Student Assistants

CDIMA Program Specialist

Brenton Brock

(he/they) is a third-year English Ph.D. student at Howard University. His research engages Black theology, Slow Violence, and Black Quare studies exploring Anti-black quare antagonisms in 20th and 21st-century Black Diasporic literature and visual culture. Brenton earned his Master of Divinity with certifications in Black Church Studies and Theology, Women and Gender Studies from Princeton Theological Seminary, and his BA in Theology from Stillman College. Brenton is also a proud member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.

CDIMA Student Assistants

Zahra Wardwick

(they/them) is a Junior Political Science major born and raised in Northwest DC. They are a queer, nonbinary, first-generation Sierra Leonean Black American poet interested in mental health advocacy centered on BIPOC communities. Having transitioned from a PWI to an HBCU, they are interested in comparing the impact of modern academia’s colonialism-based roots on education. Zahra currently serves as the President of The Alliance Group (T.A.G), a member of the LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, and Secretary of the African Student Association. In their free time, Zahra enjoys reading modern poetry and learning about sustainability as an avenue of Black self-care and restorative justice. As a Social Justice Ambassador (SJA) fellow, they launched the “How We Heal: A Creative Wellness Series”, a series of conversational workshops about ways to heal ourselves and our communities from the inside out with creative skills and technologies from local DMV facilitators & organizers.