More than 100 students gathered for the seventh annual Black Leadership Empowerment Summit on Sunday at the L.A. Pittenger Student Center to interact with motivational speakers and performers and talk about issues relevant to black students today.
The Black Student Association hosted the event with help from the Multicultural Center and SGA sponsors.
Four months of preparation culminated in a six-hour event split into three sessions: ignite, impact and influence.
The BLES Steering Committee led historically based discussions about African American culture while attendees discussed professional development, race and civic engagement, as well as the misappropriation of media in black culture.
Steering committee member and panel coordinator Devante Gaines said he creates events like this to pursue an open minded, comfortable setting for everyone to express their opinions.
Gaines said he believes in the importance of black unity.
“People are working to make things better in in our community by providing awareness of our culture so that we can be able to unite and bond, instead of discouraging each other,” Gaines said.
Gaines said he enjoys engaging in controversial topics, something he had a chance to do during a debate on the use of language in culture and its impact on society.
One such discussion focused on misused terms. Attendees shared their varying comfort levels with using the n-word as slang and endearment.
Some participants agreed that it's a form of expression similar to "What's up homie?" or "What's up bro?
Others did not prefer to use or be addressed by the word.
The conversation evolved into talking about personalities and behaviors associated with different races
Steering Committee Secretary Brittany Forrest, a junior telecommunications major said that the black language and culture has always been misunderstood and there are many misconceptions about this subject.
"I never knew you could act a certain color. How does one act white or act black? It makes no sense," Forrest said.
Participants laughed and joked about the connotations of black stereotypes, but also discussed mature explanations about the professional way to react to these stereotypes. Gaines noted that the only importance is that people continue to grow despite the negativity.
“The interaction between everyone during our media representation discussion was interesting because we were able to acknowledge everyone’s positive and negative views on the media when it comes to our cultural identity,” Gaines said.
The event promoted empowerment, leadership and unity. The executive board and steering committee wanted to create a nontraditional conference for students to enjoy.
Forrest said the conference was everything she thought it would be.
“Our goal was to make the conference more innovative and inclusive,” Forrest said.
Despite starting at 9 a.m., the event managed to attract attendees.
“We wanted everyone to engage and I’m excited that we were able to achieved this and make them feel comfortable at the same time," Forrest said.
In addition to the free BLES t-shirts and provided food, students were treated to performances by Ball State’s Outlet dance troupe, Voices of Triumph gospel singers and spoken word pieces.
The conference ended with awards of appreciation for the entire steering committee.
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