Nubian Message, Feb. 28, 2019 — Elevating Black Artists

NUBIANMESSAGE NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY | RALEIGH, NC | THENUBIANMESSAGE.COM | THURSDAY, february 28, 2019

elevating

b l ac k artists

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Letter from the editor Hey y’all!

Last weekend Nubian Message was awarded 2018 Best of Show Newspaper by the NC College Media Association! A few of our writers even took home individual awards for their news and opinion articles. I’m really proud of this team and I’m looking forward to finishing the year strong!

This Black History Month has been…a lot. Green Book won the Oscar for best picture; many black actors and singers won Oscars and Grammys this year; 21 Savage was detained by ICE; Wake County ended it’s formal partnership with ICE; Steve Harvey said the best way to help poor people was to not be one; R. Kelly was final arrested; R. Kelly was bailed out.

THISISSUE 3

BLACKS IN WAX LIVE MUSEUM

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AFROFUNK

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THE BEAUTY IN THE STRUGGLE

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THE ILLUSION OF BEAUTY

Shedding light on lesser known figures.

Black culture celebrated during black history month The Resilience of Black Americans in the Journey to Success Panel discusses the effects of media on self-image

cover photo BY Marissa McHugh/Nubian Message Artwork by junior Robyn Bess is displayed at the Culture in Motion pop-up exhibit at Talley Student Union.

By no means is this an exhaustive list of current events.

This doesn’t include fraudulent local elections and US intervention with the internal affairs of a sovereign nation.

This month, I was reminded of the many fronts on which black people must fight. I was reminded that none of us are free until all of us are free. I was also reminded that we’re running a marathon, not a sprint.

The Sentinel of the African-American Community at N.C. State Since 1992.

So as Black History Month comes to a close, I want to leave you with this from John Miller IV, program director of the African American Cultural Center: “Protect your magic.”

314 Witherspoon Student Center, NCSU Campus Box 7318, Raleigh, NC 27695 office 919-515-1468 advertising 919-515-2411 online thenubianmessage.com

I am because we are, Keilah

Keilah Davis

Editor-in-Chief

nubian-editor@ncsu.edu Kennysha Woods

Managing editor

nubian-managingeditor@ncsu.edu Elikem Dodor Ugonna Ezuma-Igwe Layout designers

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Only with the permission of our elders do we proudly produce each edition of Nubian Message: Dr. Yosef ben-Yochannan, Dr. John Henrik Clark, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, The Black Panther Party, Mumia A. Jamal, Geronimo Pratt, Tony Williamson, Dr. Lawrence Clark, Dr. Augustus McIver Witherspoon, Dr. Wandra P. Hill, Mr. Kyran Anderson, Dr. Lathan Turner, Dr. M. Iyailu Moses, Dokta Toni Thorpe and all those who accompany us as we are still on the journey to true consciousness.

news

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Blacks in Wax Live Museum Brings Black History to Life

Jordan Sharber/Nubian Message TOP: Marlon Kinnard, a second-year accounting major, plays Edward Alexander Bouchet. “It is good to help educate people and those who find black history interesting. I just want to make their experience better”, Edward said. Below: Kyra Cater, a fourth-year student studying business administration with a concentration in entrepreneurship, plays Whoopi Goldberg. She

chose to participate in this event through a partnership between her sorority and the National Pan-Hellenic Council and the African American Cultural Center.

Amber Doyle Correspondent

On Feb. 23, the African American Cultural Center hosted its 12th annual Blacks in Wax Live Museum in Witherspoon Student Center. NC State students and volunteers portrayed African Americans of their choosing and gave a short summary about the figures.

Imani Starling-Brown, a fourth-year studying fashion and textile management, was a tour guide.

“Overall, everyone agreed that the Blacks in Wax Live Museum made a powerful impression and provided new information in a creative way,” Starling-Brown said.

Visitors were guided on hour-long tours through the museum that covered all three floors.

Kerria Weaver, a second-year studying English, attended the Blacks in Wax Live Museum for the first time and learned a lot about

the historical figures that were represented.

“This event made people aware of less notable figures in black history because instead of showing popular figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks, they showed the importance of less known people in history,” Weaver said. “One thing I found surprising about this event was the amount of wax figures that were hard to identify.”

