Photograph by Nina Morasky
The Berkeley High School (BHS) Black Student Union (BSU) organized several events in honor of Black History Month in February, including a screening of the movie Get Out, a speaker series assembly, and a fundraising dinner.
The BSU chose a theme of “Honoring the Past — Inspiring our Future” to frame the events.
The assembly, which occurred during second and third period on February 21, focused on issues facing the black community and what black and non-black students can do to address them.
A panel of three speakers discussed their personal experiences with overcoming adversity and recommended strategies for activism and allyship.
The speakers were Blake Simons, Assistant Director of African American Student Development at UC Berkeley, Chuck Baker, Co-Founder of the advertising intelligence platform ADEXI, and Fa’rinwa Huff, a lawyer and civil rights activist.
They discussed three central questions the role of high school students in furthering the success of the black community, the role of allies, and major struggles faced by the black community.
BSU Co-President Claire Oby highlighted the club’s choice to focus on black achievements. She said, “We wanted to talk about success, not just about oppression in the black community.”
Segen Araya, a member of the BSU’s public relations team, thought the event went well. She summarized the panel’s suggestions to allies. Araya said one common message was for allies to help uplift voices that are historically marginalized and to be good listeners. She also reflected on the panel’s conversation about how allyship is beneficial to black and non-black communities. “Helping the black community could in-turn help people of other communities,” she said. For example, she said that supporting black women can help all women, and that supporting queer black people helps the queer community.
Overall, BSU Treasurer Kira Norwood said the assembly was an example of students taking the lead in educating peers about black history and culture.
“Many students on campus take leadership roles, and they teach others about themselves and their cultures along with what it is like to be a person of color in general,” she said. She added, “If [students] aren’t saying it, no one is.”
Norwood said she felt official school recognitions of Black History Month do not sufficiently recognize the contributions of black people.
“In our classes we aren’t really learning about the positives of the black community, it’s either slavery or the Civil Rights Movement,” she said. “Even then, we only learn about a few leaders and they are all male even though many of the freedom fighters were women.”
Other than BSU events, posters, and activities in individual classrooms, Araya said that the only acknowledgment she had seen of Black History Month was a note in the school planner. She said she hoped for more school-wide recognition and administrative collaboration in the future. For now, the BSU is the primary organizer of the month’s events.
On February 23, the club hosted a dinner to celebrate black history and fundraise for BSU activities. BHS students, families, and community members could purchase tickets for a meal of mac and cheese, candied yams, fried chicken, cornbread, and greens, which are traditional soul food dishes. The event featured spoken word poetry and an African drumming demonstration, and guests sang the Black National Anthem.
The BSU’s screening of Get Out occurred on February 15, and Araya estimated a turnout of thirty to forty people. Also in recognition of Black History Month, the BSU created several themed morning announcements and sold Valentine’s Day Grams.
Regarding the theme of “Honoring the Past — Inspiring our Future,” Araya said the BSU hoped to build momentum for future activism. “We realized that a lot of times when we talk about black history it’s mainly the past and the Civil Rights Movement,” she said. “We wanted to really focus on how we can continue from that.”