"Día de los Muertos" Celebration in Cosby (Cultural Expansion): Solidarity & Diversity (2 points)

     

    On November 13th, right before class began, a group were throwing a "Día de los Muertos" celebration in the Cosby lobby, including a display of ofrendas made by students in different Spanish classes. In honor of the celebration, salsa, tortilla chips, veggie and chicken burritos were being served. My classmates and I thoroughly enjoyed the food while we worked on our final projects for the semester. It was a great way to connect with our classmates in different sections, reading about their ofrendas and which relative they were honoring.

    It's moments like these that I reflect on how hard it is to be a minority when there's a dominate race, and still somehow keep your culture and traditions alive. In a PWI, it's hard being a racial minority period. However, when it comes to HBCU's, a lot of black history, culture, and traditions are put to the forefront, while other races (Hispanic, Asian, etc.) carve out their own ways to still be represented and not forgotten. 

You would assume, however, while Black America celebrates culture in HBCU's, black people would also highlight traditions and cultures from other P.O.C (people of color) groups. Participating in this celebration, at least for me, showed that I want to stand in solidarity with other races, and sometimes people mistaken solidarity for conformity. I am not trying to be like another race, rather I would love to know and partake in the culture because it gives me insight to who they truly are, not what the media wants people to believe they are. For example, I know for a fact that just because salsa and burritos were served during the "Día de los Muertos" celebration, they do not define the entire food culture of South or Central America. It was just a fun way to get people to engage, learn, and connect with people of different backgrounds, and that's where Dialogic Thinking comes in, where we have to listen in order to understand. Through ignorant assumption, which leads to stereotyping, we degrade people and spread false information. That is why it's so important to listen, learn, and understand facts that are true reflections of the cultures and experiences of different people.

By Caitlyn Hickman '29