Sonoma State celebrates Black History Month

Commemoration and celebration are prevalent themes for this year’s Black History Month, and students are excited to celebrate black joy and posi tivity on campus.

Black History Month began on Wed. Feb. 1 and will continue to be cel ebrated until Wed., March 1. Black History Month commemorates and cel ebrates African Americans and their achievements throughout U.S. history.

Sonoma State University kicked off Black History Month last week with events on and off campus. A fundraising event was held at Chipotle in Down town Rohnert Park on Wed. Feb. 8. The event lasted from 5-9 p.m., with a percentage of proceeds going to the Black Student Union at SSU. Students also got the chance to celebrate with live music and food at the Black Student Union and Vibes block party on Fri. Feb. 10, which took place at the Sauvi gnon Village quad. The BSU also hosted a Super Bowl watch party on Sun. Feb. 12 at the HUB Cultural Center.

One of the events hosted by the HUB Cultural Center took place last week on Tues. Feb. 7, at the SSU Lakes, where students and faculty honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The event lasted from noon until 1 p.m.

This is the first year that the event has been held.

Guest speakers included Dr. Mike Ezra, professor and department chair for American Multicultural Studies, Black Student Union Co-President Amanda Luckett, and Tramaine Austin-Dillon, interim director of Sonoma State’s mul ticultural center and manager in the office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Austin-Dillon said, “As Interim Director of the HUB Cultural Center, we make sure to start with the students and our Center values. With this particular event we connected with the Black Student Union and asked them how they wanted to kick off Black History Month.” see BLACK HISTORY MONTH on pg. 4