Why #BlackGirlMSU went viral on Twitter and what it means for Michigan State University

EAST LANSING — It started with a late-night tweet. 

Now Ciera Murden finds herself in the middle of a movement aimed at helping women of color feel comfortable on a campus of more than 50,000 students.  

Murden, 20, is a Detroit native who posted the following message 11:12 p.m. Saturday: "I'm starting a #BlackGirlMSU thread (use hashtag)"

A minute later, Murden followed up with "My name is Cee, I’m going into my junior year and my major is (human development and family studies) with a minor in African studies #BlackGirlMSU."

Thousands of black women have caught on, sharing their own experiences as Michigan State University students. Alumni and even students at other universities have weighed in. 

"We are not excluding anyone," Murden said of her #BlackGirlMSU vision. "We're not trying to keep the black girls in one bubble. We're just trying to create a safe space."

The State Journal caught up with Murden on Monday to see what's next for the #BlackGirlMSU movement. 

MSU's website, inclusion.msu.edu, indicates that among the 39,090 undegraduate students that were enrolled in the fall of 2016, 7,578 were identified as students of color. The entire undergraduate population that year had nearly the same amount of male and female students, according to the website. 

What motivated you to start #BlackGirlMSU?

So I was scrolling on Twitter and I noticed a lot of incoming (MSU) freshmen saying "Can someone please give me advice on this? Can somebody please give me help with this?" I thought "When I was a freshman, I had someone there for me." So I wanted to be there for everyone else. So I just made a simple tweet and said "I'm going to start a thread #BlackGirlMSU." I thought only like a couple people were going to respond. I just thought it could be a thread so anyone coming to MSU could click on that thread and see there are so many women who look like them. We're all here. I know MSU is a predominately white school, so I wanted girls to know we are here, there are black women. You can contact someone (on Twitter), find someone that's majoring in what you are majoring in, someone that's your age. The girls started tweeting their names, what year they are going into at MSU and their major. When I woke up the next day, my phone was just blowing up.

What kind of feedback have you received since then? 

I haven't really been keeping track. But a reporter had made a post and she said there were over 1,200 tweets with the hashtag. There has also been numerous groups (online) that have been created. And there's one group chat that has over 300 girls using the hashtag. There was another group that had 456 people. 

What are some of the challenges for black women at MSU?

I feel like one of the biggest struggles is just trying to find their place and themselves because it's a predominately white institution. People only know about the so-called big black (student) organizations like BSA (Black Student Alliance). So I think (black women) struggle to navigate their way through campus. And some don't want to be in such a huge organization, but they want to be a part of something. I feel like they struggle finding something that just works for them. It's just not about jumping right into something. It can be intimidating. Some people are just not cut out for something (like joining a big group). They may want to just be involved, but be in the background. They may struggle finding friends. Some (black women) may have come (to MSU) together, but now may live (in different parts of campus) or different neighborhoods. They may want to meet new people and people within their major. I also feel like we struggle with not asking for help. We want to do everything on our own. ...It can be hard to find mentors who actually want to teach you. Some may be in competition with you. 

Where do you take #BlackGirlMSU from here? 

A group of girls and I are going to create a guidebook for incoming (MSU) freshmen. Well, not just incoming freshman, but anyone who feels lonely on campus. We want to have an (ongoing) mental awareness conversation. We're going to have daily check-ins. We're going to direct black women to other organizations they may want to get in contact with. We're going to help them apply for scholarships, help them with their classes. We're going to help them with maintaining a work schedule while being a part of an organization. We're going to just show them the correct steps to take while going to college, get them engaged with other people who don't look like them. We're going to get them to know people outside of their race, not just within the black community. We're just going to expand their horizons and knowledge. It's going to be a way to help people who don't know where to start and don't know what to do. 

Get involved

To get involved with #BlackGirlMSU and its newly formed outreach groups, follow Murden on Twitter @_GORGnPetite or email her at ciera.murden@yahoo.com. 

Eric Lacy is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at 517-377-1206 or elacy@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.

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