By: Carter Gledhill\u00a0<\/p>\n
River Forest, Ill. \u2013 The gathering was one of the greatest displays of community support and solidarity at Concordia University Chicago (CUC) this year. CUC\u2019s Black Student Union (BSU) hosted the #CUCBlackout event on Tuesday, October 21. The peaceful gathering held in the Triangle aimed to build community and stand against racism and injustice. The socially distanced crowd wore all black clothing as a display of support for African Americans and people of color in the university community.<\/p>\n
The event kicked off with an introduction from BSU advisor Blanca Correa followed by an opening prayer from Pastor Jeff Leininger. In her speech, Correa mentioned the value of working with a diverse group of students in her three years at CUC. \u201cI am here to listen, to advocate, and help with whatever I can,\u201d said Correa. \u201cWe\u2019re not designed to go through struggles alone. I hear you, I see you, and today I stand with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
University President Dr. Russell Dawn followed with a speech about the importance of faith in building community. \u201cRegardless of race, ethnicity, or sex, our Lord created you and died for you because He loves you,\u201d said Dawn. \u201cWho am I to have any attitude towards you except to love you with brotherly affection.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Dawn finished his speech with a message from the university\u2019s values. \u201cEach one of you is unique and blessed with inherent worth,\u201d said Dawn. \u201cYou have value, and we at Concordia University Chicago value you.\u201d<\/p>\n
BSU President Ky\u2019mauni Walker\u2019s statement was delivered by Vice President CJ Salmon, Walker addressed the current struggles of the troubling year. \u201c2020 has been a tough year for us all and has taught us very valuable lessons\u201d stated Walker. \u201cThe biggest one I\u2019ve learned is we still have a lot of growth to do in our society when it comes to the rights of our black and brown brothers and sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event gave several CUC student and faculty members the opportunity to speak about how racism has affected their lives. Ken Howard, CUC\u2019s Head Strength and Conditioning Coach delivered a heartfelt speech about defying the statistics and surrounding yourself with support and love. \u201cTo everyone who\u2019s going through things, I want you to pull yourself up and be proud of yourself,\u201d said Howard. \u201cI want you to hear it from me; you do matter regardless of who won\u2019t say it. I love you, the world loves you, God loves you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam Key, CUC\u2019s Resident Director and Coordinator of First-Generation Student Engagement, reiterated throughout his speech the current struggles and pain many African Americans experience in the United States. Key said, \u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said everything was rainbows and sunshine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Key mentioned the university banners that say \u201cYour world opens up from here\u201d as a way the CUC community can be an example for other institutions to follow. To complement that, Key says, \u201cYour world opens up once you open your heart and mind to change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former track athletes and current graduate assistant Tyrique Thomas used his speech to denounce the myths and beliefs associated with the phrase \u201cBlack Lives Matter.\u201d It has no association with religion, politics, or elevation of race. \u201c\u2018Black Lives Matters\u2019 is about pointing out the issues we\u2019ve [African Americans] been through and letting everyone knows we can unify together to make this not a thing,\u201d said Thomas.<\/p>\n
Thomas emphasized the significance of the movement\u2019s effort to promote equity and unity throughout the United States. \u201cLet\u2019s eliminate that phrase and connotation behind \u2018Black Lives Matter\u2019 and take it back for what it really is; the unity of all people and treating my people fairly and equally like we all should be,\u201d said Thomas.<\/p>\n
Other speakers included Director of Academic Advising Porch\u00e9 Garner, as well as Head Women\u2019s Lacrosse Coach Russel Martin. Following the speakers, a two-minute moment of silence was held in honor of those who have fallen to racism and injustice. Pastor Matt Wietfeldt concluded the event with a speech about the group One Concordia will start regular meetings again in the future. The group comprised of students, faculty, board members, and CUC community members aims to improve the campus culture and university standing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":4586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concordia-news","category-life-culture","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}