“Teaching Ferguson: Social Justice Tips for Educating the Community,” the second event in the “Conversation Continues” series, organized by the Division of Student Affairs and Multicultural Student Services, took place Thursday night in the Caterpillar Global Communications Center.
The event featured Bryant K. Smith, an author, professor and professional speaker, focused on race relations and social justice. Students said they enjoyed his solution-oriented and interactive style of presentation.
“I previously saw him freshman year,” community wellness major Celine Coleman said. “It was very interactive and I think it was great for students to engage them and [it was an] excellent interactive experience. Where a lot of the time it is just information thrown at students and they’re supposed to take it in, he asks us to give him information and then he crafts his presentation.”
The conversation series was just an idea before last semester, but with recent events, the series became a reality.
Much of diversity and social justice is about raising awareness, according to Chase. This series is designed to expose students to some of these different opportunities. Students learned about how to think critically and how to begin conversations about social justice. Looking at statistics, social media and photos are all ways to start those talks, according to Smith.
According to Smith, the first step to talking about or teaching social justice is for people to educate themselves.
“Social issues need to be shared by the people,” Interim Director of Multicultural Student Services Norris Chase said. “We need advocates to go out and say, ‘Alright, here’s our information about this.’ [Preferably] not biased, even though it might be, but here’s information. Just think about it.”
Smith said a problem on many college campuses is the unwillingness to have the conversation in the first place. People need to have conversations before taking action, so that those actions have the most potential impact.
“I think it starts with acknowledgement,” Chase said. “Acknowledgment of who you are, where you come from, what those different populations or issues are. Then it goes into action, like what can you do: Get educated on the topic, get involved with different organizations or a class. There are a lot of different ways for students to get involved.”
