By Katy Petershack

There is a buzz around campus surrounding events celebrating Black History Month, sponsored in part by the Black Liberation Affairs Committee, Afrika and Caribbean Students Association.”This month is an extremely collaborative process,” Tinbete Ermayas ’08, co-chair of Black History Month at Macalester, said in an e-mail, “The three main Black Diasporic groups on campus all have events planned.”

One of the biggest events involved Dr. Na’im Akbar, a prominent psychologist and intellectual, who held a talk on “The Complexities of the Black Community: Reclaiming Our Shared Histories” on Feb. 7.

Additional events included a dialogue with Angela Davis on Feb. 13 as part of S.P.E.A.K., which Macalester describes as a series of ongoing conversations with influential speakers. In addition to her discussion, the Angela Davis movie, “A Place of Rage,” was screened in JBD Feb. 12.

P.J. Patterson and Jamaican Scholar, Rex Nettleford, will be speaking on the topic of “Caribbean Contribution to Black History.” Musical events this month include “Music of the Black Diaspora,” with performances by Caribeatz, MacJazz and Voices of Tamani, as well as a “Gospel Explosion.”

Each Tuesday in February. a movie will be screened in JBD, including “Life and Debt” and “Rize.” The month’s events will wrap up with the “Night of Blackness” gala at the end of February.

“Here at Macalester we are hoping to educate and inform the general public about the complexities of the black diaspora as well as create a sense of unity on campus between the various groups of African descent,” Ermyas said.