Aleyshka Barbosa

There were several speeches given during the Coalition for Women's Rights' Black Lives Matter march on Feb. 16., 2023. Aleyshka Barbosa, Head TALON and president of First Ospreys, encouraged non-Black students to be active allies with the Black community. Below are her remarks from that day. 

Malcolm X once said, "If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there's no progress. If you pull it all the way out, that's not progress. The progress is healing the wound that the blow made.”

During this month especially – we need to remember that there is no progress unless there is the healing of the wound that was made. So – yes – let’s remember the history and the people that paved the way for us to all be standing in this room, but let us not forget the progress that still needs to be made.

As a Latina, being an ally to the Black community is very important to me.

Being part of the Latinx community means we face our own share of adversity, but it is VITAL to stand as an ally to the Black community and support them. 

Aleyshka and Yesenia at the BLM marchBeing an ally has to be an action; it is not neutrality, and it is not enough to be a good person and hope for the best. It is standing up in the face of injustice, standing with your Black friends, and supporting and continuing to acknowledge the work that needs to be done. Real allies move in max volume.

Being Puerto Rican and having Taino ancestors (also means) understanding the history of colonization that lead to the enslavement of Tainos and slaves brought to Puerto Rico.

I believe that we cannot stay silent and that’s why I have a minor in Africana Studies – we need to learn a forgotten history to understand the present.

When the Black Lives Matter movement officially started gaining momentum there was a call to the entire nation to stand up and bring to the United States – the entire world that all lives can’t matter until Black lives matter.

Being an ally has to be an action; it is not neutrality, and it is not enough to be a good person and hope for the best. It is standing up in the face of injustice, standing with your Black friends, and supporting and continuing to acknowledge the work that needs to be done. Real allies move in max volume.

There is no us without the Black community – it is time we become selfless and stand up for what is right – because the time is now to do so.

– Photo by Zuleika Rodriguez Garcia for the Argo

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