Ron Daniels wants students to really learn their history during Black Heritage Month.

Daniels, a social activist, former professor and co-founder of the Organization for Constitutional Rights, spoke to a small crowd in the Holmes Student Center’s Carl Sandburg Auditorium on Monday night.

“Culture and ethnicity are far more important than skin color,” Daniels said about black history.

Students should know about the repression of African culture from the moment Africans arrived. The suppression of different ethnic groups was one of the most devastating effects of slavery, he said.

“We had to build a new African community,” Daniels said. “It’s a miracle that we have survived, and yet we are still struggling to create that new African community because we are still trying to affirm who we are.”

The history of campus communities like the Center for Black Studies is an important part of Black Heritage Month, he said.

It was the need to see cultures reflected in education that drove students to form racial support services, and, Daniels added, it was African Americans who led the way.

“We have been trailblazers,” he said. “Because of the black liberation struggle, when we said ‘black power,’ Latinos said ‘brown power,’ Native Americans said ‘red power’ even old folks started talking about ‘gray power.’”

Daniels encouraged students to continue activism today. He wants to see more black faces at anti-war rallies and fighting for democracy.

Black Student Union President Steve Duroseau was excited to hear Daniels’ message.

“I’ve read about Ron Daniels and I’ve seen him speak on TV before, he’s definitely a phenomenal speaker,” he said.