Odette Chavez-Mayo

[Alyssa Navarette]: Hello, Ok So I am Alyssa Navarrete and I am going to be 00:01:00conducting an interview for my project interviews with color. Can you please state your name and your year for me please?

[Odette Chavez-Mayo]: My name is Odette Chavez-Mayo and I am a second year

[Alyssa Navarette]:So how do you feel about the statement race is not real?

[Odette Chavez-Mayo]: While I agree that race is a social construct I think that the phrase that race is not real could be used to dismiss the fact that race is something that exists? It's not something that is objectively real but it is a social construct that is a big part of our lives as we know it right now. I don't think it can be used as an excuse for the fact that racism still exists today and its embedded systematically in our world and our government in the United 00:02:00States. I feel weird about it but at the same time I know that it's true but I don't think it's an excuse to disregard racism.

[Alyssa Navarette]:What are your feelings and thoughts on POC culture on Antioch's campus?

[Odette Chavez-Mayo]: I think that there is a lack of POC culture mainly because we're such a small school and I don't feel like there is a large population of POC. While I have a different experience then other people of color on this campus because I've grown up in a majorly white highschool and elementary and middle school ect. For me it's not that difficult to integrate into Antioch's campus but at the same time I can acknowledge the fact that there are very few people of color on campus and why that would be very not scary but very difficult for people. I think that there is definitely something that needs to happen in order to bring the people of color on campus together in order to not lose the sense of self that comes with being around people that share your experiences ect. I think there is a lack of it.

[Alyssa Navarette]:What kind of social constructs do you feel contribute to racism specific to our campus. What kind of social constructs do you feel contribute to racism specific to our campus.

[Odette Chavez-Mayo]: First of all we don't have any major studies that are specifically like African American studies or I don't know if Latino studies exist on other campuses but that kind of thing. I feel like because of that, While there is a strong, not use, there is a strong presence of social justice in our classrooms I feel like there needs to be a type of maybe required course at Antioch that gets every student on the same page as the types of systematic ways that racism exists ect, ect. Because I feel like there is a lack of conversation there is a lack of confidence in people's willingness to talk about these kinds of things in 00:04:00people's classrooms. Professors bring it up a lot whether it is an anthropology class or a media class or a performance class or whatever. Those kinds of things come up but I feel like people never want to talk about it because they're scared of what the reaction is going to be. They don't know how to talk about it. I think if we had that groundwork of kind of getting everybody on the same page of what white privilege means and these different things mean and how those work. Kind of basically what the whiteness group is doing right now. I feel like that type of education is very essential for people to engage in a very meaningful and deep way to fight systemic racism.

[Alyssa Navarette]: And Kind of going off of that do you think that would help 00:05:00or decrease how on this campus we contribute to making race a real thing?

[Odette Chavez-Mayo]: I don't know. I don't think that we can entirely eliminate race in the United States or the world from the campus of Antioch college because it is so ingrained in our different types of government structure. Like the fact that we don't teach that discovering America was based on genocide. Those types of things that aren't taught from a very young age contribute to people's ignorance of the fact that racism is still very present today. I don't 00:06:00think that avoiding or trying to pretend that race doesn't exist is going to get us anywhere. It definitely would contribute to...I don't know, having those conversations is definitely better then not having them. I think there are a lot of things we could do to maybe make it not present because it's always going to be present since it is a part of people's identity but I don't think it would be bad to have those types of things.

[Alyssa Navarette]: So would you please explain the POC day of disappearance action to us in your own words? As well as why you felt it was impactful if you felt it was impactful

[Odette Chavez-Mayo]: So the way that I understood it it was a day where all 00:07:00people of color were to leave the Antioch community and classes ect to kind of show people what it would be like if we didn't exist or weren't here on campus because there has been such a, lack of things done in order to make this a place where POC are comfortable and where there taken seriously and I think this was a very quiet type of protest in order to show people this is what it is like when we're not here. I think that this was kind of a very quiet type of protest in order to show people "this is what it is like when we are not here." We all came 00:08:00together and had different types of discussion and we did homework. We uhm, it was also a little bit like community building which was really really nice. I thought, I don't know, I don't think it was very. I do think it was impactful because we were able to be with each other and we had a lot of time together and good discussion with like students amongst ourselves as well as POC faculty and staff which I think is very valuable. But I don't think it was that impactful in the community because I don't think there was any notice in the community that we were gone. Nobody posted on dim the lights "oh 00:09:00where were all of the POC today?" Or nobody really seemed to speak out about the fact that there were no POC on campus which kind of goes to show how few there are and that no one would notice. Because if there were a lot of people of color on campus and they disappeared people would notice half the class was gone. But there were so few that I don't think it was very impactful in the way it was intended but I think there were a lot of positives that came out about it.

