Kosi Dunn, a sophomore individual studies major and host of the Black Monologues 2015, performs at the Hoff Theater on Wednesday, February 25.
When sophomore Mandla “Kosi” Dunn walks along Knox Road at night, he said he ties up his dreadlocks “as not to stir fever or fire from sorority girls.”
When he plays rap music in his dorm lounge, Dunn said he often fears the reactions from his white peers.
The individual studies major said during the Black Monologues 2015 event last night in Hoff Theater that these are some challenges black students might face. Ten black participants presented monologues about identity, race issues on the campus and current events.
Chief Diversity Officer Kumea Shorter-Gooden said the monologues offered black students a space to express their identity and share their experiences.
“When one’s experiences are marginal, or if one feels marginalized or stigmatized, sometimes it doesn’t feel safe to say, ‘This is me. This is who I am,’” she said. “The monologues are a wonderful opportunity for our community to hear from black students, staff [and] faculty about what it means to be black, what it feels like, what it looks like, what people experience on a day-to-day basis.”
Shorter-Gooden and nine students performed monologues based on their own experiences. Tia Dolet, director of the event, said each performance had its own distinct voice and style.
“It’s just a great way for people to kind of tell their stories and bring in a diverse crowd,” Dolet said. “Everyone can just kind of celebrate our heritage month and really get a feel for different types of black identities.”
Opeyemi “O-Slice” Owoeye, a junior government and politics major, rapped about modern discrimination in this country. She specifically addressed police brutality issues.
“Protect and serve, you got some nerve, I don’t know how you sleep at night,” she said. “They tell you put your hands up, you comply and then they still shoot.”
Several performers also discussed what it means to be black and a female.
“This is for brown girls that can never find their complexion in the makeup section at ‘insert big box department store name here,’” said Abisola Kusimo, a senior mechanical engineering major. “This is for my girls that have been down for so long.”
Kusimo then compared life for black girls to the “real life hunger games, ‘cause the odds ain’t never in our favor.”
Junior electrical engineering major Abriana Height said she was “already born with two strikes against [her]” because she is black and a woman.
“So often I hear men, real men, allegedly real men, say that they want a woman who is strong independent, a leader,” Height said. “But she can’t be too strong; she can’t be too independent. She can’t be too much of a leader because then who’s going to follow you?”
Senior engineering major Jason Nkwain, who immigrated to the U.S. from Cameroon nine years ago, discussed how Africans express their culture and spirit through dance.
“We dance like it’s our last,” Nkwain said. “For our legacies are better when painted on tainted canvas, for tomorrow may crumble this page with dementia, causing us to forget the heavenly joy that was spent here tonight.”
Shorter-Gooden discussed her memories of the civil rights movement in her performance, as well as her feelings about current events such as the Trayvon Martin shooting and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Today reminds me of yesterday,” she said. “I’m grateful for the victories, but frustrated, disappointed, actually heartbroken that we have so much further to go.”
Junior women’s studies major Asma Neblett said she was happy to hear challenges she has faced depicted on the stage.
“From being excluded from that study group or feeling like your music is just a little too thuggish for people to be around you, all of those little microaggressions really challenge the black experience here on campus, especially for females,” she said.
In a Q & A session after the performances, Owoeye said she hoped other black students are encouraged to share their stories, particularly with white peers, to start a conversation and make progress.
“When people talk, people start to feel, and when people feel, people start to do,” she said, “so hopefully we can get enough people doing.”
