By Carolyn M. Coles and Bryan L. Sykes
In the 21st century, Black people continue to celebrate “firsts.” As of the writing of this essay, undergraduate college students were toddlers when the first African American president took office. Throughout their undergraduate years, they have witnessed the first Black and female vice president of the United States, the first Black governors and senate leaders, heads of Fortune 500 organizations, and university presidents. While these milestones mark a turn in America’s history of inclusion and are worthy of celebration, the well-being of Black America is riddled with a host of other enduring challenges and intractable obstacles that impede full democratic inclusion in the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.
Every day, Black Americans are reminded of new and old challenges: the erasure of African American history through the attack on critical race theory and the outlawing of “woke” culture; the repeated, discriminate, and wanton use of violence against black bodies at the hands of law enforcement and white domestic terrorists, often resulting in the unnecessary deaths of young Black men and women; and stubbornly entrenched economic and social inequality that manifests as indicators of poverty, criminal legal system contact, and residential segregation, among others. Across their life course, Blacks in America must stare down and persevere through a host of obstacles and challenges that confront their neighborhoods, workplaces, houses of worship, and schools.
Even in learned environments, African Americans experience a constellation of issues while navigating the halls of higher education. For instance, in a recent issue of Race & Justice – on how Black Lives Matter in the Academy – Black faculty at a number of institutions recount and foretell their experiences as students in graduate school, as faculty members on the tenure track, and as reviewers/ editors in the peer-review process, pointing to issues of racism, tokenism, isolationism, burnout, and situational avoidance to prevent being characterized as a stereotypical “angry black (wo-)man.”
While several criminology and criminal justice programs seek to diversify their Ph.D. programs and faculty, some departments may only have one or two African Americans as doctoral students or professors. Toniqua Mikell, for example, made history as the first Black person to earn a doctorate in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina in 2019. As we celebrate Dr. Mikell’s accomplishment, her experience indicates the small number of Blacks in the field, especially Black women. The first author of this essay, a graduate student with an intersectional identity, has constantly searched for mirrored representation across campus events, academic settings, public talks, and other learning opportunities for participation.
And while criminology and criminal justice programs routinely espouse tenets of diversity, equity, and inclusion, the Black experience in some departments – for both students and faculty – can be anything other than “inclusive.” Many must contend with colleagues who are academically hostile to some research topics on race; some graduate students have shared with us recurring negative experiences at ASC meetings; and the discipline continues to teach and revere scholarship that maligns entire communities of color. For instance, criminological theory is a foundational and required course in many Ph.D. programs. Yet, many criminological theories do not dig deep enough into their racist foundations predicated on the criminalization of Blackness in this country (Unnever, et al., 2019). They stop short of explaining racist conditions that other the needs of Blacks, leaving a substantial number of people without recourse (Unnever & Gabbidon, 2011), resulting in a rather peculiar dynamic in criminology classes; Blacks tend to be overrepresented in the literature on crime and deviance even though they are underrepresented in Ph.D. programs and on the faculty. Discussing such material without proper foundation and context can engender isolation in the classroom and loneliness in the program, among other feelings (Andrianantoandro, 2020). As a result, the first author has come to reflect on her experiences in such settings, with advice for other Black graduate students in similar situations.
Amid a global pandemic, after widespread vaccination, the 2021 American Society of Criminology conference reopened for in-person events. As a first-time attendant and a third-year doctoral student, the first author, Coles, was excited to present her work but quickly realized how unprepared she was for everything else. In particular, the conference left a lot of room for innovation and imagination in building a professional community among the Black attendees. Coles missed structured opportunities to network with people who shared her racial identity; the presentations she attended were riddled with stereotypes that painted an undesirable portrait of the Black community; and many of the research topics discussed were dark and disheartening, without much hope of tangible change through scientific intervention.
Coles was hopeful this space would be one of professional modeling of self-care and emotional wellness as new truths about criminal justice in our respective subfields were uncovered. However, after attending presentations with callous language and matter-of-fact statements about the biology of criminal behavior, Coles quickly began to question her place within the conference. She contemplated her choices and decided to share her experiences with her home unit, seeking advice and direction from seasoned academics. Her department heard her concerns and shared much of her anguish and dismay.