[Alyssa Navarette]: Do you think that this POC disappearance would be an exemplary protest or action that other colleges might benefit from?

[Odette Chavez-Mayo]: I think that at a larger college or university where there are larger numbers of people of color it would be beneficial. I think it would be extra beneficial if faculty and staff didn't show up because they run colleges 00:10:00and universities. I mean students do as well but without a professor you can have a class or without a janitor or a librarian you're not going to have a clean building or a working library. I mean students fill those rolls as well but I think at Antioch it's hard to have protests or whatever because it's so small. It's so so small.

[Alyssa Navarette]: Do you think having a POC hall is a form of self segregation?

[Odette Chavez-Mayo]: No, I think that it's not that at all. I think that having a POC hall is not a cry for help but it is something that people of color are demanding for a reason and that reason is that Antioch college has not been 00:11:00accommodating or in any way trying to make this transition for people of color into the college. This is a way to have a space where people feel safe and comfortable and where they have a place with themselves without being constantly conscious or uncomfortable in a space that is predominantly white which I feel like is something that a lot of students constantly experience or are constantly aware of. I definitely can understand why that would get tiring and I think that is something that is really important. For all of the concerns that are happening I think that we're not going to know until we try so I think that we should definitely try.

[Alyssa Navarette]: Do you feel that a POC hall is necessary on a small liberal arts campus like Antioch and why?

[Odette Chavez-Mayo]: I think that definitely depends on the school and students. If students don't feel like they need a space like that because they are comfortable on their campus and they are safe and they're apart from everybody else I don't think that there should be a reason for it but I feel that if students do feel like they need that then that should be an option.

[Alyssa Navarette]: Yellow springs was once a safe haven for people of color greatly due to Antioch college do you think we can achieve this once again?

[Odette Chavez-Mayo]: I don't know. Because, just look at Antioch itself that it is having problems with having a retention of POC students on it's campus and 00:13:00the students that are staying here are still not happy. They're just not happy with how things are going. Also Yellow Springs is expensive and housing isn't cheap. I think there would need to be a lot of work done to incorporate people of color. Also past generations have different perceptions of what racism is and what it means to incorporate people of color or not. Now I think it's very 00:14:00different then what were those times like. I guess what do you mean that Yellow Springs was a safe haven?

[Alyssa Navarette]: I'm not sure what decade we're talking about because Mari was having a discussion after talking to one of her coworkers about it.

[Odette Chavez-Mayo]: Just because I know that Antioch was an important part in allowing African Americans or black students into the college etc. But when Coretta Scott King was here Black people couldn't go to the theatre without sitting in the back and Coretta Scott King wasn't allowed to teach at a co-op at some school in town because she was Black. Has Yellow Springs really ever been very accepting of people of color. Has that been a reality or has that ever been 00:15:00a Romanticization ofhistory and Yellow Springs to make it look good?

[Alyssa Navarette]: How does being in the POC group make you feel?

[Odette Chavez-Mayo]: In general? I think it feels very good to be around people that are very loving and passionate and driven and accepting. There is so much going on on campus that it's hard to really allot time to have a community. Having a community takes time and it takes a lot of people which is amazing. That's how you foster a community. For example me, I haven't really engaged with the POC group this quarter or the women of color group because I'm really busy this quarter. How do I allow those times with, I don't know. This is just 00:16:00complaining in general about how stressful it is to be at Antioch and how much that can take away from a community amongst themselves. "Come to Antioch and spend time with friends and we're going to have these really deep discussions with each other" and I have had those discussions but you really need to have the free time to do that and that's not something I have a lot.

[Alyssa Navarette]: Ok do you have any final thoughts that you wanted to talk about that we didn't get to talk about?