To promote understanding and debate, Rowan University’s Men of Color Alliance (MOCA) held the Middle Ground event on March 28 at Prof’s Place in the Chamberlain Student Center. The event was inspired by the renowned YouTube show Jubilee, specifically its Middle Ground and Spectrum series, and sought to delve into the deep interactions and dynamics between black men and black women within the black community.

The Middle Ground Event followed the style of the popular YouTube channel Jubilee, with a panel of five student speakers: Ali Ishage, Erwin Wambi, Shayonna Prescott, Rayna Foushee, and Seth Gray. This eclectic lineup represented a wide range of ages, genders, sexual orientations, and opinions, paving the way for interesting and nuanced debates. Each participant was allowed to voice their opinions on a series of thought-provoking questions, which were intended to generate conversation rather than elicit responses.

“My biggest takeaway is right now in a black community, we must have different perspectives. There are a lot of traditional, a lot of traditional things down. We should either set stone or stone on or step away from it, and dialogues like this help create that space to talk about it,” said Gray.

One of the event’s standout features was its interactive nature. Attendees were encouraged to participate actively by raising colored napkins—green for agreement, red for disagreement, and yellow for neutrality—in response to each question. This not only gave immediate feedback but also promoted a sense of community engagement and participation.

Despite rigorous planning, the organizers were confronted with the intensity of the conversations, as certain issues provoked heated debates that went beyond the allocated time. As a result, numerous questions had to be skipped or combined. Nonetheless, the event drew a broad crowd, with a large number of mostly black guests, as well as those from other racial groups.

“There was a question about ‘do you feel like gender roles need to be specified in the relationship or with black women or black community’, whatever,” said Prescott. “I would have loved to hear that question, especially with everybody’s different opinions. So yeah, I’m really sad that we didn’t get to have that question.”

Khali Britt, MOCA’s Media Public Relations Chair, discussed the event’s inception and implementation. He underscored the organization’s dedication to inclusivity and diversity during panel selection and question curating. The team methodically prepared a lineup of questions that resonated with the audience and encouraged healthy dialogue based on internal talks and external feedback.

“Relationships that we [Black men] have with women and experiences that we’ve had with women. We want to talk about that, but we didn’t want to talk about it from a place that seemed like it was selfish and wanted to include women in this conversation with their experiences that they’ve had with men and not only just experiences that we’ve had with each other as men and women but experiences that we can bring to other people,” said Britt. “How men understand men and how they can help women understand us.”

Britt also discussed the Middle Ground event’s greater aspirations, which go beyond the present debates. He indicated a desire to bridge the divide between black men and women, encouraging more understanding and empathy between the two groups.

“I hope that there’s a very strong understanding on both sides, specifically black men understanding black women. I want to make sure that there’s a lot less of a disconnect between the two and I’m hoping that that’s what we can get for the most part out of this event,” said Britt.

Furthermore, he envisaged future iterations of similar events, with changing topics and extended outreach to a broader audience, including people of all races and ethnicities. The Middle Ground event at Rowan University demonstrated the value of open discourse and community engagement.

MOCA enabled meaningful conversations by giving a venue for varied views and opinions to be heard, laying the framework for future research and understanding of complex societal challenges. Participants left Prof’s Place that evening with not only fresh insights but also a stronger sense of connection and community.

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