BHC Boat Cruise

Every year in February, GW's Black Student Union puts on a series of events in honor of Black History month. The theme for this year's celebration was "The New Negro," and I have to say I was skeptical about it because of the theme. The poster, designed by GW student, feature historic disparaging representations of black people. In the middle of those images, there is a fist punching through them, a though to forcefully combat these images. At first I thought to myself, this is racist. For one, I didn't think it made sense to try and categorize black people as "New Negroes." The use of the word seemed archaic and I wasted sure the fist was the right way to be combating the images on the poster. In my mind it seemed unescessarily militant. However, this was the most comprehensive Black History celebration I've participated in. I think the title would have been better served if it had included a question mark at the end, because really it was more about questioning how far black people have come as a group and what the changes are going to mean for black culture.

It was evident that a lot of thought went into planning this years celebration with events ranging from a "Black Foggy Bottom Tour," where Dr. Bernard Demczuk gave a walking tour of historically significant sites in D.C., to a discussion entitled "Working with Race," a in which we talked about the way race functions in school and society. But the Black History Month Celebration is also a celebration, and celebrate we did! Saturday night was the BHC Boat Cruise, which is basically a bunch of college students dancing on a boat, dressed to the nines. It's like prom but for big kids. It is the biggest event GW's BSU puts on, and participating in it is one of the ways BSU has been able to create a sense of camaraderie among black students.

It's good music, good food, and fun, and you're on water for the whole thing so it's super classy too. Even if I don't see someone I know all semester, come February I see EVERYONE. Anyway, the event was a success and even though this is my last one *tear tear* I've gone all four years and I know 20 years from now when I'm reminiscing about my GW days I'll have to laugh when I think of the BHC Boat Cruise. If you're interested in getting a closer look at what this year's Black History Celebration entailed, here's a link to the facebook event:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=280334817568&ref=ts

I'll work on getting pictures up sooooooon!

Ask me anything: magalae@gmail.com
Ekiria