BLSU promotes romance and racial unity through poetry

By: Lauren Alford

Contributing Writer

Students and faculty communed to celebrate Valentine’s Day through performances at Black Love Poetry Night.

Organized by the Black and Latino Student Union (BLSU), Black Love Poetry Night’s purpose was to highlight love amongst members of the African diaspora.

State University at Albany student and organizational communications major Maryika Stubbs (also known as UK the Lyricist) was enlisted to host the event.

“Love is definitely a strange thing,” said Stubbs. “It makes us feel lots of emotions and we don’t always like them but we always want to keep doing it.”

According to Stubbs, seeing people working towards getting to the next level is inspiring.

“I always like to come to these things and host them to see the emerging talent coming from people,” said Stubbs.

At the start of the event, history, philosophy and social sciences professor Paul Calarco first read excerpts from his poetry book, “Spirals of Love.”

“I wrote about love, but at the same time, I wanted it to inspire people who maybe didn’t have a love or lost a love or are waiting for love,” said Calarco.

The second performer was Antonio Lacy, a theater major. Lacy didn’t originally intend to perform, but his name was announced by Stubbs.

At first, Lacy did not perform his own poem. He read a piece written by his friend, who was in attendance. However, he performed a freestyle poem afterwards.

“Not only was [the freestyle] authentic, but it made us think of ways that we can experience love outside of a physical relationship with a person,” Stubbs said. 

According to Stubbs, Lacy’s work highlighted the ways love can manifest in the black community.

“It’s controversial to show black love sometimes, especially real black love, so that was amazing,” said Stubbs. “It was that deep.”

Jeremiah, a student who preferred to use his first name, performed after Lacy.

“I thought about the objective of the poems and it’s supposed to be about black love,” said Jeremiah. “Then I realized after writing like eight poems that isn’t black love the same as all love, no matter what?”

According to Stubbs, the depth of Jeremiah’s poem was appreciated by the audience. 

Kilijah Crumpler, a Hudson Valley Community College alumnus and former member of the BLSU, volunteered to perform.

According to Crumpler, love in general starts with loving yourself. He said his poetry was written with that in mind.

“A lot of people get into relationships and they don’t necessarily love themselves to the fullest extent,” Crumpler explained.

Crumpler said this leads to people putting themselves in positions where they tolerate things they don’t deserve. He maintained that they’re doing it for love without realizing that their idea of love might not match the reality.

“It’s kinda like playing chess [and] if we’re comparing that to a relationship, you start talking to a girl [and] you’re trying to win the chess game,” Crumpler said. “But real love is not winning, it’s a stalemate,” he continued. “Y’all realize that y’all are equal, you’re just vibing out and y’all match each other in that way.”

According to Crumpler, loving yourself without giving too much of yourself away to someone else is the ideal balance.

Tajae Edwards, business administration major, President of the BLSU and Student Senate Secretary, said he feels the Black Love Poetry Night was a success.

“Knowing it’s Valentine’s Day, seeing how people have already had plans and stuff like that I was worried about the outcome,” said Edwards.

According to Edwards, the turnout made the Executive Board of the BLSU feel as if their hard work paid off.

“Not all performers came, but some people came and improvised and they made it possible,” Edwards said. “I’m thankful for that.” 

Kayla Mumtaz, a political science major, said she is in agreement with Edwards.

“Even though the original performers weren’t here, we were able to perform from 6 to 8,” Mumtaz said.

According to Edwards, the performances at Black Love Poetry night showed that Valentine’s Day is not just about intimate relationships with a partner.

“Seeing people come together to show their love for each other in the community is something special,” Edwards said.