The Women and Gender Resource Center hosted a Black History Month panel in the Student Center on Wednesday. Alongside WGRC program coordinator Kerrigan Clark, two UA faculty members and one Ph.D. student spoke on the importance of Black history, diversity and building community in a changing political climate.
“The African American community is vast, and it is just as diverse within itself as any other group. There are brilliant people, there are folks who are great musicians, great cooks, and there are people like any other group, whose lives are lived outside of the line, but they are full and rich lives,” said Barry Cole, an English instructor, during the panel.
Cole listed whom he considers some of the most influential Black authors: Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.
Daphne Palmer, a senior accounting instructor, emphasized that while it’s Black History Month now, it’s important to support all communities.
“It’s Black History Month today, it could be your month tomorrow. It could be your thing, [so] being able to support each other in all the walks is what’s really important, because you can be an ally for anybody,” Palmer said.
During the panel, Cole reminded the audience of Martin Luther King’s words to argue the importance of standing with all marginalized groups.
“I feel that Dr. King’s observation, that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,’ reminds us that every group’s rights are interconnected. Marginalized people usually bear the brunt of exclusion and profiling, but those same forces are eventually applied to the larger society,” he said.
The panelists spoke on their feelings about last year’s passing and implementation of Alabama’s SB129, which banned the funding of diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public universities and restricted teaching of “divisive concepts” as defined by the law.
“If I hear ‘DEI’ or ‘anti-DEI’ or ‘divisive concepts,’ I have to teach on this history. I’m sorry that is what I’m charged to do, and it’s what my conscience requires, and it’s not always pleasant,” Cole said.
Palmer focused on a different aspect of the bill: how she believes the DEI initiative programs were ill-fated from the start.
“Ten years ago when I was active in DEI work and it was described to me, I said, ‘This is not going to go over well because DEI will be perceived as Black,’” Palmer said. “And that’s exactly what happened.”
Diweng Dafong, a Ph.D. student studying French, offered a unique viewpoint as a Black student from outside the U.S. She expressed her feelings from when she began learning about Black American history.
Dafong said she wasn’t very familiar with this history before leaving Nigeria, and that she had only learned about slavery, but not other historical challenges Black Americans faced.
“When I started learning about the history of Black Americans, it was very depressing,” Dafong said. “I feel like you don’t know where we’re going to if we don’t talk about where we’re coming from.”
The panelists argued as well the importance of acting on one’s beliefs. Palmer said it is important to stand for what you believe in the current political climate.
“As we go through these changes in our climate that we’re in, you just gotta make sure that you’re doing something that you can stand behind,” Palmer said. She added that Americans should focus on “being the best version of yourself and getting ready to learn as much as you can.”
Cole said it is important to be informed and act in a community during recent political changes, although he did not explicitly name what those changes were.
“Do something,” Cole said. “Join a community. You’ll do more in a community than you can individually.”
