To celebrate the beginning of Black History Month on campus, members of the Black Student Union (BSU) gathered at University Boulevard to wrap the palm trees in colors important to those of African heritage.
The colors on the trees – red, black and green – are that of the Pan-African flag. Each color on the flag, which was adopted in 1920, holds significant meaning for the black community.
“Red stood for blood — both the blood shed by Africans who died in their fight for liberation, and the shared blood of the African people. Black represented, well, black people. And green was a symbol of growth and the natural fertility of Africa,” Leah Donella said on NPR podcast Code Switch.
Christen Williams, treasurer of BSU, believes having the colors of the flag displayed on campus helps those of African heritage connect with their roots.
“I thought it was important because we identify as African-American. That’s what genetically is said about us…but how many of us know our African culture? I know I don’t…We’re not [in] the African culture. We’re African-American so we do American things…so I think it’s important to embrace the [African] side of you. You can’t just forget that side of you,” Williams said.
The BSU also believe it’s important to display these colors to start conversations about the history of black people in South Texas and the TAMUK campus. From being one of the first universities to integrate sports or the connection of the underground railroad to South Texas, the BSU hopes that celebrating Black History Month will show the TAMUK community how black people have impacted the community.
Wrapping the trees also gave students the opportunity to unite while representing their culture.
“This really means a lot to us that we’re all coming together and coming out here and doing this, so we’re represented as well on campus. And evennot just for the black African-American people. There’s a lot of African students here as well,” Aliyah Smith, president of the BSU, said.
Another goal of BSU is to unite the black community on campus with the other cultures represented at TAMUK. Joshua Villarreal is a Latino member of the organization who feels it’s important for people of all backgrounds to support the black community.
“It’s a very small black community here on campus. However, this is a historically Hispanic university and one of the biggest misconceptions about BSU is that it’s only a black student organization which is so far from the truth.
“I think that an uncomfortable truth in the Latino community is that sometimes there is a good amount of anti-blackness, so by being such a large part of the community here at TAMUK, it’s important that we make an effort to include the black members of our community here on campus,” Villarreal said.
The wrapping of the palm trees was only the first event being held by the university to celebrate Black History Month.
To see the various event being hosted, check out page 3 of this week’s issue of The South Texan for a calendar and follow @TAMUK_BSU to see how to get involved and show your support for the black community on campus.