Author Sister Souljah calls for African-American activism on college campuses
As a college student, Sister Souljah never separated herself from her poverty-stricken background despite the pressure to assimilate on Rutgers University’s predominately white campus.
Tuesday at Hendricks Chapel, Souljah, a New York Times bestselling author, encouraged students attending the Student African-American Society spring lecture to become activists for change and to never be embarrassed by their cultural identity.
Without knowing your identity you cannot be an activist, Souljah said.
‘We feel bad about our blackness,’ she said. ‘Do not run from yourself. The African philosophy is ‘I am we.”
But in order to help change the community, blacks must learn their identity to actively evoke change, said Souljah.
‘We just want to do better in our classes and be different from who we are,’ explained Souljah, who also said she personally felt disdain from the African-American community when she chose to major in African studies at Rutgers.
‘In college we assimilate,’ Souljah said. ‘Africa is synonymous with failure and white with success. You can be academically advanced and culturally retarded. You have to read books that give you cultural knowledge. Not just what the professors puts on the syllabus.’
Souljah said there is a lack of African-American female novelists, decided to write her own books criticizing the media for not respecting African culture by sending negative imagery of Africa as a continent.
Many attendees were fans of Souljah’s fiction novel ‘The Coldest Winter Ever,’ a protest against drugs and violence in the African-American youth community, which sold more than a million copies. The sequel is set to be released later this year.
‘It was something we can relate to as women of color and a marginalized group,’ Stella Adegite, a senior in The College of Arts of Sciences, said. ‘We have the power to impact and change our communities.’
Souljah stressed the importance of using the resources available on campus to become the best. Souljah, after overcoming many financial issues obstacles, was able to travel England, France, Spain, Portugal, Finland and Russia before graduating college.
Souljah said she discovered that every other culture of people she encountered was organized into groups of families, building strength and protecting each member. Souljah emphasized if the African-American community does not correct itself, it will be the only culture without a family network, left unprotected and weak.
The purpose of African-American organizations on campus is to correct the crisis on campus, Souljah said. But Linda Ahenkora, president of the Student African-American Society, said it is disappointing at times when trying to organize students around certain issues on campus.
Ahenkora said the group’s slogan this year, ‘Words are beautiful, but actions are supreme,’ goes along with Souljah’s message of student activism.
‘We are always going to be here, we are just waiting for people to show up,’ Ahenkora, a senior African-American studies and psychology major, said.
Souljah’s message was direct and not sugar-coated. Her controversial statements were of no surprise to anyone familiar with her many other works in literature and music. Her lecture brought the audience to its feet in a standing ovation.
‘I love my people,’ Souljah said. ‘But I do not like how we are living.’
