91短视频鈥檚 Black History Month events began with a Town Hall on Race and included speakers, a soul food dinner, trivia and game nights, and two movie screenings. Events were coordinated by the and International Student Services, Black Student Alliance (BSA), Campus Ministries and Dining Services. [See slide show below.]
Town Hall on Race
91短视频 50 people attended the evening event. Facilitators from BSA asked participants to discuss in small groups two main questions.
- In what ways does racism and oppression affect the work of 91短视频?
- In what ways does racism and oppression affect the spirit of 91短视频?
Following the discussion, each group shared key points. Many groups answered both questions with negativity that they have seen around campus.
One group stated that college is a time of discovery, but being in an environment riddled with racism hinders the ability to truly discover oneself. Also mentioned was the feeling of forced relationships within the classroom due to race, which in turn affects the ability to work productively with classmates. Many groups also talked about microaggressions, which are everyday verbal or nonverbal slights or insults that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages 鈥� such as racist jokes.
鈥淢icroaggressions are products of prejudice and ignorance. Those experiences reach beyond race but affect us all,鈥� said senior Christian Parks, who helped to facilitate the event.
The groups were also asked to discuss what they believed would be a good way for 91短视频 to start instituting change in regards to racism and oppression. Some examples included hiring more people of color as faculty, and extending anti-racism and anti-oppression training in all institutional levels.
Participants were encouraged to attend BSA meetings on the second and fourth Thursday of every month in University Commons Room 124. Parks also mentioned the potential for a privilege-themed playback theater event in March, which would 鈥渙pen the space for white folks on campus to share their experiences of privilege as a way to continue the work of understanding how privilege impacts work and spirit at 91短视频.鈥�
First-year student Kendi Mwongo said the meeting was 鈥渂eneficial,鈥� and she would support it in the current format on a monthly basis.
The challenge of committing to racial justice
Drew Hart, an author and doctoral candidate at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, spoke at a Thursday evening lecture titled 鈥淲hy Have So Many Christians Been So Wrong for So Long?: Racial Formation and Counterintuitive Solidarity.鈥� He also offered a Friday morning chapel forum on the topic 鈥淟earning to Love Black People, 鈥� drawing from Hebrews 11:23-28.
Hart said that an 鈥渆pistemological divide鈥� exists between people鈥檚 understandings of race and racism, with different paths and circles of socialization leading to seeing the same event 鈥渇rom very different perspectives.鈥�
鈥淲e have very different ways of understanding, narrating and responding to race in America,鈥� Hart said. 鈥淭ake note of what鈥檚 unique and different about the culture that shaped you.鈥�
He noted that while things have certainly changed in the past four centuries of American history, the country hasn鈥檛 鈥渕agically delivered on social justice.鈥� Instead, the issues have 鈥渕utated into different forms,鈥� and maintained a racialized and hierarchical framework. Going forward, he pointed to the 鈥淛esus-shaped, counter-intuitive way鈥� that is 鈥渄rawn to the those on the margins of society鈥� and empowers them and seeks to end domination.
Hart, who has a blog titled 鈥溾�� hosted by The Christian Century, uses the hashtag #anablacktivism. He followed up Friday鈥檚 chapel time with a talkback session and signed copies of his most recent book, Trouble I鈥檝e Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism (published by Herald Press), while on campus.