Journalist Soledad O'Brien visits Ohio University

Soledad O'Brien speaking to the crowd
Photo by Yi-Ke Peng for Ohio University

Arielle J. Patterson

Hundreds of students, alumni, faculty and eager listeners filled Baker Center Ballroom on Thursday, Feb. 20. It was not orientation nor was it a concert. Award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien was in Athens, Ohio as part of her Black in America tour.

The first part of the event was a lecture from O’Brien. O’Brien showed clips from her talked-about series “Black in America” and discussed some of the challenges she faced while doing the series.

O’Brien took the audience on a journey discussing race in America starting from the election of then senator Barack Obama. O’Brien touched on recent events such as the shooting and death of Trayvon Martin and NFL player Richard Sherman’s rant after the NFC Championship. When discussing Sherman, O’Brien showed screen shots that people had tweeted calling Sherman racist phrases such as “porch monkey” and even the N-word.

“When it comes to equality and acceptance, it’s all about opening up a conversation and keeping it open,” said O’Brien. There was a diverse crowd last night. Not just race/ethnicity but age and gender as well. O’Brien’s words resonated to everyone in the audience and reminded people that ignorance is not dead and something has to be done about that.

The discussion panel
Photo by Yi-Ke Peng for Ohio University

The second half of the event was a discussion panel led by O’Brien. The panel was comprised of Arthur Cromwell, associate professor in the School of Media Arts & Studies, and two Ohio University students Seaira Christian-Daniels and Tessa Scott.

O’Brien asked questions about the issue of race on campus. “There’s a discussion (about race), but it’s not happening as often as it needs to in the context that it needs to,” Christian-Daniels said.

The group later took questions from the audience. One audience member raised his hand and asked O’Brien, a biracial American, what she puts her race as on the census. That question struck a chord with the audience and got a vocal reaction. O’Brien’s mother is a black Cuban and her father is white and from Australia. O’Brien proudly said that she has never identified herself as just white.

“My mother used to tell me ‘don’t ever forget that you are black and you are Latina,’” O’Brien said.

After the event, people walked out with a different idea of what race in America is and how acceptance needs to be achieved.

Scripps College of Communication Dean Scott Titsworth was more than pleased with the turnout. “We can’t move forward unless we help each other,” Titsworth said.