Steven Bradley on his years at St. Joe’s
As part of The Hawk’s coverage of Black History Month and ongoing coverage of race and diversity on campus, we interview black students about their experiences at St. Joe’s.
Our second Q&A is with Steven Bradley ’20, secretary of communications for University Student Senate (USS), historian for Phi Sigma Pi (PSP), treasurer for the Black Student Union (BSU), a Hawk Host and a player on the rugby team.
Bradley went to St. Joseph’s Preparatory School and decided to come to St. Joe’s because of his involvement with the Ignatian College Connection (ICC) program. Through the program, he visited Hawk Hill on multiple occasions and received the ICC scholarship.
After interning with a health care company for the past three summers, he is hoping to use his degree in communication studies to go into public relations after graduation.
How significant is the fact that St. Joe’s a majority white school?
It’s significant in a sense that it’s just how things go in the real world. One of the things that both my parents really instilled with me when I was a child was people are going to look different than you, but you have to be willing to go out there and push yourself and put yourself in a situation where you’re not going to be comfortable. My dad really does that. He owns his own small business and he is connecting with different clients. He said that it’s hard being a black business owner and trying to get clients of different varieties, especially white clients. He’s a very community-oriented person, so he knows how to work with people regardless of the environment. He knows how to form those connections and make himself comfortable and feel welcome to all people. He wanted me to be able to do the same and not only get used to being around people that don’t look like me and to learn that how you have to be able to make the best of it and go from there.
What does it mean to be a black male at St. Joe’s?
Being a black male at St. Joe’s is being able to fire off the stereotypes you see on television. It’s one of the hardest images to always see people who look like me maybe on different career paths. There are different perceptions; people out there running their own businesses, people who are getting shot down whether it’s by the police or black men shooting at each other. They are being portrayed in music and TV as criminals and thugs, which isn’t the case at all. People go down different life paths, but at the end of the day we are not always what you see on TV. Being a black male at St. Joe’s is just a way of saying that I do not have to be that stereotype. I don’t have to live up to certain expectations. I set my own expectations and live up to however I want because I am not just a black male. I am a black male, but I’m also a guy that plays rugby, or a guy in Student Senate. I can define myself as whoever I want to be.
Did the racial slur incident that happened last semester change your attitude toward St. Joe’s?
Yes, because I felt like it was a moment that broke that sense of complacency. Even though I’m involved with diverse organizations, sometimes I have a hard time trying to express myself by being vocal. When an incident like that happens like last semester, it takes time for you to sit and think about what’s going on. It questions not only what happened to that person but what would have happened if it happened to me. How do you challenge yourself and your identity? As a black person in general, who can understand what somebody else went through in that situation? You can learn how to help support that person. You still have to be able to support your fellow peers, especially those who are the same color as you.
How does your involvement with Student Senate, PSP, Rugby and Hawk Hosts shape your experience at St. Joe’s?
It’s shaped my experience because it has offered a perspective of different environments you can be in. Going back to the idea of being a black male on campus, you have to be willing to learn how to work with different environments. There may be a chance that you are working with people who look like you, and there may be a chance that you are the minority of the whole group. Being involved with Student Senate, PSP and these other organizations, the main thing I have learned is the idea that you may not necessarily speak for everybody, but you can offer your own unique perspective just like everybody else can. You can’t learn things you may not necessarily know just by looking at a person. Being involved helps out with being able to learn how to converse, learn and inform people about something they may not understand and at the same time being able to listen and get my own understanding.
How significant is it that you are part of the most diverse University Student Senate to date?
It shows that we are growing as an organization. As society changes, you have to understand that diversity is going to become more and more of an important factor. It’sreally great to be able to have a senate that reflects that diversity. Ideally, we want to keep that trend going. It’s always important, and it feels great to be a part of it. Hopefully, even when I’m gone you will still be able to see that diversity reflected. We want to make sure we are inclusive of all members of our community, not just one majority or minority.
