Message to the Campus

From: President Claudia Schrader
Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Dear College Community,

Today marks the beginning of our month-long celebration of the achievements of African-Americans and their role in the history and current fabric of the United States.  We celebrate these achievements because we know that the road for African-Americans has been a long one filled with many adversities.  From the shores of Africa and the start of the slave trade, there have been many rivers to cross: slavery, colonialism, Black Codes, Jim Crow, segregation, discrimination, and the vicissitudes of structural racism that continue to exist in all facets of society.   You need only turn on the news and for many take a walk in their communities to know that there are still more rivers to cross. But in the words of Maya Angelou, still we rise.

While we will celebrate Black History this month, the time is always right to celebrate our rise; remember our call to inspire our African American students to see and act on their greatness; and work together to address the issues that prevent them from rising to not only reach for, but hold tight to the American Dream.  

Thank you to the Black History Committee (Helen Nasser, Pittershawn Palmer, Gerald Huggins, Nadine Browne, Elroy Esdaille, Luz Martin Del Campo, Arturo Enamerado III, Alita Maristany, Paul LaFortune, Cynthia Despinasse, Jason Legget, Melissa Merced, Lydia Chais, Afealliah Asraman, and Narda Khan ) for their work in developing our Black History Month events and programming calendar.

You can check out the KCC Black History Month 2023 Event Listing here:

https://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/BHM/index.html

And my own contribution to this month’s celebration (Motherland a Photo Exhibition) in the Student Union and Intercultural Center breezeway.

Claudia V. Schrader, Ed.D.

President