Nicholas Brown CC’26 (left) and Josiah Dali Keys CC’26
Emma Asher
Nicholas Brown CC’26 (he/him) and Josiah Dali Keys CC’26 (he/him) met their first week at the College, and the conversation hasn’t stopped. Among their points of commonality, both aspire to law school, are Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows and are majoring in African American and African Diaspora Studies (Brown is a sociology minor, Keys, political science). The short list also includes a tendency to indulge their foodie and shopping interests. “We are very intertwined,” Keys says with a laugh. “Too much time together.”
Significantly, since freshman year, they have also been committed to the Eric H. Holder Jr. Initiative for Civil and Political Rights — and now are co-chairs of the Initiative’s Student Advisory Board.
The SAB supports the Initiative’s work in a variety of ways, including developing student-centric events and programs. Brown and Keys say they are aware of the responsibility that comes with working with faculty and College staff to bring programming ideas to fruition, particularly at a time, notes Keys, when students are looking for spaces to explore political challenges and social questions outside the classroom. “It’s important to us to honor ideas, thoughts and concerns from our community,” he says. “We want to make sure we are creating a collaborative and coalitional space.”
This fall, the duo spent a lot of their energy on planning and recruitment; next semester, the focus will shift to implementation. With finals on the horizon, the two paused in early December to discuss their work with the Initiative, the classes that have changed them and all the reasons they love New York.
How did you get involved with the Holder Initiative?
Brown: We went to events together as freshmen; one of our professors, Frank Guridy, is the executive director. We didn’t necessarily know there would be leadership roles for students, but we both applied to be Advisory Board members and learned the ropes from the two student leaders at the time. That inspired us to think through ideas for the board and projects that we wanted to do. So, stepping into these “official” leadership roles has been really exciting and really enjoyable, because it feels like we get to apply a lot of the ideas that we already had.
Keys: Each set of co-chairs does things a little differently depending on the needs of the board. Our priority is to be cognizant of having on-campus conversations that connect students with leaders and resources that teach them how to be their own organizers and their own leaders. We also want to reach outward into the broader Harlem and New York community, and educate local students on the importance and function of being civic advocates for their community.
Brown: The idea is to have a weekly course or workshop that high school and preferably middle school students can attend that is centered around civic education and justice. And then also looking at the role of voting. Often when people talk about voting, it’s “you should register” and “let’s get out the vote”; there’s an implied notion that you should vote for a specific candidate. But we don’t have the conversation of why voting might be important, or how voting is a useful tool in larger conversations about justice.
Keys: It’s important to teach the younger generation how to evaluate candidates and how to evaluate policy. But also, if they feel there is an issue that’s not being addressed, we want them to know how to organize around that and make sure that their voice is heard. So, exploring how they can influence change outside of the ballot box — whether it be on a local level in town halls or at higher levels, through state representatives or governors.
What are some highlights of your experience with the Holder Initiative to date?
Brown: My official favorite moment was a panel last year about social justice careers and professional life. It was really good — we had someone from the Legal Defense Fund, someone from the New York Civil Liberties Union. It was the most honest conversation that I’d had with legal professionals and policy people about what the work looks like and also what a particular role is responsible for in the larger conversation about social justice.
Unofficially, my favorite moments are when we’re just chilling with Beth [Manchester, the Initiative’s senior associate director], having meetings or when we’re setting up or taking down an event together. That is the most fun, and it’s also the time that we get to debrief, to say “we should be doing more of this,” or “I’d love to bring in this person.” Those are really good moments.
Keys: I’m going to echo that. Also, for something recent, Nick and I are playing a key role in recruitment and building the board. We had an event recently and it was very heartwarming to see so many first-years and sophomores come out to say, “I’m interested in this; I want to do this.”
What else do you dedicate yourself to, outside of the Holder Initiative?
Brown: I’m a research assistant for the Institute for Research African-American Studies (IRAAS), so I do a lot of work there around a larger project, “Black Nations/Queer Nations?”; it centers around Black queer studies. I also volunteer with the Justice-in-Education Initiative, which does workshops and college credit courses at Rikers. Currently I’m teaching Contemporary Civilization in the women’s facility; I’ve taught Music Hum. It’s been a really amazing and complicated experience.
Keys: I’m also a research assistant, in the African-American Studies Program. I’m doing a lot of work around the current attacks on ethnic studies, critical race theory and DEI, which has been a rewarding experience. This semester, a lot of my time also has gone toward the independent research project I’m doing for my [Mellon Mays] fellowship.
I’m also part of QTAB, the Queer and Trans Student Advisory Board. In 2023 we conducted a 50-question survey of Columbia students, and now we’re using that data to advocate to University offices and resource teams for changes on behalf of queer students. About 930 students responded, so we have a lot of data.
What has been your favorite class at Columbia so far, and why?
Brown: “Major Debates in African-American Studies,” which is a requirement for the major, but the topic changes every year. When I took it last year, it was on the political and cultural developments that the Black queer community experienced during the late ’70s, through the ’80s and into the early ’90s, in the context of HIV and AIDS, the Black Power movement, black feminism, etc. It changed the way that I think about a classroom; it was critical, but it was also like a party, and then also like therapy in certain moments. The class became a community. The professor was Jafari Allen, the director of IRAAS.
Keys: One class that really influenced me was “Black New York,” taught by Professor Guridy. It was the perfect balance of him instilling us with knowledge and us creating knowledge among ourselves. I feel like that has shaped a lot of what we’re trying to do with the Holder Initiative. We were learning about the history of Blackness in New York; we did walking tours around Harlem and the Bronx, places like that. So it gave me not just historical knowledge, but also appreciation for New York City as a whole.
How do you take advantage of being in NYC?
Brown: I’m from Durham, N.C., which is a very different environment and atmosphere. So once I learned how to move through New York, you could not stop me. I stayed here last summer for an internship and spent the summer just walking through the city. I was walking the High Line all the time. I was walking through parks that I had never seen. I didn’t know how big Riverside Park was! We both love Harlem. And then — we shop; I love window shopping, because who has the budget? And bookstores! I have gone all the way to Brooklyn to check out a bookstore.
Keys: We’re both foodies, so we try to get to different areas in the city. Everyone says the good Caribbean food is in Brooklyn and Queens, so we try to make it out there. And I do spend a lot of money on shopping [laughs]. I’m from Philadelphia, which is predominantly a Black city, but also predominantly an African-American city. It’s been interesting to come here and see a very Afro-diasporic culture. So, as one example, a lot of the African-American functions are in Harlem, and then if you go further uptown, you get Afro-Latino culture, the different dance hall spots or Reggaeton spots, things like that. I’ve been appreciating going to different parts of this city and interacting with the different Black communities. They really vary in such unique ways.