Samuel Betances speaks with every aspect of his being. Yesterday, he lectured to an audience of about 200 in Stecker Lounge of the Ohio Union, but he could have easily been seen and heard by a thousand.
The lecture, entitled “Building Relations Between African Americans and Latinos,” touched on issues concerning all ethnic groups, including whites.
Betances’ appearance, which is part of Ohio State’s Diversity Lecture Series, focused primarily on the need for educators to re-educate themselves when it comes to being “culturally competent,” as he called it. His message was that educators must be capable enough in their knowledge and experience to not only teach but to empathize with members of all ethnic groups. He displayed this ability by speaking at length about the black civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr. to a predominantly black audience, despite being Puerto Rican.
“It’s about a coalition of interests rather than a coalition of color,” said Betances. “In this era of diversity, it is not what we need to learn but what we need to unlearn.”
Betances called for inclusivity – a need for educators of all ethnic groups to teach “with heart, with compassion, with cultural sensibilities.”
Betances, speaking as much with exaggerated arm movement and body language as he did with his voice, even seemed to be fighting off unseen attackers during the course of his speech. He related to the audience by using his own humble upbringing as an example. Betances was born in Puerto Rico and ended up at Harvard for college, after being raised in an environment of alcoholism. He said one of the hardest things that young blacks or Latinos have to do is to “cut themselves off from their peers … turn off the TV, turn off the radio, turn off the streets and focus on books.”
His speech echoed throughout the third floor of the Ohio Union when he asked, “Are you with me?” to keep the audience involved. While the majority of the speech was absolutely serious, he managed to keep the lecture lively, injecting some humor on occasion.
Betances, commenting on the weather in Chicago, said, “It got cold in Chicago last winter, so cold that politicians had to keep their hands in their own pockets.”
His commentary shifted to the idea that young men and women who come from the lower class simply do not think along the same lines as those brought up in the middle class. He stressed a need to accommodate them so as not to perpetuate a “class-based wall, across which the majority of these young people cannot pass.”
One of the final comments Betances made was the need to recognize a student’s potential through a means other than standardized tests.
“We keep raising the test scores to play exclusivity,” he said.
Betances said there is a need to create a category for first generation college students when going through the admissions process.
Charles R. Hancock, associate dean of the College of Education, agreed with Betances’ sentiments.
“It’s all about moving the center – moving that central group that is so set in their beliefs,” Hancock said. “It’s a mountain, and how do you move a mountain? You do it somehow, because it’s got to be done.”
Betances, a native of Puerto Rico, is a Harvard graduate who specializes in motivational and diversity speaking. After having served as a consultant to three U.S. presidents, Betances now works as a diversity trainer and senior consultant for his company Souder, Betances & Associates, Inc.
Frank Hale, faculty emeritus for the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, spoke briefly about Betances before his lecture.
“We are incredible happy to have an esteemed man such as Samuel here to relate to our community his experience with diversity issues, especially in such a time as the 21st century,” Hale said.
