The Black Student Alliance invited University of Pennsylvania Political Science Prof. Adolph Reed to speak Thursday as part of Black Culture Week. About 50 attendees listened to the talk entitled “Race, Class and Politics in Obama’s America.”
Reed illustrated how the class systems within the black community have changed throughout history, and how Obama’s election and presidency have reflected what it means to be black in the United States.
“For some, Obama's election represented the fulfillment of ideals of the civil rights movement,” Reed said. “Obama’s election became a public narrative and inspirational story.”
Reed also highlighted the differences in ideas on how to progress society and reach equality, BSA President Aryn Frazier said.
“Too often we look at the past with this revisionist history where everyone got along and everything was perfect,” the third-year College student said. “Only in the last 20 years did we start to question which way to go or how to move forward best.”
The BSA decided to bring Reed to speak on Grounds in order to stimulate academic thought on black culture. The integration of the keynote speech into Black Culture Week is necessary to show black culture is more than the arts, Kwakye said.
“It [would] be lacking and insufficient to have a black culture [week] that centers on music, dance, poetry, literature and all the arts and not incorporate academics,” Kwakwe said.
Hosting a keynote speech focused on race and class was especially relevant to this year’s Black Culture Week to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Frazier said, given the devastating effects of the hurricane highlighted how race and class affect one another.
“The idea to have someone who can talk about class started actually in reference to this being the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and thinking about the major highlighting of class disparity between races but also within races as well,” Frazier said.
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