Pan-Afrikan Week is a week-long celebration of identities across the African diaspora. The week is significant for NC State’s Black community, acting as a time we can all celebrate and reflect upon the beauty of the Black community. Organized by the Black Students Board, Pan-Afrikan Week consists of events held by many Black organizations across campus.
On Tuesday, April 9th, the second night of Pan-Afrikan Week, the Caribbean Student Association (CSA) and African Student Union (ASU) held a Family Feud game event in Talley Student Union.
That night, Black people showed up and showed out. By the time the event was in full swing, the room had become packed, the snack line developing and tables filled with bustling conversation. Each table split into teams, picking interesting and unique names for their group. The host, donned a non-sticking fake mustache and a bald cap to mimic Steve Harvey, spearheaded the night’s festivities. His humor encouraged a lighthearted and good-natured environment all night as he cracked jokes and poked fun at the competing teams and their answers.
The event followed “Family Feud” rules. The host calls two teams to step to the podium. The first player on each team is to answer a question prompt. The team whose member responds with the highest-scoring answer is tasked with answering the remainder of the questions. The chosen team has three strikes to guess all the answers on the board. If the team fails to do so, the opposing team must guess a correct answer in one try. If they answer correctly, they receive all the points obtained throughout the round. If they answer incorrectly, the other team gets all the points. Whoever can guess the most “popular” answers decides the winner.
The questions of the night covered a great range of subjects including Caribbean music genres, famous songs and African cuisine. Alexis Grant, a second-year studying Material Science Engineering and President of the Caribbean Student Association, aided in creating the questions. She informed us where she found the inspiration for them “A few of them were pulled from the actual Family Feud,” referencing the decades-running television show “Family Feud” further adding, “and…we wanted to do stuff related to our cultures…”
The questions invigorated conversation among the attendees. Lighthearted debates on the correct pronunciation of plantain, among others, broke out throughout the night. “I feel like the questions incorporated all cultures…” reflects Ire Debayo-Doherty, a first-year Engineering student. Ire continues to say that the event “…really brought the community together, and I got to meet some cool people.”
Although fun and creative, the questions were tough, testing each team’s range of knowledge. In the first round, both teams struck out, helping guide the following teams to success. While some were able to sweep the floor with their responses, others struggled when asked unexpected questions.
Gradually, teams gained or lost points, leaving the top two teams to compete in one last round where the winner takes all. The decisive question asked for the players to name five famous fairy tales. The first team began, naming a few stories but, unfortunately, only landing a few correct answers before striking out. The second team, ironically named “Team” took the right response, securing themselves as winners for the night.
Faduma Sosman, a second-year Biomedical Engineering student, was one of the victors, taking home the title of this year’s Family Feud winner. She tells us that, as someone who is Somali, she was ready to answer most of the questions. Overall, she tells us that “I liked the event; it was fun.”
Altogether, Tuesday’s Family Feud event was a fun and positive experience. Though it had its technical difficulties, that didn’t stop the energy and laughter from filling the air. It acted as a comfortable environment for conversation and communion with fellow Black students.
Adachi Amaram, a second-year Political Science major and president of ASU, spoke about her feelings regarding hosting the event, “I love helping to facilitate and see the black joy that we were able to bring about in this space.” She reflects, “seeing the smiling faces, just seeing people being appreciative of the culture and learning something new today, and that was really refreshing to see.”
For those who may have missed the event, Amaram says that ASU is currently in the talks of holding a much larger game show event next semester. This event will be a collaboration with a larger number of organizations and may be in a different format than that night’s event. Seeing the quality of the Family Feud event, one can anticipate another exciting game night from ASU.
