To celebrate the last day of Black History Month, Binghamton University’s Black Student Union brought actor, author and activist Hill Harper to campus as its keynote speaker.
Harper gave a motivational speech followed by a discussion and a book signing.
Harper is best known for his role as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on the popular television show “CSI: NY.” He has also written four books and is the creator of the Manifest Your Destiny Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to empower the nation’s youth.
BSU chooses a speaker every year to commemorate the end of Black History Month. Gilbert Arias, vice president of BSU and a senior majoring in sociology, said Harper was chosen as this year’s keynote speaker because he is a positive leader in the African-American community whose acting appeals to a broad audience.
“As tradition we like to end our month with our biggest event of the month and some inspirational words from our speaker to uplift and motivate the students of color and all students on campus,” Arias wrote in an email.
BSU, according to Arias, has been fundraising to bring Harper to campus since the beginning of the fall semester. In planning the event, BSU worked closely with the Multicultural Resource Center and Greek Life adviser Sunni Solomon, while other on-campus groups helped fundraise.
The event was open to the public and attended by more than 300 people.
Jodeily Antigua, a senior double-majoring in sociology and Latin American and Caribbean Area studies, said she went to support BSU.
“I feel like a lot of events for multicultural groups and minorities are smaller, and this is a pretty big event,” Antigua said. “This is my opportunity to show my support.”
Others said they were excited to see Harper.
“I love him from ‘CSI: NY,’” said Emese Rejto, a junior majoring in biology.
Harper’s speech encouraged listeners to “become active architects” in their lives. He explained his five stages of building a goal and seeing it through to completion.
Harper said the first stage is blueprinting, or developing a solid plan for a goal, something many people neglect to do.
“We actually ask more specificity from the architect building our house than we ask of ourselves when we build our own lives,” Harper said.
The second stage, according to Harper, is breaking ground, or approaching a goal with passion, energy, reason and courage. The third stage is building a foundation that is directly proportional to the size and scope of the goal, such as getting the appropriate education to support a future career.
“If architects don’t dig deep into the ground, the foundation won’t support the building,” Harper said. “If we don’t [support our goals], we are back to the lotto mentality of wishing and hoping.”
The fourth stage of becoming an active architect is building a framework that holds and supports the structure, which, according to Harper, means making good choices. Harper’s fifth and final stage is creating doors, which are essential for a structure to fulfill its purpose.
“If folks can’t get in, it doesn’t work,” he said. “We need new ideas and creativity, and new people to enter our lives. The mistake that a lot of us make is to stay within our circle and keep the same kind of information. That’s why doors are critical.”
Harper also expressed the importance of having dreams that may seem unrealistic, such as the “ridiculous” dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or Barack Obama’s goal to run for president.
“If you’ve expressed a goal or a dream that someone doesn’t actually laugh in your face about, it’s not big enough,” Harper said.
Shannon Thompson, a junior majoring in psychology, said Harper’s speech was motivational.
“I thought it was great,” Thompson said. “I thought he answered a lot of questions that many students have by talking about how he achieved his goals. It was inspirational.”
Arias said that Harper’s speech was “the icing on the cake” to a successful Black History Month.
“Overall, it was nothing but success for our organization during Black History Month and we appreciate all of our supporters for helping us making this month successful and memorable to Binghamton’s campus,” Arias said.