On Nov. 22, 2010, The Daily Campus published an article entitled “Black, African, or African American?” about the African Students Association (ASA), an organization new to the SMU community.  

For clarification and understanding, we, the Association of Black Students and African Students Association, have provided the following corrections and statements to the original article:

There are actually 53 countries in Africa, not 28, as quoted in the article. The Association of Black Students consists of a general membership, as well as the sub-organizations of: Black Men Emerging, the National Association of Black Accountants, the National Society of Black Engineers, Sisters Supporting Sisters and Voices of Inspiration Gospel Choir. ASA currently operates as one of these sub-organizations. All of these organizations fall under the umbrella and are unified by ABS; we are one body at SMU.

ASA is an educational organization, which exists to form links between African students at SMU, the Dallas community at large and similar organizations on other college campuses; to create a medium for African students and students interested in the culture and study of Africa to interact; to keep the SMU community informed about developments in Africa, as well as encourage and enhance awareness about African culture, values and issues; and to advocate the rights of African students at SMU. Both ABS and ASA accept members regardless of ethnicity.

The other part of the article discussed the issue of identity, being Black, African or African-American. As Traver showed in the article, many people have different opinions on the issue. This is an intriguing and interesting issue; however there is no right or wrong, black or white, definition to this question, largely because race is socially constructed.

Pat Traver has been involved with the Association of Black Students for a year and a half and has worked diligently to provide a voice for our community. We would like to thank The Daily Campus for publishing an article about our community, as well as progressively highlighting minority groups on campus.

Courtney L. Kelly is a junior civil engineering and math double major. She is also the president of the Association of Black Students. Kelly can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].