Video by Alisha Johnson.

In honor of Black History Month, the Black Student Union created a music video to bring unity and “Glory” to the UNF campus.

The video is completely in black and white, and features several BSU members lip syncing the words to John Legend’s “Glory.” The video also shows footage of the Black Lives Matter rally at the Green.

The idea came from BSU member Alisha Johnson, who wanted to use some form of art to help BSU express their feelings after last semester’s controversial incidents like the threatening Facebook post by former KKK member Ken Paker.

“A lot of people didn’t feel safe; a lot of people did not feel supported as minorities on campus,” Johnson said. “I wanted to help BSU put together something that could represent how they felt about how everything was going, and to show that although all that stuff was going on, we were together as one.”  

BSU President Markale Ford supported Johnson’s idea since it would bring awareness to people on campus as well as bring members together to make a difference. The video fully encompasses BSU’s mission statement that states “Unity is our strength.”

“We kind of started from the bottom in a sense,” Ford said. “Now, it’s just really growing our community in order for the whole community to know what we’re really all about.”

The song comes from the movie Selma, which is about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s efforts towards civil rights and equality. Johnson thought the line in the song–“One day when the glory comes, it will be ours.”–showed the unity they want to represent within the black community.

“When it comes to us standing on who we are, then the rest of UNF will understand who we are and then we can all stand strong together,” Johnson said.

According to Johnson, the video has gotten great feedback with people referring to it as one of the best things a BSU e-board has done.

“Although not everybody who is a part of BSU was in the video,” Johnson said. “Because we represented the student body and we used a variety of people that are active in BSU, they saw themselves; they saw their story, and that made them connect with it more.”

__

For more information or news tips, or if you see an error in this story or have any compliments or concerns, contact editor@unfspinnaker.com.