Students and adults from both on- and off-campus met this weekend in Cabot Auditorium to discuss the ever-growing importance of black leaders in high offices and grassroots roles.
The Emerging Black Leaders Symposium (EBLS), entitled "Giving Back While Moving Forward," took place on Saturday and Sunday and consisted of four panels and a keynote speech by Kwame Jackson of "The Apprentice" fame.
"This is a symposium focused at my generation," said Chike Aguh, senior and EBLS executive board member. "What is the meaning of black success in the 21st century? We seek to find the answer together."
A central theme in the discussion of rising black leaders was education.
"Everything is connected to education," said Alwin Jones (LA '02), a Ph.D-student of English Literature at the University of Virginia. "A lot of things happen in the grassroots."
The Education Panel, which took place Saturday morning, focused on "closing the achievement gap between students of color and other highly successful students," according to panel moderator Kelechi Ajunwa (LA '02).
The panel, which featured former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, approached several topics, including paths to the EBLS's statement of purpose - "a new intergenerational Black Renaissance of ideas ... engaging members of the black community towards action."
"I cancelled a speaking engagement on the West Coast to be here because I'm interested in the concept of [a] leader," Paige said. "I'm disappointed in the quality of our leadership and its fixation on past ideas. My generation has had its day, and the baton is now passed to this generation."
Paige closely examined what it means to be a black leader.
"You have to have three traits," he said. "First, your purpose must be the furtherance of the African-American community. Second, you must deal with major barriers in the community - it can't just be symbolic."
Finally, Paige said that a leader must have strong moral standpoints, and stay with them. "You must address the important issues," he said. "Not where you can get three or four cameras."
Leslie Godo-Solo, associate director of the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers said she wanted stronger engagements between black adults and black youth through the use of teachers and mentors.
"[There is a] shortage of teachers of color in our communities," Godo-Solo said. "[We have] dilemmas with children in whether they're seeing their role models. We must be active in encouraging our children."
While Godo-Solo discussed the current negative outlook on the profession and how that has transferred into a lack of minority teachers, the notion of the importance of teaching in black culture throughout history did not go
unmentioned.
"We would risk lives, limbs and property to learn to read [300 years ago]," said Richard Reddick, a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Turning to the present, Reddick discussed the role of teachers in molding future black leaders. "Everyone in this room could point to a teacher [that helped them]," he said. "I've realized that my unique gifts and skills were what it took to be a good teacher."
Reddick also presented statistics concerning the achievement gap between whites and minorities. "By third grade, minority students are three levels behind white students in affluent areas," he said.
Bridging this gap must also translate to the way students are taught. "Knowledge is knowledge," Reddick said. "There's no street knowledge and book knowledge, it's just knowledge."
"There's a missing component where kids need to [understand] why they are learning - it's application," he said.
Jones gave an example of how he displayed the application of education to his students. "I show the money I made in scholarships to Tufts," he said. "I write it on the blackboard - it's six figures."
Jones also offered his own experiences as a teacher to the audience. "I am competing with 50 Cent and Beyonc?© in the classroom," he said. "So I can either dismiss BET or I can sit down and watch it with them and teach them to be local critics of the culture they're a part of. Teaching today is rap, it's writing poetry on the spot."
"The legacy that you can continue, that's where the fulfillment lies," Jones said. "Be the change you want to see."
The panel was pleased that this discussion on education is present and important, and showed excitement for the future. "I like the idea of my future and my politics to be grounded with people who know what it's like to be in the classroom," Reddick said.
Following brief addresses, the panelists interacted with members of the audience in a question-and-answer format.
Attendees included members of the Tufts community as well as students from Boston's Frederick Douglass Charter School.
The high school students were active participants in the discussion, particularly when discussing their school's own failing administration. One student mentioned he had not had a math or science teacher since Thanksgiving.
"How can we stop the stereotype of young black students as chaotic and subordinate?" Douglass School freshman Trevor Lawrence asked.
"Do not put the burden of stereotypes on your shoulders," Reddick said. He commended the high school students for their articulate and poignant questions.
Paige concluded the panel with final advice to students with regard to standardized testing. "You'll be better to put energy towards teaching, reading, and writing than to fight the system," he said.
