Over the weekend of Feb. 7, the IWU Black Student Union celebrated Black History Month with their Black Out Weekend.
The weekend was filled with exciting events designed to celebrate black culture and the impact it has made on the world.
Every year during Black History Month, the IWU BSU connects with another local university’s BSU. This year, the IWU BSU connected with Taylor University.
“One of the things we like to do with the Black Out Weekend is collaborate with Taylor or with Anderson University or any other Christian university and celebrate Black History Month together,” said CJ Kelley, the BSU Chaplin.
On Friday, the IWU BSU went to Taylor University to connect with the BSU there and watch “42,” a film highlighting the life and success of legendary baseball player, Jackie Robinson.
“It was really fun to hang out with the Taylor people and get to know their BSU,” Kelley said, “It was really good to see how much of a turnout they had from not only students of color but also just other students that wanted to come and support and learn more about Black History.”
The IWU BSU also hosted a paint and sip brunch on Saturday in the Lodges. At the event, attendees ate chicken and waffles, drank orange juice, participated in an instructional painting session from one of IWU’s art majors and listened to live jazz.
“It was a nice way to calm down from the weekend,” said MJ Brown, BSU’s current president.
The IWU BSU offers events and opportunities for all people to come and learn about black culture. The Union is not exclusive to only black students but is open to all people desiring to learn more about black culture and its impact.
“In article two of our Constitution, it states what our four pillars of purpose are,” Kelley said. “(They are) to serve, empower, unite, and inspire. Part of what we want to do in BSU is empower our students to share their culture and then inspire others and unite them together by sharing (about their own culture). BSU is not just this thing for students of color on campus.”
The IWU BSU looks to the past to celebrate progress and witness the fruit that our world has produced thanks to black culture.
“I’m big on looking back at where we came from,” Brown said. “For me, (this is) a time of like, hey, this is what happened, and we’re acknowledging that this happened, but look at the growth where we at now…It’s cool to celebrate it with other black students.”
