Applause erupted loud and clear throughout Penn State Schuylkill’s Student Center on Nov. 1.
Triniti Freeman cried. So did several others who came out in support of the NAACP Schuylkill County chapter’s launch event, the first public event since the chapter was approved as an official branch in February 2021.
“Each time I tell these stories, I think of my brothers and sisters, and I don’t want them to have to be scared,” Freeman said, choking up.
Freeman, president of the Black Student Union at Penn State Schuylkill, shared her experiences as a Black student. She talked about her experience at an event called “Safe Trick-or-Treat” for campus clubs to hand out candy, where she felt uncomfortable after an interaction with a white resident.
“It was really one word that for the entire conversation stuck with me: ‘this,’ ” Freeman said, noting how the resident referred to the union. “What does she mean by ‘this’? I shouldn’t be so uncomfortable giving kids candy. And I shouldn’t feel some judgment because I am co-president of a Black Student Union.
“But to her, this could be the over-generalizations and images and ideas placed upon Black people. It could be the stereotype of we’re angry, poor, loud, uneducated ghetto.”
She said such interactions are why she wanted to create the student union. Freeman wants incoming minority students to have safe spaces on campus. So, hearing the county would welcome an NAACP chapter brought her joy.
“When I was told that there was a Schuylkill NAACP chapter, if the smile on my face could talk, it would say ‘good,’ ” Freeman said.
Tracy Stevenson, the event’s moderator, called Freeman’s speech moving.
It demonstrates an example of what Joe Welsh, founder and executive director of the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute, called crucial to supporting criminal justice issues.
“Telling individual people’s life stories, and how they were affected by criminal justice and justice issues, generally, what happens is the data sort of shows you how big the problem is,” Welsh said. “The storytelling shows you the depth of the problem in a way that you can relate to as a fellow human being. And so it sort of puts life into the numbers.”
The event welcomed more than 40 people, chapter President Rubina Tareen said. There, residents could “learn more about the NAACP, its mission, and how they can get involved in local initiatives aimed at promoting equality, combating discrimination and advocating for justice,” Tareen said in a press release.
Stevenson welcomed members of the chapter, including Troy Hollenbach, vice president; Cheryl Humes, secretary; Leah Zerbe, assistant secretary; George Maroukis, treasurer; and Courtney Peterson, assistant treasurer.
Many in attendance were campus students, like Amira Douglas and Genesis Harrison, who said they felt empowered by Freeman’s words.
“To hear other people’s stories and to see Triniti choking up, it actually touched my heart,” Harrison said. “I know how it is, and I don’t like how some people feel excluded in this world. And I think it’s really great that she shared that story here today because it was really powerful.”
Harrison said she tried to enact inclusive initiatives at her high school, but those attempts came up short. A Black Student Union member, Harrison said the Penn State Schuylkill event inspired her to pursue activism.
Douglas made similar remarks. As a first-year student, like Harrison, Douglas said she also feels inspired to do more within her community to support causes such as those backed by the NAACP.
“I felt sad at first,” Douglas said. “But then I realized that kind of motivated me to want to make a change as well and to show the world and everybody that we’re all the same, we don’t need to have this distinct separation between each other, we should all be able to do the same thing and act the same and have equal rights.”
Source: Berkshire mont