C/O Jayhan Kherani
Please introduce yourself.
My name is Kayla Willis-Simmonds. I'm the president of LABS, which is the Law Aspiring Black Students club at McMaster [University]. This club was created on the basis that we have a disadvantage when it comes to having the correct information when pursuing law and what law school is going to be like. We're here to provide members in our community with information, essentially and give them viable pathways [and] show them something that they can see themselves doing. We also connect them to like-minded individuals not just here at McMaster, but in other universities as well. It's also corresponding to the BFL chapter, the Black Future Lawyers. That's orchestrated by the University of Toronto. All of this is to just help Black undergraduates know what law school is like and prepare them for their futures.
What kind of law are you interested in?
That is something that has varied. Of course, with How to Get Away with Murder and Suits, a lot of people want to do the corporate route. But after seeing the competition and the environment there, I don't think it's the right fit for me. Now, I'm thinking about either family or immigration law. I definitely think immigration could be beneficial and a better fit for me.
What are your goals?
One of my personal goals is more immediate: to graduate this semester and get on the Dean's List. Then, another goal that's personal to me is to take the LSAT. I was supposed to last summer, but my anxiety stopped me and I ended up canceling. I think my anxiety came from just not wanting to fail . . . What happens when everything you've constructed from childhood to young adulthood to prepare you for this might "fail" here? It hurts, so I think that's one thing that prevented me from at least attempting and trying. However, I'm going to be a little bit more mature about the situation and tap into my mental health to know when I'm feeling too anxious so I can be in a good mental state and prepared.
What was your favourite experience with the club?
Just recently, in this academic year, I would say our most successful event was with the Black Student Success Centre. We partnered with them and our members got to ask an ex-lawyer about her experience. We asked what her experience was like, manoeuvring that type of journey . . . as a Black woman. We really got to ask any question we wanted from an expert. We're really thankful for her expertise. She really did put us in a good position to move forward and know more about what to expect.
With everything you've learned, do you have any advice for your younger self?
A big thing would be to enjoy the process. I would tell her to relax and not be so headstrong . . . Tell her to enjoy the many aspects of university, high school — all of it. In terms of first-years, my advice is just to connect with us. You're not the only one that's going through this journey. I know that was my biggest thing coming to McMaster, just finding like-minded people, people who are going through my journey. It's very hard to find people that identify with your race who are also going through the same journey. That's why LABS was created.
You're not the only one that's going through this journey. I know that was my biggest thing coming to McMaster, just finding like-minded people, people who are going through my journey. It's very hard to find people that identify with your race who are also going through the same journey. That's why LABS was created.
You said that it was hard for you to make those connections. Do you mind elaborating?
Being a minority here at McMaster, it's hard to make friends and make those connections and it's even harder when you're really passionate about something. So, again, that's why I'm here. That's the biggest thing, just making those connections with like-minded people. I think McMaster should try to acknowledge that there's an issue when it comes to making connections. There should be ways to make it easier, especially for the first generations [university students]. I know that universities are trying to tap into the minority groups in terms of admission and things like that. That's a great goal, but that's not where it should stop . . . Sometimes, we don't have parents or grandparents to ask for advice. Even with the Black Student Success Centre, that is a great system but so many people don't know it exists. It's great that [universities] want to extend your admissions to minority students, but once we get here it shouldn't stop there.
I know that universities are trying to tap into the minority groups in terms of admission and things like that. That's a great goal, but that's not where it should stop . . .
LABS is working to improve virtual safety measures and support fellow future Black lawyers
C/O The Silhouette Photo Archives
The Law Aspiring Black Students group at McMaster University is creating space for Black and other racialized students to learn about the legal profession, find mentorships and grow their networks. LABS is an McMaster Students Union club and an affiliate of the University of Toronto’s Black Future Lawyers program.
Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, LABS has hosted a range of events and have seen increased interest and enthusiasm within their organization.
The LABS presidential team is composed of three fourth-year justice, politics, philosophy and law students. Brianna Fable-Watson and Elizabeth Oyegunle are the club’s co-presidents and Nicole Anozie is the vice-president.
“[LABS] was intended to be a space where People of Colour, Black-focused but not Black-exclusive, but People of Colour on the spectrum could find a community and establish some kind of space where they could really talk about their experiences, one in which we felt was necessary, especially in the field of law,” said Oyegunle.
“[LABS] was intended to be a space where People of Colour, Black-focused but not Black-exclusive, but People of Colour on the spectrum could find a community and establish some kind of space where they could really talk about their experiences, one in which we felt was necessary, especially in the field of law,” said Oyegunle.
