Poetry celebrates African heritage

Continuing the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.'s celebration of peace, service and the ideals of Martin Luther King, Jr., members of the fraternity and other student groups met Friday night for a poetry reading inspired by pride in African heritage. The reading provided a forum for students to evoke the broad spectrum of cultures and people that constitute African American identity. Anne Lalsingh, president of the Caribbean American Student Association, read from Evans Jones's "The Song of The Banana Man," a poem expressing pride in the lives of the area's backwoods island farmers. "The poem represents the farmer and traditional aspect of Caribbean life," the Wharton junior said. "Caribbeans are an agricultural people and take great pride in that; it is where our heart, our soul lies." Among the groups finding a voice during the night, Caribbean women were shown to possess characteristics that set them apart from African Americans. "It was an opportunity to share my culture and really appreciate it," said Cherianne Clarke, a College sophomore from Barbados. "Reading the poem forced me to go back to the Caribbean for just a moment." A reading that incorporates such a wide range of African American literature gives people a chance to appreciate the diversity of the African community and proclaim who they are and where they fit, according to James Wilburn, a College senior and president of Alpha Phi Alpha. "There are people dispersed from Africa all over this world and they pick up and develop a unique culture in that region," he said. "And this performance recognized that though we are different, we are the same." He added that the event allowed participants to take pride in who they are and the African heritage as a whole. Although the night portrayed the diversity of African people living apart from their ancestral home, the need for solidarity and unity among blacks to face common social concerns was expressed. "This event was about solidarity and meant to bring us together, appreciating each other and things that black people have done at Penn and elsewhere," College freshman RZgine Jan-Charles said. Herman Beavers, an English professor and director of the African American Studies Department, read a poem entitled "Riot Act, April 29th, 1992," which evoked images of the plight faced by young African Americans trying to reconcile their poverty with the wealth shown to them on televisions and in stores. The poem, giving voice to a person in the streets during the looting of the Los Angeles riots, conveys the sense of people seeing the wealth on the other side and articulating their feelings through a riot, according to Beavers. Curtis Redding, a Wharton sophomore, wrote and read a poem dedicated to the misconceptions and stereotypes often suffered by the African American community. "What does it mean to be black -- does it mean that you act ignorant and show the knowledge that you lack," the poem sarcastically asked.