The Black Leadership Collective had quite the turnout for its welcoming party with The Euphrat Museum lobby flooded with almost 50 people, a 12-foot-long table flooded with all sorts of snacks for students, and sounds of laughter and hip-hop music filling the air.

The Black Leadership Collective, one of De Anza’s newer clubs on campus, was formed for the purpose of making social injustices facing American society better known.

Walking into the welcoming party, you would not guess that many of these students had just met for the first time. Students of various ethnicities, religions and genders joined together for one cause: social justice.

Kimberly Radford, 20, social and behavioral science major, is one of the BLC’s many leaders. She said the most important thing the BLC has done is “educate people and let them know what they can do to change” [the issue of social injustice].

Radford says that many students are not informed on today’s inequality issues, thinking that tproblems prevailed only in the past, but Radford makes it clear that inequality issues “are still happening” and prevalent in just about every facet of society.

For Radford personally, the club has become like a second family. [club members] “help me broaden my knowledge on things happening in society,” she said. “I can just let my opinions flow about things that are going on with no judgement.”

For Mouna Daahir,  18, psychology major, the club gives her a place to share her input on the social issues she finds most important, like unequal education.

Daahir said she looks forward to “having diversity and seeing how people respond to these issues, once more people become aware.”

Daahirlack said she hopes to contribute to improving the social climate of De Anza through her involvement in the many events the BLC has planned.

The BLC’s first big event was a flash mob demonstrating against police brutality held in the main quad on October 22. The demonstration captured the attention of hundreds of students.

The club has big plans for the rest of this school year as well.
The Black Leadership Collective encourages anyone passionate about advocating for social justice to attend a meeting or think about joining.

The BLC holds its meetings in the MCC on Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon. You can also follow their Instagram @blackleadershipcollective to learn more about
the club.