The three-day conference was initiated by the Black Caucus at PSU. Black student organizations at other colleges responded by sending dozens of participants. They came from the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham College, Temple University, and Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, and Howard University in Washington, D.C. The NAACP Youth Council sent a delegation from New York City.

The high point of the weekend was a march and rally September 14. Some 200 people participated, including the Black students, young people from the Mideast, and women’s and gay rights activists.

The first speaker at the rally was Judy Shepard, whose son Matthew was lynched by rightists in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998 because he was gay. She concluded her talk saying that she believed to make social change, "you have to play the game--vote."

Black Caucus leader Assata Richards, who chaired the rally, thanked Shepard for speaking and then noted that she personally did not believe in "playing the game."

"I do not consider myself an American," said Richards. "That right was taken away from me 400 years ago when my people were forced into slavery."

She praised Shepard, however, for being the one nationally-known speaker who was invited and actually showed up. Rally organizers had also invited writers Nikki Giovanni and Amiri Baraka, but neither came. "We thought they would offer leadership on the way forward," explained Richards, "but we now see we have to create our own leadership."

Other speakers included leaders of the Muslim Student Association at PSU, Black Caucus, Sankofa Empowerment, and gay rights activists. The strongest applause came to those speakers who denounced what they termed "terrorism" against Blacks in the United States, from police brutality to discrimination in education, employment, and housing; the U.S. war against Iraq; and the Israeli assault on Palestinians. Workshops at the conference included topics such as "The New Endangered Species: Minority Students," "Rodney King Endures: Police Brutality," and "Ain’t I a Woman: Global Sexism."

The conference took place one year after a demonstration and rally the Black Caucus had called in the wake of death threats against its leaders. Nationally known speakers who originally agreed to attend canceled out after September 11. Enormous pressure was put on the Black students to be "patriotic" and abandon their rally. They refused and the rally took place.  
 
 
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