Black People United collaborated with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to celebrate black culture and spark discussions about race with the screening of “King in the Wilderness,” following Martin Luther King Junior Day. The film highlighted the importance of Martin Luther King Jr. and reflects on King’s final 18 months before his assassination on April 4, 1968.
President of BPU, Aemri Marks, a junior psychology major, said the purpose of the screening was to initiate conversation among VanCougs around topics such as race and class and to encourage reflection on how Martin Luther King Day became a day of service.
Marks became BPU’s president in 2019 and has been working throughout the year to achieve the goals of BPU within WSU Vancouver.
“BPU’s goal is really to just educate and celebrate black and brown students here on campus, it’s really open to everybody. There’s in some ways more an educational piece, there’s an allyship piece and there’s just finding your community here on campus because there’s not that many of us,” Marks said.
Marks acknowledged that MLK Day and Black History Month are not holidays always celebrated widely among campus and hopes that these events will encourage students to talk about uncomfortable topics surrounding race and find appropriate ways to celebrate black culture.
“It’s definitely not something that like everybody’s talking about it and teachers aren’t changing curriculum to go with it or anything like that. We get the day off for MLK day so people tend to think that’s it,” Marks said. “I guess it’s on the individuals to recognize that [Black History Month] is important, but then also for the university to be posting about it and for there to be non-stereotypical ways to celebrate.”
Vice President of BPU, sophomore integrated strategic communication major, Mandipa Masike, shared how BPU influenced her life and the community she is involved with on campus.
“Black People United for me means that it’s not only meant for black people, but I feel like it shows empowerment and inclusion to black people as a way to cater and unify each and every one of us because of the state we are in. There’s not a lot of people of color or black [students]. Also, I just feel like that’s just a way of us inviting one another and be fighting for each other for what we all know.” Masike said.
“I guess it’s on the individuals to recognize that [Black History Month] is important, but then also for the university to be posting about it and for there to be non-stereotypical ways to celebrate.” — Aemri Marks
Junior psychology major, Chris Edwards explained the film serves as an important reminder that civil rights is a fairly recent development.
“For me it’s a reminder. Watching the documentary and seeing how not too long ago all these things happened. People do think it happened multiple generations ago, but it’s really much more recent. It’s also a good reminder of King’s ideals. He wanted non-violence and that was a huge thing I took away,” Edwards said.
Although Marks expressed the desire for more celebration of Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month, she hopes to reach out to organizations like the NAACP to do more events on and off campus. These events will aim to celebrate black culture through the month of February and beyond.
Emily is a senior studying integrated strategic communication at WSU Vancouver.