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During the first week of Black History Month, two Marymount University students achieved national recognition for video stories they created to illustrate how the resurgent civil rights activism of 2020 and the ongoing movement for racial equality has personally impacted them.<\/p>\n
Charles Walker, a junior Digital Writing & Narrative Design<\/a> major, won the top student prize in Macmillan Learning\u2019s \u201cBlack History, Black Stories\u201d contest<\/a>, along with a $1,000 award. Meanwhile, senior Health Sciences<\/a> major Riell Swann placed third for all students nationally, and was awarded $250.<\/p>\n All higher education students and faculty were eligible to share a video or short story to participate in the contest. Participants explained how they have drawn inspiration from Black history, events, movements or leaders, and their entries were judged on their relevancy, authenticity, organization, creativity and positivity. Three winners were selected in both the student and faculty categories.<\/p>\n For his contest-winning video, Walker focused on the legacy of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, whose civil rights activism began in 2016 through his kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality. His actions resulted in a wider protest and social justice movement.<\/p>\n \u201cI was only 16 at the time when he first kneeled, but as I got older it made more sense as to why he did it,\u201d Walker said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter who you are, where you come from, what your background is, how much money you have in your pocket \u2013 you have a platform and you must use it in order to make change in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n Walker, who is an athlete himself and a member of the Marymount Men\u2019s Track & Field team<\/a>, described an admiration for Kaepernick\u2019s decision and his belief that it lives up to the slogan, \u2018More Than an Athlete.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cBlack history is more than just your Martin Luther Kings, your Rosa Parks, your Malcolm X\u2019s,\u201d Walker added. \u201cThey set the way\u2026and now it\u2019s up to us, this generation, to set the way for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n