Students and faculty address activism
The Black Lives Matter Movement being a continuation of the Civil Rights Movement was the main focus of “Real Talk,” an open discussion event Jan.18 in the Sorensen Center.
The event was organized by the Volunteer and Service Learning Center (VSLC) at the 23rd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Week.
“This whole series is about having that conversation; that civil dialogue to really help students, faculty, staff understand where they stand, understand where others stand and maybe develop that empathy piece,” said Amber Hendrickson, community partnership coordinator.
Sarah Adams, student coordinator for the service council and facilitator of the event, started the session by providing a general definition of activism as “a community organizing in activism involving education and mobilizing an individual or collective action to influence or persuade others.”
Adams also highlighted the stories of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., The Flint Water Crises and the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012. Adams cited a statement found online about the Black Lives Matter movement: “We are working to rebuild the Black liberation movement.”
Various questions were raised by facilitators as a way to engage the audience on their own definition of activism. The discussion consisted of positive and negative perceptions of Black Lives Matter, as well as the historical relevancy of activism. Other points were mentioned in terms of how art is a way to respond as an activist, as well as which role the government should play in support of activism.
Lydia Mongie, senior English major, brought up how her view of American history has changed after high school.
“I remember learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. in high school and being like, ‘yeah, we like conquered this terrible part of America and things are better,’ and then experiencing this intense discomfort as I got into college and realizing like, how many of the things he fought for are very contemporary issues and some of them have even gotten worse,” Mongie said.
Mongie also brought up how we can connect Black Lives Matter to many past civil rights movements. She stressed the importance of history.
“I think all of the problems we’re dealing with Black Lives Matter were perpetuated by the past. So if we pretend like there wasn’t a past, then no actual systemic change will happen,” she said.
