Yusef Shakur speaks on Black History Month
Black History Month will kick off at Central Michigan University with keynote speaker Dr. Yusef Bunchy Shakur in "Black Arts: Resistance and Transformation."
The free and public event will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 1, at the Education and Human Services building, French Auditorium.
Shakur will be speaking about his transformation from being a gang member to getting his degrees and giving back to the community.
He was a former gang leader in Detroit and spent nine years in the State Prison of Michigan in Jackson, for a crime he did not commit.
When Shakur was released, he became a community leader and social activist. He earned his master's from the University of Michigan and Master of Social Work from Union College. He also wrote several books about his transformation.
He is currently the Deputy Director of the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion.
"When we explore the Black Arts Movement through the historical lens of American history as presented only through the eyes of entertainment, however, it was a transformational tool that spoke to the Black aesthetic that fed the soul of Black Bodies and other people to resist, find hope and transform their humanity," Shukar said in an email.
