WEDNESDAY | 4.1.2015 | MACEANDCROWN.COM | Vol. 57, Issue 20
Freeman’s game winner. C1 ODU NAACP Hosts Third Annual Image Awards David Thornton News Editor
Amira Taylor won the Senior Award at NAACP’s Image Awards on March 26, 2015. Zack Chavis | M&C
The mellow tones of jazz filled the North Café as individuals and organizations being honored for their achievements in community outreach on campus were honored at the Third Annual ODU NAACP Image Awards. “The main aspect I love is that they motivate others to achieve,” Jared Mays, a graduate and admissions counselor who was on hand to present an award, said. This is the third year that the ODU NAACP has hosted the Image Awards. “The Image Awards are celebrating minority achievement on campus,” Kukua Osei-Gyamfi, president of the ODU NAACP chapter, said. Awards are given based on work that advances the goals of the NAACP, including community outreach and lifetime achievement awards. Individuals and organizations associated with ODU that positively affect inter-cultural relations are
eligible for the honor. A committee of individuals, including the president and committee chair, choose the recipients of the Image Awards, along with help from a random poll of students on campus. “I feel like it helps bring our organizations together,” Natasha Cook, the community service chair of Success Without Limitations, an organization nominated for best programming, said. “We’re here to support the event and whatever our students do on campus to make ODU better,” Christopher Ndiritu, president of the ODU Student Government Association, said. “ODU NAACP has been around for a couple of decades,” OseiGyamfi said. “The first charter I have is from 1995.” The group’s goal is to abolish discrimination based upon race. They meet every Tuesday evening at 7pm in the common room of Village Building Three to discuss topics that the national organization advocates, and how they can be applied to campus.
Allyship ODU: Religion, What is Religion? T. Kieu Luu Contributing Writer I was raised as a Buddhist growing up in Viet Nam. I followed it as a cultural and societal practice. I understood the faith by stories and legends that we were told. I was brought up to understand morals and to do no harm to any living creature no matter how small or how large. Reincarnation, spirits, or a higher being – all of those beliefs went above my head. Aren’t those just stories told from mouth to mouth? Do people really believe in these things? I always had doubts
that I could not express. My family migrated to America when I was nine years old. When I was introduced into the American school system, Christianity became more prevalent in my life. When I was in seventh grade, an event left me speechless. I was in Band at the time, I can’t clearly remember exactly happened but we were talking about practicing our instrument, the proper way to do it. One of the girl who was getting upset by our conversation, she turned and asked me, “Is that what your Buddha told you to do or whatever his name is?” I was dumb-
founded by this question. What did Buddha have to do with practice? Why did she speak of him in such a disrespectful manner? I have never in my life disrespected any other religion. I could not comprehend what was said to me. I was quiet for the rest of my time in Band. It was another day with a familiar face at the nails salon. I was at the register waiting for a customer to make her payment. She was pulling out her wallet when she pointed at our Buddha statue and said, “Why do people worship him? He’s not even real.” I was baffled. I wanted to ask her, “Well do you know if Jesus
was real or just a story told by old men in a dress?” Of course I didn’t say anything. Once again I was left speechless. My doubts on religion grew as I went through high school. I began my own research on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. The deeper I went into my research, the less I was able to comprehend where faith should be. Religion was still a story told by old men in dresses. Something to give people hope. Something for people to find in common with each other. Something to celebrate. Something to share.
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To me, religion still is nothing more than a cultural and societal practice. Is there a higher power? I can’t say, I have never encountered a being known as God or a Spirit in my lifetime. I still appreciate the teachings of Buddhism. Just like a good story, the theme, the motifs, and the message of the story stays with you long after it is over. It was hard to express my stand on religion, so I still attend the local’s Temple for holidays or whenever they need help. I joined Diversity Institute for Cohort fall of 2014. That was the first time Continued on D1