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THEWESLEYANARGUS

(HTTP://WESLEYANARGUS.COM/)Thursday, August 28, 2014

search the argus...

In Response to the recent article, On Black History Month: The Show Must Go

On.

By Jalen Alexander(http://wesleyanargus.com/user/jalexander/)

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

After reading the recently posted Wesleying article, On Black History Month I s topped to take some time to reflect upon a wide array of issues, not only those

that were addressed in the article, but also those that surrounded when, how, and why it was posted in this fashion. I must begin by saying that I hold respect fo

both authors of the article, and that I have worked with both of them throughout my time as a student leader at Wesleyan. With that said, I feel that the writers

have taken a misguided approach to understanding both the larger concept of Black History Month, as well as the real issues that student leaders are facing

at Wesleyan.

During my first two years of Wesleyan I served on the Board of Ujamaa, the very student group that the authors chose to target in their article. Since my time on

the Ujamaa Board, I have since become a chair of the Invisible Men organization. I believe that although the writers sought to take the leaders of Ujamaa to task,

they have in fact targeted the methodology of many student groups both within and outside of the student of color community. Their article suggests that student

leaders of our time are no longer concerned with building community, supporting our collective membership, and fostering productive dialogue around issues that

are important to our communities. This is simply untrue.

The assumption that as a student leader, the Collective, in accordance to the organizations mission, isnt the top priority is very presumptuous. Using Invisible

Men as an example, every semester we begin with a social, community-building event called Get Fresh. These events are always by far the most attended by ou

collective members. Although this event is largely social, we do try to set goals for the semester and revisit the groups mission when necessary. With such a

strong collective start to the semester, we assume that the energy will continue into the first month. However, just a few weeks later when we hold our first few

collective meetings to discuss the direction of the group or to talk about possible future events, no one shows up. Not only does no one show up, no one bothers

to send an email offering up suggestions. As leaders, there is only so much outreach that can be done. Even when email, Facebook, and other social media

sources fail, we turn to face-to-face interaction, and we see the same result.

Now this is not to say that the collective is completely inactive. There are often a handful of students who consistently support events and show up to meetings.

To those people we are always grateful. What those in leadership positions try to do is maximize the time and effort of those that DO show up. There are many

students within our community RIGHT NOW who are ready to be proactive, efficient, and effective. However, it appears as though the writers of the previous

article would like for us to literally stop progressing until everyone is in the room. Realistically, we will never have everyone in the room; and for most groups, that

isnt the goal.

The authors make the claim that Black History Month is no longer reflective of the entire student of color community. The question that they seem to avoid is how

exactly they expect for a month that doesnt receive support from the entire community to be reflective of the entire community. When groups hold collective

meetings with attendance rates of less than 10 people at any given meeting (more commonly closer to 2-4 collective members), how can the leaders hope to

garner an understanding of what the collective would like to see in events? This issue extends further when we think about the lack of responsiveness of said

collective members to outreach.

I believe that the authors are speaking to issues faced by most, if not all, affinity groups of our time. We are currently suffering from community wide problems

regarding how people self-identify. We are also encountering a growing group of students with an aversion to leadership. We see this both in the reluctance from

students across class years to take new leadership positions, but also in current leaders receiving much more pushback for their community-driven efforts. Now,

while I fully support movements that attempt to be non-hierarchal and promote activity throughout a group, we must remember the system that we are working

within. As student groups, we work within a system that requires at least moderate group structure (you cant even register a student group without identifying two

representatives), advanced planning, and outcome-oriented event structure.

I do not defend Ujamaa for not consulting the Collective on what the theme for the month should be or for what events should be sponsored. I do, though, think

that we must identify all the stakeholders in this issue and hold everyone accountable. If the authors of this article felt so strongly about what they wanted Black

History Month to encompass, why didnt they approach the Board last semester? Why didnt they email the board (or the Collective) with theme or event ideas, o

simply put pressure on the Board to organize a Collective meeting? I think that we must all recognize our agency in these issues. Student groups are board-centri

because we allow them to be board-centric; because quite simply, there are only a handful of people who actually want to put in the work to make an event, or a

affinity month, come into fruition. However, when its time to critique and say what went wrong, everyone wants to join the party.


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I also feel that the argument brought forth in the previous article makes its largest assumption in suggesting that if SOC groups were to suddenly stop holding

events, that people would care! The idea that people who have never been personally invested in Black History Month, its legacy, or the events that are held

during February would suddenly be in an uproar if things came to a halt, falls fairly flat to me.

In the grand scheme of things, Black History Month represents something larger than Wesleyan and the many communities within it. Using a lens that focuses on

on student activism on our campus, or the lack thereof, we miss the bigger issues. Should we work to make sure groups that primarily consist of students of colo

are represented throughout the year? Yes. Should we work to build some sense of camaraderie within a student of color community that is becoming increasingly

diverse (although not necessarily increasing in SIZE or becoming more EQUITABLE)? Yes. Should we question the tradition of jam-packing our affinity months with

events without consideration from members of the communities we want to represent? Yes.

