Human Rights Day and the International Print Portfolio: Artists Expression of Universal Human Rights

African American Cultural Center along with the African Student Union hosted the opening reception of the International Print Portfolio: Artists’ Expressions of Universal Human Rights on Thursday, November 13, 2008. This reception was held in the Washington Sankofa room of the African American Cultural Center. The Human Rights exhibition will be on display from November 10 through December 5.

During the reception, students in the African Student Union performed a variety of dances. These dances incorporated modern music along with African beats. Lucy Muhirwa, a junior in biochemistry, recited an original poem entitled “I Choose.” This poem challenged everyone, faculty and students, to make the right choices in life because they will not only affect us individually, but also as a community. During her performance she asked the crowd to stand to their feet and recite “Choice is my right and my right is choice.”

Along with the performances there were a variety of foods from different places in Africa. Toni Thorpe, program coordinator for the African American Cultural Center, gave a brief description of each of the different kinds of food and what part of the country they came from, such as West Africa, Ethiopia, and the cake, “Well, that’s good ole American cake,” said Ms. Thorpe, as the crowd responded in laughter.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of International Human Rights Day. N.C. State will commemorate this event in several ways. Chancellor Oblinger will sign a proclamation declaring December 10th as Human Rights Day at N.C. State. This proclamation will be presented at half time of the Miami football game on November 29th by Dr. Jose Picart, who is the vice provost of Diversity and Inclusion. This presentation will be made to Jay Dawkins, student body president and junior in civil engineering and to professor Slater Newman, who represents the Human Rights Coalition of North Carolina.

To gain further information at the Human Rights Day at NC State you can visit the website at: http://www.ncsu.edu/diversity/HumanRightsDay2008.php