To improve black student life on campus we need to have more community, instead of everybody meeting at a party there need to be more constructive things going on. For example the fact that there are plenty of black orgs on campus that have meetings and no one even shows up but when it comes down to a party people wont miss them for anything. Maybe its just people don't have the same priorities but I feel as if being involved and helping out is more important than going out drinking and partying. But maybe that's just me, I mean people can do both but most people just chose to not do the first one. If we set some of the plans we talked about in class then there will be a easier way for people to come together because everyone came up with a lot of good ideas. The big brother big sister group was a real good idea and I think more people should look into joining because its a good way to help many young children grow up with hope that they can have something better and show them if they work hard they can be just where we are, or even better. Its a good way to be role models.
I think the most important thing is to improve life on campus. Because that will be the only way we can improve life in the community, it has to start here first. Like Nicole said, people need to get involved in the black orgs on campus. I feel that we sit in class and discuss leadership and how blacks need to come together, but yet still we're divided, even as the Black Leadership Development Class. You (Dr. Patterson) always say that leadership is not a popularity contest, so what I need to do is speak to people that dont speak to me or just take that extra initative that a leader takes. I also feel that one person can't do it alone, this has to be a group effort and everyone needs to be on the same page. So before we can improve black student life anywhere we need to get the black students to care about improvement.
i agree with what was spoken about in class pertaining to the big brother/sister idea. If more older people were to get involved i do believe that it would down the road improve the community and a young person's life. Personally i feel this idea should also be transferred into the idea with incoming freshmen and upperclassmen. I feel if i had a mentor that was knowledgable of organizations on campus i might have actually joined them. In addition a lot of organizations only meet once a week. This makes it very difficult for people who have jobs to attend. I have a roommate in NAACP an organization in which i cannot attend because their meetings have always been on the day i go to work. I feel it is very difficult to just know of organizations on campus. Yes there are meetings but most people dont want to pick up and just attend a meeting if they have no idea what the organization is about. To bring up the idea that nicole brought up yes people party and there is always a big turn out. I believe it is because the pub their parties well you see everyone talking about it on campus, facebook, twitter, pugs, and the list goes on. There are so many ways that people the word out that it almost becomes annoying, but none the less you do know who is throwing the party, where it is, and how much it costs to get in even if you do not want to attend it. If organizations made it known like people who are trying to get money then a lot more people would know about them in my opinion.
I agree with Nicole to an extent. I feel that people do need to start showing up at black organizations and get involved on campus period. I rarely see black students on campus going to class let alone seeing them participate in organizations. However, I see nothing but blacks at the parties I attend. If black organizations can get black students to feel that their organizations are as important as kicking it and going to a party, then more black students will get involved.
Also I feel the lack of black faces in different organizations, the lack of seriousness of the organizations, and the lack of knowledge about the black organizations play apart in other black students not taking part in the black organizations. I personally get plenty of emails from black organizations, but they really don't mention their overall goals and if they do I feel as if those goals or activities that that organization is engaging in don't pertain to me, so I don't get involved. For instance many of the black organizations that I have came across are for business students, I have yet to find a black organization that really pertains to my majors (psychology and pre medicine), so I find myself being a member of other organizations.
Another thing is when I hear about black organizations' meetings or events that seem to interest me, I hear about them at the last minute. By the time I hear about them, I already have something on my agenda.
So to improve black student life on campus and in the community, we need to first start on campus as Ta'les said. We need to inform people about black organizations and their events ahead of time. Also we need to state the purpose and goals of the events upfront. Also we need to spread the word and try to get everyone to come together. Once we form a strong community on campus, it will be no problem branching off into the actual community and creating unity because they would have already been preexposed to what a strong community could accomplish.
I believe that in order for the black community, both on campus and off, is for there to be some form of unity through out the campus and community. We have to be able to come together to demand a new and improved campus. With the knowledge that there is not a magic fairy that will come out of a hollow tree and grant us our wish, the question that arises is, what step do we take to get to that unity? Baby steps are the answer. We must unify a small group of diverse individuals, that has the ability to branch out and unify another group who would in return unify another group. Therefore creating a web of unity.
