CSU STUDENTS PLAN ON

CSU Students plan on having ‘The Talk’ on campus in a large protest event

Gabriella Castleberry and Victoria Buchanan unite to raise awareness on issues of racism in the world by hosting an event on campus.

CSU students Gabriella Initially, Castleberry considered Castleberry and Victoria doing a march. However, she and Buchanan are making Buchanan decided that a sit-in style plans to ensure that event preceded by a march would Columbus and the suit their objectives better. The two university campus continue the students had many details to nail ongoing conversation on racial down before their projected protest injustice and discrimination. date in September. They quickly

Sophomore Digital Animation reached out to the Dean of Students Major Gabriella Castleberry and made sure to get the event had the idea for an on-campus officially registered with CSU. demonstration. Castleberry The Talk, so named because it will approached Senior History Major be an opportunity for Black students Victoria Buchanan with the idea and members of the community to because she knew that Buchanan speak and explain issues of race, is would, “make time for whatever officially registered under the Black she needed to if it was meaningful.” Student Alliance. The BSA was Castleberry and Buchanan originally recently established and this fall met during Panhellenic recruitment will be its first semester on campus. GABRIELLA CASTLEBERRY a semester ago. Christian Haywood, BSA’s president, will be working with Castleberry

VICTORIA BUCHANAN and Buchanan to put on the event. Castleberry cited the Freedom of Expression Policy in the CSU “This isn’t just an Student Handbook as a part of their planning. The policy that event for Black ensures the rights of students to engage in freedom of expression activities in outdoor spaces so long people. White people as they do not interfere with the “other missions of the University.” need to attend as well; Buchanan and Castleberry first heard about the policy during they need to learn and orientation where President Markwood explained the rights educate themselves." of students to have these kinds of peaceful demonstrations. “There’s no good time or place to have these conversations,” said

Castleberry. “But at the end of the day, these conversations need to be had everywhere: in the workspace, at home, with friends or family.” Castleberry said that, despite the fact that there are many Black students attending CSU, they may not have many spaces where they feel comfortable. “When it comes to Black students, you only hear about Collegiate 100, Collegiate Women, NAACP, and the Divine Nine. One of [CSU’s] core values is inclusivity, but it needs to be an act and not just a statement of words.”

The Talk will consist of a march around campus, followed by several speakers from the community. CSU Dynasty, the intramural dance team, will open the event with a performance. Nina Rollins, a student involved with many student organizations including Team 58, will be one of the speakers. “We just feel like she’s a really powerful speaker and is one student to make students sit back and think,” Buchanan said about Rollins.

Stevon Lester will be another speaker. Lester is a member of SGA, the NAACP, and serves as the president of Collegiate 100.

The Talk will also feature two spoken word presenters, Giovanni Thompson and Kayla Pipkins.

Buchanan said that the two are planning to reach out to Black owned businesses throughout this week to confirm their involvement. They are still deciding whether that will include advertising the businesses or having them physically present.

The Talk will be on Sept. 18 and will begin at 3 p.m. and end at 5 p.m. They also plan to have tables set up where students can register to vote. Per the flyer, social distancing measures will need to be followed, and attendees must be either students or guest speakers.

Buchanan and Castleberry were both pleased with how smoothly the event is coming together. “The fact that it got approved and it’s going so well so fast, I think really proves that CSU wants to make sure they are inclusive for everybody in the school.”

“I just want students to come out and know that this is a peaceful event,” Buchanan said. “This is for everybody, not just for Black students on campus. This is for everybody on campus to come and understand what the Black Lives Matter Movement is about. A lot of people don’t understand it, and think that if you say Black Lives Matter, that means their life doesn’t matter. That’s not what we’re saying in this situation.”

Buchanan continued, “If we’re going to be at a predominantly white school as Black students, we need to feel comfortable at our school and that our school has our back.”

Castleberry affirmed this, saying, “This isn’t just an event for Black people. White people need to attend as well; they need to learn and educate themselves. We are still educating ourselves every day on our own community and where we come from.” She said they would not belittle anyone for not knowing everything, since Buchanan and Castleberry are still learning as well.

Buchanan and Castleberry are both in sororities that are predominantly white, and Castleberry has heard sisters expressing that they wanted to get involved but didn’t know how. “This event is supposed to make them comfortable enough to come out and be a part of the community and engage with Black students,” Castleberry said. “And just say: Black Lives Matter. Yes, we know that all lives matter. We’re not saying nobody matters. But Black lives need a little more uplifting.”

CSU Archives take on a project to preserve this era

The Documenting COVID-19 project was started “Think about the very moment we are in right now: by Professor David Owings, CSU’s archivist, most of us haven't been in quarantine for a long while and his assistant, Jessie Merrell. The archive, now, but we are still living in an America many months upstairs in the library, is an expansive collection away from a COVID-19 vaccine,” expressed Lynch. “How of primary source material that mainly focuses on the easily will these experiences and feelings be forgotten history of Columbus and the Chattahoochee Valley. once a vaccine is developed?” The archive holds items such as Civil War documents, The archive's mission for all times, but especially now, is “to information on companies like RC Cola and Aflac, as well preserve a portion of the past that often ends up forgotten.” as resources on the founding and history of Fort Benning A few weeks ago, Professor Lynch and Professor and Columbus State University. These records serve as Owings did a story with WRBL news about the 1919 a repository for what life has been like for the people of Influenza Pandemic and how many of the same events Columbus for decades. that people are experiencing right now with COVID-19

“It is so important to document and preserve the present have already been experienced in Columbus over a times we are living through,” Professor Owings explained. century ago.

“As I tell my students in my classes, we as a people aren't In the article, the professors explain how history repeats always fully aware that we are living through history itself, and how much we can learn from it.

"As I tell my students in my classes, we as a people aren't always fully aware that we are living through history as it is happening - that the moment we are living in is something that people are going to be interested in and want to know more about 5, 15, or 50 years -- or more! -- from now,"

as it is happening - that the moment we are living in is something that people are going to be interested in and want to know more about 5, 15, or 50 years -- or more! -- from now,” commented Professor Ryan Lynch of the History department, who is also helping with the project.

The lives of CSU students hold examples of these historyin-the-making events, the bombing of the twin towers being one of the most obvious. “But of course, the current pandemic is also something that is going to interest future researchers for a long, long time, and those of us who are historians at CSU are very aware of this,” said Lynch. He further explained that we are living in an impactful moment during not just US History, but world history. As historians and archivists, the people who are working on this project understand the importance of documenting as much and as clearly as possible, to help future historians.

This project will help further generations to learn more about “how we reacted to the need to mask, how parks closed, how we lost our jobs, how we ourselves became sick, how our family members died, [and] how the nation experienced these significant racial tensions in the midst of the pandemic.”

Because they know what it is like to use their archives to try to learn about the last pandemic that swept through Columbus, what they wanted to learn, and what pieces were missing, the archivists can create a comprehensive and complete documentation for the next archives faculty.

“The blog posts we write about the feelings of our declining mental health in isolation, the first photos we take when we arrive to campus for the the first time in five months, a recording of an act of kindness from a nurse at St. Francis - will help future generations tell the stories of COVID-19,” said Lynch. “Those everyday things that we do - even if we don't think of them as ‘writing history’ - are exactly how historians write history.”

“Anyone and everyone in Columbus and at Columbus State can contribute to the project, and we want to make sure that it is brought to the attention of our students, staff, and faculty. Our stories and experiences can become a lasting legacy for all of us, and our students have a very important role to play in that, too. Share your experiences with us; tell your story,” he says with his final thoughts.