Black History Month: 2 Students Create First Black Empowerment Publication At Central High School
PHILADEPHIA (CBS) -- Here at Eyewitness News, we believe Black history is American history. So for the rest of February, CBS3 will introduce you to students and educators, families, and friends who are making the ordinary extraordinary.
We are calling them unsung heroes. They are the people whose impact and influence is making a difference. A difference not only in their communities but impacting the entire region one small victory at a time.
On Friday morning, we're introducing you to a pair of students at Central High School, who are founding members of a new Black empowerment magazine.
"We were brainstorming names realizing we wanted a Black publication," Dahlia Tarver said.
The magazine titled, "Afrocentric," is uplifting and empowering black students.
"I would first go in and dismember every stereotype about Black women starting with the mammy, the jezebel," Tarver said.
"The angry Black woman," Rakiyah Akins said. "That one gets me."
Akins and Tarver are close friends, and now creators of the first online, student-run publication dedicated to Black art, fashion, music, and most of all Black voices at the historic Central High School.
"The reputation at Central was always like, 'We're 30,30,30,'" Akins said. "Thirty percent Asian, 30 percent white, 30 percent Black, the most diverse school in the city and yet we don't see ourselves being represented."
"We think that Black people deserve a space to represent themselves and we think there is something lacking here at Central, something that can be restored and created," Tarver said.
This is a bittersweet moment for Akins and Tarver because they are seniors, but they say even after they graduate this magazine will continue for years to come.
"We hope we could leave something with the children… the other classmates," Akins said "We want to leave them with something so they can continue on with this idea of loving yourself and loving one another."
So far, they have about 20 freelancers and a growing number of allied, non-Black student writers who serve as contributors.
"They have to go in and research and look up and educate themselves on these issues like microaggressions, the difference between safe spaces and gray spaces," Tarver said. "Why it's not OK to say the n-word."
One day, the group hopes to move the magazine to print. It'll take about $5,000.
As of now, they've raised just under $3,000. But they are committed to making it happen before they graduate.
"I don't think people realize how important it is to see yourself in something, especially like a publication," Akins said.
You can find more stories about Black History Month here.