In order to improve conditions for black students on this campus, first black students need to identify what needs to be improved upon in the first place. So issues such as racial profiling by campus police, or any underlying tension should be addressed as a unit. Black RSO’s (Registered student organizations) in my opinion all should operate under one mission statement. This mission statement should simply be to increase the potential for learning on a predominantly white campus with the addition to enhancing the comfort zone amongst black students. Not to say that this mode of thinking should exclude any other under- represented ethnicity, but at the same time a unit operates much more efficiently with one goal in mind. Apparently this goal has either remained elusive to black RSO’S or no one has taken the initiative to join forces (if that makes any sense). I also don’t believe that by simply complaining to the police will solve problems either. Everyone as adults, has to be accountable for their actions. Only then can we be responsible for the improvement of black student life on this campus.
I agree with the idea of creating more unity amongst the black community. If there weren't so many problems within the "circle" or group then there wouldn't be all this tension and disarray. There's too much unnecessary conflicts so if that were taken care of I think that student life would improve a lot.
I agree with the statements above. I think that to improve the black student life on campus and the community there needs to be some type of unity meaning certain clicks such as frats and sororities need to put aside their differences and learn how to act civil with each other. I think when people put their differences aside and try to act friendly with people the community will become a better place. I also agree with the fact that the big sister and little sister thing would work too because it will help the community come together and become one with helping out one another. I think we should really start working with this.
I think that in order to improve the lives of black students on campus and in the community, we need to be able to expand our relationships with each other including people outside of our race. I feel like if we as a race only stick with our kind, we will be excluded from others and other activities going on. The way that I see it is that if you are only willing to talk to a certain group of people and not willing to reach out to others, it will seem to others that we want to be separate from them and by others having that assumption tension will arise. So my solution for having a better life for black students on campus and off is to reach out to others inatead of staying in your own little circle of friends.
In ordwe ro improve the lives of students on campus and the community begin with outreach. I learnt from the forum that all it takes is the initiative of one person to make a difference. From setting up community events that relate toward the yout, which will make students on campus more inclined to relieve those past years of their youth. They will state what they wish could have been better and preach to the community to make a better atmosphere for the youth and future leaders.
I think in order to improve the lives of students on campus, as a whole, we need to to be more open to each other. I think far to often when we see each other, we aren't as open and friendly as we should be. When you are on campus, you need a sense of belonging to something and I think that is whats missing to some individuals.
I believe to improve the black community, there must be organizations created that allow blacks to better and feel a part of something. Unity is one thing that must be created to improve the black social because we walk around on campus and do not speak as well as thinking we better than the next person. Expanding who we know will make a difference to because it could open doors for other opportunities.
To improve black students life on campus and the community I would suggest the first thing is awareness of the mistreatment and unjustified actions toward our community. Everyone needs to be educated and aware of what is taking place in our society so that they can get a picture of what needs to be done to in force change. This should build a sense of community on and off campus. Nicole brings up a valid point about how the black community always seem to come together when its a party going on, but rarely show up when it truly counts and could benefit not only them but their whole community. I find that quite sad but true. This also made me think of an idea of hosting a "party" that could be brought together by the black greeks, to make it more convincing that it is a regular juking party, but as soon as a good amount of people get there, at least by midnight,and lock the doors and stop the music and put on a presentation/conversational of the crisis that are community is facing. This idea could fail because many individuals that came to party could be intoxicated and not in their right mind so it may not end well. I just believe that one way to get a good turn out would to make the dialogue more appealing to the community, its sad that the realism from the content of the informational wouldn't appeal and bring in loads of individuals of the black community to gather together.
I agree with Tristan when he suggests the way to improve black student life on campus would be for us all to take baby steps. Even if someone has a program where all the black people came out to support, that is still not enough. The notion of black unity needs to be instilled in every black person’s mindset and heart on this campus whether they attend meetings/events or not. If the black students on this campus think about “black unity” everyday, the same as we think about our race everyday, and held close to our hearts the importance of black unity… we would start noticing a difference in the black student life on campus. It all starts in the mind!
