Kip Bordelon at KUA - Black Lives Matter
On the evening of Friday, September 3, Kip Bordelon of the Picardy Group addressed the KUA community in the Flickinger Arts Center auditorium. Inspired by a passion for American history, law, and their effects on human rights today, Mr. Bordelon’s career has been devoted to implementing federal acquisition policy through work with the United States General Services Administration. Accompanied by his nine-year-old son Asa, Kip broke the ice by demonstrating his love for 90’s hip-hop music with a dance routine that included ‘The Running Man’ and left the audience cheering.
Kip’s keynote speech centered on the theme of the past informing our present day and future realties. After shedding light on several sobering historic pieces of legislation, Kip drew comparisons to modern-day inequalities in sentencing that reinforce poor race relations today. Kip’s message resonated with Willa ’20, who asked “One guy gets 11 years for vandalizing a police car and another guy gets off for rape or something worse? It made me wonder, why? I don’t get how people think that is fair.”
In preparation for group discussions on Saturday, Kip met with student leaders after the talk in the Coffin Meeting Room. They engaged every student in their groups and encouraged everyone to appreciate their own beliefs, while staying aware of facts and irrefutable details. Kip expressed to the community that, while open and honest conversations may initially be uncomfortable, the resulting progress is worth the effort. Trevor ’18 believed the talk “forced people who were outside of that Black Lives Matter movement to experience how it effects other people in our everyday lives. It forced people who have heard the term Black Lives Matter to take a really sobering look at what it means to live it first hand.”
On Saturday morning, Kip visited classes to lead further discussions. Before spreading into groups throughout campus, the entire community reconvened in Flick to decompress and enjoy another dance break. In their groups, students and faculty were asked to identify and make note of positive and negative personality traits that they felt described how other people saw them. They were then asked to trade attributes for others with which they identified. Many quickly realized that others could easily interpret negative traits as positive, and that it could be difficult to trade away undesirable qualities.
“I think this activity shows us that once you've been branded or labeled by other people it is hard to escape that negative stereotype.” – Christine Clisura, Faculty
“It made me realize that even though people sometimes make mistakes and say something that is racist, it is important to educate them and not label them. I’m okay when people make mistakes because it gives bystanders the chance to educate them, to hear it and say, that’s not okay.” – Olivia ‘20
The groups then engaged in an open discussion on our All School Read, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ award-winning novel, Between the World and Me. Students and faculty explored questions around race and civil rights, addressing topics from the book as well as current news that emerged this summer in the United States. ‘It was really interesting to see what the rest of the community thought about the book and not just my friends,” remarked Gracie ’20.
Kimball Union offers heartfelt thanks to Mr. Bordelon for engaging our students and faculty in such meaningful conversations. The KUA community is looking forward to continuing the discussion during the rest of the school year.
The groups then engaged in an open discussion on our All School Read, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ award-winning novel, Between the World and Me. Students and faculty explored questions around race and civil rights, addressing topics from the book as well as current news that emerged this summer in the United States. ‘It was really interesting to see what the rest of the community thought about the book and not just my friends,” remarked Gracie ’20.
Kimball Union offers heartfelt thanks to Mr. Bordelon for engaging our students and faculty in such meaningful conversations. The KUA community is looking forward to continuing the discussion during the rest of the school year.
