Speech and song unite Tufts' black community

Members of the Tufts community gathered on the campus center patio yesterday, to commemorate Black Solidarity Day and promote political activity in the black community.

Representatives of the Black Women's Group and the Black Men's Group spoke about their dedication to serving as both support groups for black students and a means for those students to perform community service, and build coalitions with other student organizations. In the words of Black Women's Group Coordinator Joy Brown, they want to "make Tufts a better place for everyone."

Peter "PJ" Andrews, chief administrator of the Multiracial Organization of Students at Tufts (MOST), brought a new perspective to the gathering. "Black solidarity is very important, but it is also important to constantly reevaluate the term 'blackness' so that it is not based on stereotypes," he said.

Black Solidarity Day _ initiated nationally in 1969, the same year that the Tufts Africana Center was established _ celebrates black solidarity, community, and history. The Tufts community has observed Black Solidarity Day for over ten years. Pan-African Alliance (PAA) President Patrick Taylor, who helped orchestrate the event along with fellow PAA members, enlisted faculty members and students to make the event relevant and motivational.

"Black Solidarity Day has traditionally been a day to look at the power and presence of the black community," Taylor said. "Today, we get to look at and hear what people think of the power and presence of our community."

Aside from emphasizing black solidarity, speakers urged the audience to exercise their political power. German and Swahili Professor Daniel Brown encouraged students to go out and vote in the midterm elections today, calling the vote "the greatest power in the black community."

PAA Culture Representative Candace Gomez also called for students to register and vote. "We are supposed to be in the Senate and the House," she said.

Brown also emphasized the need for curriculum reform at Tufts. After arriving at Tufts 27 years ago, Brown worked unsuccessfully to institute an African-American Studies Program for 15 years. The current "Africa and the New World" program remains the closest thing to Brown's proposed program, he said. "It is very important to maintain and respect the history of those who have gone before," Brown said.

Some speakers focused on the responsibilities of black students to themselves and their culture. "Black solidarity is not an excuse for black complacency," said second-year Fletcher student Kelly Smith, who asserted the need for members of the black community to heighten their awareness of the problems close to them and around the world. "Being black is an ideology," he said.

Professor Lisa Coleman, Director of the Africana Center, also emphasized the global aspects of black solidarity. She spoke on the need to be committed to the plight of blacks who are oppressed, disenfranchised, and have limited resources, economic and otherwise. Coleman urged students to "question any authority that says 'we have overcome,' transform the curriculum, go out and vote, and respect one another."

The program also included a number of provocative poems addressing the international struggles of the black community, particularly in comparison with America's consumer culture. Fletcher student Omekongo Dibinga, who performed one of these poems, urged black students to start their own "real" revolution and to follow their own path in doing so.

The African Students Organization, which brings political and cultural issues to both African and non-African students, was also represented at the event.

"The black community can change things and do so much," sophomore Chike Aguh, an executive board member of ASO, said. He called to transform "equality on paper" into equality in reality.