The event included five rooms throughout Witherspoon, each with its own theme. One room featured entertainers like Chaka Khan and Whoopi Goldberg, while other rooms featured Michelle Obama, Edward Alexander Bouchet and Toni Morrison.

“One thing I learned from a wax figure who portrayed Toni Morrison is that Morrison was the first African American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature,” Weaver said.

One student portrayed Augustus M. Witherspoon, the person Witherspoon Student

Center is named after. Witherspoon was the first African-American professor at NC State and the second African American to receive a Ph.D. from NC State.

On the third floor, another student portrayed Emmett Till and a reflection room honored people who’ve lost their lives due to racism or fighting for social justice, including Emmett Till, Sandra Bland and Trayvon Martin.

“This event is significant because it provides attendees a stimulating experience through Black History during Black History Month,” Starling-Brown said. “It allows NC State and the surrounding community to interact with history rather than just reading about it.

Additionally, the museum includes a variety of Black icons who play an essential role in our history but are not well known to most people.”

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features

AfroFunk Showcases Black Artists

Marissa McHugh/Nubian Message

left: Artist Je’wel Lucas stands by a piece that she painting representing black culture at the Culture In Motion exhibit at Talley Student Union on Wednesday, Feb. 13. Je’wel’s artwork was inspired by ideas about black beauty, empowerment, and knowledge. right: Marlon Kinnard studies an art piece created by Je’wel Lucas at the Culture In Motion exhibit. Marlon is a sophomore studying accounting.

On Wednesday, Feb.13, students gathered on the third floor of Talley Student Union to partake in a pop-up museum entitled AfroFunk: Culture in Motion. The event, organized by the Multicultural Student Affairs, featured art, music and food.

Many of the artists present at the event were students who aimed to create positive portrayals of black culture through various mediums.

Robyn Bess, a third-year studying communication with a concentration in media, decided to use photography as her medium.

Bess showcased a photo series in which she recreated cast members and scenes from the 90’s television show Living Single.

For Bess, the characters in the show were inspiring depictions of black women whose legacies lived well beyond the show’s ending in 1998.

“I think it was really before it’s time,” Bess said. “Because now that I sit back and look at it, they talked about depression, they talked about going to see a therapist, STDs

Yesenia Jones Staff Writer

and the stock market. It’s educational but it’s also feel good.”

Her goal when creating the series was to utilize the legacies of Living Single’s characters to show that black women have consistently shaped culture, whether they are given credit or not.

“I wanted to show how dope we are...but also showcase my photowork,” Bess said.

The student photographer is the owner of Robyn Bess Photography. She stated that being able to showcase her work in Talley Student Union was a boost of confidence as she continues to grow as a photographer.

Bess wasn’t alone in showcasing her talents at the pop-up museum. Caylen Bost, also known as CayTheArtist on social media, is a fourth-year studying biological sciences with a concentration in human biology. Bost created her own portals of the black culture using painting as her medium.

“All of my art is kind of based around depicting black beauty,” Bost said. “And basically the evolution of the black being. So I always like to use a lot of color and depth with my pieces.”

At the pop-up museum, Bost displayed works of art that ranged from bright abstract paintings to concept pieces that displayed deeper meanings. She stated that one of her goals when creating paintings is to display the beauty that comes after times of struggle such as segregation or being subjected to oppression.

The student artist expressed her pride in being able to depict black culture in a space like Talley Student Union.

“I always hope that we can depict more black culture, more black art in spaces like Talley where we can share it with the general body of the school,” Bost said. “I think that we don’t normally get a chance to display our culture, especially art forms. And that really means a lot for Black History Month.”

Many students who participated in sharing their art at the pop-up museum shared this sentiment.

“I think the open space allows our voices to be heard all throughout the whole building,” said Maayan Eaves, a second-year studying communication.

Eaves’ voice was heard at the event as she

sang an ode to black women and performed an original poem, “Letter from a Black Girl.”

“I wrote [Letter from a Black Girl] for a Black History Month showcase at my high school,” Eaves said, “and I haven’t performed it since. When I found out about AfroFunk, I was like I want to perform this here. So it’s time to take it out dust it off and perform it again.”

