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Souljah calls for activism
By Joe Nguyen
nguyejos@mscd.edu

Photo by Jason Small • jsmall4@mscd.edu Sister Souljah attended a buffet lunch in her honor before speaking to a group of students on Sept. 7 in the Tivoli Turnhalle. Souljah asked that all photographers leave the venue before her speech.

Lisa Williamson, better known as Sister Souljah, discussed the power of activism and the responsibility black college students have in today’s society Sept. 7 in the Tivoli Turnhalle.

The outspoken activist shared her experiences as a student from Rutgers University, from working in campus organizations to traveling the globe.

She urged those in attendance to take charge and participate in clubs because college is the perfect time to do so.

“College is an opportunity for you to do something different,” she said. “And when I say something different, I mean something meaningful. To not just become just like everybody else. To not just follow whatever the policy is, to become a policy-maker.”

She said she understands the difficulty college students face in order to help their community.

“To not be selfish is an incredible battle for you to have on a collegiate level,” she said. “Because you’re born in America where individualism is what they teach you.”

She continued by saying college is an opportunity and those who earn it have a responsibility.

She criticized black college students who call one another derogatory terms.

“Now you got the black college guys calling the girls ‘bitches,’ the black college girls calling themselves ‘bitches’ and calling the guys ‘niggers,’” she said. “So now you have a campus full of ‘niggers’ and ‘bitches’ who are supposed to be the problem solvers, the crème de la crème, the intellectuals, the top 10 percent of African people who are supposed to be representing the world.”

She disapproved of black female college students who lack sexual morality.

“A dog is an animal that enters a room, smells something it likes, sees something that it likes, runs over and humps it,” she said. “That’s what you did, thus earning your title: bitch.”

She said Harriet Tubman is the definition of womanhood because she went back to rescue those who were still enslaved, even after she reached her own freedom.

Williamson went on to condemn scantily clad black women featured in the media.

“Some big booty girl with a thong on and her thighs wrapped around a pole is your hero,” she said. “Your leader is some high school dropout with pasties on her titties who acts hard because she went to jail.”

“Your initial understanding of womanhood was shaped by someone who was retarded in their womanhood.”

Williamson questions the public perception of black women in today’s society.

“How did we become the mothers of civilization … to becoming the ‘bitches’ and ‘sluts’ and ‘skeezes’ and ‘hos’ and all the names that we are called routinely in our cultural fabric through music and films and our social interaction with each other?” she asked.

She finished by encouraging the female students to aspire to be different from the status quo and to strive for excellence.

“I’m here to inspire you to be different,” she said. “Different than the norm, different than what they teach you, different because no professor is going to pull you aside and tell you that you’re not fulfilling the standard of your womanhood.”