Ethnic History 365 Days

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Thank you to Carter G. Woodson for creating Negro History Week in 1926, which evolved into Black History Month in 1976.  MSPS believes the contributions of African Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders, Latinos and Native American should be celebrated year-round, not just in a relegated month. Therefore, our programming reflects this philosophy by inviting scholars, experts and lectures based on the series theme and not their race or ethnicity.  Our goal is to educate the Notre Dame community by exposing the students to voices or perspectives that are normally not included in scholarly dialogues.  Thus the paradigm is shifted and so is our worldview.

In highlighting the African Diaspora and issues that impact all historically underrepresented groups, the February Interrace Forum titled We Are ND…Aren’t We? Call to Action: Do Race and Class Affect Inclusion? began a challenging discussion. American Studies Professor and Executive Director for the Institute for Latino Studies, Tim Matovina addressed the topic in the context of religion. The lively conversation that ensued forced the undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff to reflect on their respective perceptions of the face of God and how God calls us to interact with others. This was an inspiring way to begin our Black History Month Celebration.

Interrace

The continuation of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Study of Race Series Playing with Fire II Race and Sport in American Culture resumed with Dr. Adrian Burgos, Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana. Professor Richard Pierce and Dr. Burgos conversed on the theme, “Latinos in the Negro League.” Professor Pierce poised questions that uncovered the collective integration of American Baseball and sports and unknown historical facts.  Tuesday, February 19 Professor Pierce will engage Ms. Wendy Lewis, Senior Vice President of Diversity and Strategic Alliances at Major League Baseball, on “The Past, Present, and Future of Race in Professional Baseball.” Their conversation will begin at 6:00 p.m. in the Eck Visitor Center Auditorium with a reception following.

PlayingWithFire

 

 

 

Kudos to the Black Student Association for the Blacks at Notre Dame Exhibit in the Hesburgh Library corridor. The history spans from the first African American to current students.  During Junior Parents Weekend, the Black Cultural Arts Council successfully hosted their annual Coffeehouse on Friday, February 15. The serenity of poetry, music and fine art filled the La Fortune Ballroom. Proceeds were applied to BCAC’s Thurgood Marshall Scholarship. Congratulations to the 2013 Thurgood Marshall Scholarship winners Ms. Olivia Mitchell and Mr. Steven Waller. These exceptional first-year students have been actively involved with BCAC and within the Notre Dame Community.

Thursday, February 21, the Gender Relations Center, MSPS and Walsh Hall are hosting “RACEing into Relationships”, a luncheon addressing interracial relationships. Arnel Bulaoro-MSPS, Emmanuel Cannady –GRC, and LaTonia Ferguson – Human Resources will share their insights from 12:30 p.m. -1:30 p.m. in the Coleman Morse Lounge. Lunch from Jimmy Johns will be provided.

The month will conclude with Shades of Ebony sponsoring their annual “BeaUtiful You” symposium for local middle and high school female students on February 28th.  The workshops will focus on creating positive self-image and establishing meaningful relationships between young women.

Do not hesitate to contact MSPS (msps@nd.edu or call 574-631-6841) regarding any event. Unless designated they are free and open to the public.

Pursuing the Dream

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As another Martin Luther King, Jr. Day approaches, MSPS reflects on the dream at Notre Dame.

Prior to a memorial service at Faith Apostolic last week, a buddy and I tuned in briefly to an old episode of “A Different World,” the early ‘90s Cosby Show spinoff about life for undergrads at an HBCU.

This particular episode revolved around the departure of one character to the Persian Gulf during the first U.S. incursion into Iraq. The characters—all of whom were black—were debating the appropriateness of a young, talented black man choosing to join a war for a cause that some didn’t see clearly—or at all.

In one exchange, a character said something to the effect of, “Why are you going over there to fight for something we can’t see when there are plenty of problems right here that we can see…?”

As we left the house, my buddy looked at me and said, “They don’t make shows like that anymore.”

Already forming the answer in my head, I asked, “Why not?”

Cynically, he answered, “Because there’s no need. We’ve realized the dream.”

“The dream” is still MLK’s dream, right? From the speech. The dream is MLK’s dream about kids growing up equal and everyone getting along and holding hands.

But the dream sometimes refers to something bigger, too. An end-goal: something quantifiable like one cup of sugar and two tablespoons of cinnamon and three whiskers of a cat. If we can just put together the correct percentage or ratio of white-to-black-to-Asian-to-Latino-to-Native together in a bowl and mix it around enough times, we will have the right recipe, the right product, the right dream.

They don’t make shows like “A Different World” anymore—a show acclaimed for purposefully tackling issues of race and class in America from the African American perspective. And we commented, as we drove to the church, that they don’t make shows like that anymore; they don’t make them because of a general liberal consensus that the dream and the product of equality already have been realized.

Is that true? Has the dream been realized?

Once we arrived at the memorial service, a colleague spoke to the congregation about the Kingdom of God. There in the same room were black, white, Asian, Latino, rich, poor, old, young: the Kingdom of God, he exclaimed. And there was cheering at the idea that for those couple of hours, the Kingdom of God—the DREAM—had been realized there in that space.

And then we left the church. And we filed to our cars. And we went home. And we went back to school and to work the next day… And something in the inspiring, emotional, celebratory atmosphere of the church was gone and the realization since has struck me: if the Kingdom of God and the Dream had been realized within the space and time and emotion of the church that night, then here on the outside the dream must not be so realized.

Of course there is progress, but the clear logic of last week’s events reminded me once again that, in regard to the Dream—MLK’s dream about the kids and the hand-holding—There is still some work to do.

Because they don’t make shows like “A Different World” anymore. And because if the Kingdom of God and Dream exist inside the space of the church, what does that say about outside?

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We Cannot Turn Back

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As another Martin Luther King, Jr. Day approaches, MSPS reflects on the dream at Notre Dame.

The other night I heard a community organizer from South Bend speak. They call him Brother Sage, a name he earned while serving as principal for a failing elementary school in East St. Louis, as he says “a neighborhood where kids wake up in the morning and gargle razor-water.”

Brother Sage recalled his teenage years in 1964, when a barber in his hometown in Ohio refused to cut the hair of African Americans. Yet, in the same breath, Brother Sage called for striving for peace among all communities.

I asked, “How do you attain peace? How can you build trust with the barber, or a community other than your own, that doesn’t share your beliefs?”

He replied, “Go outside your comfort-zone.”

What I really wanted him to tell me was, “well, it’s ABC…” but the truth is that there are no guidelines to overcoming the bitterness of bigotry. There are no guidelines for creating for a just society. There is no single way to engage with others who may not share your perspective, or may in fact, staunchly oppose it.

The reality is that individuals who agree with the barber in Ohio still exist.

The reality is that those elementary students who attended Brother Sage’s School were born into low-income housing, born into a system that secludes them from access to an equitable education, born into a generational cycle of poverty.

Desegregation and equal access to education – these are two of the issues that Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life for but they are still prevalent today. How can we work towards making Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream for freedom and justice a reality?

Like Brother Sage said, one way to strive for peace is getting comfortable with being a little uncomfortable.

“As we walk, we must make the pledge
that we shall march ahead.
We cannot turn back.” – MLK