With Black History Month well underway, the University is scheduling numerous cultural and intellectual events to celebrate and promote African-American culture and history. Along with a series of lectures, discussions and artistic performances, there are several events that give students the opportunity to become directly involved.
Tonight at 8 p.m. in Clark 108, the Office of African-American Affairs is sponsoring "A Conversation with Black Men."
African-American Affairs Dean M. Rick Turner said the forum will be a conversation about the challenges and responsibilities of being a black man.
"I thought about this in November, as I was talking about African-American gender relations," he said. "I thought about what black men need to do to be better husbands, sons and fathers."
Turner said the dialogue is important because it will bring to light issues in the African-American community, especially those involving black men.
"It's just to break the silence of black men," Turner said. "We have a tendency, in the black community, to not air out our dirty laundry."
Turner said according to sociologist Orlando Patterson, 60 percent of black children have been abandoned by their fathers.
"That's a startling percentage," Turner said. "I'm asking why 60 percent of children are brought up without the emotional and material support of a father."
Turner said that as a black man he wants to determine the cause of this statistic and how the problem can be eliminated within the black community.
He added that he wants the conversation to be an ongoing discussion.
"This is not planned to be a one-time conversation," Turner said. "I want there to be monthly dialogues."
In fact, Turner said he would like to continue the dialogue far into the future.
"I [plan] to do something like this for the rest of my life," he said.
Turner said he will begin the program tonight by talking about his own experiences. Students will then break into groups to discuss several questions provided by Turner. Afterward, the groups will reconvene and everyone will discuss the issues as a body.
Turner said that although he will not bar anyone from coming to the event, he hopes that it will be a time for just black men to discuss issues that affect them.
"I hope people will respect that this is a conversation with black men," Turner said.
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