Surviving Through 2016: Building Community Amidst Trump and Racial Oppression

Abstract

In this deeply personal narrative, Robbins situates the emotional and professional toll of 2016—marked by the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile and the election of Donald Trump—within the context of multicultural student affairs work. Drawing from Black feminist thought and community care frameworks, she examines how practitioners and students in her multicultural center created spaces of collective healing and resistance amid racial violence and political hostility. Through critical self-reflection, the author underscores how community care, rooted in the teachings of Lorde and hooks, functions as an act of political warfare and survival for Black educators and students. This chapter highlights the intersection of identity, activism, and care, offering a model for sustaining hope and solidarity in times of sociopolitical trauma.