Eaves stated that she believes it is important to have displays of black culture all around campus and not just in the African American Cultural Center. Bost had some ideas for how black culture can continue to be celebrated all over campus after Black History Month.

“We can do like an artist spotlight once a month,” Bost said, “just to raise awareness around artists on campus. Because it’s kind of hard to get an avenue to present your work all the time.”

The artists, singers and musicians who presented their work on Feb. 13 seemed to have felt uplifted and confident in their displays as the event came to a close.

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Marissa Mchough/Nubian Message Left: Maayan Eaves delivers a powerful poem fighting the sterotypes about African American girls at the AfroFunk Culture in Motion event in Talley Student Union. Maayan is a sopho-

more double majoring in Communication Media and Arts Studies with a concentration in Theatre. She recited the same poem three years prior to reciting it at the exhibit on Feb. 13 while she was in high school. Middle: Artwork by senior Caylem Bost is displayed at the Culture In Motion exhibit at Talley Student Union on Wednesday, Feb. 13. The exhibit showcased African American’s artwork through a variety of mediums. Right: Artist Caylem Bost, a fourth year studying human biology, speaks about her artwork to the visitors of the Culture In Motion exhibit at Talley Student Union on Wednesday, Feb. 13. Her art is inspired by black beauty and color.

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features

film screening, discussion centers self-image and illusions in media

kennysha woods/Nubian Message

Panelists at the screening of “The Illusionists” discussed the documentary, which centered on the influences that media has on body image and self worth around the world. The screening took place on Feb. 27 in Talley Student Union and was sponsored by the Women’s Center, the Counseling Center and Student Health Services.

Kennysha Woods In observance of National Eating Managing Editor

Disorders Awareness Week, the Women’s Center, Student Health Services and Counseling Center hosted a screening and discussion of “The Illusionists” (dir. Elena Rossini, 2015), a documentary that examines the relationship between the media, capitalism, beauty and self-image from a global perspective. The event took place on Feb. 27 in Talley Student Union.

Ashley Pinet, co-chair of the Eating Disorder Treatment Team at Student Health Services, began the screening with a preface about eating disorders. “[Eating disorders] do not discriminate and affect individuals of all shapes, sizes, colors and socioeconomic backgrounds.”

Pinet continued: “About 25 percent of college students engage in some form of disordered eating and many more suffer from a decreased sense of self-worth related to negative body image.”

“The Illusionists” exposes how many industries instill poor self-image and self-hatred in people and exploit their insecurities to sell products. These industries include

those like skin whitening products, weight loss products and cosmetic surgeries, which all promote the Western idea of beauty as the standard.

Jean Kilbourne, a writer and activist with prominent work about the portrayal of women in advertising, is featured in the film.

“It often seems to me,” Kilborne says, “that a person who feels happy and secure isn’t going to be a very good consumer, because that person isn’t going to be looking for products to sure up the self-image or to feel better about oneself.”

The film shows how this is a problem that extends beyond US borders. Interviews from activists, psychiatrists, artists, researchers and other professionals examine Western influences on beauty in their own countries, like Japan and Lebanon.

They also show that this problem of media-induced insecurity is becoming increasingly problematic for men and children, with more and more advertisements and other media forms targeting definitions of masculinity and presenting children in overtly sexual contexts.

The panel discussion that followed talked

about issues raised in the film, as well as topics relating to body positivity, activism, nonbinary identities and mental health.

Those on the panel included Wynter Adams, a third-year studying fisheries, wildlife and conservation; Harper Bell, a third-year studying social work; Cherrelle Davis, a clinical director at Veritas Collaborative in Durham, NC; Kat Kirby, the moderator and a fourth-year studying interdisciplinary studies; and Emily Law, a PhD candidate and instructor in the Wilson College of Textiles.

“Coming from the fashion perspective,” Law said, “in the fashion ads and things you see, there’s the illusion of the perfect body that people try to attain, and that’s something so prevalent in our media. In reality, even the people we idolize don’t think they have a perfect body.”

The panelists also pointed out gaps in the film. Adams and Davis commented on the exclusion of groups like elderly people and the LGBTQ+ community.

“The film is very binary,” Davis said. “It’s a film about women and men but there are a lot of people in between and nonbinary.

