NAACP combined brushes and beverages at their “Paint and Sip” event to create an environment for creativity and community.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People hosted an event Friday, Feb. 17 in the 707 Hub for students to paint, eat snacks and make connections with other students of color at Marquette.
“It’s just more of like a laid back chill thing for students to come and relax, get to meet each other, especially for the freshmen,” Lojain Gamer, a senior in the College of Health Sciences, said.
Gamer said this is the second time NAACP hosted a “Paint and Sip” event this year.
“We realized that when we did it the last time, we had a pretty good turnout and we got a lot of feedback that people enjoyed it, so that’s why we decided to do it again. And then with it being Black History Month, we wanted a few events for students of color to come and be able to interact with each other,” Gamer said.
NAACP hoped that some students, especially first-year students, were able to attend the event and make connections with other students.
“I think it just gives people outlets to get more involved, but also to use art as a way to bring conversation. I think often you need things to spark it, and just being able to have that sense of commonality is nice,” Bridgeman Flowers, a junior in the College of Education, said.
Since his first year at Marquette, Flowers said he has seen the benefits of being involved in NAACP, specifically seeing people get to express themselves through art.
Flowers is a part of the organization RISE, which sponsored the “Paint and Sip” event for NAACP. Part of their mission is to help people understand voting and get involved in the voting process. Flowers hoped that this event would spark conversation about voting since everyone who attended the event also registered to vote.
“I think often politics get very serious and you feel overwhelmed and it might feel like it’s bigger than you, but having a central conversation in a central location allows it to be more free,” Flowers said.
Gamar said NAACP tries to partner with organizations like RISE to help them stick to their mission of advocacy. She said partnering with other organizations helps them get students more active in the voting process.
Samari Price, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and former president of NAACP said that since the Wisconsin State Supreme Court election is coming up, they wanted to host an event to give a space for students to relax while also giving them a place to talk about the election. RISE is a non-partisan organization, so they don’t encourage students to vote for a specific candidate but to do more research.
“Students always love these kinds of events just because of the music and painting, but also the snacks and the drinks, so we wanted to do a take on that and also incorporate something about the Wisconsin Supreme Court election,” Price said.
Price said that a lot of the students who attend their events happen to be first-years, and they might not be from Wisconsin or even know they can vote here. Price said they hope to provide those students with information on how they can vote in Wisconsin.
“Our voices do matter, but definitely do your research. Don’t pick anything based on who people tell you to vote for, because, for many people, the reason why they vote is different. I like to do the research to figure out what each candidate stands for and then kind of align that what you believe in,” Price said.
This story was written by Sophia Tiedge. She can be reached at [email protected]
