The African American Culture Club hosts the second annual “Black Love Day” on February 11 in Building 8 at the stage at 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in order to bring awareness to the diverse community at Sinclair and in Dayton.
“The first year went pretty well,” Kyra Howard, vice president for the African American Culture Club said. “We didn’t have the biggest audience we wanted, but people enjoyed. So this year, we are trying to reach out to more people—if we could have 50 people, that would be great, but if we could reach more, that would be awesome.”
The AACC provides services and purposefully engages with students and the community in order for students to learn about leadership and teamwork, as well as participating in and helping with charities.
Howard said the club is related to African Studies and anyone who is interested in building a strong sense of community and engaging with fellow students and faculty, should join.
Students and faculty make up the club, according to Howard. Bokai Twe, Bobby Beavers and Valerie Mayfield are all advisors for the club.
Black Love Day is important to the club because it shows the many ways people can show love to not only their community but also participating in preserving self-love.
Ayo Handy Kendi created this day around 1993, where it was celebrated as a day for the black community to cherish love for your family, for yourself, for your society and for your higher power, according to Howard.
“There’s actually a day where it’s supposed to be including white people, but I see it with combining more diversity, so it’s like 24 hours with people from other communities to show love to the black community,” Howard said.
The main focus of the event is the black community, but Howard said it’s not limited to them, and she encourages everyone to participate in Black Love Day. She said the goal of the event is to teach everyone about why this day carries such a great importance.
“We are having Tom Roberts speak about the Season of Nonviolence, which also kind of pertains to Black Love Day. We will also have Aaron Pullins—he’s a motivational speaker based out of Cincinnati,” Howard said. “After that, we will have a poetry group, ‘Metaphorically Speaking’ and then we will have an open stage.”
The club will be holding a bake sale in order to help fund the club and will have community vendors at the event who specialize in health both mentally and physically.
“[We want to provide] realistic solutions to what is going on in our community,” Howard said. “We will have our vendors there to help people who may have mental illnesses, health issues, even kids, at risk youth. A lot of the vendors are people in the community.”
Howard said she hopes people leave the event feeling empowered and confident about themselves.
“Our main theme for black love is to preserve self love in the community,” Howard said. “I want them to feel connected to their community, and just to meet new people and have a good time.”
Howard said especially in the current racial status of the United States, which includes “Black Lives Matter,” it’s important to acknowledge the negative, but not dwell on the darkness.
“I think [Black Love Day] is a positive influence on our community, and it’s a way to reflect away from the negative right now,” Howard said. “We still want to see the importance of talking about the negativity, but we want to have a positive light about it in our community.”
Howard encourages everyone to take part in expressing yourself on Black Love Day by writing poetry, singing or dancing in order to share your thoughts during the open mic. For more information about the event and the African American Culture Club, email at aacc@sinclair.edu or call the psych department at (937)-512-2889.
Gabrielle Sharp
Executive Editor