A forum Monday night predicated on the effects of Hurricane Katrina as they relate to race turned into a discussion about taking agency in the future of the black community.
Approximately 60 students called for intercollegiate collaboration in finding solutions to aid black victims of Hurricane Katrina and help rebuild New Orleans-a city predominantly constituted of blacks.
"Our community was attacked, and at that point we had to make it a race issue," said Christina Lee, a senior from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "There are ways for us to be involved here and make differences."
The event-sponsored by Duke's African American Collegiate Unity Coalition and Black Student Alliance as well as the Black Student Movement of UNC-was open to students from Triangle-area universities.
The discussion included a panel of three students, but the conversation often involved audience members.
Although some expressed reservations about excluding other racial groups from their efforts, others said that the goal of any uplift effort is equality, not integration or assimilation.
"The Civil Rights Movement was more about access to resources-you want the same opportunity to live as everyone else," senior Brandon Hudson said. "It wasn't about being able to socialize and play with other people."
"When you don't see people being hung from trees daily or hosed down in the streets... you don't always understand what you have to rally behind," said senior Suzette Meade.
She explained that despite minor internal divisions, the group still had the opportunity to be focused toward a common goal.
Others emphasized the need for college students to be proactive in preventing future catastrophes of similar magnitude and not just relying on the established black leadership.
"We're climbing. We need to lift other people as we climb," said UNC senior Nimasheena Burns. "Sitting in rooms and having forums, that's great, but it's all about what you do."
Many students suggested bolstering the education system, supporting core family values and investing in black-owned businesses.
"Why did our great-grandfathers own businesses in the 1920s and 1930s, but we don't own anything now?" Burns asked, adding that patronage of black businesses will help give people a sense of ownership. "We have to stop participating in our own oppression."
Junior Josh Hopkins emphasized the importance of not subscribing to negative stereotypes.
"We need to be more careful and not be as apathetic as we have been," Hopkins said, noting that progress cannot occur until black people stop "homogenizing" themselves.
Chandra Guinn, director of the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, suggested supporting efforts to rebuild along the Gulf Coast by donating used textbooks to historically black colleges and universities devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Along with Hudson, Guinn also encouraged the group to call their Congressional representatives and urge them to support HR-4197-a Hurricane Katrina recovery bill that has been endorsed by the Congressional Black Caucus.
Throughout the forum, many individuals commented on how pleased they were to establish a sense of solidarity within the inter-collegiate black community.
"It takes the large things like Katrina to get the small things across," said Carmen Harris, a senior from UNC.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.