By The Keystone Newspaper Event hosted by KU’s Women’s Center and Multicultural Center
By Shakyiah Newkirk-Ireland
Shanita Hubbard, recipient of the James Baldwin Writing Residency, visited as a guest speaker at KU as part of the KU Ujima Conference during Black History Month on Thursday, Feb. 20. Approximately 150 KU students attended.
Photo Credit: Stephen Walker
Hubbard, author of Ride Or Die: A Feminist Manifesto for the Well-Being of Black Women, delivered an empowering speech about “the concept of freedom” and how policies that have been introduced since the election of the new administration have been “intentionally designed to harm already vulnerable communities.”
Hubbard, professor of journalism at the University of Toronto, framed her talk around a song called “Sugar Hill” by AZ. The lyrics read:
“At times, I window-watch out the Marriott
Zonin’ on ownin’ co-ops, foreign drop-top coupes and yachts
Guzzlin’ straight shots of scotch
Formulatin’ up plots to escape from ‘Salem’s Lot ‘cause it’s scorch–in’ hot
Makin’ it hard tryin’ to figure who’s out to trap me–pataki
Got all kinds of undercovers that’s comin’ at me
Perhaps he won’t be happy ‘til they snatch me and place me where half us black be, sittin’ in
Coxsackie
But never me, see, my destiny’s to be forever free”
Bouncing off these lyrics, she returned to the issues of mass incarceration and the drug epidemic, noting how artists like Nas, AZ, and Biggie created music to raise awareness about the percentage of Black and Brown men imprisoned in the U.S. and how they were navigating corruption and abuse of power.
AZ specifically said in “Sugar Hill” that humans are living in a world lacking freedom for all ethnic cultures—except for him, because “my destiny’s to be forever free.” Hubbard then reflected on this line, wondering if AZ was using the phrase as an affirmation and whether it helps him feel protected. She questioned what freedom looked like to him.
Photo Credit: Leadership Development Page, MCC Services
Later in the song, AZ states, “I want a villa in Costa Rica / So I can smoke my reefer, and enjoy how life’s supposed to treat ya.” Hubbard noted that this represents freedom to AZ: owning a villa on an island, having financial security, and smoking the finest marijuana in finely tailored suits.
During Q&A, one attendee asked, “Being on this predominantly white campus, I sometimes feel like an imposter trying to keep up with the latest fashion trends, or just being around this many people who don’t look like me. I often feel like I don’t fit in.”
Hubbard responded, “Who is the imposter in here? It wouldn’t be possible for you to be here if you weren’t 10 times as qualified as the next person, so that is a complete lie that you don’t fit in.”
Hubbard closed by thanking Stephen Walker, Marlene Fares, and the Women’s Center. She also emphasized how meaningful it was to be at KU during a time of political unrest, using the moment to raise awareness about the exhaustion these policies are causing and the urgency of changing the system.