This past Black History Month, Black voices from groups all around campus were amplified through the panel, “Black Voices at NMSU: Navigating Identity, Belonging, and Success at an HSI”. The panel, hosted by Men of Color Initiative and Student Success Initiative, was held on Feb. 12 and explored perspectives of Black students and faculty during their time at New Mexico State and what it’s like being Black in Las Cruces.
Angel Ennis, financial chair of the Black Student Association, shared why she finds it important that NMSU celebrates Black History Month as a Hispanic Serving Institution.
“I think celebrating Black History Month is crucial to the community’s social development and provides an emotional understanding and connection between minorities,” Ennis said. “I also think it provides an understanding of the culturally impactful history of students and Black communities.”
James Frimpong, an international student from Ghana, shared sentiments on celebrating Black History Month at an HSI and how it can be a cultural exchange.
“I also think that we need to celebrate Black History Month because most of you haven’t been to Ghana, right? Most of you haven’t been to most of the Black communities. So, if you don’t educate yourself on what we have or what we have to offer, then nobody will know anything about what we have to offer,” Frimpong said. “This creates an opportunity for us to educate people who are not from our communities, and they will be able to understand what we are going through from our own perspectives.”
Ennis talked about this cultural exchange and how it taught her new things about unfamiliar backgrounds.
“Being at an HSI has shaped my experience as a Black individual as a whole; it introduced me to new cultural experiences and opportunities. I have also been exposed to intersectionality, which is not something that’s very known in my small town where I’m from, but I have been exposed to it so much here and I really think it’s important to continue to expose students to that,” Ennis explained. “I also have been introduced to it in different forms that have given me insight into unfamiliar backgrounds and given me a sense of empathy and support. It also has challenged me with a broader sense of community and that includes being in a predominately Hispanic environment, so I feel like it has shaped me in so many different ways.”
Cecil Rose, director of Black Programs, spoke about feeling respected and welcomed as a Black faculty member and what that meant for him moving here from the South.
“I think what I have experienced here from an HSI, MSI [Minority Serving Institution] is more of a welcoming aspect, just to be able to say, ‘Hey, you respect my Black culture, you respect my voice, you respect my lens,’” Rose said. “I’m coming from a lens of a Black male Southerner, so, in what would be considered a foreign place — but in this space, people really have been supportive in that. I think that’s been, like, the surprise for me.”
Dr. Monique Matute-Chavarria, assistant professor at NMSU, finds that cultural visibility is important for the university to have for newcomers and students.
“I think cultural visibility is important as a faculty member and as a student,” Matute-Chavarria said. “As a student, I remember my mentor was Black, and that was really important to me because I could talk to her at a professional level and then another level where we could unpack, and here as a faculty member I didn’t have a mentor that looks like me and I think that is really important, and for students as well, to see representation in other students, faculty and staff. It’s also important to have a sense of belonging and understanding this community as well.”
Ennis explained that having cultural visibility at NMSU taught her new things about her own culture she had not yet experienced.
“I feel like it’s important for students and faculty — people who are not from this community, who are from places that are not very diverse — I feel like you can be introduced to something about your culture that you don’t even know about,” Ennis said. “Which is an experience that I had; I do not know a lot about my culture unfortunately, but I am learning as I go, and I learned so much at NMSU, like it’s important to continue to do that for students and continue to have that visibility that way students feel they have that sense of belonging.”
James Hall, NMSU’s deputy athletic director, shared that his presence as a Black man is necessary within the athletic department as it gives athletes someone to look and see themselves in.
“The word representation — I mean, I gave some stats on student-athletes, but there are 100 employees in the athletic department, 16 are Black, 12 are males and four are female,” Hall said. “I am the only executive administrator, and have been since I’ve been here, and so my representation and face are critical to the student-athletes. It’s kind of like Eminem, and I think individuals will agree with this, ‘I get one chance, I get one opportunity,’ to make an impact on Black student-athletes.”
“If they don’t feel my vibe, it’s over, I don’t get a second chance to let them know that I am representing them as a role model,” he continued. “They either say, ‘Man, I love Mr. Hall’ or, ‘You know what, I’m done with him, he doesn’t understand where we’re coming from.’”
Hall discussed when student-athletes are looking to attend NMSU, they are often looking to find someone who relates to them, which can be a like an interview for him. These interactions with students show him how he needs to be a role model for them.
“You are auditioning to get in their world and allow you to engage. So, representation is more than just numbers, it’s making sure that you provide that level of comfort to them so that they can continue to broaden their horizons at New Mexico State,” Hall said.
As the main portion of the panel came to an end, Rose remarked on what keeps him at NMSU as a role model and why.
“So, when I took this position, most of our friends were like, ‘Why are you going out there? There’s not a lot of y’all,’” Rose said. “And you know the answer. That’s the known, not the unknown, but we have to show up in these spaces. Even if it is tough, even if, jokingly, Dr. Turner and I said, ‘We’re from the South, why are we out here?’ — we have to be. We have to be in these spaces; we have to go to the low-density spaces where there may not be African American or Black representation.”
“Because those students need us, even if it is five students that may be there. We are in the single percentages here at New Mexico State, we have to be a part of that percentage so they can see us,” Rose continued.
Ennis left with one final piece of advice to everyone on campus.
“I feel like there could be a lot more empathy as well as sympathy,” Ennis said. “I feel like people could be more aware of some of the things that they are saying to someone who is a person of color, who is different in so many ways. If you are not like someone, just be aware of the things that you are saying to them, because it is really important for you to not come off as offensive to people. Especially in a time like this.”
