Kruzan kicks off Black History Month at City Hall

Despite the cold weather, 60 people gathered inside Bloomington City Hall yesterday evening to kick off Black History Month with a ceremony and reception hosted by the city of Bloomington.\nThe ceremony, which took place inside of the Common Council Chamber, included a short speech by Mayor Mark Kruzan, an eight-minute preview of the play “One More River to Cross” and an announcement from the Commission on the Status of Black Males.\nBloomington’s Black History Month Committee began planning the event in October. This year, the theme was “Generations,” committee member William Knox said. Both Knox and Bloomington High School South senior Megan Martin emphasized the theme. \n“This (event) sets the stage for the rest of the month,” Knox said.\nKruzan discussed the importance of celebrating Black History Month during his speech.\n“(We) truly don’t have a community until everyone feels a part of it,” Kruzan said.\nKruzan then presented an award to Bloomington’s Black History Month Committee, which planned the event.\nThree actors from “One More River to Cross” gave a preview of this weekend’s play. The play focuses on prominent blacks throughout history.\nEric Love, director of the Office of Diversity Education, said it is important for people to continue celebrating black history as a part of American history. \nDavid Hummons from the Commission on the Status of Black Males announced that nominations are now open for the Outstanding Young Males Leaders of Tomorrow Award. \nAfter the ceremony, attendees were served meatballs and fruit while they spoke with authors whose books focused on black history. \nThe authors in attendance were A.B. Assensoh, Yvette Alex-Assensoh, Janet Bell, Kandace Hinton, Mary Howard-Hamilton, Audrey McCluskey and John McCluskey. Former IU football player George Taliaferro, the first black player in the NFL, was also in attendance.\nTaliaferro joked that the book “Taliaferro: Breaking Barriers from the Ivory Tower” was only written about him because of the impression he had made on the author while she was one of his students at IU. \nA.B. Assensoh and his wife Yvette Alex-Assensoh also shared their books during the reception. Both agreed celebrating Black History Month is important because diversity benefits Bloomington and IU.\nIU junior Danielle Cave also agrees that celebrating Black History Month is important.\n“There is so much culture, tradition and power behind African–Americans,” Cave said. “Even though we live it, it’s easy to get away from.”