An Ode to Black History Month: One Student’s Struggle for Black Liberation

After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Angelmarie Taylor , a former Students for Quality Education (SQE) intern, and other Black student organizers began to wonder how they could continue their work for Black liberation.

What began as a simple exploration of campus resources became a national movement centered around Black identity and solidarity.

Yet Taylor’s journey as a student at CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) has been anything but easy. Taylor has faced years of documented retaliation, stalking, and other forms of harassment at the hands of CSUCI administrators and campus police. In September 2023, she was mysteriously disenrolled from all her classes after participating in campus protests. In April 2025, she faced possible expulsion for allegedly violating the interim Time, Place, and Manner policy during her campus’ “Stop the Layoffs” rally. In between all of this, she was stopped 12 times by university police for what they called “routine checks.”

On April 16, 2025, more than 150 of her peers, faculty, staff, and community members rallied to her side, demanding an end to the administrative and police abuse.

They were successful. Former CSUCI President Richard Yao resigned a few months later on August 1, 2025, though he never issued an apology for his administration’s behavior.

Amid such tribulations, Taylor began laying the foundations for Black solidarity across all CSU campuses and beyond. When Floyd’s murder set off a series of protests around the nation, Taylor turned toward her Black Student Union (BSU) for further support. She quickly learned, however, that there was little desire and even hesitancy in that space to do any political work. “Many of us were having this issue from CSUCI all the way up to San Francisco State,” she said.

To alter its course, Taylor, along with former CSU Long Beach (CSULB) student Prince Ayoola, started a coalition in 2021. Under the guidance of SQE coordinator Gary Daniels, they set out to re-politicize Black issues across the BSU chapters. “It took four years of pushing, but it came together,” Taylor said. “We now have at least one Black student from every single CSU campus that is trying to help with our mission of Black liberation.”

This coalition, named Black Organizing Network Defense for Education, or BONDED,
operates under the principle jamaa, which, in Swahili, means “family” and “community.” This principle is embedded in their mission, which is to help restore the BSU’s original purpose: to unify Black students across college campuses, combat racial discrimination, and address police brutality and campus safety for students of color.

BONDED was created with two mentors in mind: Dr. James Garrett, co-founder of the Black Student Union Movement at San Francisco State (SFSU)—which led to the establishment of Black/Ethnic Studies Departments—and Dr. Melina Abdullah, CFA Political Action & Legislation Committee Chair, CSU Los Angeles professor, and co-founder of Black Lives Matter (BLM) Grassroots and the Los Angeles chapter of BLM.

For Taylor, having Dr. Garrett as a mentor has been a blessing. She explained that Dr. Garrett, now in his 80s, has never stopped organizing. “He has so much insight to share, and he’s opened opportunities for us to get involved in the same work that he does around Black solidarity,” she said.

“One of the greatest hopes in these perilous times is the vision, courage, and commitment of our students,” said Dr. Abdullah. “Angelmarie Taylor and BONDED are shining lights, working with solidarity partners like the Black Lives Matter Youth Vanguard to confront anti-Blackness on campuses and in community and build towards the kind of liberatory education that we so urgently need, especially in times such as this.”

One of the two chairs of BONDED, Mikayla Ellis, a student at SFSU, explains that her activism has largely been influenced by Black student organizers during her time as a BSU member and a broader student organizing coalition at CSUCI known as Students Against Fascism Alliance (SAFA).

Her work in BONDED began after she gave her first ever teach-in about the radical origins of the first BSU at SFSU. She was then connected with Black students and organizations across other campuses that sought to build political power in the Black community.

“This was the basis BONDED was founded on,” said Ellis. “And BONDED is important because it helped me understand that through solidarity, leadership development, and political education, we can organize and empower our often-overlooked community of Black students.”

Ellis points out the urgent need to challenge the inequities within the CSU.

“The CSU system loves claiming the title of diversity, but when it comes down to it, Black and Brown students face the most financial debt and suppression of their political voices at the hands of the CSU administration.”

For Taylor, BONDED is what tethers all the work together of CFA, SQE, and the BSU.

“If students across the state recognize their schools aren’t serving the community or their issues in the way they think should be prioritized, BONDED now exists as an alternative,” Taylor noted. “Those participating in its political education can apply what they’ve learned to their immediate communities.”

The work is entirely grassroots.

“It’s Black youth leading other Black youth and mentoring each other along the way,” stated Taylor.

They recently put together a political education curriculum that is connected with the Black Panther Party Museum in Oakland, California.

Their campaign has now expanded to a national level.

“Black students at colleges in different states across America are going through the same issues we are experiencing here in California,” Taylor said. “And we finally found each other. Now, BONDED is part of a nationwide coalition of Black college students who are fighting for black liberation.”

Last year, Kimberlé Crenshaw, a civil rights advocate and law professor at UCLA and Columbia Law School, gave a keynote speech at one of their co-sponsored events. A few weeks ago, BONDED secured New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg as a guest speaker at their public event. Bragg is the first African American elected as the New York County District Attorney, and became the first and only district attorney to secure a conviction of a former US president.

“Everyone in attendance had the opportunity to dialogue. ‘How does this conversation help us? What are our gaps, and how can we fill those gaps? We are actively organizing with each other across states, and our keynote speakers help us navigate as we build up solutions for our communities,” said Taylor.

What began with just two students in 2021 has now blossomed into a powerful display of what activism can look like.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” said Taylor, “but we’ve definitely grown so much.”

Taylor now serves as a liaison to the nationwide project and mentors the current chairs.

“It’s been an honor,” she said. “What I love about BONDED is that we’re so big on solidarity. So often it’s about Black issues and only Black issues. But in BONDED, we recognize that our liberation is everyone’s liberation, and vice versa, and we need to ally with others along the way. It’s beautiful and empowering.”

While many of the coalition’s students are BSU members or SQE interns, many others aren’t involved in either. Take CSU San Marcos student Aaron Hye for instance, who is part of the CSU Project Rebound program and works with formerly incarcerated students to transform their lives. Hye, who had served 27 years in prison himself, has been experiencing extreme forms of racism on his campus. It’s caused him to become a vocal organizer and activist on his campus. He also founded Carpe Diem Outreach, which mentors youth through social-emotional learning and restorative practices.

“I couldn’t do any of this without the support of CFA,” Taylor said. “Having educators who were taking seriously our political climate and our social struggles has given me so much. I feel held and supported because doing this work can be such a gaslighting experience and it comes with so many risks.”

While her alleged TPM violation case remains open, Taylor expressed that it no longer impacts her. “Everyone showing up that day in April paved the way for me to graduate.”

Taylor is set to complete her undergraduate studies this semester.