A lot can and has been said about the compartmentalization and “ghettoization” of black life inside the parameters of Black History Month. But students at CSU Monterey Bay use it as a springboard into interesting intellectual and political directions.
From a primer called “What is Black?” which just finished up on Feb. 6, to more advanced stuff like the Feb. 1 opener “The Blacker the Berry,” a round table on modern day colorism, which is discrimination – even within racial or ethnic groups – against those with darker skin. You’ve heard of white privilege, but do you know what “black privilege” is? An open discussion lays it all out 5pm Feb. 15 in the Student Center.
Karla Noyles, the president of the Black Student Union, says, “The focus is on empowering the black community and honoring lives that have been lost.”
One major BHM event in that vein happens in the All Black Gala featuring Angela Davis (3:30pm Feb. 12, RSVP). It’s “all black” as in black formal wear (or as formal as you can) in a celebration of black music, dance, food and life, capped by an address by the famed activist, professor, author, critic and agitator.
The stuff of which progress is made.