With the theme of CBT in the air, unity within the Black community here at Syracuse University is at a high. We posed the question “what does the Black Voice mean to you?” to four students.

	Travis Davis Junior	“Black history is filled with oppression, degradation, triumph and revolution. When asked, “What does it mean to be black,” apart from ones skin color, the answer to the question is often left unanswered. Before enslavement it is known that blacks walked the earth as kings and queens. There is power within the educated black mind and therefore the educated black voice. Not those educated in simple math and science skills, or the history of their country minus facts about one’s own ancestors. An educated black individual has experienced enough life and garnered enough knowledge to know the power within their history apart from the period of enslavement. Those educated voices speak to represent their remaining mentally enslaved counterparts. The works of many famous black writers and poets tell stories filled with pain and sorrow, such as Zora Neal Hurston and James Baldwin for example. The struggles that those artists endured becomes evident in their work, yet we praise them for it. This idea parallels the black voice. Our people’s dark past currently makes those who choose to seek the knowledge strong. The educated black voice has the ability to catapult movements, and create social change. There is much variety, rich culture, and strong values within the people that make up the black population. These variations equate to a people with a voice to be reckoned with.”
	Imani Wallace Junior	“The Black Voice is power. It is activism. It is unity and most of all it is a way for us, as a community, to speak out on issues that we felt no one would hear us preach about. The Black Voice is a platform for us to make noise in a room we deemed hollow. In the era of Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin, The Black Voice is needed now more than ever at a Predominately White Institution. We use this voice to show the world that our lives matter and our words shall never be lost in translation."
	Camilla Bell Graduate Student	“The Black Voice is a powerful chord that reverberates when it is silent and transcends time to bring life to current and past injustices, experiences and histories long forgotten, buried and swept under the rug. To entitle a magazine The Black Voice is to reclaim rights to be heard and enables students and faculty alike to unearth and address issues that affect not only the Black community, but issues within communities whose liberation is bound up with ours as well.”
	Callie Bass Senior	“The black voice is black expression. It can take many forms whether it's through writing, music, dancing etc. Through these platforms we are able to share our experiences, triumphs and tragedies, which is important in a world that's trying to constantly twist and create their own image of us. Black voices matter. Our voices will be heard!”