February is not only known for Valentine’s Day, but also for Black History Month. At UW-Madison, the Black Student Union announced their theme for this year was Striking B(l)ack: An Unmatched Legacy in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Black Student Strike.
This year, the Black Cultural Center hosted Angela Rye as their keynote speaker. Angela Rye is a political commentator for diverse media outlets such as MSNBC, NRP, CNN, and BET. Rye isn’t afraid to talk about black activism and civil rights. She serves as the executive director and general counsel to the Congressional Black Caucus. Also, she is on the board of the Congressional Black Caucus Institute.
Angela Rye started off her speech by thanking the MSC, BSU, and the African American community in UW-Madison for allowing her to speak and be here. However, before she continued her speech, she personally turned up the heater, showing that she brings power and action to her words. She talked about black students’ responsibility in a predominantly white university and community. By drawing on examples from the 1969 Black Student Strike and the 13 demands they gave the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as other black activists from the past, Rye inspired her audience.
“Your responsibility is bigger, being part of a predominantly white school,” said Angela Rye. She encouraged students to invest in black businesses and black-owned banks. Also, she told us to continuously demand the rights we deserve and not let our demands to go unheard.
Rye mentioned how clothing lines such as Gucci, H&M, Prada, and Burberry are making products based on blackface. “You can’t respect my dollar if you don’t respect my person,” said Angela. She called on students to withhold their money from corporations that don’t support and treat black people with respect, the same way Dr. Martin Luther King boycotted during the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
She talked about freedom and liberation. She wants black people to break out of the slave mentality and claim our power in the country. “You can’t liberate and save people if you can’t save yourself.” She encouraged the community to use their generational and personal trauma for the greater good.
She mentioned some demands that she encouraged the students to make, such as investing in black-owned banks, diversity in the wealth portfolio, the passing of the HR14, black people on the Fortune 500 list, and single entities having a diversity and inclusion committee.