To go off what Donno stated about the registered student organizations implementing a mission statement to benefit the black students on campus… I believe it is also the fraternities and sororities on campus’ responsibility to come up with solutions to the problems we face on this campus. They have time to pub and throw 5 parties by the 4th week of school, but I have yet to hear about a Black Greek holding a meeting with the black students on campus to discuss ways to improve black student life on this campus. Even if they did have a meeting, that is only one baby step towards the improvement of black student life on campus. Next, would be for the frat/ soro and the people that attended the meeting to take action on what was discussed at the meetings, in a way that would not affect us in a negative way academically. I’m just saying.
Once we can successfully take a big step toward improving black student life on campus and a have an effective foundation, we can take some time to implement ways on how to improve black student life in the community.
The ideas above are exceptional! The views and ideas I have read are all building blocks to a pathway leading to a wonderful life for the black students on campus. They can all be implemented after we start from the first building block- i.e. informing all the black students on campus on 'The launch of a movement towards a fulfilling life for the black students on campus.'
Someone said at the forum that the most important thing you can do is check yourself first,and be acccountable for your own actions. That is the first thing i can do without help from anyone else. The next thing that I ca think of is pubbing ourr out reach at the fuctions that we have already established have the most attendance. esspecially if the party gets turned out you hand them a flier saying something like."If you are tired of this come to...and were trying to come up with solutions" or something to that affect. Also getting involved with the Youth. I know someone mentioned at the forum about getting involved with kids and then moving on with your life and how that would affectt hem. I am thinking more along the lines of an organization working with group of kids, not neccessarily one on one ,although that has it's place. However in a group setting, there is a constant flow of kids and mentor/leaders in and out every year as kidsa and UI student come in and leave every year,so it's not a huge deal when someone graduates or moves because there isn't that direct one on one bond and they still attend the program.
... and my roomy Rene' said, "Get all the popular kids to start caring, since the black students on campus have a strong interest in what everyone else is doing on campus, everyone else will follow." Blatant, but to the point.
I think the first we need to do is start uniting the black people on campus. If we can all come together as one and put beside any differences we might have I think that will be a huge step towards making life on campus better. I think that this is something that eventually will have to be done anyway if we really want to make something on campus.
Some of the best ways to deal with issues that are more prominent to one group than the other is obviously for that group to unify. The problem with that is that the only people that want to unify are those who have common interests, we are so worried about the problems that we have with the person rather than what we should respect as the bigger issue. For example most students especially on this campus are focused on themselves and want to fight to move up any ladder that is presented to them, while everyone is really suffering alone when they can be succeeding together! We can agree all day that there is a strong need for unity, but who is really willing to start this rally for togetherness?
Its all about community building. The closer we can become as a community the better are experiences can be. When I say community I think we need to grow closer as a black student community, as a student community, and as a Champaign-Urbana community.
I have a small idea that would actually help eliminate many issues that are said to be caused by citizens of Champaign-Urbana or "Townies" as most put it. I feel since everybody is so quick to place blame on them, why not throw events only for University of Illinois students. That way we should be able to pin point many of the issues that takes place on campus during parties and events. Personally, I don't have an issue with those type of people but I feel like in order to make a change, we have to work on the issue that most people feel is the problem, so even if it is at their expense, we would be able to not worry about putting our education at risk, since that is what separates us from them. If it is hard to tell I am speaking sarcastically but at the same time, I feel like it would do justice by those who constantly placing blame on citizens of Champaign-Urbana #imjustsayin
From the last discussion that we had during the forum, I think there is a lot of thing I can do as student to improve the black student life on campus and in the community but I think it would be more sufficient if “we the student” can put more of our effort to improve the black campus life because when the crime alert comes up through our massage it does not just describe just one particular black student on campus but it describe all black on campus especially the black males. So in other for use to improve the black student on campus and community we first have to get to know each other, by not calling each other out of their names such as “Towning” however the spell it, because I think that is also a segregation between the same group of people, just like white calling black “negro”. Second get to know each other by learning about the community background both the campus and the community because I think this are the major issue and when this is been address then we can move ahead to the next issue.
