Dr. Michael Eric Dyson speaks during the Black History Month Keynote at The Inn at Ole Miss, Thursday. (DM Photo | Jason Zhang)
An audience of 160 people attended a lecture Thursday evening at the Inn at Ole Miss Ballroom as part of the 2015 UM observance of Black History Month. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, a religious and cultural studies scholar, and university professor currently teaching sociology at Georgetown University delivered the keynote.
Dyson’s research deals with multiple facets of black culture throughout American history, including figures from Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. to Nasir Jones and Tupac Shakur.
Dyson lauded and criticized prominent individuals of the black community in his address from Ice Cube to Barack Obama, while challenging the audience to study and appreciate the richness of black history and culture in America.
When asked after the address about his assertion that criticism is stronger when it comes from a place of respect, Dyson explained his general thoughts on and motivations for critiquing others.
“Words are incredibly important. I try to use them carefully. It’s very important to use them in ways that are edifying and engaging, and sometimes irreverent, but also inspiring and challenging,” Dyson said. “You don’t have to beat up on someone. You don’t have to be nasty, but you want to challenge them.”
Senior pre-medical student Nagee Jones explained before the address why he admired Dyson as an orator.
“Vocabulary. I’m a vocabulary guy. This guy encouraged me to consider words because of their power,” Jones said.
When asked about the power of words, Dyson gave his perspective as a professor, orator and minister.
“Words are the tool of our trade,” he said. “They are the means by which we inform, inspire, incite and anger. A man did walk out tonight.”
During a section of the lecture about females in the black community, an audience member led his family out of the auditorium while exchanging short words with Dyson.
“I really liked that he talked about not only African-Americans, but other issues such as homophobia in the black community and throughout the country and just the idea of civil rights for all people,” said Shawnboda Mead, director of the Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement.
Dyson also thoroughly analyzed music in black culture and the common themes in blues, hip-hop, and even earlier forms. Dyson used verses from songs by Snoop Dogg, N.W.A., and other hip-hop artists as rhetorical devices in his lecture and has literarily analyzed several hip-hop works throughout his career, including Nas’ album, “Illmatic.”
“He’s allowing the academics to connect with and see the genius in hip-hop,” Jones said.
Following the lecture, Dyson reflected on the significance of Mississippi in the national struggle for black self-determination.
“Mississippi’s almost become a part of the vocabulary of racist oppression and racial resistance,” Dyson said.
“We think about this place in the starkest, most bleak terms imaginable, but on the other hand, when you think about the incredible fertility of blackness and upward mobility of black people, it makes a difference for people here today to understand that progress.”
Drew Jansen
