With a large amount of festivities put on at Bakersfield College, you would think that every year during Black History Month there would be some kind of event or series of events planned. Nope!
It wasn’t even acknowledged once by BC or SGA. No events were planned, and we didn’t even see a mention of it on campus at all. That’s unacceptable.
This campus community needs to understand that Black History Month is just as important as any other month designated to a certain cause or group of people. Everyone from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Barack Obama play big roles in this history, and they should never be forgotten or go unacknowledged.
Other cultures or groups of individuals get celebrated regularly. M.E.Ch.A. is consistently putting on events and are more than likely already planning something for Cinco De Mayo.
Currently, we are celebrating Woman’s History Month and there are so many speakers and presentations going on right now. We support women’s history, but they should at least acknowledge the existence of Black History Month also.
Do you think Rosa Parks got lazy and said, ”Hey, you know what? I’ll just go to the back of the bus?” No. She stood up for what she believed in and showed her pride.
BC has Jane Goodall coming to speak on April 1, so it’s apparent the school can get big-name people. BC should look to next year and secure someone of equal importance for Black History Month.
BC’s Levan Center for the Humanities has been very successful in bringing in speakers and could be a tool in drawing speakers.
Black History Month could be a big celebration, such as a two or three daylong event involving performances and other minor guests.
If that isn’t possible, we know there must be so many important African American individuals living in Bakersfield or nearby that could have been convinced to come speak to our students here at BC. At the very least they could have put a PowerPoint presentation together and a professor could have talked in the Fireside room for an hour.
Even if name-value speakers can’t be drawn in, a smaller celebration could take place, including booths with information about various areas of African American culture. Organizers could show an inspirational movie in the Fireside Room with a discussion followed by a Q&A session to get the students involved. Is that really that hard to organize? No.
It doesn’t have to be a club or SGA that puts on these events. Any students can set up a table in the Free Speech area and show their appreciation for it.
Come on BC, when you have as many celebrations and cultures on our campus as we do, you should at least celebrate Black History Month one day out of the month.