CCAD students make their mark for social justice

It’s there, in stark black and white: A mural on CCAD’s Administration Building reading “Black Lives Matter,” created by members of the college’s Black Student Leadership Association, with the assistance of students from the Queer Alliance and Empowering Females on Campus.

BSLA president Jamilla Kato, a senior Photography major, said the association was particularly motivated to create the mural following the mid-September death of 13-year-old Tyre King, who Columbus police shot and killed after he allegedly pulled out a BB gun that resembled a firearm.

“I fell into a deep depression — simply because it happens so frequently, to the point that I can't keep up with it anymore and especially since it happened literally three blocks from the school,” said Kato.

“Black lives are consistently taken away every single day. And you wake up almost every day to find out that somebody else has been murdered. … We wanted (the mural) on campus so the school knows just how important their students are, especially their minority students, and how important we need to feel, especially walking through this campus,” she said.

Freshman Elum Johnson IV, an Animation major and member of BSLA, said the mural is also intended to remind the campus community of the association’s presence.

“BSLA was intended to bring diversity … and to share our culture and answer any questions (people) might have,” Johnson said. “Because if you’re uncomfortable, you don’t have to be. We’re all going to be here together for four years, most of us, so have a good time, hang out. There shouldn’t be any awkward tension between us.”

Kato said that the mural has received “nothing but love from the school. Like, ’I can't wait to take a picture over here, I'm so glad you guys did this.’ Alumni are like, ’I wish I could come back just to take a picture of this wall.’ — things like that.”

BSLA, which meets Mondays at 6:30 p.m. in the Crane Multipurpose Room, plans to continue the conversation around the Black Lives Matter movement later this with a collective memorial painting project featuring a portrait of King. King was “one of our own in this city,” said Johnson. “He was a 13-year-old little boy, and he was unjustifiably killed. And we're going to make sure people know about it.”

And all are invited to join BSLA in conversation, said Kato. BSLA members, she said, “are here to teach you what you don't know. We're here to help you, if you want to know, we're here to gain more awareness and let other students who come here, let them know, like, ’yeah, there is a group here, and no, we're not secluded.’”

Meanwhile, Empowering Females on Campus, a student organization that began earlier this semester, is making strides in supporting women. It recently hosted Pat Gibboney, a local feminist activist and grandmother to a CCAD student. “It was awesome to hear about the work that she’s done and the progress we’ve made because I think a lot of times we forget that we’ve already come so far,” said EFC co-founder Megan Earley, a sophomore Illustration major.

EFC’s recent “Pussies Against Trump” poster campaign used Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recorded comments about women as a launching point for conversation about misogyny and societal perceptions of women. “I'm sure that not everybody likes it, but I've only heard positive things from people,” said Earley.

EFC Co-founder Halle D’Amico, a sophomore Illustration major, said one of her goals is to get rid of the stigma around the word “feminism.”

“Honestly, it helps both genders, it helps all genders, really, and it's about equality. I'm hoping that we get to change that idea on campus,” she said.

Five of the 25 people who attended Gibboney’s talk were men. Said Earley, “It’s almost necessary that men are involved … that’s what Pat, our guest speaker, said. Like, the women's movement in the 70s wouldn't have skyrocketed like it did if men weren't helping out. It's the same thing like with Black Lives Matter. We need all people to be fighting for this cause in order for it to make a difference and for people to listen. Because if only the group that's being oppressed is speaking up, no one's going to listen.”

Maria D’Apolito, assistant director of student involvement & multicultural affairs, provides guidance to the BSLA, EFC, Queer Alliance and CCAD’s student programming board. She said she tells student leaders: “’Your voice is so much louder than mine.’ … I want to build their leadership skills and let them know that what they do actually impacts other students on campus. It creates change.”

CCAD students can find a safe space for conversations around diversity and inclusion — and earn New Student Seminar credit — by attending a monthly Pizza with a Purpose workshop, facilitated by D’Apolito and other CCAD community members. The next workshop is scheduled for 11 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Nov. 16, and will cover the campus climate, with administrators attending to hear directly from students on how things are on campus.