Saturday Feb. 25 the Black Student Union hosted their annual Soul Food Dinner, Color Blind. Doors opened at 5:30 p.m. and by 6 p.m. the College Union Ballroom was packed.
This year's menu included two types of salad, macaroni and cheese, rice and beans, fried chicken, yams and a warm apple crumble for dessert.
"The food was phenomenal," said junior Sabrina Bhatti. "The sweet yams were probably the best, but everything was delicious and comforting."
Next up was the performance, an original play written by BSU. Junior Kisha Laurent and freshman Chris Bland hosted the show and kept the audience on track with the action in the skit.
The play follows a family as they move from Atlanta, Ga. to New York City. The family struggles to get accustomed to how race is regarded in New York compared to Atlanta. Elijah, the oldest son (freshman Andre Herring) dates a Hispanic girl named Elena (sophomore Diana Castro) but gets into trouble when he introduces her as his "friend." He is afraid of what his parents – Jeffrey (junior Jonathan Delemos) and Marie-Ann (sophomore Stephon Lawrence) – will think of his dating a girl of a different race.
The elder daughter Blake (sophomore Danielle Williamson) also runs into some difficulties when a friend she makes at school becomes more than a friend. She tries to bring home her new boyfriend for her little sister's birthday and Jeffrey gets upset over him being white.
Jeffrey, a journalist, has been under a lot of stress at work and he feels his articles are not being chosen due to his prejudiced boss. Eventually, he relents and accepts his children's new significant others.
"The show highlighted important issues a lot of families have after making big decisions," said junior Iris Huang. "BSU handled this and the race discrimination issue adroitly."
The show ended with a dance number to Beyoncé's "End of Time, and a little surprise came after the curtain call when the club showed a short PowerPoint presentation about some of the black celebrities who passed away this year.
With their annual event, BSU coupled deep issues such as prejudice with comedic scenes and some sweet dance moves. The audience went home with their stomachs full of food, their mouths humming some Beyoncé and their minds a little more open.