{"id":202568,"date":"2016-02-22T11:29:21","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T16:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=202568"},"modified":"2023-08-09T11:37:05","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T15:37:05","slug":"uconn-students-participate-in-state-of-black-males-in-the-u-s-panel-discussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2016\/02\/uconn-students-participate-in-state-of-black-males-in-the-u-s-panel-discussion\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Students Participate in \u201cState of Black Males in the U.S.\u201d Panel Discussion"},"content":{"rendered":"

In honor of Black History Month, UConn students gathered this past week at the University\u2019s African-American Cultural Center for a panel discussion featuring six panelists from two student groups,\u00a0Collective Uplift<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Brothers Reaching Our Society (B.R.O.S.)<\/a>. Panelists discussed issues facing today\u2019s African-Americans, including how Black males are and can continue to \u201ctake control over their own image.\u201d These words, spoken by Joseph Cooper, assistant professor in the Neag School of Education and the founder of Collective Uplift, served as the driving force behind a discussion that touched on self-image, stereotypes, resiliency, and more.<\/p>\n

Collective Uplift, an organization designed to empower, educate, and inspire students across ethnic groups at UConn to maximize their full potential as holistic individuals, not exclusively in the realm of athletics, but also beyond, and B.R.O.S., which seeks to foster academic and professional growth for black males, partnered for the \u201cState of Black Males in the United States: Realities and Resolve\u201d panel. The purpose of the event was to extend a conversation about the way African-Americans navigate society and empower themselves and their communities in a society that perpetually disadvantages them, said Josh Marriner \u201916 (CLAS), president of Collective Uplift.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to get this conversation started,\u201d Marriner said. \u201cWe want people to reach out left and right to create better relationships in the entire community, and especially at college campuses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t compete with each other; we need to come together as a people. Save the competing for sport and intellect.\u201d \u00a0Tyrae Sims \u201918 (ED)<\/small><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Marriner, a former football student-athlete who recently joined the track-and-field team, will graduate with a degree in communication this May, having completed his degree in three years. Although he keeps active in academics and athletics, he still finds time to give back to his hometown community in Virginia. Whenever he returns home, Marriner speaks to students at local elementary and high schools about the importance of education.<\/p>\n

Fellow panelist and Collective Uplift member Tyrae Sims \u201918 (ED), a prospective pre-sport management major, also spoke about taking part in community outreach. Such activities, he said, provide the opportunity to connect with others in ways that one may not have expected. Growing up in Worcester, Mass., Sims added that he noticed a great deal of competition and self-hate amongst the African-American community, which he says is connected to a systemic and pervasive U.S. culture that privileges whiteness and often times disparages efforts to unite the community and make it a more prosperous place to live.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t compete with each other; we need to come together as a people,\u201d Sims said. \u201cSave the competing for sport and intellect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Collective
The event, co-hosted by Collective Uplift and Brothers Reaching Out to Society (B.R.O.S.) included student panelists Khaleed Fields, Joshua Marriner, Stephen Sam (pictured, left), Marquise Vann (right), Isaiah Jacobs, and Tyrae Simms. (Photo Credit: Ryan Glista\/Neag School)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cooper said self-hate, deeply rooted in a U.S. history distorted by racist beliefs and ideas, often leads to poor treatment of others. For example, the misogynistic nature of some hip-hop lyrics paint a degrading portrait of women that reflects an underlying lack of self-respect among men. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, often times this message reinforces dominant beliefs about whiteness and patriarchial masculinity, Cooper added, which can be detrimental not only to the individuals who promote this way of thinking and those who are the focus of this treatment, but also society as a whole. The panelists combated this stereotype, emphasizing the importance of treating women as equals and showing understanding and vulnerability.<\/p>\n

\u201cShow women you can be vulnerable, too \u2013 that you can feel, love, and care,\u201d said panelist Marquise Vann \u201916, a Collective Uplift member and UConn football player. \u201cYou\u2019re defined by how you give back and love others.\u201d Marquise, summarizing the consensus among the group, added: \u201cIt is important to treat the women you encounter in the same manner you would want someone to treat your mother and\/or your future daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond sponsoring panel discussions like this on the UConn campus, Marriner says his mission is to expand Collective Uplift \u2013 which was founded at UConn by Cooper and a group of student-athletes \u2013 to other universities. Although he will graduate from UConn in May, Marriner is already working on a chapter at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., where his brother is a student-athlete on the football team. Marriner says his motivation to give back to others stems from his own community and family \u2013 particularly his father, a pastor.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a pastor, my father displayed how he cared for the community every day,\u201d Marriner says. \u201cBut even after caring for others all day, he still came home at night and taught [his children] things that would forward us in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about Collective Uplift here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In honor of Black History Month, UConn students gathered this past week at the University\u2019s African-American Cultural Center for a panel discussion featuring six panelists from two student groups, Collective Uplift and Brothers Reaching Our Society (B.R.O.S.). Panelists discussed issues facing today\u2019s African-Americans, including how Black males are and can continue to \u201ctake control over their own image.\u201d These words, spoken by Joseph Cooper, assistant professor in the Neag School of Education and the founder of Collective Uplift, served as the driving force behind a discussion that touched on self-image, stereotypes, resiliency, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":202569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2455],"class_list":["post-202568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 11:09:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202571,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202568\/revisions\/202571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/202569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202568"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=202568"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=202568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}