Fable-Watson explained that she and the other presidents are three of five Black students in their majority white class cohort.
“That’s very minute in comparison to the amount of white counterparts that we have in our classes and so we all found each other and realized that we all had the same struggles and issues. It’s this constant feeling of being out of the loop that we wanted to change for incoming Black students and minority students,” Fable-Watson said.
LABS has changed that feeling and has seen increased interest and engagement with their programming throughout the year.
“This is an initiative that people want to be seeing because it's catering to their needs, at least right now,” said Anozie.
This is an initiative that people want to be seeing because it's catering to their needs, at least right now,” said Anozie.
Throughout the year they have seen increased interest and engagement with their programming.
“Not a lot of people knew what LABS was, who we were [last year] and I feel like this year we’re really making our footprints in the McMaster community,” said Fable-Watson.
In November 2020, the club hosted LABS Chat on Zoom to discuss racialized students’ experiences with the pandemic, the ongoing #BlackLivesMatter movement, diversity in the workplace and more.
The event was intended to be a safe space for students to share, to be introduced to the club and for LABS to share plans for the school year. However, in the midst of introductions, multiple participants began saying and typing racial slurs and sexual profanities. One participant changed their Zoom name to Brianna Fable-Watson and used a mirror effect so that there were two screens of her in the call.
The perpetrators of this attack on the event added and re-added each other but the LABS team was ultimately able to remove each of them. In the process, a genuine attendee was accidentally removed and denied access from the event. Another attendee felt too uncomfortable and took a step back, though they did rejoin.
The event continued and according to the executives, they were not going to let the attack affect the rest of the meeting.
“Honestly, I think it added to the chat because it just made it more apparent [that] that's why we need events like this because things like this happen all the time,” said Fable-Watson.
Fable-Watson, whose computer appeared to be hacked, reached out to the Hamilton Police Services about the incident but was only told to have her computer checked out.
“You would hope that something can be done, an investigation can be done, to see who these people are. Even tracing an IP address or something, you have resources at your disposal. It’s a matter of using them,” said Anozie.
“What made it even more concerning and worrisome to me was that it literally could be anybody. It could be somebody that’s in my tutorial or in my lectures and that we'd have no idea,” said Fable-Watson.
The identity of the perpetrators are still unknown as of publication of this article. A lot of students have reached out to share that these hateful ideologies are present at McMaster.
“What made it even more concerning and worrisome to me was that it literally could be anybody. It could be somebody that’s in my tutorial or in my lectures and that we'd have no idea,” said Fable-Watson.
“I was completely distraught cause I was like, if this were to be even more severe or if someone was actually harmed where would I go? Who will actually listen to me because I know that the dean of [students] McMaster would not be listening to me. Who will I be able to actually tell my problems to and would they actually be concerned for me?” said Oyegunle.
The LABS team is focused on moving forward and ensuring that this does not happen to other students. Oyegunle noted how McMaster’s Equity and Inclusion Office has resources but that a lot of students are unaware of them.
“We really want to use our platform now to really allow people to know about and really learn about [these resources],” said Oyegunle.
“We really want to use our platform now to really allow people to know about and really learn about [these resources],” said Oyegunle.
“I feel like now moving forward it’s a matter of assessing and seeing what can we put into place to ensure that security measures are there so that things like this don't happen,” said Anozie.
The team described the attack as a learning opportunity to implement increased measures and to continue to create safe spaces for racialized students to network and build community.
“We are still going to move forward. We're still going to be here and it's not going to stop us. It's not going to deter us from holding future events,” said Anozie.
“We are still going to move forward. We're still going to be here and it's not going to stop us. It's not going to deter us from holding future events,” said Anozie.
“As students of colour, especially Black people and Black women in general, we face so much more hardship and barriers in our lives that something as simple as a zoom infiltration, obviously it’s horrible, but that’s literally not going to stop us. The whole point of LABS is that we’re so focused on success that it doesn’t matter what you do. We’re all here for each other. We’re all united,” said Fable-Watson.
The whole point of LABS is that we’re so focused on success that it doesn’t matter what you do. We’re all here for each other. We’re all united,” said Fable-Watson.
Since then the LABS team has worked with Tolulope Ojo, from inclusion and anti-racism programming in the EIO and Faith Ogunkoya, a student services team lead, to learn more about navigating Zoom safely and to share these resources with other clubs on campus. LABS has successfully implemented these measures in other events, such as a career panel in January 2021.
