The Black Leadership and Opportunity Center celebrated its seventh year at San José State University on Friday, where students and staff took time to reflect on the resource center and its role on campus.
The Black Leadership and Opportunity Center, also known as the BLOC, seeks to uplift and empower students and encourage a positive sense of Black identity, according to an SJSU webpage.
The resource center also offers academic and social support such as tutoring, scholarships and job opportunities, according to the center’s resource page.
Second-year film student Kelechi Maduako was one of the students in attendance who decided to come out and celebrate this moment with the center.
“What brought me to the BLOC for the seventh anniversary was the achievement that they have,” Maduako said. “The that goal for the seventh year and I love to see that continue to grow.”
Only 3.3% of the student population at SJSU is Black, making them one of the smallest demographics on campus, according to a webpage from the university.
“Some of the Black kids on campus, they may not know where the BLOC is,” Maduako said. “That’s why I try to tell them where the BLOC is because, I don’t know if they think they have a whole space for their community, but they do.”
Abdul-Azim Omolola, a peer mentor for the BLOC, gave thanks to the program director of the resource center, MyShaundriss Watkins for making the celebration possible.
Watkins recently took the role after the former program director Emerald Green left SJSU last year, according to a post from the BLOC’s Instagram page.
“Seeing the BLOC grow is beautiful because I am also getting to see her grow as a leader (and) see the adaptations she’s made over the year, all the great things that she’s doing (and) all the sacrifices she makes to make sure things like this happen,” Omolola said.
The third-year business accounting student also brought up the importance of having a space like the BLOC on campus.
“It’s really important to have centers like this (because) there’s a lot of experiences that you won’t understand unless you are a Black student,” Omolola said. “The BLOC isn’t just a place (where) you can go and hang out; it’s really a resource center.”
Also among the crowd on Friday was SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson, who talked with students and celebrated the BLOC with them.
“There’s so much that has blossomed from the center’s existence,” Teniente-Matson said. “So I’m delighted to be here to celebrate their birthday because it's a symbol of progress in this very challenging time.”
Even though the center is a space predominantly for Black people, the BLOC welcomes all SJSU students, looking past race, color and origin as stated on the campus resource webpage.
“We are welcoming (and) we let anybody in,” Omolola said. “People are people (and) obviously there’ll be experiences that maybe we all have that you may not be able to relate to; I know it can be nerve-wracking when you get in here at first, but after 20 minutes or so, you’ll start to feel the love.”
While Friday was a celebratory day for the BLOC, United States President Donald Trump began to expedite efforts to undermine diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts on a federal level according to an article from the Hill.
The efforts in turn could threaten race-based organizations and centers on college campuses like the BLOC. Despite the threat, students are not letting it stop them from enjoying the BLOC and celebrating its history at SJSU.
“To those students and to anybody else that is feeling discouraged by that, I will say that there's no need to panic until there's a need to panic,” Omolola said. “You can take away everything from a certain group of people, but you can't take away the people from each other.”
