A forum sponsored by the Eastern chapter of the NAACP focused on black unity for the progression of the black student body and the black race as a whole.

Members of the Eastern chapter of the NAACP discussed the problem of segregation among black students of Eastern and how it is slowing the overall progress of black representation and success at the university.

The forum began with a talk by Joaquin Rodgers, vice president of the Eastern chapter of the NAACP and senior psychology major, who said when he transferred from Southern Illinois University, he felt like the black student social variety on campus was one-dimensional.

Rodgers said the athletes hang out with the athletes and saw the same clique mentality in the black fraternities and sororities.

Rodgers also said the division promotes individuality, but negatively promotes selfish behavior, something that is a deeply rooted problem dating back to slavery.

“It’s all about ‘I’ and it should be about ‘we,'” Rodgers said.

Rodgers explained that the black mentality should be less about who individually succeeds and has the most material things, but rather how all who are successful can help others be successful.

Rodgers said that black people are still feeling the affects of slavery in a literal sense and that the slave masters who stripped the black people of their dignity also methodically and mentally pitted the black people against each other.

“Our own culture is exactly what the white man wants us to have, because it will continue to perpetuate racism…we have to realize we are all the same people,” Rodgers said.

Audience member Winton Stacy, a junior communications major, said one reason black people don’t get together is a fear of the unknown and that people are afraid to branch out.

One issue discussed was the Martin Luther King University Union Ballroom dances run by black student organizations.

According to one audience member, the bright overhead lights kept on at dances put a damper on the mood of the dance, but remain on allegedly to keep those in attendance in plain view of police when there has not been a problem after five years of functions.

Continuing on the issue of unity, Eastern NAACP Chapter President Shermann Thomas said fraternities and sororities continue to dominate black student social involvement, while functions like diversity forums and meetings go ill-attended.

“I think fraternities and sororities need to step up as leaders,” Thomas said.

Thomas said he personally wrote an invitation to the NAACP forum Thursday to every black Greek organization, but that only a few were represented.

Cyprus Hughs, a graduate who earned a business degree from Eastern in 1973 and a masters degree in education in 1995, spoke to the audience about coming together.

“If you profile what has taken place (at Eastern) since 1969, you’ll think we went backwards, Hughs said.

Hughs, who attended Eastern in the late 1960s and early 1970s, said his class had only about 50 black students, yet they achieved more unity.

Hughs also said that students shouldn’t feel that school is all about being smart, but rather, is about coming together, studying together and helping fellow black students utilize the system rather than allowing it to discourage them.

Hughs said the best place to start is to form a freshman student orientation for black students to start the feeling of unity early.

James Harden, a 1998 graduate of Eastern, said black students need to pursue majors that will get them careers.

“Some how, some way, we need to learn how to excel in these systems,” Harden said.

Harden, a social sciences teacher at Urbana High School, said black students should concentrate on being professionals, which means getting certified to teach. Harden also said for students to ignore the myth that teaching does not pay well.

“How can (black people) fight institutionalized racism if you’re not part of the system?…We need professionals,” Harden said.