Kappa Alpha Psi members host discussion on black oppression, institutionalized racism
Detroit senior and chapter vice president of Kappa Alpha Psi Laneer Turner headed "The Konversation," a discussion centered around black specific issues Wednesday Nov. 11 in the Bovee University Center.
Members of Central Michigan University's Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity campus hosted discussion Wednesday night on black centered issues ranging from controversy regarding the confederate flag to the student lead Missouri protests. The event was free and opened to the general public.
Detroit senior and chapter vice president, Laneer Turner facilitated this discussion by informing the crowd about the history of the Confederate flag and opened up the floor to the crowd for additional thoughts and opinions.
As the dialogue continued Turner discussed the turn of events currently taking place on Missouri's campus in which students demanded university Dean Tim Wolfe address the issue of racism on campus or resign. After the University of Missouri's football team refused to play unless the dean relinquished his position, Wolfe resigned earlier this week.
Although most individuals in the crowd were aware of the actions taking place, others weren’t.
Turner asked those in attendance how they would feel about the events taking place at Missouri taking place at CMU and received mixed responses.
Grosse Pointe sophomore Ashley Snyder said she was shocked students at Missouri were reported to have skipped class to take shelter in their dorms in an effort to wait out racially fueled backlash towards black students.
“There is no way that students shouldn’t feel comfortable enough to attend class on a campus that they are paying for,” she said. "(Missouri) is these students’ community. There is no way that someone should feel shunned out of their own community.”
Several of Missouri's students have conveyed their fearfulness to leave their residence halls due to an array of threats to the campus’s African-American community.
As the discussion continued, Turner asked crowd what can we at CMU do to help make a change and stop events like this from happening. The overall consensus of the crowd was that there is no specific way to stop events like this from happening.
New York native Chelsea Bowens had a conflicting opinion with the rest of the participants.
“We must be more strategic about the protests we make, so that we can actually be able to achieve the goals we desire,” the Brooklyn senior.
Many in attendance felt as though change must come and also believe the change must start in one’s own house first.
“For this problem to change we need to develop our own definition of race," said Detroit senior Jeree Spice. "If we continue to go by the negative image that we’ve learned from our parents then this issue will never end.”
Kappa Alpha Psi member Terry Gissendanner gave the final remarks for the evening.
“As African-Americans we need to stop having a negative view on every Caucasian individual," he said. "If we constantly think every Caucasian person is against our race we are doing nothing but being hypocrites and continuing with the same behavior that we are trying to prevent.”
