Black president Story

Omamoya Esiso
03/25/09
Jour 132
Sandifer-Walker

TSU Students Gather for a Presentation on Issues in the Black Community

Texas Southern University students gathered last Tuesday in the Sawyer Auditorium to discuss issues in the black community with a panel of civic leaders and scholars.
We Have a Black President Now What?, was the title of the presentation and is a question that possibly comes up in the minds of many African-Americans, and some may think they have an answer to this question and others may have no idea.
“We must end the racial divide in America,” said one of the speaker’s during the presentation.
Throughout the presentation, six African-Americans including two TSU students, each gave their perspectives on what should be done in regards to answering this question.
There were a vide variety of topics discussed such as race-relations, education, the election of Barack Obama, and issues concerning black owned businesses.
The moderator for the presentation, professor Sandifer-Walker asked the speakers what they believe should be done to decrease the high dropout rate among minority students.
She also asked them what they think should be done to improve many minority student’s scores on the TAKS test, which is an exam that all high school students in Texas must pass in order to graduate.
Minister Robert Muhammad, a black activist with the nation of Islam, said tht adding more modern technological resources to inner city schools will improve some of the problems.
He also said that African Americans need to learn more about their history.
“Education is a snapshot of Western Civilization. We need to be taught more about ourselves,” he said.
Jolanda Jones, a city council member, added to what Muhammad said by saying that black students needed to be taught more of the history of their ancestors in school.
“Black history is American history,” she said.
She also said that increasing teacher’s salaries and putting less emphasis on testing would possibly improve the education for many minority students in schools.
The next question was how can we as African Americans work to solve our race relation issues.
“We need to get to the core of white supremacy and black inferiority,” said Muhammad.
“Step outside the box and surround yourself with different people because when you go into the corporate world, you’ve got to learn to get along with Mary, Marsha, and Bob,” said Dr. Wendy Johnson, president of the NBA Association.
Followed by the laughter that echoed throughout the auditorium after that statement, the topic of minority businesses were discussed.
Professor Sandifer-Walker gave a statistic a statistic saying that only 11% of minority businesses are owned by Blacks/African Americans.
The speakers gave their perspective on the statistics and stated what they felt could be done to increase the number of businesses owned by owned by blacks.
One of the last questions asked was on Barack Obama and what they think it means for a Black college student to see Obama elected.
“It opens our minds to different opportunities, making us believe in ourselves, knowing that anything is possible for minorities,” said Avant who is a child development major at TSU.
The presentation ended with questions and comments from the students.
In the end, regardless of whether or not the students thought the presentation gave them an answer to the main question, the goal was that they would hopefully leave with some valuable information that could help them make a positive difference in the black community.