{"id":27097,"date":"2016-02-24T13:44:34","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T18:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=27097"},"modified":"2016-07-19T11:22:25","modified_gmt":"2016-07-19T15:22:25","slug":"black-history-month-activities-join-campus-community-in-education-celebration-and-discussions-on-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/black-history-month-activities-join-campus-community-in-education-celebration-and-discussions-on-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Black History Month activities join campus community in education, celebration and discussions on race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>草莓社区\u2019s 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 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/studentlife\/multicultural\/\">Multicultural<\/a> and International Student Services, Black Student Alliance (BSA), Campus Ministries and Dining Services. [See slide show below.]<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Town Hall on Race<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>About 50 people attended the evening event. Facilitators from BSA asked participants to discuss in small groups two main questions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In what ways does racism and oppression affect the work of EMU?<\/li>\n<li>In what ways does racism and oppression affect the spirit of EMU?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Following the discussion, each group shared key points. Many groups answered both questions with negativity that they have seen around campus.<\/p>\n<p>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 \u2013 such as racist jokes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMicroaggressions are products of prejudice and ignorance. Those experiences reach beyond race but affect us all,\u201d said senior Christian Parks, who helped to facilitate the event.<\/p>\n<p>The groups were also asked to discuss what they believed would be a good way for EMU 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.<\/p>\n<p>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 \u201copen 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 EMU.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>First-year student Kendi Mwongo said the meeting was \u201cbeneficial,\u201d and she would support it in the current format on a monthly basis.<\/p>\n<h3>The challenge of committing to racial justice<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_27110\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27110\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/02\/black-history-month-activities-join-campus-community-in-education-celebration-and-discussions-on-race\/drew-hart-feature-9666\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-27110\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27110 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/02\/drew-hart-feature-9666-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"drew hart feature-9666\" width=\"300\" height=\"184\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/02\/drew-hart-feature-9666-300x184.jpg 300w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/02\/drew-hart-feature-9666.jpg 610w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27110\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pastor and author Drew Hart provided two sermons about recognizing white supremacy and how white Christians can be more responsible and responsive to racism. (Photo by Andrew Strack)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Drew Hart, an author and doctoral candidate at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, spoke at a Thursday evening lecture titled \u201cWhy Have So Many Christians Been So Wrong for So Long?: Racial Formation and Counterintuitive Solidarity.\u201d He also offered a Friday morning chapel forum on the topic \u201cLearning to Love Black People, \u201d drawing from Hebrews 11:23-28.<\/p>\n<p>Hart said that an \u201cepistemological divide\u201d exists between people\u2019s understandings of race and racism, with different paths and circles of socialization leading to seeing the same event \u201cfrom very different perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have very different ways of understanding, narrating and responding to race in America,\u201d Hart said. \u201cTake note of what\u2019s unique and different about the culture that shaped you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He noted that while things have certainly changed in the past four centuries of American history, the country hasn\u2019t \u201cmagically delivered on social justice.\u201d Instead, the issues have \u201cmutated into different forms,\u201d and maintained a racialized and hierarchical framework. Going forward, he pointed to the \u201cJesus-shaped, counter-intuitive way\u201d that is \u201cdrawn to the those on the margins of society\u201d and empowers them and seeks to end domination.<\/p>\n<p>Hart, who has a blog titled \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/drewgihart.com\/\">Taking Jesus Seriously<\/a>\u201d hosted by <em>The Christian Century<\/em>, uses the hashtag #anablacktivism. He followed up Friday\u2019s chapel time with a talkback session and signed copies of his most recent book, <em>Trouble I\u2019ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism <\/em>(published by Herald Press)<em>, <\/em>while on campus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>草莓社区\u2019s 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/black-history-month-activities-join-campus-community-in-education-celebration-and-discussions-on-race\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Black History Month activities join campus community in education, celebration and discussions on race<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14715,409,4513,5730],"tags":[16298,14712,6795,16289,14673],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-27097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-chapel","category-student-life","category-undergraduate-programs","tag-brittany-williams","tag-christian-parks","tag-diversity","tag-eric-codding","tag-richard-robinson"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Black History Month activities join campus community in education, celebration and discussions on race - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/black-history-month-activities-join-campus-community-in-education-celebration-and-discussions-on-race\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black History Month activities join campus community in education, celebration and discussions on race - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"草莓社区\u2019s 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. 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