Black History Month is a time for celebrating Black community and culture and looking at the injustices that have been done to this community for centuries. With diversity equity and inclusion initiatives being threatened and dismantled on a federal and state level, it can be hard to find positivity. Chronicle Reporter Ali Brenneman and Photojournalist Charles Rahn asked Columbia students about the influential Black figures this Black History Month.  

TRANSCRIPT

0:06: Recently a wave of executive orders and policies have been going on both the federal and state level, rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

 0:14: This can impact both workplaces and educational fields, and this can make it hard to stay positive.

 0:19: So we asked students at Columbia College Chicago what they appreciate about Black culture and community this Black History Month.

 0:26: I’ll say like a lot of my childhood was Black folks. Like especially jazz,

 0:32: my parents were into a lot of

 0:37: you know, like Stro Elliott, stuff like that.

 0:42: I can’t name off the top of my head.

 0:45: Earth, Wind and Fire, that’s another one.

 0:48: One of my favorite artists is Bisa Butler.

 0:52: And she’s an artist that makes embroidery art pieces that I really think is cool, and she uses many varieties of fabrics and colors in her artwork, and it’s really impressive because it kind of looks like paintings.

 1:07: One of my known favorites is… his name is Yasuke, and he is the first ever black samurai.

 1:15: The reason why I find him very inspirational

 1:18: is because it goes to show how diverse Black people can venture out into more instead of being the standard like one addition they could branch out to others.

 1:29: For Black artists, I would say one of my favorites obviously from the hat you can tell is Travis Scott.

 1:34: He inspired me to start to make my own music mainly because of…

 1:40: It’s kind of hard to explain for me personally, but

 1:43: once I listened to his music, I realized these kind of soundscapes that you could make and also the kind of feelings that you could portray through music.

 1:54: I really want to talk about like the Grammys, like a lot of Black artists like won in the Grammys this year and I was so happy and so proud of how Black people in the music industry has really became so popular and remarkable this coming time.

 2:14: One of the artists from the Grammys that I really,, was really inspired by was actually Doechii like I’ve been listening to Doechii for years and I’ve literally seen her grown as an artist and to like see a dark skinned woman in the Grammys like that was just so inspirational to see, and I was just mind blown by seeing that.

 2:38: And I.. it gives me hope that I can one day become big myself and that I shouldn’t let what society thinks of Black women and dark skinned women to think that they can’t do things but they can.

 2:55: Been to the BSU which happens every Wednesday. Seeing.. Went to one of the open mics and just seeing.

 3:03: A group of Black people just come together and just having a good time always sparks like the general fire inside me keep inspiring, keep, keep me going and all.

 3:13: These students and many others will continue to support the Black community in any way they can in Black History Month and beyond.

 3:19: This is Ali Brenneman for Chronicle TV.

Copy edited by Manuel Nocera