The Black Student Union’s Plans for Black History Month at McQuaid
McQuaid alum, Emery Lewis (class of ’06), speaks at a Black Student Union meeting about his experiences as a student at McQuaid, on October 29th, 2020, in McQuaid’s auditorium. Mr. Lewis lead this discussion with students and talked about his experiences as a minority at a predominantly white school.
As January comes to a close, the McQuaid community anticipates the upcoming month of February, as we celebrate Black History Month. McQuaid’s Saint Benedict The Moor’s Black Student Union is excited to share its plans for the upcoming month.
“We intend to just bring everything to a new level. We intend to bring in better movies, more events for the student body to participate in, more resources for the student body to educate themselves with, we are essentially just raising our bar”, said co-founder and leader of the Black Student Union, Kendal Burno, ‘22.
The Black Student Union plans on holding movie viewings during lunch throughout the month, where they will be showing films directed by African-American directors. They plan on showing “Car Wash” and “Night in Atlanta.”
The Black Student Union plans on holding its first annual Maya Angelou poetry competition where they will have the student body recite poems surrounding the topic of African American culture.
The Black Student Union plans on holding a 3-on-3 basketball tournament dedicated to Earl Llyod, who was the first basketball player to break the NBA color barrier.
The Black Student Union plans on having a day where soul food will be catered from The French Quarter, a local African-American owned restaurant, to help expose the McQuaid community to the comfort food of African- Americans.
The Black Student Union plans on holding a fundraising event where they will be selling wristbands, and donating all the proceeds to The Boys and Girls Club of Rochester, as a way of giving back to an organization that does so much for the African American community.
Co-Founder and leader of the Black Student Union, Kendal Burno, speaks on the importance of McQuaid Jesuit community to fully celebrate Black History Month.
“It’s important to celebrate black history because at the end of the day Black history is American history. You can’t tell the American story without telling the Afro-American story because by attempting to do so you’re only telling a fraction of what America is”, says Burno.
The Black Student Union plans to continue educating McQuaid Jesuit students and faculty on issues that African Americans are facing, but they also plan on creating a better sense of community between the black student union and McQuaid Jesuit itself.
Follow the Saint Benedict The Moor’s Black Student Union’s Instagram page (@st.benedict.bsu) for more information and updates on the upcoming events during Black History Month.
