Performances, food highlight Soul event for BSU

USU students and community members attended the nearly sold-out event in the TSC Ballroom.

One of the performers, Juenee Roberts, said the event was a chance for African-American students to teach others about their culture.

“Mostly it’s just a time for us to show everybody what we hold dear to our hearts,” Roberts said.

Black Student Union President Ashley Miller said this year members of the union wanted to tell the story of their people. The event traditionally features the talents of African-American students, but this year’s performances were organized in a timeline of cultural history, Miller said.

Seven performances, including dance, poetry and song, traced the history of African-Americans from their roots in Africa, through slavery in America and the industrial revolution, to today.

The timeline culminated in a performance of R&B singer-songwriter Jill Scott’s song “Golden,” by Roberts and fellow student Shalayna Guisao.

Roberts, a freshman studying vocal performance, said she chose the song because it represented her people’s struggle for freedom and equality.

“All the slavery, all the oppression, all the segregation, all that stuff, we had to take it,” Roberts said. “Now we live in a time where we have to make our own lives golden. We have to make that shine, because we’ve already been through so much. So what’s the sense of holding on to the grief and the heartache? It’s time to live for us.”

Attendees paid $12 for entry, and a menu of fried chicken, catfish, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, corn bread and king cake was included with the fee.

Tyson Stokes of Smithfield attended the event with his wife, Amber, a graduate student at USU. Stokes said he came primarily for the food, and he wasn’t disappointed.

“It’s a nice mix — not too much filler. All the good stuff,” Stokes said.

Though he was raised in California, his family has roots in Arkansas and Mississippi, Stokes said.

“I have a soft spot for soul food,” Stokes said. “Generationally, they still cook this way at my house, so it’s kind of like going home — going to Mom’s house.”

Amber Stokes said she came to the event looking forward to the entertainment. If she and her husband are still in Cache Valley next year, she said they will definitely attend the event again.

“I’m sad that I just found out about it this year,” she said. “I’ve been missing out.”

Miller said the Black Student Union sold all but four of the 140 tickets printed for the event. Money raised at the event will pay for the Soul Food Dinner and other activities the Black Student Union hosts, she said.

Roberts said though she was performing, she was also excited for the food but didn’t have a chance to taste it until after her performance.

“I couldn’t eat before I went on stage, because anxiety and nervousness just takes up all your eating space,” Roberts said.  Who said she was happy with the event’s turnout.

“It was successful and beautiful,” Roberts said. “It was beautiful because it wasn’t just black people here, it was everybody — Africans, Mexicans, Asians — it was everybody, and I really appreciate that.”

Miller said she hoped those in attendance had fun and learned more about African-American culture, food and entertainment.

Shanice Stevenson performed with the Black Student Union step team. She said step, as a form of dance, is particularly popular among black university students in the South, but that’s not where the style originated.

“It started in Africa, of course,” Stevenson said. “It’s just making a rhythm and beat with your hands and feet, just kind of like your body is your instrument.”

Stevenson said the step team’s performance at the Soul Food Dinner required about a month of intense practice.

Miller said the Black Student Union and African Student Association worked hard to prepare the event, and she was pleased with the outcome.

“It came together very well. I was really, really stressed, but it came together very, very well. It came out the way I wanted it to,” Miller said.