On Wednesday evening in the Student Center Ballroom, the University hosted comedian and the speaker for the event, W. Kamau Bell. The Cross Cultural Center for Excellence, a unit of the Office of Inclusion and Diversity worked in conjunction with the School of Communication and Journalism to cost the annual Auburn University Black History Month kickoff event.
Sponsors for the event included the office of the Vice President for University Outreach, the University Program Council and the Office of University Writing.
Bell was chosen as the speaker for this year’s event because he is someone who is well known with the students. Director of the Cross-Cultural Center for Excellence Allen Sutton explains the pick for this year’s kickoff as a success. “He is someone who is well known with the students through his former show on FX, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell” Sutton said. “We were most intrigued by his stage performance [in]… ‘How to End Racism in about an Hour’.”
“In his performance, Mr. Bell [begins] a conversation that many people today are too uncomfortable to start or participate in themselves.” Sutton said. “Mr. Bell [approaches] the issue of race through a mix of serious content laced with comedy that allows students and others to open themselves up to a touchy subject.”
Opening his performance, Bell announces that this is his first trip to Auburn. He begins his comedy performance by introducing his childhood spent in Mobile, Alabama, his understanding of the culture in Alabama and jokes that his father is a University of Alabama fan.
Bell continues his performance discussing the issues of race within the country. “He [addresses] prejudice not just towards African-Americans, but also Asians, Arabs, Latinos, and Native Americans, all of whom are often glossed over in the media” Sutton said.
Bell stressed many different aspects of racism within his performance. He emphasized that in a democracy, the people need to push the president to be better, comparing the Americans to an unsatisfied parent; pushing their child to continue to bring home better grades.
As an entertainer, Bell places emphasis on the entertainment industry for its significance in shaping influence. He addresses the movie industry and sports as two large sectors that have presented strong political emphasis.
Bell discusses topics of false fear and racial grouping within his segment ‘How to End Racism in about an Hour’. Bell makes a point of clarifying race is not real and racism is only real because people have bought into it. Calling attention to many discrepancies within the news and day to day life, balancing small and large-scale issues, Bell opens the conversation to racism to generate a change.
“The goal of the event is to get people to talk about race in a constructive and illuminating way” Sutton said. “Racism is a difficult subject to talk about for everyone, but it needs to be discussed.”
“With Bell’s satirical show, it is our hope that the participants would open their minds, relax, and laugh about the social construct of race, while still being educated about the unfair treatment of certain groups that still persist today” Suttons said.
There will be several other events put on by students throughout the month that will build upon this dialogue and promote Black History Month.
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