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Part of BET's Jeff Johnson hosts workshop during weekend conference Role model for the future, February 4, 2008

Text

Spectrum

BET's

JeffJohnson hosts workshop during weekend conference

By SONIA BADAWY
Staff Writer

The Black Student Union
(BSU) held its third annual
Student Leadership Con­
ference on Saturday in an
effort to discuss the preva­
lent issues African Ameri­
cans have faced in the past
and still are facing presently.
Special guest BET host
and producer Jeff John­
son led his own workshop
entitled "Hip-Hop and the
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Liberation Struggle," dur­
ing which he discussed
civil rights and the misdi­
rected leadership within
the hip-hop community. He
was asked to participate in
the conference to convey
an important message to
the UB community and
BSU members, according
to BSU president William
Donovan.
Johnson stated that a
huge distinction exists
between the liberation

movement and hip-hop.
Hip-hop was created as a
form of musical and cul­
tural expression that used
a social-political context.
Johnson said what truly
provided change was the
Civil Rights Movement.
The workshop conclud­
ed with a discussion about
the misleading messages
that the hip-hop industry
is sending out to the youth
today.
"You don't have to be

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mentored by somebody
who is rich to get knowl­
edge; you have to be men­
tored by somebody knowl­
edgeable," Johnson said.
"I don 't want somebody
to teach me how to make
money. I want somebody
to tell me what it feels
[like] to be a black man in
a country that no matter
what they say, racism still
exists."
Many guests expressed
an appreciation for John-

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son's ideas during the
discussion portion of the
workshop.
"Johnson's speech and
the entire conference will
hopefully motivate stu­
dents to take action and
make a change ," said Buf­
falo State student Elisa
Molina.
Another
workshop
offered at the conference
was "Racism Rejuvenated:

Wednesday:

see BSU page 4

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The Spectrum

February 4, 2008

Role model for the future
BSU from page 1
Acceptance Hinders Progres­
sion," lectured by Darnell Cum­
mings.
The purpose of the discussion
was to bring to light the recent
uprising of racism inAmerica and
whether or not the community
is slowly and quietly digressing
back toward the "Jim Crow Era."
The objective of this .year's
conference is informing com­
munity members and those
who attended the lecture about
the state of complacency in the
African American community,
according to Donovan.
The
conference featured
speakers in four workshops that ·
worked with this year's theme,
"The Rebirth: Recapturing the
Essence of the Black liberation
Struggle to liberate our Commu­
nities."
"Basically these workshops
focus on different areas [of strug­
gle] that the black community
faces on a regular basis"Donovan
said. These areas include maintain
good
in
.credit,
g today's civil
rights movement, racism in pres­
ent day America and -issues with
the public school system.
"We are concerned about our
black students because some­
times they do not receive an
equal childhood education for a
variety of reasons, ranging from
low income, poor schooling, and
single parent homes; .Donovan
said.
The leadership conference
attracted participants from all
around Buffalo, including Molina,
who was interested in gaining
informationabout leadership.
"Johnson addressed real politi-­
cal and social issues," Molina said.
"His speech has prompted me

Alex Wallach I The Spectrum

BET host and producer Jeff Johnson spoke to students in his workshop
about hip-hop's rol e in the liber3tion struggle, a part of BSU 's third annu­
al Student Leadership Conferen:e.

to develop new leadership ideas
that I cannot wait to implement
as president of my sorority."
Christina Khoury, a sopho­
more early childhood develop­
ment major, enjoyed the topics
discussed and all the conference
had to offer.
"As students, it's so important
to get together and talk about
these current issues in America,"
Khoury said."Such issues should
not be pushed under the rug and
ignored."
Students who attended all the
workshops found them to be
both informative and motivation­
al.
"It's unfortunate that more stu­
dents didn't attend,"saidAbciirah­
man Farah, a junior psychology
major. "Students come to leader-

ship conferences like this and
look up to speakers that they
will someday model to become
leaders themselves."
Farah said the conference
was a great way to teach African
Americans how to develop a bet­
ter society.
"It's partly about educating
people who are hurting them­
selves and killing each other, and
showing them howto start a new
way oflife," Farah said.
This year's conference was a
great success due to the number
of people that attended, accord­
ing to Donovan.

E-mail: spectrurn-news@buffalo.edu