The conversations that make people uncomfortable are often the ones that need to be had.
Students and staff of all backgrounds met Thursday night for a “Serious Matter” hosted by Alpha Kappa Alpha. Intended to educate, there was a discussion about derogatory terms used in minority communities.
Jacqueline Boose, a senior television arts major and Alpha Kappa Alpha member, found this event particularly relevant to a predominantly white institution (PWI) like Bradley.
“It is so important to have events like this at a PWI to raise awareness for those who are negatively targeted because of their race, background and social structure,” Boose said.
A derogatory term is defined as a statement used as an insult to imply something negative.
The five minoritized community representatives that made up the panel were Latinx, LGBTQ, Asian, African American and exceptionalities with a service dog.
Both Latinx and African American representatives expressed how they have experienced derogatory terms within their communities.
Panelist Kory Anthony Turner, a junior public health major, expressed that as an African American, some derogatory stereotypes are worse than the terms.
“You have to separate stereotypes from derogatory terms,” Turner said. “Some stereotypes for the black community are we’re somebody who’s lazy, violent or aggressive, and sometimes those will hit at me more because I can understand more of what they’re trying to say versus when somebody straight up says it.”
After receiving background on where some of the terms came from as well as answering how some terms were exclusive to their identities, the panelists were free to answer questions from the audience. With readiness, they asked questions that were significant to their own experiences.
The LGBTQ panelist, Max Bulver, a junior user experience design major, explained how most of the derogatory terms he recognizes is someone using a LGBTQ sexual identity as an insult and negative adjective.
Amongst the audience was the assistant professor of English language acquisition, Juan Rios Vega, who explained the importance of hearing the panelists’ individual stories.
“When you represent, you are echoing a single story,” Rios Vega said. “Even though you echo some of the things that you heard, at the end of the day, what we’re hearing tonight is your single stories.”
Because of the amount of awareness this event brought, Kiana Baylor, senior television arts major and president of Alpha Kappa Alpha is looking toward the future with events like these.
“We are making it an annual event where we talk about a controversial topic,” Baylor said. “This is about our communities, and what our personal experiences have been and what we can do to bring awareness to the situation.”
Next year AKA plans to host another panel talking about another relevant topic they feel needs to be heard. The organization can be contacted on Instagram at
@akaepsiloneta.
