In celebration of Black History Month, the Black Student Union (BSU) has planned events throughout the month to teach people about black history and culture, as well as about themselves.
This year’s theme, “Identity: Defining Ourselves Through Our Every Day Experiences,” focuses more on the individual than events in previous years did, said organizers. Events include a Town Hall Meeting, a Racial Justice Deliberation forum and performances of the play “Rhapsody in Black” at a Johnson City theater.
Previously, Binghamton University’s Black History Month had only one keynote speaker, but this year there will be two: Nikki Giovanni, a legendary writer and activist, and Spike Lee, an American film director, producer, writer and actor.
Initially, poet Nikki Giovanni was to be the only keynote, according to BSU Vice President Ridwan Olatilewa, a senior majoring in computer science. He said Giovanni’s role as a writer and activist in the Black Arts and Civil Rights movements was why they selected her as keynote.
“As a person who was alive during the civil rights movement, she played a large role in affecting how things are understood by the masses,” Olatilewa said. “So she plays into the theme of identity, and identifying ourselves in everyday experiences, because she’s experienced a lot of things that people in this generation haven’t been through, and lots of knowledge on how to react if those things were to come up again.”
However, the club had the idea of having a complimentary “special guest,” and wanted to bring in Lee, according to Olatilewa.
“They’re both very legendary and important in history; Spike Lee’s movies are known throughout the world, he’s made a huge impact on black cinema,” Olatilewa said. “Nikki Giovanni has had an influence on her readers, activists. It’s very exciting that we have two people who have made such big impacts coming to Binghamton University this week.
When BSU did not raise enough funds to get Spike Lee, Campus Activities and The Multicultural Resource Center used parts of their budget to help. The Associate Director for Campus Activities, Jennifer Keegin, used funds from student life event fees to help bring him to BU.
“In conversations with people on those committees, we started talking about [using] the Campus Life fee money to bring Spike Lee, because everyone was very excited about it and were disappointed that the money wasn’t able to be raised by the BSU alone,” Keegin said. “That’s when we all started to work together.”
According to Olatilewa, BSU is pleased with event attendance so far, and is expecting an increase at larger events.
On Wednesday’s event, “Identity: The Inner Battle,” organizers highlighted the importance of personal decisions people make daily and the reasoning behind them. Attendees were challenged to address difficult scenarios that could arise in their lives and were asked by BSU E-Board members how they would respond. The E-Board led a discussion afterward about how they made such decisions and whether their heart or brain guided them.
Ruth Tesfaye, a junior majoring in biology, said that she enjoyed hearing the opinions of the fellow attendees and was interested in their responses and the reasoning behind them.
“I thought it was interesting to see other people’s perspectives and how they approach different situations,” Tesfaye said. “You see different personalities.”
February’s schedule also includes a variety of medical-themed events, including a CPR workshop with Harpur’s Ferry, an HIV education and testing event and visits from medical school representatives.