Dionte Berry
Features Editor
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With in-person gatherings out of the picture, the Office of Multicultural Initiatives has been hosting a series of virtual events throughout February to celebrate Black History Month and the notable Black figures who have shaped the world.
Traditionally, Murray State students would see a week of events hosted by both Black Student Council and OMI to celebrate Black History Month. However, with both organizations teaming up this year it has broadened the event options so much that one week would not suffice.
S.G. Carthell, executive director of the Office of Multicultural Initiatives, Student Leadership and Inclusive Excellence, has been the lead in curating most of this month’s festivities.
“After looking at some of the things Black Student Council wanted to do and some of the things I wanted to do, we realized it was too much to do in a week and it would be better if we spread things out to increase engagement and give people something to look forward to,” Carthell said.
The restriction of not being able to hold in-person events has come with advantages, one of which being the ability to hold events more easily and another being that it leads to easier collaboration.
“We have partnered with Wilmington College and Wittenberg University to celebrate Black history,” Carthell said. “These two institutions have a number of events as well, so we thought a collaboration would be good to maximize engagement.”
This year along with celebrating and recognizing February as Black History Month, OMI is also recognizing it as the month of learning from others.
“Each month this semester is looking at a specific portion of the community commitment,” Carthell said. “January was acceptance and February is learning from one another.”
February has had a lot of opportunities for learning and has even more to offer.
Another new factor of the events being hosted this semester is that they don’t just end in February. In March the events hosted will be addressing the next goal: creating a positive atmosphere for engagement.
“March will be our pride month,” Carthell said. “We are working to put activities together, and we will be working with Alliance as well. We’re looking at having at least one or two events each week to emphasize on pride and creating a positive atmosphere for engagement.”
The events for February approach many aspects of Black culture and history. There have been trivia, poetry and poster contests events, and guest speakers have attended to discuss a vast amount of topics relative to the experiences of Black people.
Carthell sees now as an important time for this expansion of Black History events because of important movements such as Black Lives Matter, and that Black people have helped build many aspects of society and deserve recognition.
Over the summer the Black Lives Matter movement had greatly picked up as a result of police brutality and the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. In turn, this has brought more attention to the Black community as a whole.
“It’s really important for us to not just see these events as an extension of BLM,” Carthell said. “BLM has hopefully made us understand why we need to pause and think about the contributions of African-Americans and those of African descent that have provided so much to not only the United States but also the world.”
The Black History Month events have been a way to shine that light on the impact Black people have had and continue to have.
Along with Carthell, freshman nursing major and member of OMI Kiauna Steele is happy to see the month-long calendar of events.
“I feel that with everything that has transpired over the past year with Black Lives Matter the University has made great efforts to ensure Black History Month is celebrated the way it should be, despite the pandemic,” Steele said.
To personally celebrate Black history, Steele makes sure to keep herself informed about Black people that have paved the way for others in the Black community.
“I always try to learn about people who I haven’t heard of or read about previously to further expand my knowledge,” Steele said.
Steele doesn’t only use this opportunity to learn more about important Black figures but to think of them as a part of history as a whole.
During February, Black world builders, icons and innovators are recognized, but once the month ends they aren’t highlighted for what they have done for the world.
“I feel that Black history is treated as separate from other history,” Steele said. “It is often overlooked and not taken as seriously as it should be.”
Fellow OMI member and junior pre-veterinary medicine major McKenna Barken shares a similar feeling regarding Black history.
“I do feel as though there’s a need to do a better job as far as recognizing Black history all year round,” Barken said. “Black history is so much bigger than 28 days. Black history has inspired so much, therefore we should celebrate it more.”
Barken celebrates Black History Month by helping inform others about Black history, and she is happy to see that Murray State is attempting to do the same.
“I am happy about the increase of effort to celebrate Black History Month, but I do feel like a bigger deal should be made about it,” Barken said. “I feel like the University should have more posts about the month.”
Although she has her critique about the publicity Black History Month has received, Barken is glad to see a collaborative effort being made.
“Overall we are happy with the collaboration we have made with the other schools and how we have been able to get students engaged,” Carthell said.
Black History Month is not over yet. Events being hosted can be found at smore.com/2evcy and the links for the events are provided under each event in the calendar.