Among many other events that will be taking place to celebrate African-American Heritage Month, Performing Arts for Effective Civic Education will be hosting a forum called “Panthers Are Really Black!” 6 p.m Tuesday in Phipps Lecture Hall in the Physical Science Building.

PAECE is an organization that uses performing arts to help the Eastern and Charleston community be civically aware and responsible.

The unveiling of Eastern’s new Panther logo last semester set the stage for this particular event.

Shadezja Garrett, vice president of PAECE, said the organization would be breaking down how many things are pictured in a black and white contrast.

“The idea came from the Eastern logo, which features a white panther,” Garrett said. “And a panther is black.”

Garrett said the point of the event is to raise awareness.

She said the event will also be a platform of recognition for those students who do not receive as much recognition as the majority.

“It’s a positive event. Naturally with events like this, there’s going to be some type of debate, but overall we’re giving recognition to students who don’t get it as much as they should,” Garrett said.

PAECE had previously discussed the forum as an event to take place last semester. The discussion happened after the new logo appeared in the newspaper. Many were puzzled about the concept of a white panther.

“We thought it would be really dope to do it for Black History Month, we wanted to be involved in the month,” Garrett said. “So we kind of took (the black panther idea) and pushed it to the month of February.”

The forum will be a way for PAECE to show their versatility as an organization by touching on different topics. Although the event is geared towards Eastern’s student population, faculty and community members are also welcome to come out to the forum, Garrett said.

Garrett said the organization took time to finalize the key points they wanted to discuss during the forum since the topic is one that could stretch for hours.

“We’re incorporating a video and a poem to further push the message we’re trying to get across,” Garrett said.

The forum will touch on the history of the black and white versions of many things including The Wizard of Oz, Annie, and Cleopatra. The effects of these topics on the student population, as well as the entertainment business, will also be discussed.

“And then we’re going to flip it to the logo and how they feel about that,” Garrett said. “It’ll be like a question-and-answer session.”

Garrett said she believes the students will become knowledgeable of the things they see on a day-to-day basis and that they tend to not look at the meaning behind these things.

Garrett said the forum would show a different side of PAECE besides the performing aspect.

It would also show the unified side of the organization, Garrett said.

“It’s been a minute since PAECE has done a forum, so I’m personally excited,” she said.

Datasia Lenton can be reached at 581-2812 or dlenton@eiu.edu