The Black Students’ Alliance, or BSA, and the University Activities Board, or UAB, kicked off Black History Month with a Black Empowerment Festival on Sunday, Feb. 5.
The event, hosted in the Union Ballroom, included open discussions about being a member of the Black community at MSU. Various activities were also offered to students, like painting, friend speed dating, jubilee discussion and a hustle room.
Head chair of the event and BSA member Ty’Rianna Leslie said each activity is focused on bringing love to MSU's Black community.
“They all relate to some sort of love, whether it be self love, love with each other or love within the community,” Leslie said.
During the "painting with a twist" activity, attendees could use a variety of templates to express themselves creatively. During friend speed dating, attendees were encouraged to mingle and form new relationships during a short period of time.
“Being a black community on campus, there are not many of us so we just want to keep everyone connected,” Leslie said.
Jubilee discussion was centered around discussing hard topics in the Black community. It allowed everyone in the circle to share their points of view on various topics to feel their voices be heard.
In the hustle room, attendees were invited to simply enjoy the music or learn a hustle or line dance — something Leslie said is a fun part of African American culture.
The event also included a Kahoot trivia competition where attendees could put their Black history knowledge to the test. The winner received a brand new JBL speaker.
The event offered food catered by Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, gave out free tee-shirts to attendees and hosted a raffle at the end where winners could win a cotton long sleeve shirt from the event or another JBL speaker.
BSA Advisor Jason Worley was excited the event gave the community an opportunity to celebrate Black excellence while also allowing students who have the same mindset to come together and celebrate a common thing.
“I just love being around the environment and just seeing students give up their Sundays and give up time during these 30 days to really celebrate and you know, be amongst each other and just celebrate Black greatness,” Worley said.
Worley said he hopes when attendees leave the event, they learn to celebrate Backness more and have an increased love for themselves.
I’m hoping that they can have conversations and build a community where they can love themselves and learn how to love one another because self hate can be very easy when you’re in a white supremacist atmosphere,” Worley said.
Public policy junior Devin Woodruff, who volunteered at the event, said he agreed with Worley in that the event will increase self-love within the Black community at MSU.
“I think as marginalized people, there’s a lot of pressure on us and so I think we sometimes forget about self care and self love,” Woodruff said. “So hopefully it’s just about loving yourself and just loving everything about being black or marginalized in general.”
Woodruff said the event is proof of the great things that occur when students collaborate to put on events like this.