Should we stop the show because we dont have 100% participation from all members within the loosely defined student of color community? Not at all. Despite

whatever problems may exist within this university, we cannot possibly believe that stopping the show will be the ultimate solution. We have a complex problem

that we must acknowledge. I believe that when we finally do, we will realize that we must also offer a complex set of solutions, and we must all be willing to hold

ourselves accountable to see them through.

lexander is a member of the class of 2014.

5 Comments 1

DavidL

Black history is fascinating, and one of the central issues of American history. You might question how and why the presentation of

black history has made it seem boring and directed only at an "affinity group." If you see black history as a vehicle for cheerleading o

scolding, interest is bound to dwindle.

X

"Justice in the hands of the powerful is merely a governing system like any other. Why call it justice? Let us rather call it injustice, but

of a sly effective order, based entirely on cruel knowledge of the resistance of the weak, their capacity for pain, humiliation and

misery. Injustice sustained at the exact degree of necessary tension to turn the cogs of the huge machine-for-the-making-of-rich-

men, without bursting the boiler."

- GEORGES BERNANOS, The Diary of a Country Priest

OldSocAlum

Everyday is Black History Month...so the answer is Yes! You shouldn't put on a show that's supposedly representative of a

'collective' of students when its organized by two people JUST BECAUSE you [who else?] want the 'show to go on'. Who is this

show for?? It seems these events should no longer be an 'invisible men' event or a 'Ujamaa' event - it should be a Jalen Alexander +

hir helper event because that is essentially what it is. Why claim a student group when you act on your own accord? Your not a leade

if you can only get 4 people to come to meetings. You are convincing yourself you a leader because there is no one around to tell yo

you are not, or the University recognizes you as a leader because you put on events - which they need. If no one responds to your

emails or requests, maybe its because you have an unpleasant personality? This is in no way a personal attack on you Jalen, I don't

even know you. This goes for any self-proclaimed leader who can only manage to get 3 or 4 people to an 'event' despite apparently

sending people constant updates. Maybe its time for less events and more conversations about what a SOC community looks like?

wonder what other SoC's think.


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Transparent Divestment Decision

The point of transparency is to be aware of

where the money is being

I Cant Believe Its Not Chicken

Just wanted to clarify that Beyond Meat is available

in all Whole Foods Market stores, in the

Call-out to Call-to-Actions Author

jesus go back to taunting batman or smthng

Everything Is Killing You, And Thats O.K.

So glad to see a young adult with this perspective.

Hope that all is not lost in our

Jalen Alexander

Hi, Thank you for your commentary, OldSocAlum,

I think that I would pushback on your idea that having low attendance at meetings represents a deficiency within leaders. Wh

about the "leadership capabilities"or the self-initiative that appears to be lacking in those students who don't show up to the

meetings? Should you really fault student leaders who are working according to the MISSION of particular student groups,

just because they dare to move forward without 100% participation. I would ask you, then, what is the magic number that we

should have to move forward? How many students is enough students to move forward in fighting oppression?

I would also like to question you comment about personalities. If you feel passionately about a certain type of work or affinity

group, why do you let a "personality" get in your way of fulfilling the important work that you signed up for? I obviously believ

that coalitions are stronger when they get along (when they can eat dinner together, etc.) but I don't think that we all have to

be in love with each other or best friends in order to follow the mission of a student group.

Thanks again for your thoughts,

Jalen Alexander '14

Concerned

OldSocAlum,

A few observations from someone who has her foot on the ground. Jalen is well liked on campus. He is one of the handful ofstudents who is charged, ready to take action, and willing to do so despite small numbers. I wouldn't rest this issue on Jalen'

personality. If that were the case, we would only see lack of support for Invisible Men. We see it across the board. There are

numerous factors.

An important thing Jalen stated was that we are faced with "a student of color community that is becoming increasingly

diverse (although not necessarily increasing in SIZE or becoming more EQUITABLE)" and we're dealing with "how people self

identify."

Let's look at the black students. This population is about 9% of the students body. This 9% is made of African Americans,

Caribbeans, Africans, South Americans, and the list goes on. The Malcolm X House has felt the effects. Such a diverse black

pool is a beautiful things. However, it does mean that there are fewer students who know about or care to know about

Malcolm X and therefore the Malcolm X House. Does that make what he did any less important? Should we get rid of the X

House which has 25 beds because only 10 people apply to live there? I THINK NOT! This is just one of the things that the

leadership of affinity groups is facing.

Then there is the segment of the SOC community that is unlikely to get involved no matter who is leading the charge. They


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