Since its founding in 1867, Morgan State University has seen a plethora of leaders, innovators and fighters for change. Multiple generations of Morganites have fought to have the institution known as Morgan State today, but the fire in current Bears has dimmed in recent years.
From the first mass demonstration for equal education funding to the first successful restaurant sit-in campaign to protesting for better facilities to chanting âBlack Lives Matterâ on campus, activism on Morgan Stateâs campus has become nonexistent.
âI just feel like in this day and age, the generation, Iâm not saying theyâre lost, but people donât care. We also didnât care back in my time, but we cared enough to try and do something, but it seems like people really donât care and itâs like lackadaisical robots, just programmed, just walking around âoh this sucks on campus, oh well. Whatever,ââ said Chinedu Nwokeafor, minority business liaison and Morgan State alum, class of â17.
âItâs like they donât make enough noise, or they donât rally enough around an issue, just one issue, it doesnât have to be as great as âwe donât like the way black people are treatedâ it could be something as simple as âhey, I wish it was more salad options from Thompsonâs,ââ said Nwokeafor. âI forget who says this but âto change the world, you have to wake up and make your bed.â Itâs the little things, the little things matter the most because once you achieve that then you can go so much further but this generation is so inundated with what theyâre fed.â
Nwokeafor participated in multiple movements on campus as a student, including the protest that followed the Trayvon Martin verdict, Black Lives Matter protests, advocating for campus safety with the Board of Regents and more.
About 20 years ago, in the 90s, Morgan State saw a different wave of protests due to the poor conditions of facilities and unfair treatment of faculty and students.
According to Edwin Johnson, assistant archivist and Morgan State alumnus, class of â92, they never used Hurt gymnasium because it was fenced with orange hazard signs and Soper Library was always hot, even in the winter because of the poor H-VAC system.
âMorgan was literally had buildings that werenât fit for humans to occupy and other campuses, College Park, Towson, they were flourishing. And year after year, the state would allocate money that were not sufficient for where we are. So, they were kind of stuck in the old Plessy vs. Ferguson, separate but equal mindset,â said Johnson.
âItâs just a continuation of Morganâs history because, everything that Morgan has they got from by a court case or a court order or something. The state never really willingly gave us what we were supposed to have, we always had to fight for it,â said Johnson. âThere was a protest back in the 60s,â47, 1945, I want to say every five to seven to 10 years, thereâs a generation of morganites that are forced to protest whatâs going on.â
Back then students felt a need to be a part of something bigger because the need for change was a general consensus among the student body. Â Â
âStudents were very, very active. We had a lot of students that were politically conscious. It wasnât hard to get involved because the things were so pervasive. If you lived on campus, which I did, you would actually see some of the issues every day,â said Weyden Wedderburn, Morgan State alumnus, class ofâ94. âI felt that it was my responsibility to be a part of the solution.â
âI donât wear a badge of honor or anything like that, I mean there were other people before me that did some of the same things, so I think itâs one of those things where I felt it was my responsibility to get involved and be a part of the solution to make things better,â said Wedderburn.
While Wedderburn and Johnson were protesting, they were being led by Travis Mitchell, Morgan State alumnus, class of â92, the face of the protests in the 90s. Even through all the turmoil and danger before them, they still pushed on to make Morgan State a better place for future generations.
âWe received death threats. I received hate mail and death threats from the Klan. I received threats from other organizations, I was called names and vilified even by folks in our own community, but we had reached a place where there was no turning back,â said Mitchell.
âWe had reached a place where there was no return, either we were going to stick this out or we were going to be defeated. It was just at that point where it made no sense to just go back to business as usual when we were on the precipice of change and seeing our university get its just due,â said Mitchell. âWe were unified around a cause that was greater than us.â
According to Nwokeafor, the campus hasnât had its peak of involvement and activism 2012 to 2014. Back then, everyone had a mutual mindset to make change happen.
Now Morganites even show up to President David Wilsonâs town hall let alone fight for the changes they want to see on campus. However, alumni are still hopeful.
âBut I always tell people as an activist our job is just to activate whatâs already within people. So, what my fellow campus brothers and sisters can do is just at least not have fear. If you see something wrong, say something about it in one way or another,â said Nwokeafor. âAnd once you show that âIâm not going to stand for thisâ a lot of people then respect, not only you but respect what you stand for. So thatâs really what people can do now.â
Other than not being afraid, there is more criteria that Nwokeafor thinks is needed to bring the fire back to campus instead of this wave of âcomplacency.â
âTo be a part of activism stuff, most of the time you have to not give a fuck. Too many people give a fuck here about so many things â their scholarships, their name, their friends, will I be accepted?â said Nwokeafor. âOnce you care so much about so many different things, youâre going to psych yourself out from doing anything and thatâs what makes this process hard.â