UMass Boston Celebrates Fifth Annual Black Lives Matter Day, Focuses on Black Wellness and Health Promotion
Social and racial justice depend on the well-being of individuals and communities. Reflecting this connection, the campus’s fifth annual Black Lives Matter Day, held on November 4, focused on Black wellness. The event empowered participants to enhance their own wellness and family health, while also encouraging advocacy and organization for stronger social, physical, and administrative systems that impact their health.
A record 250 people—half of them students— participated in the event, which featured a diverse panel of health researchers and practitioners, remarks from Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, and a health fair. Dr. Tariana Little, co-founder and CEO of EmVision Productions, a health behavior and public health advocate and UMass Boston graduate, served as the keynote speaker.
“This year's Black Lives Matter Day can shine a light on the tremendous expertise in health sciences, policy and services among our Black community at UMass Boston, in greater Boston and nationally, and the experiences we all have that can enable us as individuals, family members, and community leaders to ensure that our environments are truly health-promoting and we may enjoy robust good health and wellness that are our rights as Americans,” said Michael Johnson, special assistant to the chancellor for Black life, an organizer of the event.
Johnson spoke of how despite Boston’s reputation for high-quality health care, racial disparities persist in health outcomes and access, affecting areas from maternal mortality to mental health. Black communities bring a rich history of resilience and innovation in health.
“By sharing our experiences, needs and demands, our administrators, leaders and organizations can work with us to ensure our individual and collective well-being, and at UMass Boston, Black students, faculty, and staff are sharing their experiences and needs to drive meaningful change,” he said.
Niara Carrenard, a clinical psychology doctoral student at UMass Boston, opened the event by leading a community healing, helping the audience center their energy on wellness and healing, which set the theme for the event.
Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson, director for the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy moderated a discussion on holistic wellness and health promotion, asking how we can improve our health practices and improve the systems that can enable healthy living. She was joined by a panel that included Professor of Psychology Evan Auguste; Tashira Halyard, a Georgetown University attorney, equity consultant, and content creator; Mark Scott, program director at Trauma Response and Recovery, Boston Public Health Commission; and Ashley Lazarre, a doctoral candidate in the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development.
Halyard spoke of her journey as a lawyer and breast cancer survivor who had to create her own path as a social justice and social media influencer, while Lazarre explained how her wellness journey influenced her choice of research topic, which focuses on the self-transformation journey of Black women bloggers’ healing on social media over the past decade.
Professor Auguste spoke of the difficulties of connecting academic or traditional psychology principles with the everyday needs of his community.
“When I was thinking about the tradition of psychology that I was trained in, the ethics of it, how it's been used historically, I found that it was more or less misaligned with the commitments that I cared about,” he said, later adding: “Mental health is a balance and harmony between self, between environment, and between universe. So being able to connect on each of those levels of individual, of community, socio-political context, and spirit—so that's the ethics, that's the strategy I had to lean into, to actually respond to the communities that I deeply care about.”
In “Failing My Way to a Purposeful Career in Public Health: A Framework to Fail Forward,” keynote speaker Tariana Little’12, G’17 spoke to the crowd about her personal journey. Ten years ago, Little had been pursuing a PhD with the goal of becoming a research scientist. After failing a qualifying exam, she had to figure out her path.
“Where am I going to go? What am I going to do? How do I be true to me? …I said, Tariana, I'm going to give myself two years. Two years to experiment. Two years to figure out your life path. Two years to fail. Two years to grow. Figure out who you are and what you really want to do,” Little said.
Little “doubled down” on the media agency and vision that she and her husband had co-founded while students. She is currently CEO and co-founder of EmVision Productions, a social impact media agency that helps visionary organizations convey how they're changing the world.
“I do social justice storytelling. And to me, that is public health work,” Little said.
Little and her partner, Jonas Meyer ’14 have pledged $50,000 toward an EmVision Social Impact Scholarship Fund at UMass Boston, to support students in the Critical Ethnic and Community Studies program so that they don't have a financial barrier keeping them from their degree.
DJ Kenny Mascary kept the energy high throughout the event with music that emphasized community and celebration. A health fair featured vendors from campus and across the community, including the Boston Public Health Commission, Black Men Ride Boston, 4 Corners Yoga Wellness, the University Health Center and Black Mental Health Advocacy and Research Lab, among many others. The giveaways, which included t-shirts and books, all emphasized Black wellness.
The university also recognized outstanding UMass Boston health professions and pre-medicine students. Local caterer Sunrise Steakhouse in Brockton served cuisine from across the African diaspora, which was a favorite among attendees.
In November 2020, Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco declared that UMass Boston will observe Black Lives Matter (BLM) Day every year on the first Monday of November. Past BLM Day themes include the inaugural VLM Day Virtual Event, Empowerment Through Collective Leading, A Beautiful Resistance: Black Excellence Through Art, and last year, Black to the Future: Black Excellence in STEM.
Health is central to UMass Boston’s commitment to becoming an anti-racist, health-promoting institution, Suárez-Orozco said.
“I hope our Black Lives Matter Day today helps you recognize your agency in supporting your own health and wellness, and that of your families, your communities, your coworkers, your fellow students, your fellow staff members. And I hope it gives you the tools to advocate for health-promoting environments,” Suárez-Orozco said.