Unity Breakfast Sparks Discussion About Race On Campus

“Being a better man, and just being a more diverse man” 

- Destin Henderson, Troy Student

Following Martin Luther King Jr. Day last month, February is Black History Month.

For many, the month is a time for reflection on civil rights issues in the United Sates, but for others the month is a time of evaluation, or a look at how to address unification moving forward. 

Troy University student leaders, administrators, faculty and staff members of varying backgrounds come together on Saturday Feb. 9 for an Inaugural Martin Luther King Day Male Unity Breakfast.

The breakfast included an opening prayer by the Student Government Association Vice President of Campus Activities Morgan Long and Board of Trustees member Lamar Higgins as the main speaker.

The group broke bread, rather literally with biscuits, to create a dialogue about how to best unify students of differing demographics. 

“Things are never going to change unless you take action, and one of the biggest things you can do is get people from different races, different cultures in one room and just talk about how to move forward toge

ther,” Braxton Daniels, a freshman forum delegate and exercise science pre-health major from Greenville Alabama, said.

In five groups, the men facilitated discussion on race by discussing the campus dynamics of NPHC and IFC fraternities, international students, clubs and athletic teams. 

“My biggest take away was to step out of my comfort zone, and you know, meet people I don’t usually speak to, or who don’t look like me, or who don’t have the same beliefs as me,” Destin Henderson, a sophomore global business marketing major from Dothan, Alabama, said. 

“It was very effective, I really loved it,” Henderson said, adding that “this really changed my perspective and views on a lot of things”

“Being a better man, and just being a more diverse man,” was something Henderson said the breakfast helped him realize.