On Saturday, Nov. 9, Karibu and the East African Student Association graced the St. Olaf community with beautiful performances as a part of their annual event, “African Caribbean Night: Our Royal Coronation” — a night celebrating the wonderful cultures of many of the world’s African and Caribbean countries. Throughout the night, the crowd witnessed theatrical scenes, musical performances, presentations, game shows, and many more forms of entertainment.
And this happens every year — since Karibu’s beginnings in 2005, African Caribbean Night, commonly known around campus as AC Night, has been an event to showcase the beauties of the African diaspora. This year, Karibu was joined by the newly founded East African Student Association (EASA). The club became an official student organization under the leadership of its President Nathan Mesfin ’26 after being under the organization of Karibu, and facing external issues of being undifferentiated in the eyes of Student Government Association (SGA) leadership.
AC Night is by far one of the most crowd-engaging, interactive events of its kind on St. Olaf’s campus. While the event had the occasional “I can’t hear you, scream louder!” moments, many of its interactive components came in the form of inviting the crowd into the dialogue and other various active roles. One of these was the “Are you smarter than a Karibu member?” gameshow component where two Karibu members and two non-Karibu members played against each other in a trivia game about Africa — this year, the non-Karibu members claimed victory. Another interactive component, the fashion show, was the highlight of the night. Representing and showcasing an upwards number of 54 countries, the fashion show invited the crowd to walk the runway to represent an African country that they claimed prior to the event. The final product was a beautiful representation of the African student presence on campus, and, from the two Palestinian flags that joined on the stage, a solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Through this, AC Night goes to show the beauty of multiculturalism on campus. Oftentimes, nonwhite and un-American cultures are forgotten in the United States — especially at a predominantly white institution like St. Olaf College. Because of this, it can be hard to showcase cultural diversity in unfamiliar contexts. With the current state of polarity in American politics, the ridding of affirmative action, and the recent election of Donald J. Trump whose campaign runs off of an “us vs. them” rhetoric, it is important to continue to create spaces for multicultural events and lean into community. Through AC Night, Karibu is a leading example of this on campus.
