RM families gathered in the school for a joyous celebration of the delicious food, flamboyant fashion and creative talent that is Black culture during Black Student Union’s African Diaspora Night Friday, Feb. 21.
BSU began planning for the event a year in advance since the last Diaspora Night had issues with coordination and flow despite stellar student performances. Before the summer even started, a Google Drive folder was created with a setlist, itinerary and logistics planned out. Then vice presidents and current presidents of the club, seniors Corinne Howard and Mara Porter, jump started the process. “Everybody was so amazing, getting on board and adding their ideas onto our ideas, and combining it all just to make one cohesive plan,” Howard said.
Howard joined the club in her freshman year at the RM club fair. “I was walking around and the then president of BSU, Nancy, grabbed me, and she was like, ‘Hey, you’re Black, join our club.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, okay. I will,’” she said. “The first few meetings at BSU had standing room only. Freshman year, everybody was in BSU. We played games.”
Howard is a member of the IB program, which is predominantly White and Asian so she says that the union allowed her to interact with fellow Black students. “Going to BSU was a whole different world for me…I would definitely say that Nancy is what got me going, but the people that were there and the amount of people and the feeling of community is what got me to stay and be in it all four years,” she said. “I came from a predominantly Black and Hispanic middle school so that’s what I was familiar with. I didn’t really know a world that I felt like a complete minority… Everybody kind of gets it. When you’re Black, you have a distinct experience, especially in America, and that’s shared by almost every single other Black person,” she said.
The show was filled with performances interspersed with fashion shows with student models that highlighted Black clothing ranging from sports jerseys, to baggy jeans, to dashikis. Between acts, Howard provided background and commentary as the MC of the evening. In addition to hosting, Howard helped design the outfits and lent many articles of clothing. She also walked the runway in all the fashion shows herself, frantically running backstage in between curtain closes to change “I’m the youngest so I have a whole bunch of hand-me-downs. I brought almost all the clothes that everybody wore today,” she said. “I was running back there. I was pushing people. I was moving around and I was like, ‘Guys, go. I gotta move.’”
Another performer was sophomore Nehamie Balume who performed the instrumentals of “Blackbird,” a song released in 1968 by the Beatles. “It was the first song I learned on guitar. I just want to share it,” he said.
The song was based on the Little Rock Nine, nine Black children who were the first African Amerians to desegregate Little Rock Central High School as well as the experience of Blacks in the Civil Rights Movement in general. “There were those nine selected Black kids who were selected to go to a white school, and they got discriminated against. Parents came out, protested against it. They got stuff thrown at them,” Balume said. “That just shows how bad our country was back then. But it also shows how far we’ve come from that time.”
Balume has been playing guitar now for three years. “I’ve always liked instrumental music and so when my father bought me a guitar, I just said, ‘Let me learn something. I want to make my own music.’ So I decided to start learning it. Little by little, I started learning it,” he said. “I think it’s important to remember where we come from, the hardships we went through, and to advocate, because there’s still racial stuff out there in the world. People are still getting discriminated against, but little by little we’re gonna get to where we’re at peace.”
Another performer was senior Naomi Kiawu who recited a poem she wrote in sophomore year. “We were looking over this other famous poet, Joy Harjo. She’s a Native American poet and I was writing a poem in that style, but more personal to me. It’s about my culture,” she said. “It is a summary of what Black women have to go through. I talked about how they’re overlooked, how they’re forced to put on a brave face when things are going bad. Men are usually the ones who are allowed to show feelings and be mad, but women have to save face for the family. I also have some historical references, like slavery in the 1800s and comparisons from customs from today to back then… We need to look back on what has happened, both bad and good, because it’s important to help us see what we’ve overcome.”
She wore a traditional outfit during her reading. “My mom got it made for me in Sierra Leone about two years ago… I asked her for something subtle, the colors are very pale. I like it a lot because it’s very flowy. It’s a dress, but it’s buttoned up, so if I want to I can wear something under it and take it off.” she said.
Founder, president of African Student Union and senior Liyema Bomvu delivered a self-written speech. “I wrote a speech about Africa, and it was just a speech to talk about Africa and spread awareness… I wrote it a few days ago, and it was in my room,” she said.
