Taking place Monday afternoon, IU’s annual Social Justice in Action: Unity Summit 2016 drew in almost 225 students and faculty members. Those who attended heard from keynote speaker Rosa Clemente, an independent journalist and hip hop activist.
Tashia Roberson, IU junior, decided to bring the conversation on race and ethnicity to IU after attending the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in Washington, D.C., Roberson and other students who attended NCORE formed IU’s Student Life and Learning NCORE Student Advisory Board. This group of six students organized the summit.
“I want people to leave here with an open mind so we can create a more diverse and accepting environment at IU,” Roberson said.
Daniel DeBard, an event organizer and IU senior, said he wanted attendees to gain insight on how to make a difference.
“Students should have an awareness of diversity and inclusion,” DeBard said. “It should be more student-led instead of administration-led.”
Clemente discussed radicalism in the United States, saying today’s society is good at absorbing it.
“No one liked Dr. King when he was alive,” Clemente said. “No one liked Malcolm X when he was alive.”
She told the audience that thinking they live in a post-racial society is the biggest lie they have been told. Clemente urged listeners to become activists and stop hoping.
“We have to be very real,” Clemente said. “We don’t have time to waste.”
An IU tradition since 1999, the Unity Summit has grown into an event that students and faculty look forward to all year, organizers said. Over the years, numerous groups, including the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee, Union Board and the Office of Student Life and Learning, have each put on the event.
Lindsay Echols, senior assistant director of student life and learning, guided the student advisory board in organizing the summit.
“I hope student and student organizations take this opportunity to look at themselves and how they can help,” Echols said. “This is a great time of reference to see where you are and where you need to go.”
Amid icebreakers and lunch and group discussion, members of each table had the chance to share with and learn from those seated with them.
Taylor Williams, IU junior, came to facilitate an open discussion about race and diversity.
Since not everyone thinks the same way or comes from the same background, Williams said talking with everyone about their ideas and views was a good way to learn to solve conflicts.
“College is one big salad bowl,” Williams said. “Learning from different perspectives is important.”
