Imani Black Student Union Hosts Cookout

Rajsi Rana ’26

News Editor

On Sept. 19, 2024, the Imani Black Student Union (BSU) hosted a meet the E-board cookout event, with a 90s/2000s theme. The executive board (E-board) of a club is the group of students who lead the organization and take main roles in the planning and execution of all events. The event took place at the La Eraca house on Vernon St., in the backyard, with E-board members, general body members and other Trinity students in attendance. This was their first event of the 2024-25 school year.

Imani serves as an organization “for the advancement of Black awareness. The organization has been concerned with educating itself and the College as a whole by raising issues in black arts, history, politics and culture, both past and present. Imani seeks to work collectively with student, faculty and community resources to bring about synergy in our efforts to ensure that Trinity College is able to foster a welcoming environment to its students of color, provide representation for these students, and to promote coalescence amongst the greater Trinity College community, as well as the Hartford community,” according to their mission statement. Samiya Johnson ’27, Imani’s current general body chair, said in an interview that the organization “fosters community. Having a group like this on campus really shows that Trinity, although it’s a [predominantly white institution], it is a place for people who look different than the general body or school as a whole. It’s just inviting.”

The event served as a way for both new and older students to come and meet the organization’s current E-board and hear about the experience of being on the E-board, as well what events Imani hosts throughout the year. “I would say my favorite event is homecoming. We do a lot for homecoming. It is one of our big events and a staple event. We have Black alumni come back, we have people from off-campus who are also a part of the community [attend]. It just feels like we’re surrounded by people who look like us and relate to us and experience the same experiences. They look out for us and take care of us,” said Johnson, who is going into her second year of being on the E-board. A few of Imani’s other staple events include an annual Thanksgiving dinner, with all of the Multicultural Affairs Counsel organizations in attendance, a gala event during the spring semester and Black history month events during the month of February. They also host other smaller events including panels, discussions, mental-health-related events and several collaborative events with other campus organizations.

Imani provides a sense of belonging to Black students on campus. Johnson, when asked about her personal goals for organization in this upcoming year stated that she wants “to make this a more comfortable and safe environment for Black students and to allow BSU to strengthen the bond between the Black community.”

The upcoming school year will hold several events hosted by Imani that bring together the Black community around campus, as well as off-campus. Johnson hopes that Imani hosts “events of sharing different diasporas of black culture. [Being Black] doesn’t just look one way,  so I’ve had ideas of doing a food sharing evening with different parts of Black culture.”