She also performed a dance with other ASU members. “We performed a dance and I performed a speech… It was mostly Afrobeats and some amapiano movements… It’s a dance where you mostly focus on your legs and your hips and your shoulders too, a little bit,” she said. “We started practicing only a week before the actual event, this Monday, the same week because we practiced a lot. We stayed after school every single day until today to practice.”
After the show in the auditorium concluded, the audience took a walk through main street where there was a trail of informational trifolds, tables and posters honoring important Black figures and cultural facts. The next stop was the cafeteria where there was a dinner featuring a grand banquet of rich African food. “My favorite part was mostly the dance and meeting new people, seeing my friends and trying other countries’ food,” Bomvu said. “My favorite food was the dish that I bought, which is Mikate from the Republic of Congo and DRC.”
Howard did not bring any food but she shared a traditional recipe with her friend to bake and bring. “Because she’s Asian, she was wondering how she could contribute in any way. So I told her to make my grandmother’s Liberian rice bread, and she did. So it was very, very cool to have her bring that. She’s a really good baker,” Howard said. “I love the puff puffs. Those are my favorite when my grandmother makes it, and also, obviously the Liberian rice bread that Maggie made. But the puff puffs are so nostalgic.”
Howard’s grandparents immigrated from Liberia through Ellis Island and they now live in New York. “I go to visit them once or twice a summer, and they’re gonna be coming down for my graduation in May, and came for my brother’s graduation two years ago,” she said. “I’m very, very close with them, but they live in New York, and I call them once a week, so we talk all the time.”
Growing up with Liberian influences, Howard says that her experience as a Black and African woman is something crucial to her identity. “There’s no other person that gets you like another Black woman gets you or another Black man gets you when you’re Black,” she said. “It’s not a thing that is supposed to be segregating. We’re not trying to alienate a group of people or make it seem like we’re on a pedestal, but it’s just how it is. There’s a deep connection between people that are from your same culture, and experience the same things you experience.”
February is Black history month of which Howard is an enthusiastic proponent. “Black history is my favorite subject ever. I take Afro history right now, IB Afro. It’s genuinely one of my favorite things to learn about. I’m very much a proponent of Black History Month. That’s my thing. I’m always like, ‘It’s Black History Month, it’s Black History Month,’ and February is my birth month too,” she said. “I really take the opportunity to capitalize on this being a month of remembrance and culture. Especially for BSU this month, we dedicated this month to having every single week… every Tuesday of this month, we decided we’re gonna talk about something Black and historical and influential, and then also plan for Diaspora Night. Black history and Black History Month, super important to me.”
In addition, figures in Black History serve as huge role models for her. One of Howard’s favorites is Maya Angelou. “I can very much acknowledge her work for the Black community and her ability to articulate her words and create beautiful literature and beautiful poems and beautiful speeches,” she said.
She says that her favorite event of the year would be MLK weekend. “Everybody looks at MLK weekend as the center of attention during Black History Month… Everybody knows MLK. He is the first activist you learn about in school. That’s definitely my favorite thing,” she said. “They also have so many exhibits and information, and all those types of things circulating about him so I would say that’s definitely my favorite part about history month.”
Senior and BSU member Mael Ejiogu attended the show and also the dinner afterwards. While he didn’t perform, he was dressed in traditional African attire. “This is actually my dad’s shirt. It’s from Nigeria, and it’s typically worn for traditional events like weddings, feasts, and at any large gathering, people wear stuff like this,” he said. “It’s so hot in Nigeria and West Africa in general and the clothes are meant to be breathable which is why it’s so thin and so they’re also very colorful. That’s a defining feature of Nigeria attire.”
His favorite parts of his culture would be the food and strong family bond. “My favorite part would have to be the food because Nigerians pride themselves in their spices. They are very prideful,” Ejiogu said. “Also how much they care about their culture and how much emphasis there is on family. So for example, my graduation is coming up soon, and my mom’s planning to have everyone there, even though I’ve met them maybe six times in my life.”
Like Howard, Black History Month is a very important period for Ejiogu. “Black history is about recognizing the struggles of our predecessors, because we did go through a lot, and we continue to go through the same things today,” he said. “Sort of recognizing the patterns of history and seeing what we can do to improve as a people, because we still have a lot of progress to make. For me, it’s just about growth.”
