Students and faculty gathered in Price Center Plaza to kick off Black History Month on Feb. 3. The presentation, sponsored by the African American Student Union, featured speeches by black educators as well as performances to promote awareness of African culture.
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As the first gathering in a series titled “”Reflecting on our Past, Challenging the Present, and Shaping our Future in Higher Education,”” the presentation was celebratory of past black accomplishments while also aiming to promote activism in overcoming obstacles in the present-day black community.
“”This is not the only month that we should take an active interest in black culture and the black community and the black struggle,”” AASU president and Thurgood Marshall College junior Stephanie Akpa said in her opening remarks. “”It should happen on a daily basis.””
Following Akpa’s address, Sixth College sophomore and AASU Activities Coordinator John Boatner sang the Black National Anthem.
The presentation also featured a spoken word piece by poet and Freedom Writer Arash Haile.
“”When I try to answer who am I, I say I’ll be me; I’ll be my history, I’ll be struggle, blood and resistance; I’ll be perseverance, strength and persistence,”” Haile said in his recitation.
In addition to performances, commentary was made on various shortcomings of the public education system and achievement gaps.
Zoneice Jones, founder of the San Diego-based Pizazz educational enrichment program that helps struggling minority students, spoke about the pronounced disparity in achievement levels among students with differing ethnic backgrounds.
In her speech, Jones specifically referred to the Carlin v. Board of Education case, a 1967 class-action suit that accused the San Diego Unified School District of being segregated and providing inferior education to minority students. The educational facilities in question were accused of being separate but unequal. Despite the district’s incorporation of bussing, achievement statistics of black students continued to fall consistently below the academic standard.
“”It has been nearly 40 years since the Carlin case and the disparity between white students and students of color, when it comes to academic achievement, continues to exist,”” Jones said.
Jones said that after the district’s completion of a state-administered standardized testing in 2003, 16.8 percent of African-American students were deemed proficient or advanced in math, compared with the Latino, white and Asian student populations, which scored 18.5 percent, 43.8 percent and 60.1 percent proficient, respectively.
“”Is it because students of color are incapable of achieving? I am here to tell you in a resounding voice, ‘no,’ that is not the reason why,”” Jones said.
In attempting to remedy the problem of underachievement, Jones suggested to “”raise teacher expectations of students of color, inform teachers to instruct as if all children are college-bound, accept no excuses when it comes to coursework … and recognize and believe all kids are capable of achieving.””
Preuss School junior Christina Griffin added to Jones’s sentiments on the importance of giving driven and disciplined minority students an equal opportunity to fulfill the educational requirements needed to attend college and pursue excellence in higher education. While Jones’ commentary addressed current problems and potential solutions, Griffin shared her own personal story.
Griffin praised her involvement with Advancement Via Individual Determination, a program that helps students reach their academic potential, but recognized that there still existed a certain lack of opportunities for other students.
“”While the class was made up of 12 college-bound seventh- graders, I knew that we were not the only seventh-graders in the school who wanted to go to college,”” Griffin said. She said she did not understand why “”the same information, same opportunities, and same initiatives”” were not made available to other seventh-grade students who were not affiliated with A.V.I.D., but nonetheless had dreams of attending college.
Now, as an 11th-grader, Griffin praises the equal opportunities that she and students of all ethnicities who seek to pursue higher learning have been given at Preuss.
“”I know my classmates, and I will not be kept out of the know of anything because we are all taking advanced placement and honors classes,”” Griffin said. “”At my school, we are all given a more-than-equal-opportunity to succeed, and the responsibility we have to take advantage of that depends on our individual want to do so,”” Griffin said.
The program also featured dance performances by UCSD’s hip-hop dance group Erratix and a capella vocal music performances by gospel duo Two For Him.
