By, Araybia G. ’19

February is the official month dedicated to black history and culture, and there was no better way to celebrate than Sisters, Winsor black affinity group, presenting an all school assembly on Black identity on February 28th and hosting a diversity event with Belmont Hill students from Safe on March 1st. In the assembly, people were drawn in at the beginning with a panel hosted by myself and Jamila O. ’19, in which we led a discussion about black identity and opening up about experiences the panelists have had at Winsor and beyond. The panelists were a mix of alumni and current students featuring Cleo J. ’23, Chloe D. ’19, Unique H. ’18 and Pamela M. ’71. Following the panel, Shantel T. ’20, a talented musician, delivered a powerful performance of “Nta Konsigui” by Elida Almeida, a Cape Verdean artist. Next, India G. ’20 and Hana K. ’20 delivered an informative and educational presentation on Black politics and voting in America. They traced the history of voting rights and the struggle it took for Black Americans to fight for their rights in America, and they shed light on not only the history of black politics, but also how this topic is still very much relevant today. To end the assembly, a large group of members from Sisters performed a dance routine to “Formation” by Beyonce. As someone who was personally a part of the assembly, I am incredibly proud of the turn out and of all the members.

Sisters also hosted a diversity event the next day. With back to back events I can personally say that it took an incredible amount of time and dedication to plan both the assembly and the Diversity Forum successfully. The Diversity Forum took place from 6:00 to 9:00 pm on March 1st. With a mix of Winsor students from different affinity groups including Sisters, Somos, ASIAM, and Mosiac we were able to have meaningful discussions and activities with Belmont Hill students from Safe, regarding race, politics, identity and our experiences attending predominantly white schools as minorities. The event was extremely successful in getting people to open up to one another and interact with new people from a wide range of grades. We were fortunate to have a great mix of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. As someone who helped plan and run the event with my fellow Sister heads, Monique S. ’19, Toni G. ’19, Victoria C. ’19, Ellisya L. ’19, Jamila O. ’19 and Chloe D. ’19, we can all attest to the turn out of the forum being so much better than we expected! We hope that in the future those discussions can continue to take place.