Black Voices: Silent No More at Mr. Jefferson's University

In  May 2020, about six weeks following the University of Virginia’s   mandate for all non-essential employees to not return to Grounds, the  need to express pent-up anxiety or frustrations in the form of inward  and outward reflections was shared during a BFS-ERG executive team  meeting. Leftover unresolved feelings from the Summer of Hate (2017)  were discussed, and the idea of an anthology of our written expressions  began to take shape.  COVID-19 is providing an opportunity  for us to do  this as many were working from home (and continue to work from home).  We  are continuing to keep  abreast of local, national, and world events  with limited distractions. In the midst of the pandemic, on June 1,  2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old citizen of the United States of  America, begged for his life for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.  Police  officers, who were sworn to protect and serve, ignored the pleas. The  death of Mr. Floyd alone would have been unbearable, but the fact that  it was coupled by the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmad Arbery and many  others, moved BFS-ERG to call for a collective platform to grieve and a  safe space to be. We are seeking submission on topics of COVID, police  brutality, civil unrest, BLM, and other issues impacting our reality in  2020. Why a writing project? Collective Writings: Black Voices,  Silent No More at Mr.  Jefferson’s University allows a way to express  our contemplations and our pain. The pain, both physical and  psychological, may be seemingly minimized because we don’t “talk” about  it.  COVID-19 has underscored what we already knew psychologically,  emotionally, economically, etc., and now, let’s profess it. We  need your voices for this collection of creative works that reflect your  feelings, experiences, and thoughts before COVID19 and during it, in  relation to working at UVA, or in our daily life, or both (our work and  non-work existences often overlap).  Many of us may likely share a  common experience or emotion.  What you choose to submit is not  specific. Some suggestions include an aspect of your experience during  this time, a story, poem, essay, or a performance/spoken word video.  This is a genre-bending activity that requires no formal writing  experience although academic writing is welcomed! All it requires is  that you express your voice in any way it comes to you. Our experiences  are important to share with the world because what we feel and think are  important, and can be cathartic and transformative for ourselves and  our community. Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis.  The primary submission deadline is August 15, 2020. By this deadline we  will accept various entries including but not limited to essays, poetry,  and musical/visual expressions. Audio/musical and visual/animated  expressions must be limited to 3 minutes (.jpeg, .png, .mp3, .mp4). For  academic or scholarly research the suggested format is APA or MLA  format. For academic or scholarly research the primary submission date  is September 1, 2020. Please submit your work to silentnomore.bfs@gmail.com If  you are unable to meet the August 15 or September 1 deadline, please  know that additional submissions for all categories will be accepted at a  later date. All participants are free to submit anonymously so that  their names are not connected with their work if that is their  preference.  Please know that BFS-ERG will respect your wishes regarding  anonymity.  We will publish names only if you choose this option.  Submissions will be posted on the BFSERG website in a blog style format. Editing will be limited to grammatical errors and misspellings. For questions, please email them to silentnomore.bfs@gmail.com  We will respond to them ASAP. Project committee:    Beverly Colwell Adams NyShae Carter Vivian Feggans Jaronda Miller-Bryant Toluwalogo Odumosu Connie Chic Smith

We think, we write, we do language. ~ Toni Morrison ~