An esteemed panel of accomplished African-American men spoke Thursday night at the Student Center as part of “Men in Black: Dimensions of a Black Man.”
According to Reggie Barnes, director of diversity and community involvement, the event was co-sponsored by the Black Student Union, Student Government, the Black and Latino Male Initiative and Black Leaders Aspiring for Critical Knowledge.
The panelists included Arthur Cartwright, actor best known for his role in “Gran Torino”; Anton Chastang, president of 100 Black Men of Greater Detroit; Charles Pugh, president of Detroit City Council; David Rutledge, Michigan representative for Washtenaw County; and EMU Alum Terrell Johnson, admission coordinator for Bowling Green State University.
Each panelist gave his perspective of adversity, framed specifically in the African-American pursuit of success, and demanded proactive thinking and tenacious self-determination.
Roughly epitomizing the event’s message, Rutledge attributed success to “never ever taking a back seat, never ever feeling inferior.”
Pugh, who attended the event despite the recent death of his brother, heavily stressed that African-American students must not take higher education for granted.
“I think that as young people in 2012, you take your freedom for granted,” Pugh said. “Freedom was not free. You walk around this campus, and maybe it’s good that you take for granted that you can be here. But there was a time not so long ago where you may have been spit on for just being on this campus or punched or kicked in the stomach or hit in the face with a chair or told that you couldn’t go here because you’re black. That is part of our history.
“We should value every word and every book we can get our hands on. We should value every lesson in every class that we go to. Because there are people that look just like you who dreamed about this opportunity and never got it; who tried, who were very qualified, who were really smart and very deserving, but just didn’t get it. So don’t squander this opportunity that you have because you don’t fully appreciate what it is that you have within your grasp, which is what you put your mind to.”
Rutledge echoed Pugh’s message.
“If you walk into class unprepared, you’re stepping on people who gave tons, including their lives, for you to do what you do right now and take it for granted,” Rutledge said.
After informing his predominately African-American audience that he is an openly gay man, Pugh urged them to value diversity of all kinds.
“We are the last people that need to be discriminating against anybody,” he said. “We need to treat people who are different than us with the respect and dignity they deserve; and also to realize that people who are different than you can teach you things that you never would have learned any other way.
“So here at this university, you need friends who are not like you, who are not black, or who are not a woman, or who are not straight, or who are not Christian, or who don’t speak English as a first language, or people who are not from the United States. You need to expand yourself, stretch your possibilities by knowing people who are different and getting to know folks who are different.”
Relating to this and urging intolerance for violence, Rutledge stressed the interwoven fate of all people.
“There’s no room for hate anymore. We’re all in this together,” Rutledge said. “We’re all on the same side, or else we won’t survive.”