I’m not able to do anything alone. In order to improve black student life on campus is to come together and keep each other informed. Also, we have to not only inform the ones that think that this isn’t a problem. I feel like every meeting, forum, or protest we put together will be meaningless if we don’t get the word out to those who are actually doing the acts or are being affected by acts. At these meetings I feel like the majority of the people that come are people who are not affected by it and or not committing the acts. We need to talk to those who don’t think it’s affecting them.
I don't mean to be pessimistic but the redundancy of what we have been saying in these blogs is ridiculous. In the "(Mis)Education of the Negro" (a book by Carter G. Woodson) One of his critiques about the movement towards better race relations and the advancement of "Negroes" was that there is too much "profound rhetoric with little action". Everyone in the forums and town hall meetings have talked really good games. Yet, who is on the executive board or an avid member of a group/organization that has produced tangible results in the improvement of the disenfranchised? One more point,being a proponent for social justice does not mean being a conspiracy theorists. Questioning the system is a productive tool and our right as citizens, but its usefulness is nullified when your questioning is not directed in the right way.Learn the system and how it works for EVERYONE, not just black people, then you may produce questions that may truly lead to social change.
I think that the only way the unity on campus will improve is by us the students. We have to start genuinely caring about the poeple around us. Like Asante basically said throughout the book, the issue with the post hip-hop generation is individual achievement. We are so far removed from the civil rights era that we feel it doesn't affect us. The fact is when we have our own people out being ignorant its a reflection of our culture. Like Dr. Patterson said when he was growing up he had to answer to an entire community. Nowadays we only care about ourselves and what we want. We have to care more about eachother.
I agree completely with Phallon. I beleve that America has structured our culture into becomming so materialistic and self-indulging that the world has become a game of every man for himself. Everyone is in competition so therefore it leads to a separation of the community rather than the opposite. As far as what I can do, I can try to convince people around me that the union of knowledge and will-power of all black people can lead to us building pyramids and sphinxs (literally).
To improve black student life on campus we need to have more community, instead of everybody meeting at a party there need to be more constructive things going on. For example the fact that there are plenty of black orgs on campus that have meetings and no one even shows up but when it comes down to a party people wont miss them for anything. Maybe its just people don't have the same priorities but I feel as if being involved and helping out is more important than going out drinking and partying. But maybe that's just me, I mean people can do both but most people just chose to not do the first one. If we set some of the plans we talked about in class then there will be a easier way for people to come together because everyone came up with a lot of good ideas. The big brother big sister group was a real good idea and I think more people should look into joining because its a good way to help many young children grow up with hope that they can have something better and show them if they work hard they can be just where we are, or even better. Its a good way to be role models.
ReplyDeleteI think the most important thing is to improve life on campus. Because that will be the only way we can improve life in the community, it has to start here first. Like Nicole said, people need to get involved in the black orgs on campus. I feel that we sit in class and discuss leadership and how blacks need to come together, but yet still we're divided, even as the Black Leadership Development Class. You (Dr. Patterson) always say that leadership is not a popularity contest, so what I need to do is speak to people that dont speak to me or just take that extra initative that a leader takes. I also feel that one person can't do it alone, this has to be a group effort and everyone needs to be on the same page. So before we can improve black student life anywhere we need to get the black students to care about improvement.
ReplyDeletei agree with what was spoken about in class pertaining to the big brother/sister idea. If more older people were to get involved i do believe that it would down the road improve the community and a young person's life. Personally i feel this idea should also be transferred into the idea with incoming freshmen and upperclassmen. I feel if i had a mentor that was knowledgable of organizations on campus i might have actually joined them. In addition a lot of organizations only meet once a week. This makes it very difficult for people who have jobs to attend. I have a roommate in NAACP an organization in which i cannot attend because their meetings have always been on the day i go to work. I feel it is very difficult to just know of organizations on campus. Yes there are meetings but most people dont want to pick up and just attend a meeting if they have no idea what the organization is about. To bring up the idea that nicole brought up yes people party and there is always a big turn out. I believe it is because the pub their parties well you see everyone talking about it on campus, facebook, twitter, pugs, and the list goes on. There are so many ways that people the word out that it almost becomes annoying, but none the less you do know who is throwing the party, where it is, and how much it costs to get in even if you do not want to attend it. If organizations made it known like people who are trying to get money then a lot more people would know about them in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nicole to an extent. I feel that people do need to start showing up at black organizations and get involved on campus period. I rarely see black students on campus going to class let alone seeing them participate in organizations. However, I see nothing but blacks at the parties I attend. If black organizations can get black students to feel that their organizations are as important as kicking it and going to a party, then more black students will get involved.
