The Black Africana Student Union at Grand Rapids Community College held a series of events to celebrate Black History Month, with the series concluding with a cultural show last Thursday.
Rodney Cobbins, of Grand Rapids, was one of the acts performing and he reflected on the event as a whole.
“This is an educational display of music and art,” Cobbins said.
Cobbins explained further that the event’s purpose was to help, “kids here in GR book gigs, and see that they can make it even from a small town like Grand Rapids.”
Cobbins explained his love for the city of Grand Rapids and that he is an up-and-coming spoken word poet.
He said the performers at the show all hailed from Grand Rapids, with Cobbins attending GRCC as well.
“Events like these help people like me give back to the city that raised me and did so much for me,” Cobbins said. “It’s the least I can do for this city.”
Thursday’s event in the Far Side Room in the GRCC Student Center began with games then moved to spoken word poems written and recited by Cobbins. The first one was titled “Women are Priceless.” The second was “Love is an Action Word.” Each one spoke deep to the culture of not just the African-American community, but to the worldwide community.
The event continued with a stand up act, Brandon Queshawn of
Hollywood, Texas. He is a popular actor and has starred in multiple movies that featured Ice Cube.
The event concluded with a panel featuring all of the performers and the main focus of the panel was how the students in attendance can follow their dreams and make a difference in the world.
