By CASSIE SLANA
Senior Writer

(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) — A student-led panel discussion evolved into more of a town hall meeting, as some 80 people attended the second event in a weeklong series centered around the Black Lives Matter movement.

Briana Blocker, senior digital media production major, said she created the All Lives Matter? program as a way to open a dialogue and freely discuss racial issues on campus.

As part of the All Lives Matter? program, Blocker hosted a panel on race relations moderated by UCM President Chuck Ambrose Tuesday, Aug. 30. Panelists included students Lynn Columbus, Jay Todd, Tagan Trahoon and Mathew Martinez. Warrensburg Police Chief Rich Lockhart and UCM Director of Public Safety Scott Rhoad joined the students on the panel.

Arissa Calvert, senior health studies major with minors in Africana studies and sociology, opened the discussion. Calvert said a goal of the panel was to give people an environment to discuss taboo subject matters in a comfortable way.

“This semester, we’re looking for being able to have a place where we can all talk about race issues and social justice issues,” Calvert said to people who turned up at Twomey Auditorium for the discussion. “In order for us to move on as a society and to really ‘make America great again,’ we have to talk about these touchy subjects in a way that anyone can really express their feelings and opinions.”

Ambrose began the discussion by asking the panelists what they hoped to get out of the evening’s discussion.

Columbus, a junior sports management major, said she wants people to feel more comfortable discussing racial issues.

“I would like people to finally feel like they can talk about race and certain topics that have weighed heavy on their heart without feeling like they’re offending somebody or like they can’t talk about it because they are or aren’t black,” Columbus said.

Todd, a junior psychology major, said young black men and students like him are sometimes perceived incorrectly, and he would like people to stop putting stereotypes and bias on young black mean based on outside appearance.

“I’m here for those who don’t have a voice,” Todd said. “I’m up here for those that are trying to get their voices heard.”

Lockhart said it is critical for the police and community to form relationships in order to prevent distrust.

“Those of you that know me know who I am,” Lockhart said. “The rest of you, all you see is a white man in a uniform, and for some of you that’s a pretty negative connotation. If you look at the places with a lot of rioting and disorder, it’s because they don’t trust one another, and there have been years and years of quarreling between the police and the community.”

UCM student Mark Bryant later stood up from his seat in the audience to describe the historical significance of police departments in relation to racial tensions.

“When we’re thinking about the police department as an institution, historically speaking, the police were not out for the protection of people, the police department was out as slave catchers and overseers,” Bryant said. “They were meant to protect property. Even when we’re talking about all lives matter, those are all counterproductive to the real movement which is that black lives matter.”

Trahoon, a senior digital media production major, said people have to exemplify diversity every day if they actually want it.

“Diversity has to start with the individual,” Trahoon said. “Diversity starts with just being you and spreading your beliefs.

“I have a pastor who has been my mentor for years, and he wears a traditional African garb which he got from other pastors and priests in Africa. He doesn’t wear it as a mockery. He wears it to remember the memories he had.”

Columbus said she was concerned with where the line is drawn for cultural appropriation.

“It seems like the same white women that wear dreads or cornrows or dashikis, are the same women who when something bad happens, I don’t see them talking about it or trying to embrace black people, just the stuff that we do and have,” Columbus said. “I feel like they’re taking something we have and trying to make something new when black women have been wearing it for hundreds of years.”

Columbus said when she hears people saying all lives matter, she feels like it is just to dismiss the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I feel like that came out of anger and kind of a dark place from white people wanting to keep the power and keep black people down,” Columbus said. “We’re not saying that other lives don’t matter, we’re just saying ours do too.”

UCM junior Gari Miller said that even in history books, slavery is made to seem like it happened a long time ago and wasn’t as harsh as it actually was.

“I have seen videos of actual Klan members that say that they feel black people need white people to survive in this world because they don’t feel like we can make it on our own,” Miller said. “But, what were we doing before we were snatched from Africa? Living on our own, doing things on our own.”

Ambrose said the university’s hope and aspiration is for student leadership and multicultural organizations to bring their perspectives to the table and build a stronger sense of community at UCM.

“I’m an idealist. I see you as students interacting with each other in ways that I’m very proud of,” Ambrose said. “We have grown 25 percent as an institution in the last five years, and our African-American student population has grown 55 percent. So, there’s something about this place that is drawing a very diverse, multicultural (population). Much more than most campuses in Missouri.”

To close the discussion, Calvert made a call for change. She said change starts with each person, and that you cannot force anyone else to make a change.

“When are you all going to stand up and actually say, ‘I want to be that change that I want to see in the world?’” Calvert said. “I can’t tell him to make a change and wait on him to do it, I’m going to have to do it myself. Maybe I can be that leader. Maybe I can be the change and the people will follow.”