ReplyDeleteAlso I feel the lack of black faces in different organizations, the lack of seriousness of the organizations, and the lack of knowledge about the black organizations play apart in other black students not taking part in the black organizations. I personally get plenty of emails from black organizations, but they really don't mention their overall goals and if they do I feel as if those goals or activities that that organization is engaging in don't pertain to me, so I don't get involved. For instance many of the black organizations that I have came across are for business students, I have yet to find a black organization that really pertains to my majors (psychology and pre medicine), so I find myself being a member of other organizations.
Another thing is when I hear about black organizations' meetings or events that seem to interest me, I hear about them at the last minute. By the time I hear about them, I already have something on my agenda.
So to improve black student life on campus and in the community, we need to first start on campus as Ta'les said. We need to inform people about black organizations and their events ahead of time. Also we need to state the purpose and goals of the events upfront. Also we need to spread the word and try to get everyone to come together. Once we form a strong community on campus, it will be no problem branching off into the actual community and creating unity because they would have already been preexposed to what a strong community could accomplish.
I believe that in order for the black community, both on campus and off, is for there to be some form of unity through out the campus and community. We have to be able to come together to demand a new and improved campus. With the knowledge that there is not a magic fairy that will come out of a hollow tree and grant us our wish, the question that arises is, what step do we take to get to that unity?
ReplyDeleteBaby steps are the answer. We must unify a small group of diverse individuals, that has the ability to branch out and unify another group who would in return unify another group. Therefore creating a web of unity.
In order to improve conditions for black students on this campus, first black students need to identify what needs to be improved upon in the first place. So issues such as racial profiling by campus police, or any underlying tension should be addressed as a unit. Black RSO’s (Registered student organizations) in my opinion all should operate under one mission statement. This mission statement should simply be to increase the potential for learning on a predominantly white campus with the addition to enhancing the comfort zone amongst black students. Not to say that this mode of thinking should exclude any other under- represented ethnicity, but at the same time a unit operates much more efficiently with one goal in mind. Apparently this goal has either remained elusive to black RSO’S or no one has taken the initiative to join forces (if that makes any sense). I also don’t believe that by simply complaining to the police will solve problems either. Everyone as adults, has to be accountable for their actions. Only then can we be responsible for the improvement of black student life on this campus.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea of creating more unity amongst the black community. If there weren't so many problems within the "circle" or group then there wouldn't be all this tension and disarray. There's too much unnecessary conflicts so if that were taken care of I think that student life would improve a lot.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the statements above. I think that to improve the black student life on campus and the community there needs to be some type of unity meaning certain clicks such as frats and sororities need to put aside their differences and learn how to act civil with each other. I think when people put their differences aside and try to act friendly with people the community will become a better place. I also agree with the fact that the big sister and little sister thing would work too because it will help the community come together and become one with helping out one another. I think we should really start working with this.
ReplyDeleteI think that in order to improve the lives of black students on campus and in the community, we need to be able to expand our relationships with each other including people outside of our race. I feel like if we as a race only stick with our kind, we will be excluded from others and other activities going on. The way that I see it is that if you are only willing to talk to a certain group of people and not willing to reach out to others, it will seem to others that we want to be separate from them and by others having that assumption tension will arise. So my solution for having a better life for black students on campus and off is to reach out to others inatead of staying in your own little circle of friends.
ReplyDeleteIn ordwe ro improve the lives of students on campus and the community begin with outreach. I learnt from the forum that all it takes is the initiative of one person to make a difference. From setting up community events that relate toward the yout, which will make students on campus more inclined to relieve those past years of their youth. They will state what they wish could have been better and preach to the community to make a better atmosphere for the youth and future leaders.