They didn’t do a good job of talking about

their bodies.”

Davis added: “I also think it really highlighted the thin ideal, but we live in a culture and society right now where it’s a thin waist, big boobs and a big butt. I think there was a missed opportunity in talking about that type of body.”

The panelists suggested ways to navigate and survive in a society that capitalizes on one’s poor self-image.

“My biggest thing, and what I preach to my friends,” Law said, “is to stop consuming the image that makes you feel bad about yourself… Don’t consume the perfect body, the perfect face and the perfect skin. Don’t idolize it. For your own health, try to consume more real things, real people—people finding values in themselves besides beauty.”

Bell said it’s also important to share resources with others and to normalize the acknowledgement of nonphysical qualities in yourself and others.

“It sounds a little silly,” Bell said, “but it’s ingrained. ‘Do I know how to give and receive compliments that aren’t based on physicality and fitting into a mold?’”

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Black Americans Still Have a Dream The idea of the American Dream has been a long-touted hallmark of living in the United States. It is the idea of starting from nothing and ascending to an idyllic middle-class to upper-class lifestyle Kevin Moye by working hard and Staff Writer being motivated.

Black Americans, and black millennials, in particular, continue to buy into this optimistic mindset. A Pew Research poll discovered that black Americans believed in the pursuit of the American Dream the most with 62% of respondents saying their families were on the way to achieving it. The sad reality of the situation is that for most black Americans, this Dream still seems to be just that: a dream.

Black Americans must continually struggle with policies from decades ago that left older generations with less wealth than most other Americans. For most black Americans, we come from families that are only one or two generations removed from

legalized segregation—many are still alive who lived under that system.

Opportunities to climb the economic ladder during this time were stripped away in the form of redlining, legal job discrimination and the absence of GI benefits to black veterans. While we are now 55 years removed from the cessation of segregation, little to no meaningful policies have been implemented to reverse the wealth gap caused by it.

Education has been lauded as a means of economic liberation, but the barrier to entry is still significantly higher for black Americans than the rest of our cohorts. Because of the aforementioned financial struggles within the black community, families are often unable to come up with the ever-increasing tuition rates college charge.

A report by the Young Invincibles found that black millennials need to be about two educational levels higher than white millennials just to have the same job prospects as them.

As a result of this, black millennials are having to borrow their way into higher education by taking out student loans. A study conducted by Harvard’s Institute of Politics found that 81% of black Americans with

bachelor’s degrees will have loan debt upon graduation. They’re taking out more loans, and these loans are more expensive—black college graduates on average take out about $7,400 more in loans to cover their expenses than their white counterparts.

The loans taken out for school only help to fuel the already disparate racial wealth gap in our country. Millennials as a whole take around 21 years to fully pay off their student loans, with most being done with payments in their 40s. Add to this the fact that black families are often forced to take predatory, private loans with higher interests and the picture becomes quite clear why student loans continue to perpetuate the racial wealth gap.

But at least the education finally brings us to an equal playing field in the job market, right? Sadly, this too is another false hope.

Black Americans still face massive amounts of discrimination in the workforce. Just getting into the workforce can be a challenge with applicants needing to “whiten” their resumes to have a fair shot. A researcher at Harvard Business School found that just having an ethnic sounding name on a resume can greatly handicap an applicant’s chances of landing a job regardless of their

qualifications.

Once black Americans finally obtain the job they have coveted they still face enormous hurdles in closing the wealth gap. A Demos study found that the median white family with an education level below high school had a net worth of $51,300 while the median black family with a college education has a net worth of just half that at about $25, 900.

J. Cole famously said in his song “Love Yourz” that “it’s beauty in the struggle.”

These words feel like they can be perfectly ascribed to our struggle in finding the American Dream. While it is deeply disturbing to be made aware of the abundance of adversities we as black Americans still face, there is a kind of inexplicable beauty in discovering how determined we are to still live out the fabled American Dream. It shows a resilience in us that stretches back generations throughout the African Diaspora.

For black millennials, this resilience will be needed to continue rising up in the face of such intense adversity and live out the black American Dream. But most importantly, this resilience is needed to fight and end this system of racial oppression that has squeezed black Americans for far too long.

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