The Black Action Society (BAS) hosted an Open Mic Night in Spotts Auditorium on Wednesday night. This event was a part of the long list of events happening during Black History Month. Students were given the opportunity to express themselves in a variety of ways, the most popular modes being dancing, singing or poetry.
The first and last performer of the evening was Niyah Pope, a junior early education major. She is also on the e-board of BAS as their Vice President. Pope performed a poem by Countee Cullen titled “Hello Black Child,” written during the time of the Harlem Renaissance and all about empowerment.
“I originally wanted to do my own poem, but I saw a video of a little girl reading this poem and felt inspired,” Pope said. “The poem is about reaching out to the youth and telling them they can do whatever they want to do.”
Pope felt that her performance went well with the BAS theme for Black History Month this year, which is “Empowered by Our Roots.”
Freshman Biology major Serenity Spence, who has never sang by herself in front of a crowd before, chose to sing a song very personal and close to her heart. She performed the song “Lightweight” originally by Demi Lovato.
“I used to be obsessed with the song,” Spence said. “It expresses how I feel personally. I tend to lean on my own feelings.”
When asked about this event, Spence said it was very nice for Black History Month. She also wishes that there would be more events like this one on campus.
The host of the event was Taron Polk. Polk is a sophomore Marketing major as well as the PR chair for the BAS e-board. Polk stated in the beginning of the event that open mic night was a judgement free zone.
Polk said that his favorite aspect of the event was that he was very happy that everyone got to showcase their different talents.
“I want understanding,” Polk said when asked what he hoped people would get out of the event. “Everyone is like us. People have different talents for different aspects of life.”
Polk said that BAS, as a club, worked really hard on the event. He and the rest of the e-board were very happy with the crowd turn out and how everyone seemed to support each one another.
