Ithaca College

This past February, four Ithaca College students traveled to New Haven, Connecticut as registered participants of the 21st Annual Black Solidarity Conference, held on the campus of Yale University. Sponsored by the Office of Student Engagement and Multicultural Affairs, Anissa Ash '18, Brandon Paul '17, Arlana Shikongo '17, and Efosa Erhunmwunse '18 represented IC among the 50+ institutions and 700+ participants. To demonstrate learning and share their prodigious conference experience, these students have created an original presentation for the Ithaca College Community titled “Addressing the Black (Mis)Education: Retelling the Narrative" Thursday, March 31st, 2016 @ 7:00pm in Klingenstein Lounge, Campus Center. 

This presentation will address the ways in which rhetoric and narratives have framed the Black identity. How have stories of the Black body have been told, who tells these stories, and why? In a one hour time frame, these four students will facilitate a discussion on how Black history has been misconstrued and ignored in the United States while examining a new wave of advocacy that looks to the future in an attempt to rectify.

The goal of this presentation is to provide the audience with a stark look at the past that follows people of color and then open dialogue on where we see our futures. Furthermore, this presentation will focus on how the voices of people of color have been silenced and, in moving forward, how we can bring those voices to the forefront and change history as we know it.

After attending this presentation, participants will be able to:

• Initiate an understanding of how beliefs and narratives fuel people of color’s interaction with matters of mental health, and how their history has aided in this.
• Gain a deeper insight into the concept of Afrofuturism. What it means, how it came about and the purpose it is meant to serve in rectifying the falsely constructed view of the black narrative.
• Begin to identify the differences between PWIs (Predominately White Institutions) and HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) and the different ways in which they influence the people of color in those respective communities.
• Highlight the importance of student activism and its relevance today.

Participant can also expect to talk and hear about:

• Afrofuturism: Black representation and narratives in art and media
• Understanding the realities of mental health and illness that shadow the Black, enslaved experience
• Creating opportunities for Black individuals, by Black individuals, and what that means in terms of the individual's efforts.

Please contact RahK Lash, Assistant Director for Multicultural Affairs (OSEMA) at rlash@ithaca.edu for any questions. (To stay informed and involved with the ALANA Community @IC, check out our Webpage and request to join our OrgSync Portal for weekly news updates.)

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations for all events sponsored out of OSEMA's Multicultural Affairs should contact us at multicultural@ithaca.edu.  We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.