![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/files\/2011\/03\/DSC08841b.jpg\")
<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>De\u2019Arbreya Lee Jackson State University\u2019s Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists hosted a panel discussion on the theme \u201cThe Generation is Not Lost: Stories of Positive Change.\u201d<\/p>\n The panel discussion, which took place at\u00a0 in the College of Liberal Arts Building, was sponsored by the Division of International Studies, GAGE Inc., and the departments of Mass Communications, English and Modern Foreign Languages, Political Science, and Entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n JSU Instructor of English Noel Didla, explains the reasons why the panelists were selected and how these panelist prove that the generation is not lost, but a found generation.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted students to see diversity, to understand how diverse we are,\u201d said Didla. \u201cWe wanted students to hear from various young professionals, graduates and undergraduates who range from local to global,\u201d said Didla.<\/p>\n One of the panelists was New York Times reporter Ron Nixon, a Lauderdale, Miss. native.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that the generation is not lost. What happens is that each succeeding generation builds its own myths,\u201d said Nixon. \u201cIt leaves an infusion of new blood, to show what the world is like now.\u201d<\/p>\n Nixon, who has written many articles on international and governmental affairs, stated that the media\u2019s role throughout history was very powerful.<\/p>\n \u201cMedia is considered the first draft of history. With that being said, that gives you a tremendous amount of power to affect what people perceive about the world in which they live in,\u201d said Nixon.<\/p>\n George Chuck Patterson, coordinator for community outreach and student services at Tougaloo College, told the audience of a question he often asks his friends and others, \u2018Is the Historically Black College disconnected from the community in which it resides?\u2019<\/p>\n His results show that 52 percent of those who answered that poll felt that there was a disconnection between the two.<\/p>\n Patterson explained what Tougaloo College\u2019s 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) does to involve students, faculty, and business figures in the community.<\/p>\n \u201cWe put all of them in a room, and we try to change the lifestyle and the mindset of Capital City Alternative schools,\u201d said Patterson. \u201cWe have to be involved in the community in which we live in.\u201d<\/p>\n Leniece Davis, a JSU political science visiting professor, discussed the importance of power, knowledge and social media in this generation.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that it is very important that young people become knowledgeable about the political system,\u201d said Davis. \u201cYou guys are the most plugged in generation of our time. Social media can be used to inform, to organize and to mobilize.\u201d<\/p>\n She also stressed the importance of using all informative outlets, such as books, internet and newspapers, in order to be properly suited in the political arena.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a parent, I\u2019m concerned about whose going to be running my country when I\u2019m too old to run it. That\u2019s going to be you all\u2026I have faith and believe that you can,\u201d\u00a0 said Davis.\u00a0 \u201cYou have to believe to persuade people, to change things, to open doors, to kick down some doors. That is your power. You should use that power, for good and not for evil.\u201d<\/p>\n International students shared how the youth in their native countries impacted the political revolutions.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen they [the youth] wanted liberation and freedom, they called for it, they fought for it and they got it,\u201d said Hanen Abboud Obiedat, a JSU political science graduate student from Tunisia,\u00a0 Africa.<\/p>\n Talia Kolas, a senior political science major who came to the United States as a political refugee from Cuba, shared the many ways that American and Cuban youth differ in terms of human rights.<\/p>\n \u201cThe youth in Cuba have never voted,\u201d said Kolas.\u00a0 It was only a year ago that the government allowed the people to have a cell phone and now, less than 5 percent of the Cuban population has access to the internet,\u201d said Kolas.<\/p>\n Both Obiedat and Kolas stressed the radical actions among protesters, along with struggles of their countries and urged students to appreciate the human rights that are allowed in America.<\/p>\n \u201cThis freedom, you have it but if you don\u2019t fight for it, sadly it just goes away,\u201d said Kolas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" De\u2019Arbreya Lee Staff Writer Jackson State University\u2019s Chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists hosted a panel discussion on the theme \u201cThe Generation is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_plus_post_options":"{}","editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nStaff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n