The Florida A&M University judicial branch of the Student Government Association held a presentation of topics on the African-American community Monday.
The presentation was a chance for students to vote and debate on pertinent topics within African-American culture.
Students from different majors came out to discuss topics such as the State of African American women, voting, police interactions and even the media.
Students like Ronnie Mackey Jr., a senior Broadcast Journalism student from Tallahassee, Fla., stood up and made comments comparing the movie Selma with the recent events in Ferguson.
“In 50 years there’s going to be a movie called Ferguson,” Mackey Jr. said. “The movie might not even be portrayed how we feel it should be portrayed.”
The students were presented with the topic of discussion then votes were casted directly after, in order to see the thoughts, before swayed by the debates.
After the initial vote, students were allowed time to debate the topic before casting a vote seeing if students believed the black leaders of the past would be proud of todays efforts within the African-American community.
Out of the topics discussed, only twice did the students vote that the black leaders of the past be proud.
Students such as Tiffany Brown, a second year Accounting student from Atlanta, Ga., said social media has played a significant part when comes to raising awareness in the community.
“When things were going on in Ferguson I was able to see firsthand a lot of leaders come up,” Brown said. “You see a new style of leadership with this generation.”
According to Brandon Johnson, a first year Political Science student from Gainesville, Fla., the black leaders from the past would not be proud of this generation.
“In this generation we become stagnant,” Johnson said. “But if we keep moving and pushing they would be proud because we show the same resiliency as they did.”
Students from the campus in Crestview also had a chance to have their voices heard, chiming in their views via Skype.
The event ended with a raffle, with the winners winning posters of different black leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Maya Angelou.