SENSE OF PRIDE
Parade kicks off weekend-long Harambee Black Arts Festival
Alively crowd of more than 200 lined up Friday evening in front of Westinghouse Academy in Homewood for the first Afro-Nubian Parade, kicking off the 51st anniversary of the Harambee Black Arts Festival.
“We’re representing our indigenous culture, pre-colonization,” said Sister Dana of the East End, a shaman of the Aniyunwya tribe — known to Europeans as the Cherokee. “We keep our culture very close to us; this is what we’re bringing attention to, that there were indigenous people here in Homewood, everywhere.”
The parade celebrated intergenerational indigenous pride, with many dancers and participants dressed in clothing to represent their heritage and culture, under the theme Afro/ Nubian Carnaval.
A sequins-clad cheer group, Lady Diamonds, danced through the streets, following Ms. Dana, who wore a traditional headdress, burning sage in the back of a pickup truck.
Artist Jamilah Lahijuddin, of the North Side, painted dancers’ faces with gold and silver glitter, in Native American and African tribal designs representing strength, pride, relationship and community.
“Representation is really important. It’s good for the kids to see black folks come together and embrace their culture, through many forms,” said Mario Quinn Lyles, founder and director of Level Up, a dance studio in Garfield.
Suvanah Bell, of Carnegie, was representing Grenada, where she and her mother were born. She wore a traditional white dress with a red, yellow and green belt and earrings to represent the flag of the Caribbean island.
The parade was organized by Sahaar Lyles, the editor-in-chief of Nubian Impulse, an online
magazine and shop with a focus on “creating a platform for artists, writers and influencers to transform the narrative of people of color in media,” according to its Facebook page.
“We both had a mutual feeling that there needed to be more celebration of Nubian pride, not necessarily just African pride, but Afro-Latina, Caribbean, anything that’s just a celebration of black culture,” Flow Calhoun, a North Hills resident and the magazine’s creative director, said of her work with Ms. Lyles.
“Especially in historically black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh that really have a lot of rich history that’s falling by the wayside right now, we just felt there really needed to be some revival of culture,” Ms. Calhoun said.
The festival, hosted by the Harambee Ujima Black Arts and Culture Association, continues through the weekend with music, dance, wellness workshops, vendors and art on Kelly Street and North Lang Avenue in Homewood.
Information: https:// www.facebook.com/events/ 241709889993801/