ReplyDeleteI think in order to improve the lives of students on campus, as a whole, we need to to be more open to each other. I think far to often when we see each other, we aren't as open and friendly as we should be. When you are on campus, you need a sense of belonging to something and I think that is whats missing to some individuals.
ReplyDeleteI believe to improve the black community, there must be organizations created that allow blacks to better and feel a part of something. Unity is one thing that must be created to improve the black social because we walk around on campus and do not speak as well as thinking we better than the next person. Expanding who we know will make a difference to because it could open doors for other opportunities.
ReplyDeleteOrganize in a constructive manner. Spread and stress the importance of this issue, because IT DOES MATTER.
ReplyDeleteTo improve black students life on campus and the community I would suggest the first thing is awareness of the mistreatment and unjustified actions toward our community. Everyone needs to be educated and aware of what is taking place in our society so that they can get a picture of what needs to be done to in force change. This should build a sense of community on and off campus. Nicole brings up a valid point about how the black community always seem to come together when its a party going on, but rarely show up when it truly counts and could benefit not only them but their whole community. I find that quite sad but true. This also made me think of an idea of hosting a "party" that could be brought together by the black greeks, to make it more convincing that it is a regular juking party, but as soon as a good amount of people get there, at least by midnight,and lock the doors and stop the music and put on a presentation/conversational of the crisis that are community is facing. This idea could fail because many individuals that came to party could be intoxicated and not in their right mind so it may not end well. I just believe that one way to get a good turn out would to make the dialogue more appealing to the community, its sad that the realism from the content of the informational wouldn't appeal and bring in loads of individuals of the black community to gather together.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tristan when he suggests the way to improve black student life on campus would be for us all to take baby steps. Even if someone has a program where all the black people came out to support, that is still not enough. The notion of black unity needs to be instilled in every black person’s mindset and heart on this campus whether they attend meetings/events or not. If the black students on this campus think about “black unity” everyday, the same as we think about our race everyday, and held close to our hearts the importance of black unity… we would start noticing a difference in the black student life on campus. It all starts in the mind!
ReplyDeleteTo go off what Donno stated about the registered student organizations implementing a mission statement to benefit the black students on campus… I believe it is also the fraternities and sororities on campus’ responsibility to come up with solutions to the problems we face on this campus. They have time to pub and throw 5 parties by the 4th week of school, but I have yet to hear about a Black Greek holding a meeting with the black students on campus to discuss ways to improve black student life on this campus. Even if they did have a meeting, that is only one baby step towards the improvement of black student life on campus. Next, would be for the frat/ soro and the people that attended the meeting to take action on what was discussed at the meetings, in a way that would not affect us in a negative way academically. I’m just saying.
Once we can successfully take a big step toward improving black student life on campus and a have an effective foundation, we can take some time to implement ways on how to improve black student life in the community.
The ideas above are exceptional! The views and ideas I have read are all building blocks to a pathway leading to a wonderful life for the black students on campus. They can all be implemented after we start from the first building block- i.e. informing all the black students on campus on 'The launch of a movement towards a fulfilling life for the black students on campus.'
Someone said at the forum that the most important thing you can do is check yourself first,and be acccountable for your own actions. That is the first thing i can do without help from anyone else. The next thing that I ca think of is pubbing ourr out reach at the fuctions that we have already established have the most attendance. esspecially if the party gets turned out you hand them a flier saying something like."If you are tired of this come to...and were trying to come up with solutions" or something to that affect. Also getting involved with the Youth. I know someone mentioned at the forum about getting involved with kids and then moving on with your life and how that would affectt hem. I am thinking more along the lines of an organization working with group of kids, not neccessarily one on one ,although that has it's place. However in a group setting, there is a constant flow of kids and mentor/leaders in and out every year as kidsa and UI student come in and leave every year,so it's not a huge deal when someone graduates or moves because there isn't that direct one on one bond and they still attend the program.
ReplyDelete... and my roomy Rene' said, "Get all the popular kids to start caring, since the black students on campus have a strong interest in what everyone else is doing on campus, everyone else will follow."
ReplyDeleteBlatant, but to the point.
