125 RAISSA AMES She AMES to LEAD Senior Raissa Ames leads the Black Student Association in continuing conversations about racial equality in fall 2020. Senior Raissa Ames was the fall 2020 president of the Black Student Association (BSA) and actively worked toward racial equality on Harding’s campus. Ames was drawn to the safe space the BSA created for Black students on campus. She joined the BSA as a freshman and became events coordinator her sophomore year. Ames participated in an open panel discussion with the BSA in chapel her junior year during Black History Month, and this drove her desire to become BSA president. “I remember answering the question, ‘Why is there not a white history month?’ and my answer opened a lot of people’s eyes on campus,” Ames said. The BSA president at the time reached out to Ames after the panel and encouraged her to consider becoming BSA president one day. “I have always been a huge proponent of Black advocacy, and so being further involved with the BSA was just a natural path that I saw myself on,” Ames said. Senior Kylie Allen acknowledged the attributes that made Ames suitable to foster change on campus. “She is the kind of friend that’s always looking out for the people around her and for people she cares about most, even if she doesn’t know them very well,” Allen said. “She especially cares about minorities and oppressed people and is very sensitive towards them.” Allen acknowledged where Harding lacked in racial equality on campus and the importance of Ames leading those conversations. “It is good that she is working towards racial equality on campus because there isn’t any,” Allen said. “It is important that Raissa is doing it because in a time where racial inequality is really on the front page of every paper, it is important that we have somebody talking about it, it’s importance and having somebody who is not making excuses for it.” Sophomore Trinity Peveler, fall 2020 BSA events coordinator, was moved by Ames when she heard her speak on the panel in chapel. “I just loved the way she spoke and how intelligent she was and how knowledgeable she is about things that are happening in the Black community,” Peveler said. The BSA was unable to organize and hold all the events they originally had planned due to COVID-19, but they had many plans prepared. “We usually do a back-to-school barbecue, and around Halloween we will have a get together,” Peveler said. “We also started doing a Christmas ball last year, and that will be in the plans for next year, along with a trip to the hotel MLK was shot at that was turned into a museum, and we are always bouncing new ideas up in the air.” Junior Otis Idlebird, fall 2020 BSA vice president, stood behind Ames and the association with creating change on campus. “We are not given the same opportunity in life as an American, being Black Americans,” Idlebird said. “With that being said, it is still a choice to be educated on these topics, and whenever situations are against us, I know some of us are going to step up.” story by Garcelle Hodge Raissa Ames speaks in BSA chapel in spring 2020. The BSA coordinated several events in fall 2020. | photo by Ryann Heim
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