For some people, Black History Month is about celebrating a culture and traditions of a people.But for people like Geneva Butler, it’s about much more than that — especially this year.”The president is basically the environment of our government structure… [and] now we have an African-American president… it’s a big step,” Butler, a junior in Africana studies, said.Butler said she never thought she would see a black president elected into office, but now Barack Obama is the most powerful man in the world, and that’s something else to celebrate during this month. She said it’s not about Barack Obama the person but about what his election signifies to African-Americans.”Black History Month is a recognized time where people can celebrate the African-American experience and to know that life as we live it, African-Americans contributed to it just as much as Caucasian-Americans or Asian-Americans,” she said.Cornelius Bascombe, a sophomore in criminology and president of the Black Students Board of the Union Activities Board, agreed.”I feel that for the African American community through the recent incidents on campus such as the noose or the Free Expression Tunnel… it’s important to understand the culture of each ethnicity and that America is a melting pot,” Bascombe said.He said it’s important to understand every viewpoint, and that, for example, a conservative person will have different views than a liberal person but that “we should just embrace each other.”Butler said prejudices and racism still exist today and through events like those that take place during Black History Month, hopefully people will get a better understanding of each other.”People think contributions that African-Americans make are pretty much based on the labor of slavery, but it’s much more than that,” she said.It’s about the America of before the Civil War and the America today, Butler said.And Bascombe said the learning shouldn’t stop during this month.”Having Black History Month is a great thing,” he said. “It’s a month where we can embrace and learn about the culture. But don’t just take this month to learn. Go to Africa. Go to the Caribbeans. Learn something there.”Butler said American society is so diverse that it isn’t about black history and cultiure alone.”We need to appreciate people with different backgrounds with different cultures,” Butler said.Bascombe said the Black Students Union is organizing several events for the month, including a program called “Expressions” depicting the past and present for African-Americans, Native-Americans and Hispanics. The past would show what challenges faced them and then the program would fast forward to the future about the more positive changes that have taken place.