Senior Aidan Rogers, social media manager of BSU, joined the association this year. “I do all the posts, I edit them myself, I write all the captions. My goal is just to try to get as many people to come out as possible,” he said. “I’ve even done a couple posters and stuff. I recorded behind the scenes promotional stuff for spirit week and… anytime you see a photograph or post, the majority of the time it’s me.”
Rogers moved to Maryland in 2023. “I moved here from Colorado. My mom’s in the military, so before then we were in Colorado, then before then PG County, before then North Carolina. I’ve been all over the place in the States, and I’ve met all kinds of people, but I love it here. I love everybody I’ve met here, and it’s pretty great,” he said. “There wasn’t a Black student union at my old school…This is the largest Black community I’ve been in in school… I met so many more cool people through it, and everyone’s so nice, and we get to do all kinds of fun things… This Black culture here shines.”
During the evening, Rogers also helped introduce some of the performances and was also involved in the planning. “It’s our biggest event of the year. It kind of all leads up to this. We have more stuff planned. We have field trips, we have our other events and spirit week, we have going on, but this was the biggest thing, and I think this is the thing that we’re most proud of,” he said. “The goal is just to try to get as many different cultures and different people to show off their talents as much as possible. We got people playing guitar, people having poems and speeches and even my film. The goal is to show how creative the black community at this school is.”
He says that his favorite part of the night was being backstage with his friends. “I don’t really get to be backstage for events like this. You kind of just see what happens. There’s people that I’ve never even met before back there, but we all connect. We all had a good time,” he said. “I’ve met so many great people through BSU. I love my friends. I love all the people that I meet, and even the new people that I met tonight, they’re funny people, they’re great people. You can never be bored with them… Even if I don’t relate personally to anybody that I was up there on stage with tonight, the one thing that we can all connect with is being black.”
In addition, he produced a film that featured two student athletes at the school that was played for the audience at the end. “I’ve been working on it all this week. I’m trying to coordinate it, trying to figure out a time. I had to work with Matthew and Solomon, two of my great friends here. Also having to do the filmography, the editing, figuring out what I’m gonna say…I stayed up really late last night trying to do final things. And there were a lot of things that I taught myself how to do,” Rogers said. “I want to try to show how creative I am. I have a lot of ideas, a lot of things that I want to do that I think people haven’t done before. People have done documentaries before, but how many times do you get to see a two-person documentary of two excellent student athletes at a school and what goes on in their mind? That was the goal with it. To highlight people that you wouldn’t really think about on a regular basis.”
One of his biggest inspirations is the Black filmmaker Spike Lee. “I think people expect you to—if you’re gonna make a Black film—it has to be about struggles and has to be about slavery and all this kind of thing. I think with Spike Lee and a lot of other Black filmmakers, they don’t remove being Black from the story, because being Black is the story. Instead, they put it in spaces that that you wouldn’t really see Black people doing or white people don’t usually expect or accept,” he said. “I think being Black opens you up to more opportunities and more ideas of what you can do. You see the world differently being Black and being able to put it on film, being able to talk about your ideas and the way that you view the world is very important and very special.”
After devotedly consuming films his whole life, Rogers decided to register for the IB film class. “I love it. I absolutely recommend it to anybody that has any remote interest in film, because, honestly, it made me even more into film than I already was,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m gonna go into film right now. It’s just a thing I do for fun. But I watch films every day. I’ve watched over 50 movies this year so far. Film is my entire life. And so if I do ever want to become a real filmmaker, I would love to incorporate my identity, my culture, and my people.”
Rogers said that as a Black person in America, he experiences something unique that others will never fully understand. But instead of letting his otherness weaken him, he celebrates it. “We stand out in every room that we’re in, and every community that we’re in… People reading this may not understand it, but us Black people and I, as a Black person will always understand that we’re different in nature. I’m always going to be different no matter what clothes I wear or how I present myself,” he said. “We go through the same things. We have the same experiences. We love the same things. I love my community and I love the people that I get to interact with.”
Despite racial discrimination that may hinder Rogers, he is still completely happy in his identity as a Black man. “I wouldn’t change it for a thing in the world,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to be anything else. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I wouldn’t want to express myself any other way. Being Black is so beautiful.”
