Teara Lander Story

Teara Lander: There is no hierarchy of oppression, I think a lot of times we get in our own way by attempting to compare who's had it worse than another when we could be working together to make sure that all inequity is ended. Growing up in the military I didn't consider myself different. I'd never really thought outside of what was normal for me. I was born in Warner Robins, Georgia. My dad was in the Air Force, so we moved quite a bit. We moved to Iosco, Michigan where my little brother was born. We were stationed at Wurtsmith Air Force Base, and then we moved from there to San Antonio, Texas. When I was 11 years old, we made the move from San Antonio, Texas to Ankara, Turkey. Going to a different school from fifth grade to sixth grade and now going to a different country, everything was new. One of the challenges of military life is meeting new people and meeting new friends, and then having to let go of those relationships and then meeting new friends as you go from place to place. I can adapt to really pretty much any situation. It's not really difficult to meet new people because I was conditioned to do it.

My dad had a special job that he was able to work with dignitaries if they came into town. And we went to the hanger and we see Air Force One. President Clinton was there and so we were able to meet him. We took a photo with him and I just remember thinking, wow, he's so busy and he does all these cool things and he's able to come and meet me and I thought well I think I'd like to go into politics, I think I'd like to be president. It seems like a good job to have. So, I wanna affect other kids like he's affected me.

Around middle school, I experienced some racial micro aggressions. Once we moved to an area that was not predominantly military, I experienced that much more, just discrimination and why do you think so high of yourself? It was unusual for a black student, specifically a black female student to be ambitious. I'd never really listened to it much. I think my parents did a good job of instilling confidence in me.

Alesia Flagg, Teara's mother: We always encouraged them to be whatever you want, the sky is the limit. You just go for it. You just get your education and you can do whatever you wanna do, there's no limitations. So, she's always felt that she can do anything that she wanted to do.

Teara Flagg: I usually set goals and then I was determined that, that was what was gonna happen so... [family talking at table]

Alesia Flagg: We were in Altus and my husband had the opportunity for a special duty assignment to actually leave Altus and she came, and she was like, no, dad, no. She wanted to be the president of the student body and she wanted to be commander of ROTC, and 'these are my goals' and 'I want to stay' and my husband looked at me and he said, 'I understand. This pretty much will end my career' And we just kind of made the decision, you know what? We'll just stay put.

Thomas Flagg, Teara's father: You know, what's a promotion if you get to miss out on what's important in life? She's always had a big heart and always wanted to participate with her friends, and she had a thirst for knowledge of how they went about life and what was going on in their household. She certainly had that choice that she could have went with the status quo of, let me be friends with people who look like myself, but she never did.

Ceanti Aldridge, University of Central Oklahoma: I met Teara our freshman year. We were at a multicultural student orientation, we just hit it off really quickly and became best friends within days. How she's gotten to experience life living in Turkey and living all over the United States. Her experience and just really her care and concern for people, I think that makes her very good advocate for social justice because she is not just stuck in her little box, she's really good about being able to relate to other people and I think that's very important.

Teara Lander: I didn't really know what I wanted to do when I started my doctoral program. One day I realized my story is a perfect story to work on my leadership, so I decide to work on black women student leaders at predominantly white institutions. What are their stories? What are their experiences? Are they similar to mine? Are they different from mine? And really add to that literature.

One of the reasons why I'm so passionate about my research topic is because I was a student body vice president at a predominantly white institution. So, I was a black woman representing a majority white student population. I was running for student body president until I made it to the final election, me and another guy. Well when I asked for one of the other gentlemen if he would support me, he told me that it was really important that a student body president be in a Greek letter organization. When I questioned 'what do you mean Greek, I am in a Greek organization' he said 'well, not that Greek, Greek like me'. I am in historically black sorority and what he meant was a historically white sorority or fraternity.

What I hope my research does is create a practical social implication. I hope that it can help black students specifically women to share their stories. I would also like for it to be a social implication that would allow people to see that the Black Lives Matter Movement is more than just a hashtag it's actually it's very real and how it affects black women. Social justice is for everyone, it's a way to make sure that we are all seen as human beings, that we're all equitably treated.

Thomas Flagg: When I think of social justice, it means opportunity. We both came from pretty meager financial background. She and I both were not able to go to school straight out of high school. There are people that look like the majority but don't have the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of what this country offers in the way of freedom.

Teara Lander: I think most people believe that their neighbor should be treated equally to them. I think it's really just educating. Growing up in a more diverse background I've learned about a lot of different people and I've grown to be compassionate and to really wanna make the world a better place. I hope that I'm able to give that same kind of compassion to my children and I hope that they are able to really experience diversity wherever they go.