Graphic by Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 via Canva
Thandiwe-Wanjiru Delgado-Kinyatti ’27
News Writer
“We [the Black community] are not a monolith … everybody has their own different individual experiences, cultural backgrounds and intersectionality,” was a comment made by Maddie Stith ’27, a senior at Mount Holyoke College attending the Betty Shabazz Homecoming. A sentiment that could be felt looking around the filled room of the Betty Shabazz House — also dubbed the “Betty” by affiliated students — for their annual homecoming event.
The homecoming took place from Saturday the 26th to Sunday the 27th in the central gathering room at the house, which was decorated with shimmering table cloths. Soft upbeat music was playing as students slowly filtered in Saturday evening.
The event has served as an opportunity for Black students to come together at the beginning of the year, learn about Black history on the College’s campus and be part of a greater community. It is especially important for the first years who are finding their footing as Black students at a predominantly white institution like Mount Holyoke College. Anjolie Kwakye Minott ’27, a program assistant at the Betty Shabazz Cultural Center, said this year's theme is “building each other up.” She said that as Black students there is a “secret unspoken expectation for you to go, go, go, go, go … But in taking a moment to come to a cultural center … to just sit in your identity and self, it can help you realign and slow down and build yourself up.”
The event started with the students gathered in a closed circle and setting their intentions for the year. Led by Latrina Denson, associate dean of students, Kwakye Minott, and Building Manager Analiese Ayala-Henderson ’27, the students went around holding their candles and expressing their desires and goals for the year, from being successful to making stronger connections to the Black community on campus. As they spoke each intention, a plant at the front of the circle was watered.
After the initial opening circle food was served, the music increased again. Students mingled amongst themselves with the conversation never stalling. At 6:30 p.m. the keynote speaker, Tayllor Oyewole-Davis ’15, arrived via Zoom; she graduated with a degree in psychology and worked as a cultural center assistant at the Betty as a student at the College. Since she graduated, Oyewole-Davis has worked as a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging facilitator and strategist and developed the app Sisterhood (Verb) – an app that Oyewole-Davis described as a “Community space that I created for women and marginalized folks to get poured into, seek wellness, and build connection with one another.”
Her talk at the homecoming event focused on conflict resolution and encouraged students to actively participate through discussion and interactive polls. When asked why she had chosen to present on this topic she commented, “Too often, our communities become fractured due to disagreements and conflicts. We might miss opportunities to grow closer by being courageous and repairing relationships we care about instead of ending them, or worse, having them implode within the community.”
Students were prompted to discuss with each other how they calm their anxieties and reset themselves in times of stress. Oyewole-Davis led them through different exercises and used her own life experience to advise the students.
Stith, who has been attending Betty events since their first year said “[The talk] made me reflect on myself a lot … and ways that I know I need to improve when it comes to conflict resolution, communication, and things that I’ve progressed in.” They continued, “It was nice to hear her talk about something I think felt really relatable to everyone in the room.”
After the talk, Mount Holyoke News asked Oyewole-Davis how it felt to see Betty again. Oyewole-Davis said, “It was surreal. It brought me back to the epiphanies and growth I experienced during my time at Mount Holyoke College … I hope the sisterhood I experienced is still there to uplift and carry them to who and where they want to be.”
As the keynote talk ended, students started to filter out to their respective dorms, though a fair amount stayed behind to participate in impromptu karaoke that lasted more than an hour. During this time, all four class years were represented as the students sang duets, group pieces and solos alike. A few students, along with Ayala-Henderson and Kwakye Minott, stayed overnight at the Betty to play games and talk to the early hours of the morning before they were joined by returning students the following day for breakfast.
The final hours of the Homecoming were filled with lively conversation and additional community bonding activities. The students wrote letters to their future selves, reflecting on the intentions set the day before and where they hoped to be by the end of the year. Denson read the poem entitled The Black Prayer by an unknown author which read as two parts – the first questioning one's identity to acceptance, and the second questioning the understanding of beauty that being Black holds. One of the opening lines was, “Lord .. Why did you make me black?” which was met with mumbles of understanding from the students but even more responding agreements were in response to later lines such as, “You are the color of the midnight sky, / I put star glitter in your eyes…”
At the end of the reading a lively conversation was started of the importance of representation within the space that one resides but also in the media that is consumed, especially as a young child. At the end of this section of the event one student spoke out to the group, “I choose to be Black in every lifetime.”
The event ended, continuing on the tradition of speaking appreciation for one another and tying a string around the wrist of the person you wish to honor.
Upon reflecting on the event, Kwakye Minott and Ayala-Henderson were both satisfied with the turnout because event numbers sometimes dwindle. When asked why this is the case, Ayala-Henderson commented that the Betty is often used in times of need and people get “too comfortable,” and they think, “[the Betty is] always gonna be there, but tomorrow isn’t always promised.”
When asked how the campus should work to increase numbers at events like this, Kwakye Minott said "Building relationships with [the] campus … it’s essential.”
When asked what they wanted the students who attended this event to leave with, Kwakye Minott said, “There’s family here, there’s friends here, there’s opportunities here, there’s lessons here. And don’t be shy.”
Ayala-Henderson continued, “Relationships that start here, don’t have to end here.”
Adeyla Hoenck ‘28 contributed fact-checking
