This past Monday night, a group of students and faculty discussed the issue of racism and the factors of life as a minority on a majority-white campus.
The group consisted of about a dozen students, and the discussion was lead by Jae Denson, assistant director of admissions and coordinator of multi-cultural recruitment. The event was sponsored by Students on the Advancement of Afrikan American Culture (SAAAC) and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI).
The discussion heavily surrounded the 2014 movie “Dear White People”, a satirical drama film directed by Justin Simien.
Discussion topics included the desire for acceptance found in students undergoing the transition from high school to college and the challenges and benefits of the healthy competition that life in college brings.
First-year student Luchauna Smith said she enjoyed the “Combating Racism” event.
“I have had discussions like this before, but on a college campus it was more intense,” Smith said. “But it is better to get different races involved in these discussions to better understand microaggressions.”
Two particular moments from the movie that drove discussion were a scene involving experimentation with sexuality and a scene that involved a blackface party. Discussions that stemmed from those scenes included thoughts about a different race portraying your own and the experimental phase of life that college can be.
An important lesson taken away from this segment was to have the self-awareness to be an advocate for everyone, as not everyone is strong enough to speak out for themselves.
“The discussions were intriguing,” first-year student, Kayla Stuckey, said. “I’d like to see more of these events because Capital is a predominantly white campus, and these discussions are much needed.”
Another topic the event addressed was the double-standard of interracial dating.
A major theme taken away from the event was the message to get involved on campus and support each other.
The terminology of code-switching was then addressed, which involves a person changing his or her language and manner based on the person’s environment.
Denson was particularly happy with how the event turned out.
“I thought it was great to have an open discussion put on the table about these difficulties on campus and how to tackle them,” Denson said. “We want to make this a comfortable place for everyone and the college community is where the learning process on these issues can begin.”
Students universally agreed that film was an appropriate medium for the event’s message, particularly as it was geared toward college students. Everyone determined the best medium to address these issues for high school students would be social media because of how essential the technology is to our generation.
Denson hopes to run more discussions and events like these in the near future.
“Personally, I am a film and media buff because we can learn so much from them,” Denson said. “I would like to see events like this one grow, and so we will have another in the works soon.”
Information for the next discussion-based event can be found by contacting SAAAC or ODI in the Student Union.
