Black Student Union Hosts Discussion on Colorism

By Blue Mohr

At a discussion about colorism and racism on Wednesday, held by Trinity’s Black Student Union, students came to the consensus that colorism is almost worse than racism.

The meeting was the last event of the group’s Mocha Month, a month long celebration of blackness and black students.

At the discussion, students pointed out that colorism is stereotyping, distinct from racism. It focuses on skin color, regarding lighter skin colors as more preferable than darker colors. Colorism is especially an issue within the black communities, whereas racism comes from outside these communities and is based on race as a whole, rather than just skin tone.

College Students Spending Spring Break Exploring Social Injustice and Racial Reconciliation

SAUP students in the Fellowship Hall
Photos by Nancy Li

By Nancy Li

More than 100 college students from around Texas and beyond spent their Spring Break living in Highland Terrace Outreach Center, a church on the Southeast side of San Antonio, to learn about social justice issues in the context of the Christian gospel. One of these issues, racism, emotionally touched many.

“Race has been used to devalue people in the name of God,” Ryan Cook, a staff volunteer with the San Antonio Urban Project (SAUP) and a Trinity University alumnus, told 130 college students from Texas Women’s University, Texas Southern University, University of Oklahoma, Trinity University and other colleges on March 12, the first day of a seven-day missions project.

Cook shared his personal stories as a black man, including people telling him how he spoke well for a black man or when one of his coworkers looked at him and said that he could act out Ben Carson in a skit held among colleagues.

Town Hall Discusses Racial Climate on Campus

By Nipuni Gomes

About 30 students attend the town hall on

Wednesday evening 

Photos by Nipuni Gomes 

Students called for more diversity education and mingling of different ethnic groups on campus in a town hall held last evening to discuss the racial climate at Trinity University.

The Trinity Progressives, a student organization advocating progressive thought and student activism, hosted the meeting at the Bell Center dance studio.

About 30 students attended the meeting, sitting on blankets spread around the floor and snacking on guacamole and oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies. In such a relaxing environment, students felt comfortable opening up.