Facing the future: Student civil rights leaders celebrate black culture to unify campus community


Jessica Predium's sense of pride in her identity as an African-American was instilled in her by both her parents, but mainly by her father who grew up in the south.

"He knows what it’s like to feel like you’re nothing,” said the Canton junior.

Though Predium grew up in a vastly different America than her father, she and other black leaders at CMU are fueled by a desire to recognize a culture that still faces discrimination today.

This year, there are more student organizations involved with programming black history events than ever before. There is an event almost every day in February, with 18 remaining. Events range from Keynote Speaker Julien Gordon at 7 p.m. on Feb. 15 in the Bovee University Center Rotunda, to Black History Month Family Feud at 7 p.m. in the Park Library Auditorium.

Meaning behind the month

Some at Central Michigan University don't understand why one month out of the year is dedicated to reflecting on black history.

A month is taken to recognize members of the African-American community who didn't receive the recognition they deserved in their lifetime, and to learn about the struggles of the oppressed minority group and the discrimination that still plagues the black community.

Black history has never been taught adequately or accurately in school, said Political Science and Public Administration Professor Joyce Baugh.

“People want to say we’re in a post-racial society because we elected a black guy for president,” Baugh said. “Think about it this way: black history is American history. The history of black people in this country is tied into the history of everybody else in this country.”

Without learning a framework of racial injustices that African-Americans faced in the past, Baugh said it is impossible to relate to what they are facing now. This is why Black History Month is important, she said; these lessons would not be taught otherwise.

Predium said one of the reasons Black History Month is necessary is because it gives African-Americans a sense of identity.

“There was a time when black history wasn’t something that was really talked about. African-Americans had no real sense of identity within America,” Predium said. “We were kind of just always the ‘other.’”

President of Sophisticated Women of Color Aalaya Byrd, learned about racism at CMU from hearing about her mother’s experience as a student in the 80s.

“She was a broadcast minor," the Detroit junior said. "Her biggest issue was that a lot of the equipment they wouldn’t let her touch because she was black.”

She experiences racism at CMU as well, Byrd said, but it’s less overt.

“It’s subtle things where I can't really get upset about it," she said. "I always feel like my opinion isn’t good enough."

She remembered when she was in a science class her freshman year and none of her group members listened to her even though all of the answers Byrd gave were correct.

"(I feel like I) have to prove myself in class. I automatically think people assume I'm loud, 'ghetto' or not smart," Byrd said. "I don't live that stereotype. I'm not dumb; I'm a junior in college."


Modern Civil Rights

With the Black Lives Matter movement gaining momentum, some feel America is going through a resurgence of activism similar to the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s.

"I think it's sad to say we are in a civil rights era, but I think it never died," said President of the NAACP Angela Hill.

Hill said she thinks some of the white students on campus would never go to an NAACP event or any event that revolves around black minorities.

"We are moving forward. However, we still are stuck with the 'slave mentality' that we were supposed to be broken of (153) of years ago," Byrd said.

She isn't literally talking about slaves, but rather how minorities are pit against each other within their own races or groups. Today, Byrd says she still sees some of this same mentality. Light skin and dark skin, short and tall; people are stereotyped within races.

"History repeats itself and right now everyone is fighting for their rights and fighting for their life. Everyone thinks we’re equal and we’re not," she said. "People still don't look at (black people) the same way."

The fight for civil rights among black students has been going on all their lives, President of African Student Association Chelsea Bowens said. "It's just more visible now."

"Now (fighting for civil rights is) kind of exploding because of the large number of black lives that are being disrespected," she said.

Social media sometimes makes racism easier to see, Bowens said. People are using that as fuel to gain momentum to build a second civil rights movement.

"I've heard the millennial (generation) is going to be the generation to change everything, but if people continue to blind themselves — the information is there but if they don’t want to see it — they're not going to," Bowens said.

America is in the midst of a modern civil rights movement, because more people are aware that racism exists, but that doesn’t mean everyone is acting to change it, Predium said.

“You used to hear about people getting brutalized by the police but you would never see it. Now there is video evidence all over the internet,” she said.

Diversity at CMU

Minority enrollment at CMU has increased by 3.8 percent since 2014 and 18 percent during the past five years. There were 5,239 students who are part of a minority group enrolled last semester out of 26,968 students total.

Baugh said it is important that the university go beyond recruiting, and provide students with adequate resources and support.

“If you’re going to have students, faculty and staff of color on the campus you have to not just focus on the numbers, but focus on providing adequate support for them,” Baugh said.

When she attends diversity events on campus Baugh doesn’t see many faculty members and administrators.

From the time they are a freshman, the percentage of black, non-hispanic students that stay at CMU until the fall semester of their fourth year is an average of 53.5 percent from the 2009-11 cohort. For the overall student population, this number is 64.2 percent and 65.6 percent of the white, non-hispanic population.

“CMU (used to have) the reputation of being a safe, white campus where you could send your kids and not have to worry,” she said. “It’s only been through serious efforts from a core group of student, faculty and staff activists on the campus over a long period that has pushed us in the direction in increasing the number of students.”

Although the student body is more diverse than when it was in the 80s, Baugh said the population of faculty and staff has not changed much at all.

There is no mandatory cultural diversity training for professors at CMU, an issue raised at the Conversations on Campus forum to President George Ross on Dec. 4. He said training is not mandatory because it would be hard to get 100 percent participation from everyone.

"In terms of (diversity training for faculty) I am open to that but I'm always leery of things called 'mandatory,'" Ross said in December.

Predium’s experience with professors has been generally positive in terms of their cultural sensitivity.

“Being a part of a cause and having sympathy and seeing that person as a human being, it’s good but it’s still a different experience,” she said. “(White people) can understand, but only to a certain extent.”

The idea that CMU is a diverse campus is something the university promotes heavily in its mission statement, in promotional flyers and with holding diversity events on campus.

Bowens said phrases like 'This is our community,' 'put your stamp on the world,' 'go out and volunteer,' are things heard regularly from the university. She believes to truly be a volunteer-based college, promoting cultural awareness is one of the most important things.

She said she would like to see a policy at CMU where it would be mandatory to go to a few cultural diversity programs that are held on campus.

"You have to be able to work with different populations and understand what they're going through, and understand how to be sensitive to their situation," Bowens said. "You can’t do that if you’re not interacting with those people on a regular basis."

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Editor-in-Chief Kate Carlson is a senior from Lapeer who is majoring in journalism with a minor in ...

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