Against the backdrop of ongoing racial violence and attacks on Black scholarship and history, and given her previous experience at the annual conference, Coles felt empowered to curate a different experience for students and faculty at the 2022 ASC meeting, recognizing the creative scholarship and professional efforts of Blacks in criminology; she felt the need to create a space where Black students and faculty, as well as their allies, could come together, have fun, network, and begin a conversation on how to make our departments and annual conferences a better experience for those already feeling isolated in their own departments. After several discussions with Professors Emily Owens and Bryan L. Sykes, Black@ASC was conceived.
Planning Black@ASC
As Coles’ vision for a more welcoming and inclusive space at ASC became clearer, several practical planning concerns needed to be addressed. First, given that the annual meeting was being held at a large conference hotel in the downtown area, we wanted to host the event off-site but not too far away that travel would be a deterrent to attendance. After a quick search of venues in the area, Coles settled on three options that were between 1-2 miles away from the conference hotel.
Second, the conference hotel hosts a slew of important networking events in the evening following the opening of the conference. Coles did not want Black@ASC to conflict with anything that would pull the attention of the same audience. She mapped out a set of time options after looking through the previous year’s catalog of events and then cross-referencing the availability of potential venues, with Owens & Sykes providing guidance on the timing of the event. We settled on hosting Black@ASC a few hours after the Racial Democracy, Crime & Justice Network (RDCJN) happy hour event and the poster session.
Lastly, with a time, location, and goal, Owens and Sykes began to fundraise to make Coles’ vision a reality. Black@ASC was funded through several institutional and personal sources at UC-Irvine, including the Office of Inclusive Excellence; the Department of Criminology, Law & Society; a personal contribution from Jon Gould, Dean of the School of Social Ecology; and Sykes’ Inclusive Excellence Term Professor funds. Once the deposit was paid, we began to advertise and market the event.
Black@ASC
Approximately 118 people RSVP’d and 105 people attended Black@ ASC. Guests hailed from 58 universities and 6 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), specifically, Howard University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Prairie View, Clark Atlanta, Fayetteville State University, and Texas Southern University.
Over arcade and board games, drinks, and food, community building and professional networking took place. For many Black graduate students, this was the first time they met and/or interacted with Black faculty. The event also empowered several attendees to create a writing group that promotes and facilitates the psychological, social, and emotional success of Black women in criminology/criminal justice graduate programs by providing a consistent virtual space for academic and professional development.
After the event, attendees were surveyed and 86% said they made professional connections. Respondents also listed networking opportunities, community building, and having a dedicated Black space as the top three favorite aspects of the event. Black@ASC was so well received, in fact, that many guests left noteworthy and meaningful comments, including:
- “I am just happy that the space exists!”
- “This was wonderful!”
- “I really enjoyed everything! I felt like I belonged.”
- “This was such a powerful and much-needed space. We/I felt like I could let go of the armor I usually wear at ASC events. Sometimes we just need a space, where networking and etc. is not the main goal.”
- “As someone who’s attended ASC for years, I truly appreciated this space!”
- “Please make this an annual event!”
- “Thank you for stepping up and turning complaints into action.”
Looking Ahead
In a “post-racial” America, anti-blackness and anti-wokeness persist and appear to be thriving in some communities and spaces. Acknowledging that Black experiences and communities remain under fire, including in doctoral programs and at annual conferences, is important for creating and cultivating spaces that are inviting and inclusive. Blacks in criminology are few in number but rich in vision, and with allies of all colors who attend Black@ASC, we have engineered a space filled with ambition, intellect, opportunity, and professionalism.
We are currently planning Black@ASC for the 2023 annual meeting [of ASC in October] in Philadelphia. While the event particulars are currently being finalized, our goal is to create more opportunities for:
- intentional networking via a “speed meeting” session;
- greater team-building exercises that are geared towards light competition, leisure, and bonding; and
- organizing future collaborations by pairing or grouping interested students and scholars along research interests.
We hope that Black students and faculty – and their allies! – will join us in cultivating and celebrating community at Black@ASC. If you would like to assist with planning or to contribute financial resources, or if you have additional thoughts or ideas to share, please contact us at ccoles@uci.edu and blsykes@uci.edu.
This story originally appeared in the May-June 2023 issue of ASC’s The Criminologist.