I think the first we need to do is start uniting the black people on campus. If we can all come together as one and put beside any differences we might have I think that will be a huge step towards making life on campus better. I think that this is something that eventually will have to be done anyway if we really want to make something on campus.
ReplyDeleteSome of the best ways to deal with issues that are more prominent to one group than the other is obviously for that group to unify. The problem with that is that the only people that want to unify are those who have common interests, we are so worried about the problems that we have with the person rather than what we should respect as the bigger issue. For example most students especially on this campus are focused on themselves and want to fight to move up any ladder that is presented to them, while everyone is really suffering alone when they can be succeeding together! We can agree all day that there is a strong need for unity, but who is really willing to start this rally for togetherness?
ReplyDeleteIts all about community building. The closer we can become as a community the better are experiences can be. When I say community I think we need to grow closer as a black student community, as a student community, and as a Champaign-Urbana community.
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ReplyDeleteI have a small idea that would actually help eliminate many issues that are said to be caused by citizens of Champaign-Urbana or "Townies" as most put it. I feel since everybody is so quick to place blame on them, why not throw events only for University of Illinois students. That way we should be able to pin point many of the issues that takes place on campus during parties and events. Personally, I don't have an issue with those type of people but I feel like in order to make a change, we have to work on the issue that most people feel is the problem, so even if it is at their expense, we would be able to not worry about putting our education at risk, since that is what separates us from them. If it is hard to tell I am speaking sarcastically but at the same time, I feel like it would do justice by those who constantly placing blame on citizens of Champaign-Urbana #imjustsayin
ReplyDeleteFrom the last discussion that we had during the forum, I think there is a lot of thing I can do as student to improve the black student life on campus and in the community but I think it would be more sufficient if “we the student” can put more of our effort to improve the black campus life because when the crime alert comes up through our massage it does not just describe just one particular black student on campus but it describe all black on campus especially the black males. So in other for use to improve the black student on campus and community we first have to get to know each other, by not calling each other out of their names such as “Towning” however the spell it, because I think that is also a segregation between the same group of people, just like white calling black “negro”. Second get to know each other by learning about the community background both the campus and the community because I think this are the major issue and when this is been address then we can move ahead to the next issue.
ReplyDeleteI’m not able to do anything alone. In order to improve black student life on campus is to come together and keep each other informed. Also, we have to not only inform the ones that think that this isn’t a problem. I feel like every meeting, forum, or protest we put together will be meaningless if we don’t get the word out to those who are actually doing the acts or are being affected by acts. At these meetings I feel like the majority of the people that come are people who are not affected by it and or not committing the acts. We need to talk to those who don’t think it’s affecting them.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to be pessimistic but the redundancy of what we have been saying in these blogs is ridiculous. In the "(Mis)Education of the Negro" (a book by Carter G. Woodson) One of his critiques about the movement towards better race relations and the advancement of "Negroes" was that there is too much "profound rhetoric with little action". Everyone in the forums and town hall meetings have talked really good games. Yet, who is on the executive board or an avid member of a group/organization that has produced tangible results in the improvement of the disenfranchised? One more point,being a proponent for social justice does not mean being a conspiracy theorists. Questioning the system is a productive tool and our right as citizens, but its usefulness is nullified when your questioning is not directed in the right way.Learn the system and how it works for EVERYONE, not just black people, then you may produce questions that may truly lead to social change.
ReplyDeleteI think that the only way the unity on campus will improve is by us the students. We have to start genuinely caring about the poeple around us. Like Asante basically said throughout the book, the issue with the post hip-hop generation is individual achievement. We are so far removed from the civil rights era that we feel it doesn't affect us. The fact is when we have our own people out being ignorant its a reflection of our culture. Like Dr. Patterson said when he was growing up he had to answer to an entire community. Nowadays we only care about ourselves and what we want. We have to care more about eachother.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with Phallon. I beleve that America has structured our culture into becomming so materialistic and self-indulging that the world has become a game of every man for himself. Everyone is in competition so therefore it leads to a separation of the community rather than the opposite. As far as what I can do, I can try to convince people around me that the union of knowledge and will-power of all black people can lead to us building pyramids and sphinxs (literally).
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