Gisel Sailant/Collegian

University of Massachusetts juniors Gisel Saillant, Shane Coleman and Genevive Forges are among 12 UMass students who attended the 24th Annual National Black Student Leadership Development Conference (NBSLDC), held from Jan. 8 to Jan. 11 in Washington, D.C.

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The Office of Programs and Services for ALANA Students (OPSAS) sponsored the students’ attendance at the conference, which featured keynote speakers such as hip-hop activist, journalist, community organizer and vice presidential candidate for the Green Party Rosa Clemente, journalist and author Roland S. Martin, South Carolina state Rep. Bakari Sellers, activist, political strategist and author Donna Brazile and others.

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‘The theme of the conference was about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and making changes,’ said Forges. ‘[The conference] really made it a point to say that you can ‘hellip; be more than a person going through the motions of life. If you see problems you can speak out. You don’t have to be complacent.’

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Sponsored by the Stuart Educational Leadership Group, the conference is a combination of workshops and speakers aiming to increase effective leadership among diverse students who are a part of predominantly white college campuses.

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‘It was about creating leaders, but I think it went a little beyond that. It was more about developing us as people,’ said Coleman. ‘It was about learning how to hold yourself among others.’

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Presenting workshops and lectures at over 400 universities, conferences, rallies and other venues, Clemente shared input on how to create avenues for individual and group expression. She told the students that starting off small and building the community was an important way to start an organization, rather than necessarily traveling to other countries. As an independent journalist, she traveled to New Orleans 10 days after Hurricane Katrina.

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‘She talked about her role and helping Hurricane Katrina victims, and she talked about things that people try to make look clean and push under the carpet,’ Forges said. ‘For me, Rosa Clemente was really memorable because ‘hellip; she was just real. All the keynote speakers were great, but she said what she wanted to say and she said what was on her mind even when it made other people cringe and she was just honest and it spoke to me.’

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Clemente also helped to create La Voz Boriken, a social political organization at Cornell University that supports Puerto Rican political prisoners and independence movements, according to Independent Political Report. Protesting against the use of Puerto Rico and the neighboring island-municipality of Vieques as military colonies, the United States. finally removed its naval base, once one of the largest bases in the world, from Puerto Rico, according to The Los Angeles Times.

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Clemente spoke of her work in Puerto Rico, its history as the oldest colony of the United States, and her belief that it should be a free nation.

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Bakari Sellers also proved to be an empowering speaker for all three students, as America‘s youngest state legislator at 24, a law student, and the son of Cleveland Sellers, a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement.

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In his speech, Sellers told students about how he was able to beat an incumbent that had been in office for 25 years.

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Recognized as one of the most influential journalists and political pundits of his time as a CNN analyst, TV One Cable Network commentator and senior analyst for the Tom Joyner Morning Show, Martin also had some practical advice for participants in the conference.

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Martin spoke of his previous attendance to the very same conference in 1988, where he met some of the very people that aided in his success. He urged students to make contacts and network at the conference as well.

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Participants also attended various workshops where facilitators led a group discussion.

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‘I went to a workshop called Shero, a [woman] hero basically,’ said Forges, ‘And it was about Michelle Obama ‘hellip; and how she’s changing the face and image of the black woman in America. That we’re strong and we’re not what some societies might think of us. That we’re not just video girls.’

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There was also a workshop focusing on the relationship between blacks and Latinos as well as stereotypical ideas about relations within minority categories.

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The facilitator discussed how Latinos and blacks interact with each other and how they are grouped together by other ethnicities.

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The idea of assumptions stemming from the habit of grouping several ethnicities under the umbrella of ‘Latino’ or ‘black’ resonated with Forges’ experiences, as well.

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‘I’m Haitian-American and I’m under the title of black, and I think that you can’t just label someone black or Latina because ‘hellip; it’s not like that,’ Forges said. ‘They’re completely different cultures. I’m Haitian, I have no idea [about] the culture of a person from Kenya ‘hellip; but we’re both [categorized as] black but there’s not really true knowledge each other.’

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Coming back from the conference, the students felt motivated to put what they learned into practice on campus. All UMass participants are planning a presentation to reflect on and share what happened at the conference with others.

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‘Basically we want to bring the campus together and not be so divided between different RSOs [Registered Student Organizations] and ‘hellip; bring all these people together to be more be more diverse and unified in our efforts,’ Forges said.

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‘I would say before the conference I knew [of the other UMass participants] and passed them by on campus ‘hellip; but the conference helped me get to know them in this short amount of time and know we’re friends at the end of day,’ he continued. ‘Even though it’s a big school people can have better relationships. It doesn’t have to be like, ‘OK that’s that person and they’re doing their own thing and I’m doing mine.’ We can actually connect.’