The new Black 365 campaign at San Diego State set it’s hopes on encouraging black students to celebrate, create awareness and fight for justice every day of the year – not just in February.
“We came up with this idea of Black 365 because people think that February is such an amazing month when we get to learn about all our people,” sociology and communications junior and College of Arts and Letters representative Jada Johnson said. “We want the exact opposite. I don’t want a month.”
The campaign hosted events almost daily throughout February focused on the black community from luncheons to jobs fairs, according to a Black 365 promotional calendar. Most events were hosted at the Black Resource Center, one of SDSU’s newest resource centers that has served black students since spring 2018.
Johnson and sociology junior Jasmine Miles launched the idea of Black 365, a month-long event, to occur during Black History Month to acknowledge people of color who don’t get enough recognition for their achievements.
“We took a different spin on it,” Miles said. “We wanted to highlight people you don’t normally highlight, like Marsha P. Johnson – a Stonewall Riots’ activist. You don’t talk about her because she’s trans. You don’t talk about Malcolm X because he’s seen to be violent and not defending his community.”
In addition to launching the campaign to celebrate black people year-round, they said they hope the campaign pushes SDSU to be more conscious with helping students of color who face challenges, such as helping them integrate into the university and supporting the fight for getting black students educated.
According to SDSU’s Department of Analytic Studies & Institutional Research, the university’s black enrollment was at 3.8 percent of the student population as of fall 2018, compared to 34.7 percent white enrollment and 28.9 percent Hispanic enrollment. Johnson and Miles said the trend has been influenced by economic and sociological factors.
“There needs to be more intentional practices by the university in regards to students of color.” Johnson said. “Some of us can’t even afford to be here anymore due to student fees. I don’t have funding to even be at this university.”
Johnson said the university needs to work towards becoming more accessible to black students and to teach diversity in all classes if it seeks to make a difference.
“What the university should be doing is integrating blackness 365 days a year in however many colleges we have and however many majors we have,” Johnson said. “Because, at the end of the day, black people have been here working, building and growing this country, and the only time we get recognition is when a black person says it during Black History Month.”
