“You made me happy,” sang Neka Nesha, a featured singer in the JMG House Band. “You stood right beside me, and I won’t forget.”

Upon hearing the lyrics, audience members sprang to their feet, while Frankie Beverly and Maze’s classic line dance song, “Before I Let Go,” rang through the speakers. As their shoes rhythmically hit the floor, smiling faces stepped to the beat — some in coordinated strokes, others with uneasy, learning steps: a diverse, cultural celebration of African American ancestry on display.

This R&B-infused performance was one of many acts at the Black Empowerment Showcase, held in the Memorial Student Center on Oct. 20 and hosted by the MSC Woodson Black Awareness Committee, or MSC WBAC. Featuring six performances, the event presented Black empowerment as a living, breathing movement, or as psychology senior and Chair of MSC WBAC Sydney Middleton explained, something constantly evolving with the people that give it power.

“There’s … so many different ways that we’re able to express who we are and our ancestry,” Middleton said. “To have individuals of all backgrounds hear music and hear individuals do their poetry … to bring together the community and … find things that we have in common.”

Her words rang true, as performers showcased their perspective on Black empowerment through both original verses and staples of African American history, including the words of prominent figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X and Maya Angelou.

“This event is really [about] showcasing how Black empowerment itself is inclusive, not exclusive,” African American literature and Caribbean literature graduate student and Special Event Co-Director Mariot Valcin Jr. said. “Black empowerment, Black power, is multifaceted. … There’s many ways that people can look at this ideology.”

Society, ethics and law sophomore Amiri Hardy projected this sense of community with her words, uniting the room through her experiences as a Black woman in the United States. Her poems, “Blackness” and “What does it mean to be alive,” left audience members snapping in solidarity, as she connected culture and individuality through metaphors and rhymes.

“My culture is my race; the blackness that I always want to showcase,” Hardy said. “You see, blackness can be described in many ways. I can describe my blackness for days. But you see, my blackness, that’s attractive, classic and not average, is how I can wake up ecstatic and not go down like the Titanic.”

Shifting the conversation of Black empowerment toward its connection with communal injustice, musician DreSean3k rapped about the perpetuation of violence in African American communities and the necessity to promote peace even in the face of ongoing structural reform.

“This song is about the same things we always go through … at school, on the streets,” DreSean3k said. “Every day and every night, we keep on having those same old dreams. [We] keep singing those same old things.”

Speaking on the intergenerational ties of these battles, communication and journalism graduate student Faith Odele showcased her multimedia performance, “Truth by Our Ancestors,” reciting the works of various writers, including “Rosa Parks” by Nikki Giovanni and “Malcolm X, February 1965” by E. Ethelbert Miller. Her presentation illustrated Black empowerment as not only a present-day celebration, but also as a movement founded on historical struggle.

“I’m here to share some truths about our Black empowerment,” Odele said. “Truths told by the ancestors who came before us in their poems, in their songs, in their speeches. … In a world that celebrates novelty, invention, we tend to miss out on the gift of ‘Sankofa.’ On the gift of going back to the past, of repeating the words of our ancestors. To understand our past … and to imagine the liberated future.”

Connecting Black empowerment to other marginalized communities in the U.S., Houston Poet Laureate Reyes Ramirez explored his upbringing as the son of a Mexican father and Salvadorian mother. Focusing on the generational wealth of knowledge within communities, he expressed how — much like Latinx groups — the solidarity found between African Americans is one cultivated in spite of generational violence and oppression, and how by choosing to remember their histories, Black communities are self-empowered.

“All of you hold knowledge that has survived so much,”  Ramirez said. “It takes every generation to remember something and only one generation to forget. So all of you hold that knowledge that is older than these walls, older than these buildings, older than this state, older than this country, and don’t let anybody tell you different.”

As the final act of the night, Valcin expressed the necessity for unity, illustrating the devastating effects of intraracial infighting through his performance, “Killing Ourselves.” Connecting the Black empowerment movement to his experiences as a Haitian immigrant, he encouraged African Americans — and all marginalized groups — to uplift one another.

“Donnie Weathersby, DaVon McNeil and Malcolm X. I’m sure you all recognize these names,” Valcin said. “All three men have a commonality when it comes to their demise. You see … those three African men … they were all murdered at the hands of other African Americans. … In the end, we really do have to stop killing ourselves, because black lives matter.”

Reflecting on Valcin’s words, Patricia Alexander, an MSC WBAC staff member, connected the awareness and education brought about by the Black Empowerment Showcase to the wider Texas A&M community. She encouraged students and community members to continue getting involved with the organization and ask themselves what Black empowerment means to them.

“Black lives matter: you hear it so often, but it does matter,” Alexander said. “It’s all about representation, and I think everyone, all cultures should be represented. And … that’s what A&M is about … representing cultures … because Texas A&M is a flagship institution that should represent any and all cultures in the state of Texas.”