Southside native and two-time Grammy-winning rapper Common will deliver the keynote speech at For Members’ Only’s third annual “State of the Black Union.”
FMO, Northwestern’s black student alliance, will host the event in Cahn Auditorium Nov. 22 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Vice President of Programming for FMO Samuel Lozoff said the decision to bring Common was due in part to the rapper’s youth empowerment organization, The Common Ground Foundation.
“Part of our goal for this year is to get our constituents, and really make aware to the whole Northwestern community the importance of mentorship programs,” the Weinberg senior said.
ComMonday, who performed on Dillo Day in 2008, grew up on Chicago’s Southside and founded his outreach organization to provide life, career and educational mentoring for urban youth, according to the foundation’s website.
Lozoff said he hopes Common’s address will open NU students’ eyes to the rapper’s role as an activist in the black community.
“We’d like him to speak on his own perspective growing up on the Southside of Chicago and what the environment is like for the kids growing up there,” Lozoff said. “And why he felt there was a need for mentors, and why Northwestern students should care and want to get involved.”
