Guest blog post by Thanelie Bien-Aime, a senior biology major and president of the Black Student Union (BSU)
I didn’t grow up celebrating Kwanzaa and my first real experience with it was through BSU. Coming into college, I experienced a new sense of Black pride. Through Africana classes and organizations like the Black Student Union, I embraced the connectedness of Pan-Africanism and learned more about black culture, social justice, activism, and community service. Each year, the BSU would host a program to teach and celebrate Kwanzaa, and there would always be community members who had personal stories of the Holiday to share. For example Ghana Hylton, who works within Student Services at SHU, has assisted BSU for the past 2 years to facilitate engaging and informative content. Our main goal is not only to teach the history of the holiday but for people, especially those of African descent, to understand why it is relevant to them.
Kwanzaa’s 7 principles are Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). All of these principles are significant to my various roles; health advocate, performing artist, student leader, community member, and the list goes on. Kwanzaa empowers my identity and emphasizes my connection to the world. You might not celebrate Kwanzaa with all of the traditional customs or symbols but celebrating can be as simple as allowing the principles to positively change you, your relationships, and your work. Like many holidays, it’s a time that emphasizes reflection, giving, family, community, and culture.
I would suggest taking a look at BSU’s Instagram page @setonhallbsu. We have uploaded Ghana’s Kwanzaa 101 video and our saved IG Live program from earlier this month. We’ll also continue sharing some more Kwanzaa content.
Kwanzaa will begin on Saturday, December 26, 2020 and end on Friday, January 1, 2021.
Portrait of Monsignor Fahy by John Canfield, untitled publication by the Seton Hall Office of Public Relations, 1976, held the Priest Vertical Files of the Archdiocese of Newark, Box 24
I learned about Monsignor Fahy in the spring semester of 2018. It was at an intergenerational panel discussion at the Walsh Library of former Seton Hall student-activist leaders. The event was organized by the Concerned 44, an activated student group. The panel discussion was a teach-in about the history of protest on Seton Hall’s campus and discussion about the progress of the then student movement. You can follow the Concerned 44 on Instagram. If it weren’t for this panel discussion I would not have learned about President Fahy and I’d still be pronouncing Fahy Hall wrong. As an alumna, I can’t help but be angry that it took this long. I became more interested and invited colleagues into the journey of getting to know Fahy.
Alan Delozier, University Archivist, did the work to uncover the Fahy Inaugural address which is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. The CORE has integrated the speech as a required reading for the Journey of Transformations course. And this article intends to showcase a digital
Monsignor Fahy with the leadership of the Black Studies Program, Newark Star Ledger, April 21, 1975
communal reading of the text as an activist performance practice. The point of the project is to position the text and its ethos as a cultural imprint on our collective memory. To me, Fahy is a white anti-racist abolitionist ancestor who risked and used his power to benefit others. Social justice is a term we’re hearing a lot. What is it? How do you define it? What does it look like? Everyone will have a different answer. I define it as: righting a wrong. If it doesn’t right a wrong, it is not justice. Not only did Fahy leverage his power to right a wrong with some of the most impactful undertakings of Seton Hall’s history but he acknowledged the problem. Often, we rush to solutions without first doing the self interrogation to name the problem. He used this moment, his inaugural address, when everyone was listening and we’re still listening 50 years later.
The video, this collective recitation, brings many voices together for one message. Faculty and students, separate, but together. It carves a lineage. There are protests now as there were 50 years ago. In the streets and on our campus.
Greg Iannarella offers insight into what moved him to gravitate toward one of the most unwavering parts of Fahy’s speech, “This section always felt really powerful to me. The description, the intentional language, invoking real scenes and real communities, conjuring the people! It’s a moment where he turns the gaze outward and challenges the audience to see what is relevant.”
Participants were encouraged to think about their location as a backdrop. These choices offer additional meaning and subtext. Virtual performance lets us become our own set designers. Brooke Duffy presented her portion outside of a new school. “It is a public elementary school in Teaneck that was recently renamed for Theodora Smiley Lacey, a civil rights activist, ‘living legend.’ The NorthJersey.com website describes, ‘it was because of her efforts that Teaneck became the first city in the United States to voluntarily integrate its public schools.’”
Program of Monsignor Fahy’s Inaugural Address, October 14, 1970, from the Priest Vertical Files held by the Archdiocese of Newark, Box 24.
This isn’t the last we’ll hear of Fahy’s address. Jon Radwan describes a new participatory oral history project designed to ensure access, inclusion, and equity in its research process to document and preserve the entirety of this part of the University’s history. “We are confident that the Inaugural Address is only the beginning of learning about Msgr. Fahy’s social justice leadership. Our recent proposal to the New Jersey Council for the Humanities seeks funding for a large scale oral history project. We plan to contact alumni, faculty, and administrators who worked closely with Fahy to record their stories about SHU’s collaboration with Newark activists to launch the Black Studies Center.” To support this project please contact Angela Kariotis and Jon Radwan.
Centering historical figures creates their own mythology. Retrospectives are not without their limitations. But there are so few white allies to look up to for this work. Allies must dig deep, activating themselves, stepping into their consciousness. We can extend the Fahy legacy and course correct. Like 50 years ago, it is a transformative yet fragile time. We must have the will to meet it.
Jacquelyn Deppe is a Special Collections Assistant here at Walsh Library. She works in the Msgr. William Noé Field Archives and Special Collections Center and is a jack of all trades. She works on numerous projects including helping people with their genealogy research, copy-cataloging rare books and publications, processing collections, and does the bulk of the library’s design and social media work, in addition to anything else that comes up!
How long have you been working at the library?
As a full-time employee, I’ve been working in the Archives and Special Collections Center since 2018 (2 years) but technically, I’ve been here since 2014 (6 years) when I started out as a Student Worker.
What was the last book you read that you really enjoyed?
I don’t remember and to be honest, I haven’t picked up a book to read leisurely since I started my Masters of Information program at Rutgers University. Hopefully, that’ll change once I’m finished in January 2021 (fingers crossed and knock on wood) but we’ll see, I have plans to pursue a second Masters from Seton Hall University.
What is the best way to rest / decompress?
Either trail running or going for long difficult hikes up mountains and/or through the woods next to streams, brooks, rivers and/or lakes and ponds that are rather lightly travelled. I have not seen a bear yet even though I have apparently walked right by them. However, I can spot other critters including little bitty lizards munching on crickets!
What is something most people don’t know about you?
I work downstairs.
Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Both! I can wake up a 4am and/or stay up to and well past midnight.
What’s one ingredient you put in everything?
I have a very limited diet due to various food sensitivities (gluten, soy, etc.) but one ingredient I put on almost everything is cheese (even though I’m lactose intolerant)!
