recognize that being in higher education
[00:00:31.020]is a privilege that is not presented to many,
[00:00:33.840]especially those with my complex, overlapping identities.
[00:00:37.890]It was during my first semester of college
[00:00:39.790]that I sat in academic spaces, organizations,
[00:00:43.140]activities that actively participated
[00:00:46.150]in the erasure of my identity, of my Blackness.
[00:00:49.940]My Blackness in academic spaces
[00:00:52.070]does not thrive as it does in the arms of my community.
[00:00:55.650]I learned quickly that my Blackness must learn
[00:00:58.030]how to occupy spaces, advocate for itself,
[00:01:01.390]and challenge the very frameworks of my university.
[00:01:04.920]I'm historically a first, not just for myself.
[00:01:08.450]I am an active participant in the change of culture
[00:01:11.320]here at UNL.
[00:01:13.320]This is where I found myself
[00:01:14.750]understanding the importance of claiming space.
[00:01:17.800]That this campus can be what I wish it to be.
[00:01:21.310]Over the course of my three years here,
[00:01:23.310]I served as president of the African Student Association,
[00:01:27.100]founded the Association of Future Black Lawyers,
[00:01:29.690]and have been competitively involved in speech and debate.
[00:01:33.160]Now, as a junior, I'm president of the Black Student Union,
[00:01:37.370]a College of Arts and Sciences senator,
[00:01:39.590]and I created a community COVID-19 assistance program
[00:01:43.470]called BSU Care Bags.
[00:01:45.760]All of this work I have done during my time here at UNL
[00:01:48.990]is because there's a need to build and foster community
[00:01:52.240]for Black students to thrive.
[00:01:54.440]A community that can then mentor,
[00:01:56.760]nurture and provide a resilient backbone
[00:01:59.330]for the future Black scholars
[00:02:01.030]that will find their way on this campus.
[00:02:03.620]To define a scholar would be to take every aspect
[00:02:07.210]of their existence into perspective.
[00:02:10.270]My own interest in law is not only for
[00:02:12.500]my own intellectual development,
[00:02:14.790]but to dedicate myself to future Black scholars.
[00:02:18.280]As a lawyer, I will hold the revolutionary significance
[00:02:21.790]of speaking my truth,
[00:02:23.570]articulating Black experiences,
[00:02:25.830]and constructing my identity
[00:02:27.730]through the act of community upliftment.
[00:02:30.890]This is why I need the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
[00:02:35.690]In turn, UNL needs me.
[00:02:39.140]UNL has an obligation to invest in me, in us,
[00:02:43.200]in our becoming,
[00:02:45.160]so that we can hold it accountable to its own values.
[00:02:48.710]UNL needs all of us.
[00:02:50.430]UNL needs me to cultivate a way for
[00:02:52.940]Black scholars to reclaim our stories.
[00:02:55.570]UNL needs each one of you
[00:02:57.910]to challenge what it gives you,
[00:02:59.480]to create your own space
[00:03:01.470]and to take ownership of your time here.
[00:03:04.440]Remember how revolutionary it is
[00:03:06.250]for you to take up space,
[00:03:07.910]to be a Husker.
[00:03:09.540]Every building on this campus belongs to us
[00:03:12.220]as students of this university.
[00:03:14.930]I have truly struggled to find home in this place,
[00:03:18.180]but I have given it all my attention
[00:03:20.450]and will leave it better.
[00:03:22.090]Just like all of you will.
[00:03:24.240]As an aspiring lawyer
[00:03:25.460]I know the importance of truth,
[00:03:27.740]and only through honest efforts will it be revealed.
[00:03:31.110]This is how my story will continue.
[00:03:32.920]And this is how I will hold all truths to be evident.
[00:03:36.952](upbeat music)

Husker Dialogues 2020: Batool Ibrahim

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Husker Dialogues 2020: Batool Ibrahim

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