A Self-Assessment

I came into UCSB as a Business Economics major. I was deceived by the title and thought I would be engaging in rigorous Business courses, but I soon found out that was not the case. I was struck by an unnecessary amount of Economics courses packed with theory and no practical application. I felt something was missing and that empty hole was soon filled by my fascination with the Black Studies courses.

In high school I was rarely exposed to Black history and most history books shrunk the Black experience to a couple of pages. I first encountered an insightful elaboration of Black history through Black Studies 1 Introduction to Afro-American Studies with Professor Lipsitz. After the first week of class I was so excited I was calling everybody and telling them about the distortions and missing pieces of history that had been unknown to me. I was showing off my new vocabulary and throwing words like epistemology and hegemony in my conversations to sound smart. I felt compelled to take more Black Studies courses such as critical intro to race (Black Studies 4) and intro to Caribbean studies (Black Studies 7).  After taking these two classes I decided my career at UCSB would not be complete unless I doubled majored with Black Studies. My perspective on everything changed dramatically. I began to question every part of history and relook at historical events through the critical lens I developed by taking Black Studies classes. Until I took Black Studies 4 I had not realized the patterns of systematic racism and did not understand how much racism still existed.   

One of the classes I enjoyed the most was the education of Black children taught by Professor Johnson. This class was extraordinary because Professor Johnson pulled together almost every discipline into one class to express the savage disparities in education for Black children. This class enhanced my critical thinking skills and allowed me to analyze harmful ideologies and their effects. Furthermore, this class instilled in me the philosophy of education for freedom and inspired me to be successful.  More importantly I’ve learned that knowledge is powerful. Now that I’m equipped with the tools to better understand the injustices pertaining to the Black experience, I feel more complete and competent to understand the world around me.