Iyelli Icheli addressing the crowd
A great panel discussion consist of conversation about the past, present and future. The Black Student Summit: What A Time to Be Alive, was brought to you by the Kinsey Collection sponsored by Toyota.
Florida A&M University hosted the State of The Black Student Summit Thursday. The event provided a platform of six panelist to empower students of the community for a thought provoking panel discussion.
Highlighting the future, acting in the present, and looking forward to the future, the panelist elaborated on Black issues in Black America and how to resolve them.
Curator of the Kinsey Collection Khalil Kinsey; Former FAMU African-American Studies professor Iyelli Icheli, Ph.D.
; Emmy nominated actress Keisha Knight; celebrity publicist, entrepreneur and FAMU graduate Arian Simone; Junior political science and sociology student at FSU Regina Joseph; and FAMU graduate Ronnie Mackie Jr.
The event highlighted relevant topics in the Black community such as Mass Incarceration, the Closing of HBCUs, and Lack of Black Unity.
“It’s important to have panel talks to have constructive discourse on current events and issues that affect us all,” Kinsey said.
Throughout the panel discussion, the panelist formed diverse opinions on what needs to be done within the Black community.
“Having debates and disagreeing is important, being polite gets in the way of the truth,” Icheli said.
To conclude the evening of the State of The Black Student Summit, students were encouraged to ask the panelist questions.
First year Theatre student from Palm Beach, Chelsea Maloney stood up and asked a question regarding the action that needs to be taken within the black community.
“I felt it was a much needed dialogue and I hope it won’t be the end because conversation like this is necessary to have in a HBCU setting, Maloney said.
The objective of a panel talk is to spark interest within people to continue the conversation themselves for a better future.
“It’s more important for black people to hear the truth amongst each other. . . Black lives matter should be an internal dialogue,” Icheli said.
This is not the first State of The Black Student Summit FAMU has hosted and hopefully it will not be the last.