The annual Afro-Latinx Festival will celebrate culture and art to bring awareness and appreciation to the Afro-Latin community.
This Friday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m., MSC Committee for the Awareness of Mexican-American Culture, or CAMAC, a Latinx programming committee, and MSC Woodson Black Awareness Committee, or WBAC, will livestream their annual Afro-Latinx Festival on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
CAMAC Co-Director of Education Fabiola Roman said she is most looking forward to the musical performances.
“I want to emphasize the music, the reggaeton and the salsa that they’re going to play,” Roman said. “2020 was rough, but I feel like music can uplift that, especially because I’m Latina, and even for other people I know, Latin music upbeats the mood.”
WBAC’s Ujima Director Kendrea Murphy said she is looking forward to the event despite the challenges of hosting it virtually, and believes the dance performances will be fun for all viewers.
“Because this year we couldn’t have it in-person, it started off with figuring out what we want to do for this particular program,” Murphy said. “We still wanted to have music because that’s the overall theme to get everyone interested and entertained. We can still have all of that. In the past, the dancing portion has mainly been tutorials, but we thought we could have different performers come and show their Afro-Latinx dance.”
Electrical engineering Ph.D. student and member of the CAMAC education subcommittee Giovanni Zhiyang said he is excited for the poetry and general education presented during the event.
“I love the poetry part,” Zhiyang said. “I’m [also] looking forward to learning more about the Afro-Latinx community because there’s a lot of subtleties that people might not talk about until you have an intellectual discussion.”
In addition to the celebration of art, Zhiyang said he feels learning more about other cultures is immensely beneficial and can enhance students’ personal and professional lives.
“I think it’s important to learn about differences of cultures, especially subcultures that we don’t talk about enough,” Zhiyang said. “When you go out to work, whether it’s an interview for a job or socializing at a network event or mixer, you don’t make silly mistakes or faux pas. For those who are working in highly skilled professions, learning about different communities … can personalize our professional services.”