Start revolution

I along with other students went this past Thursday evening to listen to Speech from Arrested Development at the Carl Sandburg Auditorium. Speech was a very inspiring speaker and brought up issues and ideas for us to realize and think about. It was a powerful learning experience for me and hopefully for others also. The evening went well until a gentleman from the audience came up to ask a question and also added a comment. What he said disturbed me and the people around me. The gentleman said that the “white” people who came, came because Speech is a celebrity and appears on MTV. That may have been the reason for some people who went—white and black. But many of us went knowing that Speech was not going to be there with his entourage and perform for us. We went to see what he had to say, to be educated, to learn. Yet the gentleman felt that we were there for superficial reasons—I felt that I was being accused of being shallow. That I would go and sit for two hours in an uncomfortable seat just to look at a famous person—that is absurd. Throughout the evening some issues that were raised were about integration of people from different backgrounds and education. We the “white” were there to be educated and learn about the African-American culture and yet we were criticized for being there. I was pleased of the “white” turn out, it showed that there are people who are interested in making a change in society. The first step is education. People need to learn and understand about other cultures—wan’t that the message Speech conveyed? So let anybody who is interested go to these speeches and learn for whatever reason each individual has. Don’t criticize, join in, let people educated and then motivated to bring about change. Let’s start a revolution.

Evelyn Rebacz

Sophomore

Psychology