Connections! Understanding our connection to each other, or Ubuntu (“I am because we are”), is an African-centered value. This was the motivation that led the Africana Studies Program at Buffalo State University to organize and host its first Black Buffalo Speaks Conference on Saturday, April 19 on the Buffalo State University campus.
Attended by upward of one hundred people, the Conference, by design, connected the University and Buffalo’s predominantly Black community as a way to make Africana Studies education more relevant to achieving the goals of grasping what the world looks like, and how it can be made more civil and joyful, through the lens of deep African thought.
Organized by Africana Studies students, along with the program coordinator, Dr. Marcus D. Watson, and co-instructor, Shango Ayo, this full-day event featured local heroes:
· Cariol Horne of Black Lives Matters Grassroots demanded everyone of all backgrounds see themselves in the Black and Brown kids on the other side of Main Street.
· Karima Amin of Prisoners Are People Too requested assistance to address race-based mass incarceration as it manifests in WNY.
· Terry Alford of the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor insisted there are opportunities for Buffalo State students to volunteer and intern at the historic organization he directs.
· Lion Blyden of the U.N.I.A. Division 433 asked Black Buffalonians to develop clear action plans to collectively protect a Black nation from ongoing assaults from white supremacy ideologues.
· Leighton Jones of Our City Action Buffalo announced a new internship agreement between his organization and Africana Studies, exemplifying a mutually beneficial partnership between the campus and a community organization.
· The Keynote Speaker, mayoral candidate, and member of the 5/14 Permanent Commission, Garnell Whitfield, stressed the need of Eastside organizations overcoming programmatic and ideological differences to show up for each other in the important work they all do.
And the Buffalo Community Drummers brought energy to the event to make it even livelier.
The audience learned about the speakers, their organizations, and the ways Africana Studies and the Buffalo State University can support their missions while providing exciting, hands-on educational experiences to students.
The Our City Action Buffalo internship mentioned above is a case in point, empowering Africana Studies students to spend time in the city, learn how to organize communities, apply knowledge to real life, and network with many of Buffalo’s movers and shakers.
We appreciate all the support we received from the Record and look forward to building on this Conference through continuous connections between Buffalo State University and the Eastside throughout the year.
