Columbia, Power, and the Weight of Silence

Being Black at Columbia has always been isolating, but the case of Mahmoud Khalil makes it clear just how disposable we are in these institutions. In this episode, I unpack what it means to exist in a space that was never built for us, to be welcomed for diversity but punished for dissent. Mahmoud, a fellow student, spoke out against genocide, and now the university, the government, and the system itself have turned against him. Columbia preaches justice, free speech, and advocacy, but when those values are put to the test, they crumble under the weight of power and politics.

I reflect on the silence of institutions, the way they abandon us when we challenge them, and the constant struggle of navigating spaces that want our presence but not our voices. I share my own experiences of being in classrooms where my people’s suffering is treated as a case study, of feeling the unspoken pressure to assimilate, and of the fear that speaking up comes at a cost. And then there’s Trump, using Mahmoud as another pawn in his racist fear-mongering, while Columbia stands by, complicit.

But silence is not an option. This episode is about more than one student—it’s about all of us who have been made to feel expendable in systems that claim to uplift us. It’s about resistance, about speaking up even when it’s risky, and about realizing that if these institutions won’t protect us, we have to protect each other.

This is Dear Melanin KD, and I refuse to be silent.