PirateQ 
There were calls to tradition and ancestors. But there were also poignant calls for action to forge an even better future.
It was all part of the Pensacola State College Black History Celebration on Tuesday, Feb. 14, in the Delaino Student Center on the Pensacola campus. The event was hosted by the PSC African-American Student Association (AASA).
“We’re here to celebrate Black culture and Black History,’’ said Dr. Tonie Anderson-Steele, PSC AASA Faculty Advisor. Moments later, she led the crowd in a traditional libations ceremony, where gatherers called out to the spirits of ancestors. The others offered the ancestral response, “Asé,’’ which is a word of affirmation in the Yoruba language, which originated in Nigeria.
The festive event featured speakers, food, African drumming, vendors, hymns and even impromptu dancing from keynote speaker Dr. Dorn Walker to the powerful Sinach song, “I Know Who I Am.”
“You have to have the passion,” said Walker, who urged the attendees to partake in the same “Black resistance” which propelled civil rights legends of the past.
“We are not victims,’’ she said. “But we are victors. We are survivors, and time and time again, we have resisted and prevailed.”
Most of the folks in the crowd – many dressed in vibrant dashikis and other traditional African fashions – nodded or called out in agreement.
The celebration featured African drumming from Lepoleon Williams and food by PSC AASA President Sandra Savage, a culinary arts student at the College and owner of Southern Quizine Catering.
Savage cooked jerk chicken, beans and rice, and cabbage for the guests. But she had to finish a chocolate-making class at the Pensacola campus before joining the festivities.
“It’s just a great way to get together and have fun and celebrate together,’’ she said. “It’s nice to see everyone – or it will be when I get out there.”
WEAR-TV 3 journalist Kelsey Coffey was one of the speakers at the event.
“Be proud of who you are and where you come from,’’ Coffey said, urging those in the crowd “to move the needle” of progress.
“We have to look in the mirror and ask, ‘What can I do to make my neighborhood better, make my community better, make my workplace better, make the State of Florida better, make the country better, make the world better. But it starts on that micro level. It starts with us.”
Retired PSC faculty member Dr. Joyce Hopson served as emcee for the event, which also featured a tribute to legendary Black nationalist and Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey and Dr. Garrett T. Wiggins, president of the all-Black Booker T. Washington Junior College when it merged with then-Pensacola Junior College in 1965.
Wiggins then served as the PJC Director of Research until his retirement in 1969.