‘Our kids are the voices’: Tonight, Black youths of the Inland Northwest celebrate history, culture at annual symposium

The Spokane Black Voices Symposium – an annual celebration of art, poetry and essays from Black students across the region – has come a long way since the first event debuted in February 2022. What makes that growth impressive is that first event set a high bar on many different levels.

With COVID-19 on many people’s minds and many still wearing masks at the time, 140 people had packed the Montvale Event Center to celebrate the work of five students. Each year, the symposium has grown in both participation and attendance, with it being moved to Gonzaga’s Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center last year, with over 200 in attendance.

Another large crowd is expected at Monday night’s event as 20 students from Spokane-area schools showcase their art, and 11 of them grace the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center stage with their poetry, paintings, dances and essays with the theme of “Powered by Courage.” The event is presented by the Black Lens newspaper and the Northwest Passages event series, along with collaboration with local school districts and Gonzaga University.

Black Lens Editor April Eberhardt has been a part of the Spokane Black Voices Symposium since its founding. She began in a mentoring role, then establishing the event themes for the past three years, and will be hosting this year’s event. Eberhardt said the event has evolved into Black history workshops held throughout the community that foster a sense of identity and culture, while opening the door for younger students to participate.

She said the Spokane Black Voices event has become one of her favorites of the year by giving Black students a powerful platform to be seen and heard. “It is their time,” Eberhardt said.

“It shows Black youth that they can take up space unapologetically, that their experiences and perspectives matter, and they don’t have to make themselves small for others to feel comfortable,” she said. “More often than we think, students are hearing slurs, absorbing microaggressions, and experiencing judgment in the hallways and classrooms of their schools, based on race or ethnicity.”

Eberhardt said students have to be shown that in situations like that, becoming quiet or shrinking in any way is a defense mechanism is counter-productive, especially in today’s world. In talking with students everyday, she hears how they often feel unwelcome, facing more “audacious bigotry” than any of us realize.

“The Black Voices Symposium is about bold expression, celebration of history and culture, advocacy, affirmation and validation,” she said. “It centers who they are and allows them to express without reservation. There is also an element of catharsis in this that is the reflective work of building a strong community.

“Our kids are the voices we need to empower and if ever there was a time in history to have courage to speak up, that time is now.”