Black Student Union holds 3rd annual showcase

By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press

The Copperas Cove High School Black Student Union held the 3rd annual Black History Showcase Friday evening at the Lea Ledger Auditorium. 
This year’s theme was “celebrating African-American contributions to the arts,” and featured a range of performances dedicated to various types of art. The performances included a vocal performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Zoe Whitfield and Jasmyne Tenpenny, who also sang “Killing Me Softly”. Amari Sneed performed a lyrical dance to James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s World”, and CCHS teacher Ashley Ryan shared her poem, “Creativity”. 
Ryan also shared two more poems: “This Place” and “You Are”.  Nathan Stone sang two songs, “The Mothering Blackness” by Maya Angelou and “Love In Need of Love Today” by Stevie Wonder. Zy’Sean Shabazz gave an enthusiastic performance titled “Lady Dawg Tribute”, rapping about the Lady Dawg Basketball team, as members of the team danced on stage. 
The Copperas Cove High School Steam Team gave a performance, titled “The Legends”. The step team is made up of Amari Sneed, Jada Adams, Evelen Garcia-Schwab, Luz Merced, Niya Thompson, A’Niyah McBeth, Tranyce Ginn, Areeyana Luckett, Ky’Asia Barnes-Sims and Darlene Smith. 
Other performances included an art tribute to renowned artist Kara Walker by students Andrea Stellar and Novaleigh Williams. 
The Black Student Union was founded five years ago and has been dedicated to providing a space for African American students, as well as other students, to learn about and celebrate each other’s cultures and diversity. The organization is under the advisement of teacher Jeni Carbone-Williams. 
This year’s Black History Showcase had originally been scheduled for Feb. 24th, but due to the icy weather that week, it was postponed to last week. 
“This year, thankfully, the weather was better than last year, so it could be closer, so we didn’t have to change [the theme] really,” said President Niya Thompson. 
This year’s theme was all about celebrating the different contributions by African Americans to the arts, such as dance, film, art, poetry, etc. 
“I think it really means a lot,” said Brianna Miles about having the showcase. “I feel like having everyone come together as one really helps the school, and I also feel like we’re trying to do in the first place ever since the beginning of the year, when we all got this position. We’ve all just been trying to unite each other, so seeing everyone come out and support us just really means a lot.”
This is the second year of working on the showcase for Thompson. 
“I just always look forward to it because we always try to find a good theme to make sure everyone is getting educated and filled with different information they may have not known,” Thompson said. 
For Alani Johnson, celebrating Black History Month with the showcase helps others to understand better. 
“It makes me feel more comfortable with being myself in the school because a lot of people will ask us a lot of questions, and it’s hard to explain because I already understand, so this [showcase] kind of breaks it down,” Johnson said. “It shows why do we have Black History, and it shows some of the African Americans and those feelings and those arts.”
For Trinity Hogan, the showcase helps her embrace both her culture and other people’s culture, she said. The focus on achievements is especially important. 
“African Americans, I feel like when we think of that we think of slavery and the Jim Crow laws, and that’s not what we are,” Hogan said. “We have accomplished so much within the little time we have been given, and I think it’s honestly a beautiful thing, and that’s why I think it’s really important to celebrate Black History.”
Thompson added that she agrees with this sentiment. 
“I do look forward to Black History Month, but I try to tell people that Black History is a year-round thing,” Thompson said. “We have done things and just because we got this little, short wmonth, we can still be educating people 24/7, not just this month.”