Alumni Profile: Dominick Braswell
Dominick Braswell at the Mellon Transfer Student Program office.
Meet Dominick Braswell!
Dominick Braswell, a Bedford Stuyvesant native, graduated from Brooklyn College with a bachelor of arts degree in Africana studies and a minor in American studies. He is currently working as the Mellon Transfer Program Coordinator while making plans for graduate school.
Braswell reported that the foundation established by Brooklyn College, and his major in Africana and American studies has been critical, indeed a driving force, deepening his interest in examining neoliberalism and black social movements. The classes he took (specifically in the Africana Studies Department), becoming a community organizer, and being a black man influenced his undergraduate research and interests. Why major in Africana studies, one might ask? In Braswell's case, he related that he had grown up in a black working-class family and wanted to study something that he closely identified with. He felt that getting a degree in Africana studies was a way for him to connect more to his community while at the same time gaining the knowledge that college would provide. And he chose his American studies minor because he believed it would complement his focus on African Americans and their continuous struggle.
Braswell began his journey of connecting his studies and his responsibilities to his community after joining the People Power Movement (PPM) at LaGuardia Community College. Braswell related that no single moment or event has had more of an effect on his intellectual development and research interests than being a part of the People Power Movement community organization.
"As someone who grew up in a public housing development centered in a community devastated by neoliberal policy, I can recall the excitement and urge I felt to get out in the streets and protest these policies that have devastated poor working-class communities of color."
The PPM was founded in 2011 by City College alumnus and leader of the CUNY 1989 student strike against tuition hikes, Mark Torres. Though no longer active, at the time the People Power Movement tackled such issues as police brutality, public school charterization, gentrification, and tuition hikes. For example, PPM spearheaded a movement against gentrification in the Kingsbridge neighborhood of the Bronx and also delivered over 2,000 CUNY student signatures to New York Governor Cuomo, demanding a tuition hike freeze. Talking to folks in the community, giving out flyers, and attending rallies were some of the ways that PPM made a positive influence on Braswell's sense of self, his studies, and his career interests. He served as its president for a year and credits the organization with inspiring him to stand up for those who do not have a voice.
Indeed it was as a member of PPM that he learned to combine activism with political theory because the members had to attend "classroom seminar"-style political education meetings in which they would read, analyze, and dissect the works of Howard Zinn, CLR James, Cedric Robinson, Karl Marx, Eric Foner, Craig Wilder, W.E.B. DuBois, V.I Lenin, and many other scholars. At these sessions they would delve into these texts to educate themselves on how best to reach out to certain communities. While still believing that marching and holding protest demonstrations are important aspects to community organizing and the work of an activist, he learned that educating oneself historically and theoretically is as important as being in the streets to effectively tackle issues plaguing working class communities of color.
Braswell at a Black Gotham, Nerdy Thursday event.
Dominick has been an active contributor to the Brooklyn College campus since he matriculated here from LaGuardia Community College in 2016. He served as a Student Diversity Advisory Board Member for one year and a Black and Latino Male Initiative-Ambassador for three years. He won the Dan Mayers Award for Academic Achievement in Africana Studies in 2018, an award given to the Africana Studies major with the highest GPA. He was a Fellow of the first cohort Mellon Transfer Student Research Program and snagged a CUNY Pipeline Fellowship for Careers in College and Teaching.
Following his interests, one of the first courses that Braswell signed up for was the co-listed “Civil Rights and Black Power” class taught by Prof. Jeanne Theoharis. He explained that this class encouraged him to exchange his ideas and thoughts amongst his student colleagues and the professor. This class was not the beginning, but the first official “push,” to start his journey as both an academic and activist. Since that class, much of his undergraduate study and research has focused on the ways in which African Americans have challenged urban disenfranchisement in the Jim Crow North. In his junior year, he acted as a research assistant for Prof. Theoharis for a piece she wrote exploring the influence of neo-liberal ideology for justifying the Clinton era welfare reform bill. Then as a Mellon Transfer Research Fellow he wrote and presented a paper that examined the history of public housing in America and how neo-liberal policies helped push poor and working-class public housing residents out of their homes and into market-based housing.
Indeed, the decision to pursue graduate school was sparked by joining the Mellon Transfer Student Research Program. Dominick related that,
“I would definitely say my participation in the very first cohort of the Mellon transfer student research program played a major role in my decision to want to continue my education at the graduate level. The program really helped to demystify the process of conducting extensive independent academic research.”
This has not been an easy decision because as he says, “It’ll potentially be my first time living away from family, particularly my aging mother. So, I’ve had to think about schools far enough away to force me to focus, but not too far away from my family.” But he was even more confident and comfortable with the idea of graduate school after attending an “Emerging Scholars” program at Penn State in the summer of 2017. The one-week program helped give him a feeling of what a graduate seminar course would be like and also gave him the opportunity to talk with current graduate students about their experiences.
Braswell at a People Power Movement meeting
To continue to merge activism and the professional academic life, Braswell is currently applying to graduate schools that have Ph.D. programs in Africana and/or American Studies. He wants to continue educating himself on race, public policy, with an emphasis on public housing policy. His studies helped him realize the extreme concerns and issues regarding privatized public housing and its connection to welfare reform. He wishes to continue to explore the topics of black liberation and the ongoing black struggle. Dominick hopes to teach on a university level and aspires to improve the working conditions in America with an emphasis on black working people. He wants to leave behind his legacy by sharing his intellectual ideas with the masses. Braswell still volunteers his time and plans to keep helping his community no matter where life takes him. He considers his community organizing a crucial piece of his story. With the education of graduate school and his continuous efforts serving the community, Braswell is changing the world one day at a time.
