Black leaders gather for conference

The second annual Pac X conference, which aims to promote black student leadership, was hosted at UCLA this weekend by the Afrikan Student Union.

Jacquae Walker, who co-chaired the conference, said that the Pac X events are an attempt to improve the level of leadership in black student groups and a way to ensure consistently strong leadership each year.

“We realize that the quality of black student leadership is diminishing and failing,” Walker said.

The conference also sought to bring together Pac-10 schools, which normally only meet for athletic events, to help students leaders network and form stronger relationships with each other, said Sarah Andrews, a third-year sociology and African American studies student and co-chair of the conference.

Students from a number of other Pac-10 schools, including Washington State University and UC Berkeley traveled to UCLA to participate.

The first Pac X conference was held at Washington State University last year and was modelled after a similar Big 12 conference in the Midwest, Walker said.

Four keynote speakers, including author Hasani Pettiford and conference advisor Robert Page, spoke during the conference, which began Thursday, Walker said.

Elaine Brown, a former leader of the Black Panther Party and UCLA alumna spoke on Friday.

Brown discussed a variety of issues, including factors such as class or sexual orientation that generally divide black students, said Christina Walter, chair of the Afrikan Student Union.

Walter said she liked Brown’s speech in particular because Brown suggested practical measures to create change, such as bringing public school students from Watts to UCLA or taking leftover food from dining halls to feed the homeless on Skid Row.

“As college students, we are charged with a privilege, and we are well fit in the capacity to utilize the privilege to uplift other people,” Walter said.

In addition to keynote speakers, the conference also featured eight workshops.

Joe Okoturoh, a fourth-year international development studies student, said his favorite part of the weekend was a workshop on institutionalized racism.

“We talked about racial slurs, things that we hear as black students on a daily basis,” he said.

Okoturoh added that he will take away stories from other students about their experiences and personal struggles. He also said he enjoyed the opportunity to network with students from other schools.

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