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Presidential Update As I enter the last two months of my time in office, I want ed to reflect on some of my experiences as the Black Student Movement president. In the next issue, I will report on my administrative goals that I set at the start of the year. Inheriting an organization with 32 years of a distinguished legacy is by no means an easy task. At the same time, serving in this position has shown me that it is not as unenviable as some students suggest. With the exception of my close friends and campaign staff, most people at UNC-CH do not realize what my major motivation was for desiring to be the BSM president. While having a life-long interest in issues that affect black Americans, my primary motivation centered on seeking to glorify my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through this position. After serving as Co-Vice president last school year, I really questioned my reasons for runnmg for the heralded BSM presidency. Most people also do not know that I basically sacrificed my runnmg for this office to Jesus because I did not want the BSM to be an idol in my life any longer. Beginning in the second semester of my freshman year, I began to find my identity in my involvement with the BSM. In my sophomore year, my passion for the organization was at its pinnacle and was number one in my life. All the while, I was already a born-again Christian but Jesus was not the Lord of my life, the BSM was. I am not suggesting that it is wrong to fmd part of one’s identity m their ethnicity, but I am saying that if one lives for their blackness then that is problematic according to the Bible. In Exodus 20:3, God says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” This is the first com mandment and I submit to you that whatever you desire most or spend most of your time doing, you are basically worshipping. I am speaking from experience! During my sophomore year, I woke up and went to sleep with the BSM on my mind, thus always having it on my mind. A few months after I was elected Co-Vice president, Jesus showed me that I was not serving Him but the BSM, and from May 1998 to now, I have placed Jesus back at the top of my priorities and find my identity in Jesus Christ. Therefore, I may not have completed all of the initiatives that I would have liked to see accomplished or satisfied those who have tried to place expectations on me It has taken me months to realize that I cannot and will not attempt to please everyone, or even the few students in various positions on campus who think they have the right to judge my personal perfomance and the BSM’s performance according to their standards. Unless those standards are consis tent with what Jesus has spoken in the Bible, I will not subscribe to them by any means. However, I am not suggesting that one should not work hard m all that one does. In conclusion, I want to encourage all of you who are reading this to look within yourself and determine if you are controlling your life or are you allowing other people to run it? I would like to leave you with an encouraging word that the former BSM faculty advisor, Harold Wallace, shared with me; “As long as you can look in the mirror at the end of the day and know who you are and be proud of who you are, then that’s all that matters.” Sicerely, Chris Faison February 2000 4
Black Ink (Black Student Movement, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
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Feb. 1, 2000, edition 1
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