Ryan Sorrell, ’17, is a marketing and urban studies student at Loyola University Chicago. Aside from being an avid student, the Missouri native is also very involved with minority and black organizations on campus. Sorrell is one of the original founders of the Chicagoland Coalition for Minority Advancement (CCMA) here at Loyola. He also is the creator of the The Black Tribune Media group, which just recently launched this month. I sat down with Sorrell to learn a little more about these student organizations and to see what is up and coming for The Black Tribune.
Her Campus LUC: How did you become so involved in student minority organizations like CCMA on campus?
Ryan Sorrell: It started my freshman year; I was just a normal freshman trying to figure out how I could get involved on campus. I was really active in all kinds of organizations in high school I played basketball, was in orchestra, and was on the debate team but I never was a part of an activist organization. When I came here I wanted to start my own organization, so some of my friends and I started meeting up in Denobili my freshman year and we would just talk about political issues and situations that affect African American individuals. Initially it was going to be a black organization but then we decided we were going to make it a minority organization. So that is how the idea for CCMA came about and last year we became a registered organization on campus so this is our second semester as an official organization on campus.
HC LUC: You also just recently launched a media group called The Black Tribune, where did that idea come from?
RS: Well actually I was going to sleep one night and in my dream I talked to Frederick Douglass. I had this vision that black communities and minority communities had to have an alternative media because mainstream media doesn’t really serve justice to minorities and all the issues that encompass being a minority. I collaborated with a lot of people that are already activist and social justice oriented, so this definitely isn’t something I came up with by myself, I bounced a lot of ideas to figure out what exactly this was going to be.
HC LUC: For those who don’t know what The Black Tribune is can you explain it, and what the core objective is?
RS: The Black Tribune Media is a multimedia company, not just a publication. It is not just going to be an online publication, there are going to be physical copies as well as news segments and entertainment. My overall vision is to create a media company that accurately represents minorities and brings the profit that minorities create back into minority communities. As well as highlighting not only minority issues but also minority achievements.
HC LUC: What are ways for other students on campus to get involved?
RS: There are three different approaches you can take depending on how involved you want to be or your experience in social justice. Number one if you’re not comfortable being a part of something that is social justice oriented you can start off by sharing or liking things on Facebook or social media. If you do cross that line you have two options. If you are an ethnic minority you can submit pieces to us or send in topics that you would like to be covered by The Black Tribune at our email address theblacktribune@gmail.com. The third way you can get involved if you’re not a minority is to fully embrace the ways you can be an ally in the black and minority liberation movement. There’s a number of ways you can do that by writing for us in the news section or an opinion piece on ally-ship.