2023 Black History Month: Forward

Begins with Black History Month Chapel on Thursday, Feb. 2

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl,
but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dear friends,

The Black History Month Planning Committee is excited to engage both Andrews University and our entire surrounding Berrien Springs community in a month-long recognition and celebration of the struggles, triumphs and contributions of African Americans and the people of the African diaspora throughout the United States.

Our theme for 2023 is “Forward.”

As I consider our theme for this Black History Celebration month, I can’t help but be struck by recent painful attempts to move our people backward. Those include debates happening in some areas of this country about whether or not African American history has significant educational value. In those places, our very act of having this celebration would be attacked and questioned.

However, in spite of the misguided voices that would suggest that we go back, we are called to move forward.

Also, this past week, our nation has been rocked once again by the video of the grotesque killing of Tyre Nichols at the hands of officers from the Memphis Police Department. At this time, seven police officers have been relieved of their duties in connection with Nichols’ killing—and five of them are facing departmental and criminal charges. It is hard to find words that have not already been shared in the wake of the killing of an unarmed Black person at the hands of police officers. I do believe that it is worth acknowledging the collective anger, pain and sorrow that many are feeling as they try once again to make sense of that which is senseless.

Again, in the face of this sobering tragedy that would somehow suggest that we are taking steps backward in the fight toward liberty and justice for all, we are called to move forward.

In light of our shared calling to move forward, we are left to beg an important question: how?

To help wrestle with those questions in community, we are excited to go on a collective journey this month. It is our hope that we will all move closer to that answer both individually and collectively as we learn, worship and celebrate together.

While you can find a complete schedule of events here, there are a few exciting events I wish to highlight:

Our main celebration weekend will take place Feb. 2–4, starting with Black History Month Chapel at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 2, in Pioneer Memorial Church. Our speaker for that chapel is Garrison Hayes, who is an award-winning diversity, equity and inclusion professional, storyteller, and content creator for his digital community of over 260,000 followers. Garrison is also an alum of Andrews University, earning his Master of Divinity in 2018 from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary.

Our speaker for the rest of the celebration weekend will be Edsel Cadet. Pastor Cadet serves as the lead pastor of the Berea Adventist Church in Boston, Massachusetts. He also earned his Master of Divinity, graduating in 2013 from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary. While studying at the Seminary, Cadet also served as the administrative pastor of New Life Fellowship.

Here are some additional highlights of the upcoming weekend:

• Impact Vespers will take place on Friday, Feb. 3, at 8 p.m. in Pioneer Memorial Church.
• New Life Fellowship will take place on Sabbath, Feb. 4, at 11:45 a.m. in the Howard Performing Arts Center. A luncheon will be provided at the Hoilette Commons in the Andreasen Center for Wellness immediately following the worship service. Luncheon tickets for up to 200 students will be available at the Howard Performing Arts Center before and after the New Life Fellowship worship service.

Later in the month, on Thursday, Feb. 9, Michael Emerson will be our speaker for University Chapel at 11:30 a.m. in Pioneer Memorial Church.

Emerson is a professor and chair of the sociology department at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He is also one of the foremost scholars on race and religion and co-authored the groundbreaking “Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America” (2000). He will be presenting findings from his latest research, conducted alongside Glenn Bracey of Villanova University. That research will appear in his forthcoming book “The Grand Betrayal: The Agonizing Story of Race, Religion, and Rejection in American Life” (2023). This research represents the most comprehensive study of race and religion ever conducted in the U.S. and is funded by the Lilly Endowment.

Once again, I hope you’ll join us for as many of these important events as you can. You can find the full slate of Black History Month events here.

We look forward to celebrating with you throughout the month!

Forward with Christ,

Michael Nixon
Vice President for University Culture & Inclusion