Alum's Documentary Facilitates Panel on Race and Disability

Last year, through a grant from the Fine Arts Department, philosophy graduate student John Michaelczyk wrote and produced a documentary entitled, Keith Jones: Un-Rapping Disabilities, which follows the story of Keith Jones, a disabled black hip-hop artist and advocate of social justice. Recently, through the joint efforts of AHANA, the Office of the Dean for Student Development, and the Campus School of Boston College, the film premiered to an audience of about 50 members of the BC Community. Immediately after, using questions posed by Michalczyk and the audience, Keith Jones himself, Dean of Students with Disabilities Susie Conway, and John Petigny, the Associate Director of the AHANA Office, addressed the issues of race and disability in America and especially on campus.

The evening began with Michalczyk, who is currently studying sociology at the New School, thanking the audience, which was largely comprised of students, for taking the time to attend. He explained that, having been an undergraduate and graduate student at the University, he understands that BC is “not an easy academic scene.” He also acknowledged the sponsors of the program who “helped make the event possible.”

The audience was then treated to Michaelczyk’s fifteen-minute documentary about Keith Jones. The film began with the artist explaining how all of the things that doctors had told him he would never do, including walking and talking, each served as a “personal challenge” that he struggled to successfully overcome. Jones, who suffers from cerebral palsy, said that being a person of color in a wheelchair makes him “very visible.” Although Jones argued that it is “okay to have reactions” to people, like himself, who are visibly different, he emphasized, “It is not okay to have reactions after you know somebody.”

Throughout the course of Un-Rapping Disabilities, Jones was frequently shown addressing a classroom of Boston College students, to whom he posed several rhetorical questions that challenged them to examine how they respond to people unlike themselves. Some of these questions were: “What is the ideal American?”, “Do your personal agendas hold society back or move society forward?”, “Why do you want to be educated?”, “Do you want to make a difference?”.

Jones also talked at length about how “people with disabilities are not fully participatory in our society.” He discussed how the 60 million disabled people in America “do not live in a bubble. They have mothers and fathers. They have siblings. They have families affected by their disability and the social reaction to it.”

With his musical career, Jones and his producer have created a new sub-genre of hip-hop called “crip-hop.” The pair began the music project because, as Jones explained, “There were no visibly disabled people in hip-hop. Our goal is to get discussion started on what it is, what is disability.” Jones hopes that his efforts will help correct what he calls “hip-hop’s allergy to broadening its scope.”

Upon the conclusion of the documentary, Jones quoted the popular expression, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” The artist reflected on being grateful “to have been given life and two beautiful kids.” He joked, “I’m not rich yet. I’m still waiting for that to happen.”

At this point, the program moved into the second portion of the evening, a panel discussion on race and disability. Michalczyk opened the panel by remembering how he was “astounded by Jones’s advocacy,” which inspired him to produce the film. Jones responded by saying that he “had a ball” working on the movie and contributing to the soundtrack, which features some of his original music.

In addition to Jones, the panel included Dean Susie Conway from the Office of the Dean of Student Development, where she works as the Dean for Students with Disabilities, and Andy Petigny, the Associate Director of the AHANA Office.

Conway explained how her office impacts the Boston College community by “advocating for students on administrative levels.” Since she assumed the deanship five years ago, Conway’s office has grown to accommodate 175 students per year. In addition, she has started support groups for bipolar students and students with traumatic brain injuries. Conway has also teamed up with the Capital Projects Office to make improvements, especially in terms of the physical accessibility of certain areas and buildings on campus and in the classroom learning environment.

Petigny works closely with Dialogues on Race, which he described as “a mentorship between upperclassmen and lowerclassmen.” Each session of Dialogues is a six-week program during which students learn about and discuss issues of race.

Jones opened the panel with his reflections on the current state of the school system in the United States; in particular, he addressed the recent closing of schools in several states. In doing so, society is “turning out stupid people,” according to Jones. He wondered how these closings are going to affect colored people, special needs students, immigrants, and the gender gap.

“It’s like throwing a boulder into a pond and not expecting it to ripple,” he says. “We need to have a political discourse on what matters. We need people in this country who are smart and educated, and we need people who are healthy. The school closings pose the question: Do we value the people who need [the resources] the most?”

Jones illustrated how being a person of color and having a disability are a “coin toss. On any given day, there are issues with one or both. It is a fact that 65% of disabled people are unemployed. That is six-and-a-half times the national average. Add color to that, and it’s off the charts.”

He tied the school closings into the facts on disability and race when he declared, “A country does not survive if its people are sick and if its people are stupid. You can’t get the job if you’re stupid, and you can’t make money if you’re dead.”

Petigny brought these themes back to campus and discussed how students can react to others who are different. He argued that, “A lot of [the needed change] revolves around education. Once you know one aspect, you can start connecting the dots and the world can change.” Petigny reminded the audience that the learning process involves “making mistakes,” but he urged everyone to “take a risk.”

From her perspective, Conway said that, when they encounter a student on campus with a disability, students are, “shy about want to do. It’s not that they don’t not want to befriend them or don’t not want to talk to them, but they are afraid of making a mistake.” She encouraged the audience to remember, “every disabled person is also a human being.”

On campus, Conway believes changes that will assist disabled students “are moving in a positive direction, but we still have a ways to go.”

Jones then talked about the problem of self-segregation. He explained, “We gravitate toward people like us. When you have a disability, however, you don’t really get that experience except in special education in school, but even then, you still don’t learn about the issues.”

In regard to many of the current policies for disabled people in America, Jones teased, “They are just enough to piss me off and not enough to make me smile.”

Conway reminded the audience, “Just because someone looks normal, does not mean that they necessarily are. They may need special attention,” which is where her office steps in. Conway called it “an honor to work with students with disabilities on this campus.” She said, “They are such a resilient group,” and she praised their hard work academically and with their extra-curricular activities.

Jones encouraged people with disabilities to “stay involved, stay visible,” in spite of being tied to the state budget. “We are seen as a burden rather than a viable work force.”

To end self-segregation, Jones argued, “There’s no need to be heavy-handed. Put it in an accessible open venue where everybody can go and everybody is welcome. Make it social, make it a party.” He emphasized, “You need to engage and have a sense of humor and celebrate what common rather than what’s not. All of you are going to be BC alums. Engage and celebrate that. It’s more offensive if you don’t talk to me. Engage me, and I’ll respect you.”

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