Carefully composed dances, steps, speeches, and songs conveyed a common, resounding challenge at Tuesday night’s Harambee celebration – “Come together.”
“Tonight is not about division,” said Andrea Allen, Black Culture Committee Chair, “It’s about unity.”
Each of the night’s events echoed Allen’s statement, fostering unity within what she said can sometimes be a broken community.
“Within the LSU black student community, there is sometimes a disconnectedness,” she said. “We need to remedy that.”
Harambee, an annual celebration of black culture, hosted by the African American Cultural Center, Office of Multicultural Affairs and Union Planning Committee, is a giant step in the right direction.
The night began with a Unity Step, which showcased six National Pan-Hellenic Organizations. The step was symbolic of a community working to come together.
Two members from each organization began with the signature step of their fraternity or sorority. The performance ended with 12 men and women performing one step in harmony.
The opening song of the evening, a three-part harmony rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” resonated the haunting lyrics: “Sing a song full of faith that the dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of hope that the present has brought us.”
The song was only the beginning of a night full of innuendo and reference to the ancestral past of young black students.
“You have a responsibility to those trailblazers who made your educational opportunity possible,” said Katrice Albert, OMA director.
Albert challenged students not to waste their time in college. She said their most important goal should be to realize their full potential.
Keynote speaker and Harvard law student Bryonn Bain challenged students to the same call.
“You cannot let your existence be shackled by anyone else’s word or definition,” he said.
Bain’s message was inspiring; it was not conventional.
He spoke through a rap, a calypso song and a poem.
In an attempt to excite the room, he started a chant, shouting “Rise up, my people,” while the crowd answered “Rise up, rise up!”
The first time students answered the call, only half the room answered.
By the end of Bain’s address, the answer was a resounding force that echoed throughout the PMAC.
He received three standing ovations.
Before starting his songs and poems, he spoke to students about their roots; their “glorious, rhythmic, percussive past.”
He said song and poetry were traditional black methods of communication, so important that drums were taken away from slaves in the United States.
Allen also pointed to historical figures to inspire the black student community.
“Martin Luther King didn’t just talk about changing his world, he did it,” she said.
Allen told students they had to change the division around them and come together.
The Martin Luther King dance ensemble performed, and various NPCHC organizations showcased their signature step.
The night was moving for many students.
“Powerful,” said Landon Franklin, a business senior and BSU vice president.
“Exhilarating,” said Paul Jack, a mass communication freshman.
“Awe-inspiring,” said Tammy Sam, a psychology junior.
“Unifying,” said Allen.
“Diversity without unity is incomplete,” she said. “Tonight, in this room, there are Southern University students, LSU students, black students, white students. Tonight, unity is exemplified in us.”