The UNA National Association for the Advancement of Colored People kickstarted the year with its first big event: the Color Barrier Forum.

Many issues within the black community were discussed, such as stereotyping, different shades of color and how the media skews the appearance of black people.        

The black community deals with these issues every day, said president of the UNA NAACP Destiny Battles.

“The purpose of this forum was to make people understand why issues such as stereotyping are a problem and how it affects people,” Battles said. “We’re hurting our own (black) people by saying these things.”     

This is not only a local issue but one that is widespread, she said.      

“This issue of light versus dark-skinned people is so prevalent in the media,” she said. “We as a black community need to realize this is a problem, understand the issue and work together towards killing the issue.”   

The event began started with the officers assigning the audience members seats in a “U” shaped circle. 

Next, the officers handed every audience member a piece of paper to answer the following questions: What is your shade? What shade do you date? Why?        

Skin color should not matter, said Ryan Henderson.

“Personally I believe the darker you are the closer you are to your roots, but in the end color doesn’t matter — it should matter what you do with your life,” Henderson said.

Rachel Gandy, an audience participant, acknowledged the issue of skin color and said it all boils down to accepting yourself.

“You have to love yourself. It’s all about accepting yourself and finding your own self-confidence,” she said.  

Many stereotypes were addressed by forum goers that had a personal story. A few pointed out were: dark skinned guys are better athletes, all light-skinned girls are pretty, dark-skinned guys are the villains in the movies and light-skinned women cannot cook.

“The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination,” reads the organizations website.

UNA student Indigo Fort said the black community sometimes fuels these stereotypes without even realizing it.

“When we laugh at these stereotypes, we are only encouraging it,” she said.       

Jay Diggins said she has a totally different perspective on stereotypes.  

“I don’t bring that stuff up on social media,” she said. “Stereotypes are stupid, it’s all about being educated and knowing your history, which makes it less funny.

The UNA NAACP will travel to a state convention October 11-12 in Talledega, Ala. They will attend a Women’s NAACP breakfast, listen to speakers at a youth luncheon and have meetings to discuss chapter requirements.     

The next meeting will be held at 6 p.m. October 14 in room 207 of the GUC.