Recently, I heard a few rumors that some students considered the Black Awareness Society of Education Club, otherwise known as BASE, as a club that “bashes white people.” But this simply isn’t true.

First, the ‘A’ in BASE stands for awareness. So, the goal of the club is to make everyone aware of the different issues that we as a black culture face daily. At Mercy this is one outlet we use to discuss the issues regarding the different aspects of race relations. BASE is where everyone can go to express how they feel regardless of their skin color.

One of the principle rules of BASE is respect. Everyone’s opinion, no matter what it may be, is to be respected at a meeting. No one is allowed to bring up a situation involving a current Mercy student. If we sat around for an hour every two weeks gossiping and critiquing white people, our club would be considered racist.

This school year I have tried extremely hard to diversify BASE, and break the stereotype of it being the “black people club.” I want everyone to understand that BASE is a safe place for anyone to come and voice their opinion free of judgment because that’s the point of the word diversity in general. Members of BASE, both black and white, frequently share experiences concerning race relations.

It would be a lie for me to say that someone has not tried to blame a certain situation on a specific race during a meeting. However, this is usually not the case. Members of BASE stay as objective as possible and make it a point to discuss all sides of an issue. Like I said before, we value everyone’s opinion.

So come to a meeting and listen in, or voice your own opinions.