Black in America 2

“Black in America 2” was an event that was held by the African-American Student Association and a few of the major black fraternities and sororities. The main purpose of the event was to showcase CNN’s second season of “Black in America” as well as discuss its commentary on the African-American society. It was appropriately held at the Hale Center, which is OSU’s African culture center. Much of the rhetoric dealt with the struggles that African Americans face in America and what needs to be done in order to fight it.
“If we come together, like the million man march…then we can have an impact on the future of African Americans.” This inspiring quote came from one of the panelists at the event. When I attended the event at the Hale Center, I was particularly impressed by the speakers who were there: the majority of them were students. And although I was not swayed to think one way or another (because much of the rhetoric was directed towards black youth), I was quite moved by the speakers. Many of the panelists brought their own experiences to the fore including the moderator, Dr. Deandra Mole of the College of Humanities who told her story of being the first individual in her family to have gone to college. She talked of the struggles that she faced both because of her race and because of being the first one in her family to go to college.
Also, much of the debate dealt with the “stereotype” of black adolescents, which one student called the “college gangster.” Many of the students who attended were outraged by what they called an unfair media representation of the individual. The irony of this is that being “gangster” is equivalent with being “cool” nowadays. And I was inspired that so much of the audience, members of the stereotyped group, was rebelling against an obviously negative stereotype. To them, respect for their racial group was more important than being “cool.”
After the discussion on stereotype came the one on how to fix the image of the black society- or as one girl put it black societies (plural) to represent the complexity of her group and to oppose the “lumping effect.” Many of the phrases that I heard included “You must represent” and “Get past the mental bondage.” There were even metaphors of how in the past, blacks were slaves to their white masters and now they are slaves to stereotypes emplaced by the majority. Basically, what the audience and the panelists were saying to each other was that each and every black individual must be held accountable for their actions and take it upon themselves to better represent their community. As two students put it, “The three problems are ignorance, insecurity, and lack of community…the solution is innovation, working hard, and overcoming stereotypes.”
And so, coming from a primarily white community, I found the experience at the Hale Center highly educational. Although I am no stranger to being a minority (I’m Asian), the majority had never been African-American and it was an interesting experience. More importantly, I gained a new perspective on the black societies existing in America since the few black friends that I had back in my hometown often played the role of the “gangster” or “thug” (even though none of them are from the “ghetto” as much as they want to believe so). Most of all, I felt honored to listen to such an intelligent discussion coming from some of OSU’s most exemplary students.