This week, for the first time in seven years, African American Student Services will be sponsoring the Black Cultural Conference at UNM. Thematically, the conference is geared toward “Mobilizing the Black Millennial Legacy.”
The 2017 Black Cultural Conference will be taking place from Thursday, Sept. 21 until Saturday, Sept. 23.
The conference will kick off with a networking event on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the Ethnic Center foyer. Then, Friday will be filled with workshops and roundtables exploring topics such as leadership, health, positive self-image, social justice and the importance of developing an intergenerational strategy for mobilization. These sessions will take place in the SUB starting at 9 a.m.
“The goal of the conversation is to understand what is this legacy that black millennials are creating,” said Brandi Stone, program specialist at AASS. “How do we build upon the legacy from the past, and how do we pass it on to the next generation?”
Those discussions will culminate in Friday afternoon’s keynote luncheon, featuring an aptly chosen pair of speakers, notable civil rights father-and-son duo Cleveland and Bakari Sellers.
Dr. Cleveland Sellers was a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the ’60s, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. His son, Bakari, is a CNN political analyst and the vice-chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party after serving in the state legislature.
Considering the state of affairs in the world today, Stone said it’s imperative that we have these conversations.
“It’s important that we start having these critical conversations with our students,” she said. “As we are in an institute of higher education, we need to best serve our new students and understand what it is that black millennials are wanting at our institution, how can we assist them in moving forward.”
In addition to UNM, students at the conference will be representing colleges and universities from across the state. Some high school students will also attend.
After the luncheon and keynote addresses, participants are welcomed to enjoy a Black Greek yard show on the Mesa Vista courtyard.
Stone said there was an emphasis on having students involved in the organization of the conference. The idea of the conference goes beyond setting a place at the table for millennials by instilling in them the means to set their own place at the table.
“This conference was designed by students, for students,” Stone said. “The goal is a statewide conversation for black students in higher education.”
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Dannelle Kirven, a junior in criminology and member of the Black Student Alliance said, all too often, millennials are left out of conversations concerning their own generation.
“This conference is an opportunity to be your own voice,” Kirven said. “Go to the conference, get your ideas together on what the issues are for black millennials. You also get the solutions, and you take that back to the place where you’re not being heard and you speak your voice.”
Johnny Vizcaino is the culture editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @thedailyjohnny.
