Shaozhuo Cui / SPPS

The event, hosted by The People's Coalition and named "The Candid Confab: My Sister, Your Bitch," centered on issues that black women and minorities in general face.

"The goal is to get people talking about things that normally don't come up in conversation," said Jamel Toms, the show's host and one of the founding members of The People's Coalition.

He explained that the title derived from the idea that men often call a woman a "bitch" without stopping to think that she is someone's daughter, and perhaps mother or sister.

Political science instructor Brandy Faulkner served as the faculty panelist. Senior communication and psychology major Juanisha Brooks, Alpha Phi Alpha director of education Earl Brown, general engineering major Elijah Lundberg, and Jamel's sister, junior political science major and the club's president, Synethia Toms, were the student panelists.

Jamel and Synethia created The People's Coalition last October and its first large-scale event was Justice for Jaz.

"We started because we felt that there are a lot of misrepresented students," Synethia said. "We felt that people of color don't really have an outlet."

Some of those in attendance were drawn to the event because of its intriguing nature.

"It's definitely something very modern and up-to-date," senior history major Ashley Payne said.

The event began with a series of video clips illustrating stereotypes surrounding black women and the reasons for certain labels. One clip showed black children faced with a black doll and a white doll consistently choosing the white doll as the "good" one. Fifteen of the 21 children chose the white doll. Another video, called "The Bitch Manifesto: A Tribute to My Daughter," showed a man performing a speech about how "women in this society have been given a role to play."

He stated that men are considered unstoppable if they become successful, while women who attain the same level of success are seen as aggressive and overbearing.

The panel brought up questions as broad as the definition of sexism and as narrow as whether afro-style hair should be straightened to adhere more to the styles of white women.

After discussing why some men seem to fear successful women, Brown stated that "these self-esteem issues we have we don't want to admit, but they are inherent within us."

In regards to the feminist movement, Faulkner said black women were constantly working throughout the movement, which made them very skeptical of the societal event.

"The black woman was the antithesis of beauty," Synethia said. "So it was OK for them to work outside the home."

The debate became slightly heated when the question arose of whether men should be a part of attempting to stop degradation of black women.

"Women are just going to have to do this themselves," Lundberg said.

After Synethia asked him if "men should participate in eradicating sexism," Lundberg replied, "I might tag along a little bit."

"I think both sides just have to be more conscious," Brown said.

Synethia agreed, saying that women need to get to the point where they stop degrading themselves in magazines.

The discussion flowed toward the media's portrayal of black women multiple times. A clip of a black actress was shown estimating that she could make at least $4 million more as a white actress, and she didn't earn $1 per movie at the time the video was made. Brooks said she straightened her hair before going on an interview for a broadcasting job, because "tame" hair is more commonplace in the media. "I know that God didn't make a mistake on us," Synethia said. "We have to stop suppressing our African roots. Black is beautiful."