When Moriah Ray heard about the death of Michael Brown and the protests that followed, she thought it might serve as a catalyst for her generation to take action.
“I was very upset that it happened, but nonetheless, certain things have to happen to wake our generation up,” said Ray, a senior government and politics major and the vice president of this university’s NAACP chapter. “This is a major wakeup call, and it definitely made more people want to get involved in social activism and real issues in the black community.”
Ray’s response to a question about what can be done to stop the death of young black males sparked conversation between the six panelists about prominent issues in the black community during last night’s State of Black Leadership event, sponsored by this university’s chapter of the NAACP.
The fifth annual panel aimed to start a “lively discussion surrounding some of the biggest issues surrounding the black community across America,” said senior sociology major Colin Byrd, the chairman of national membership for this university’s NAACP chapter and the event’s moderator.
This year’s event, “Together We Stand, Divided We Fall,” presented a two-hour discussion to more than 100 people in Stamp Student Union’s Hoff Theater about issues surrounding family, violence, intimate relationships, politics and education in the black community.
In light of the events and protests in Ferguson, Missouri, panelists were asked what they thought of the deaths of young black men like Brown and Trayvon Martin, and what can be done to prevent similar incidents.
Curtis Valentine, a Prince George’s County Board of Education member and panelist, said these kinds of issues hit “close to home” for him as a member of the education board, and also as a father.
“The idea of what we can do, to me, it’s about exposure. It’s exposing law enforcement to the communities in which they serve,” Valentine said. “The idea that we can get law enforcement to be more homegrown, that we are recruiting officers from our communities to come police their communities.”
Jason Nichols, an African American studies professor and panelist,brought up the importance of implementing lapel cameras and dashboard cameras as an effective way to prevent these incidents. But it’s still important for individuals to understand their rights as citizens, he said.
The panelists also discussed the minority achievement gap, and in particular the gap between black male and female student enrollment in college/. Valentine suggested making sure parents are heavily involved in students’ academic lives, as well as having a ratio of male to female teachers equal to the ratio of male to female students in a school.
But Taurean Brown, a lecturer and activist from North Carolina and panelist at the event, said more resources and funds should be spent on education instead of on the criminal justice system.
“Miseducation — I don’t just mean that they’re not taught black history, which is the amazing problem — but most of the classes have no relation to what they’re going to do in real life,” he said.
To close the event and discuss how the black community can become more unified, Ray said the roots of the divide are important to note, but it’s even more crucial for the community to come together with a common goal.
“I’m not going to the party unless all my friends can go. I see my black brothers and sisters out here still struggling,” Ray said. “We’re still not all at the party, we’re still not all eating at the table. So until we all eat, I’m not eating.”
