News Photo by Julie Goldberg Lenny Avery, executive director of Alcona County Commission on Aging and youth pastor at Solid Rock Church of God, speaks at Tuesday’s Let’s Talk event Tuesday at Thunder Bay Theatre as WBKB anchor and reporter Lauren Mixon looks on.

ALPENA — Students need to be exposed to more black history in school, a group of panelists said Tuesday at Thunder Bay Theatre.

One of the panelists, WBKB anchor and reporter Lauren Mixon, feels that, if schools expose students to other people besides Martin Luther King Jr., students wouldn’t feel shocked when they meet people who are different than them. They wouldn’t feel the need to belittle someone else.

“We have to see it and we have to teach it in order to be equipped and to understand it,” she said.

The panel was part of the theater’s Let’s Talk series of forums on diversity in Northeast Michigan.

In addition to Mixon, the panel included Lenny Avery, executive director of Alcona County Commission on Aging and youth pastor at Solid Rock Church of God, the Rev. Tom Orth, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church and Ally, and Sandra Pilgrim-Lewis, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Division of Victim Services culturally specific project manager. The group talked about the meaning of Black History Month, proper representation of race in the media, how the arts impact race, and how Alpena can move forward with race.

Mixon said Black History Month is a time to acknowledge all things about black people and black history that other people do not acknowledge.

“This is our time to celebrate and move forward, and it’s a time to acknowledge all of the contributions that black people have done,” Mixon said.

“Befriend someone that has a different political view from you, befriend someone that doesn’t think like you because those challenges, those things help you grow,” Avery said. “They either help you reaffirm your position or reevaluate your position.”

To help Alpena and the area move forward, Mixon said the education system lacks in talking to students about black history, and she believes that that needs to change.

“Growing up, I did not learn about black history in school, like at all,” Mixon said. “School doesn’t teach it, we don’t learn a lot about diversity in school. We don’t learn about people with other religions in school. We don’t know about people of different backgrounds. We don’t learn about people with disabilities in school.”

Future Let’s Talk discussions at the theater will include Women’s History Month in March, Mental Health Awareness in May, and LGBTQ Pride in June.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at 989-358-5688 or jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jkgoldberg12.