LinkAt Brigham Young University, Black students represent less than one percent of the 30,000 undergrads on campus, a fact that can leave many of the Black students feeling isolated. But they do have a Black Student Union which has tried (albeit unsuccessfully) to encourage more inclusiveness on the school’s Utah campus.
“The fact that we have a ‘Black’ table is an issue in itself,” BYU junior Kylee Shepherd said in an interview with Newsweek. “It just goes to show that we’re not welcomed at anybody else’s table. To relate it back, because we go to a church school, Jesus would have wanted me at his table and so, I should be allowed at any table.”
I think the demographic on display at BYU - less than 1% black students, is a shocking indictment on the Church.
Clearly the University and it’s Masters in Salt Lake have paid lip service (if that) to the need to work hard to ensure racial equality.Black BYU students felt their cries for representation were going unheard. So in February of 2022, Shepherd, along with Nate Byrd, Rachel Weaver, Kennethia Dorse and Sebastian Stewart-Johnson launched The Black Menaces on TikTok to show the rest of the world what life is like for Black students on campus. The group approaches white BYU students to ask their thoughts on topics like whether they think Black people should receive reparations and if they think white privilege exists. The account currently has over 675,000 followers and nearly 23 million likes.
Sadly, this kind of public activism is the only way the University and the Church will ever change. Neither organization changes proactively, they have to be dragged their by good brave people speaking and acting publicly to shame them into progress.The Black Menaces say their goal is to share their experiences with as many people as possible. “The Black Menaces aren’t affiliated with BYU, so they can’t hold our voice back,” said sophomore Stewart-Johnson. “We wanted to highlight everything that we go through in a way that millions could see it.”
“There’s a lot of prejudice and discrimination that goes on here that people don’t know about,” Nate Byrd added. “And so our goal is to let people know that hey that exists here, and this is something that needs to change.”