Chatter and the warm smell of soul food filled Sonoma State’s HUB Cultural Center on Thursday as students, faculty and school officials gathered to kick off their celebration of Black History Month.
The event was well-attended, with about 40 students filling seats and spilling into the hallway of the student union’s second floor. After listening to speakers, they enjoyed cornbread, green beans, fried chicken and mac and cheese provided by Red Rose Catering, a Santa Rosa Black-owned business.
One of the speakers, Patrick Johnson, an assistant professor in American Multicultural Studies, spoke to the students about the theme of this year’s celebrations: “Black Art: For Us By Us.”
He started his speech by saying one of his favorite wind-down activities is listening to R&B music as he walks the aisles of Trader Joe’s, a confession that received a lot of laughter and applause from the crowd.
Johnson, who is a favorite of many students in the room, teaches a class on the history of blackface in film, a deep and heavy topic that he said is incredibly important to teach, but extremely unpleasant for him to talk or even think about.