The Roots of Resilience and Reconciliation was the theme for this year’s bi-annual Men of Color Enquiry and Student Poster Session, which was hosted by CSUN’s Africana Studies program.

The event was also co-sponsored by the DuBois-Hamer Institute for Academic Achievement, Associated Students, and Instructionally Related Activities along with Black Man in Contemporary Times Course.

Student groups presented posters on their work in regards to the issues black men and women face in America.

Topics included Beats, Rhymes, Life: Music and the African American Male Identity, Black Men’s Media Representation in Film and Fiction Writing and the Black Male, Mental Health and Suicide, among others.

Along with the posters, there were a set of student speakers who presented passionate speeches about what they believe is important in the black community.

Students took the opportunity to tackle a number of issues including how the Africana Studies department helped their lives and one student, who wore a Colin Kapernick jersey, recited a poem he had written for the NFL player.

Serving as special guest speaker for the event was co-founder of the Village Nations, Fluke Fluker. Fluker spoke about his struggles as a dyslexic black male in the projects of Brooklyn.

The Village of Nations website says their mission is “to boost the capacity of caring adult mentors and support them in creating culturally responsive learning environments that engage and inspire African American youth and encourage them to embrace their natural intelligence and leadership capabilities.”

The CSUN alumni started the Village Nations while teaching at Cleveland High School in Los Angeles in 2003.