By GIRISH SWAMINATH
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
ASILI—The Black Student Alliance at Fordham and College Republicans co-sponsored an interactive discourse event on Tuesday, Nov. 12, in Keating Hall. The two organizations planned the discourse, entitled “Dismantling the Barriers Between Race and Politics,” with the intent of bringing together members of the Fordham community from different racial and political backgrounds so that people could share their perspectives on the relationship between race and politics.
(Andrew Esoldi/The Ram)
The discourse, which Tochi Mgbenwelu, FCRH ’15, president of ASILI, and Luke Zaro, FCRH ’16, president of College Republicans, moderated, actively involved the audience and welcomed attendees’ political and cultural views. The executive board members of both clubs began by having students define conservatism and Republican ideals.
Members of the Fordham community shared their reasoning as to why they felt society wrongfully believes that the Republican Party’s ideologies repel minority individuals, attributing such misconceptions to the media and historical events.
People voiced their opinions on how the stop-and-frisk law is intended to be race-neutral but the actual enforcement of the law tends to involve racial profiling.
Several arguments over divergent beliefs erupted throughout the night, but participants tried to maintain a respectful, accepting environment in order to encourage productive discussion.
Mgbenwelu and Zaro were initially inspired to plan the event after having a discussion on affermative action in Fordham’s Marketplace early in the fall semester.
“On the Tuesdays before classes started, [Mgbenwelu] and I had a conversation in the caf about affirmative action,” Zaro said. “We just kind of presented the reasons why it is not racially charged and discussed that there are lots of misconceptions of conservatism.”
“After I spoke to [Zaro], we realized that we should spend some more time with one another as clubs,” Mgbenwelu said. “We said we had to have an event together.”
Through the event, College Republicans attempted to promote understanding of Republican ideologies and policies with respect to minorities and race.
“While certain individuals are imperfect, conservatism itself is an ideology that does not discriminate on race, gender, orientation or class,” Zaro said. “The ideals of free market economics, strong national defense, limited government and traditional social values are ideals we believe that any group, people or race can find attractive. I stand here today representing a political club that welcomes all and an ideology that in and of itself is truly color-blind.”
ASILI aspired to break down any stereotypes or misconceptions people had about race and politics by hosting the event.
“[ASILI] felt that a lot of the times, one’s race defined their political views,” Mgbenwelu said. “We wanted to dismantle those barriers with this interactive discourse. People have preconceived notions about what African-Americans and Republicans may think. We just wanted to say that it was easy to come together and understand one another’s views.”
Mgbenwelu stated that changes in her personal perspectives on Republican ideologies inspired her to organize the event.
“I honestly thought that the Republican political party’s views were race-based, but after speaking to [Zaro], I realized that it was not so much,” Mgbenwelu said. “If I thought that, then lots of other people may think that. ASILI is mature enough to have a meeting with College Republicans to discuss various issues that may be controversial.”
Zaro was satisfied with the outcome of the discourse, especially because people were interested in not only sharing their viewpoints but also hearing what others had to say.
“I thought it went great and I was very happy,” Zaro said. “It takes a lot to ask people to come to an event that is specifically putting two groups together that have not historically associated with each other. The dialogue was respectful the entire time. Nobody walked away with their feelings hurt or thinking that one side was bigoted or racist.”
Mgbenwelu appreciated the feedback she received about the event, including people who asked her when a future discourse of a similar nature would be held.
“I liked the intimacy of the event and how everyone was willing to speak their views,” Mgbenwelu said. “I was particularly happy with the amount of people that showed up to the event.”
