Trenton African American Cultural Festival
executive director Latarsha Burke is quick to say that she is one of many.
“The festival committee is like a family. We are all committed, and it couldn’t work without that commitment,” she says.
That commitment comes alive in the 2014 festival — one that features a Youth Sports Expo on Saturday, Aug. 9, from noon to 4 p.m., and a full festival on Saturday, Aug. 16, noon to 6 p.m.
The annual event was born in 2011 as the Trenton African American Pride Festival. The name change came with a decision.
“We wanted to be all inclusive and make sure that all people feel that they can attend. If you attend the African American cultural festival you will leave learning something,” Burke says.
In that spirit, she says, all visitors will be “educated and empowered,” while those of African ancestry will discover that “pride is the feeling that they should have about their heritage.”
Sitting at a table outside Trenton Social on South Broad Street, she says they strive every year to add to the number of events. This year there will be a Caribbean stage and an artists’ row, which is known as a community stage. Local music and spoken word arts will also be presented.
Add that to the main stage, which will host eight acts including the mainliner, Kindred and the Family Soul, a Grammy-nominated neo-soul group from Philadelphia.
Burke says that to ensure a greater connection to heritage and culture, the volunteer committee includes two individuals — both area residents — who guide programs and go beyond the regular attractions often seen at community festivals. Cultural consultant Baye Kemit helps out with entertainment and the sports expo, and Karriem Beyah is the logistic coordinator.
“We call [Karriem] the ‘Grandpa’ of the group. He’s very much invested in making sure that anything that happens in the festival is positive, including the support. This is his baby, and he wants it to be a year out continuous event,” she said.
This year’s event is also set to include African drumming, crafts, musical instrument making, and storytelling provided by the National Black Storytelling Association, and the theatrics of the Brooklyn Jumbies, an African stilt walker group that will perform acrobatics while wearing African-tradition-influenced costumes and masks.
Burke says that in addition to the above, there is another that runs deeper into the community.
“We do a procession of the elders — a time to honor the elders of the community. We have pre-selected people on the stage but ask the elders in the community to stand up. It is a special tradition to the start of the event,” she says.
Trenton-based Egun Omode — children of the ancestors — will provide West African drumming to evoke both tradition and solemnity. To make the event even more relevant, Burke adds that community partnerships will help area residents — especially Trenton’s African-American population that has strong links to North Carolina and the Virginia regions — understand their heritage and community. To accomplish that, the Trenton City Museum, or Ellarslie Mansion, in Cadwalader Park is providing a tent to host activities, and the exhibition “Trenton Then and Now” will be open for viewing.
The seniors from the Echo organization in Trenton will participate in a “roots roundtable” on the history of family migrations from the South to the North. The Trenton African American Firefighter Association will be on hand to share information. Health professionals will provide workshops as well as blood pressure and cholesterol screenings. And artwork will be on display by the late Tom Malloy, an African American artist who was considered the dean of Trenton artists and has a gallery in the museum named in his honor.
“This is evidence in how people want to be involved,” says Burke. This comes, she says, despite challenges that sometimes overshadow the city, particularly in the form of crime and shootings.
“This is not going to control what we are doing. We are moving forward,” she says. “It’s about camaraderie and wanting to do better for our city. Our youth needs us to go the extra yard. I think from this experience it’s been one of the best experiences that I have had outside my job of interacting and serving my community.”
The job that Burke mentions is with adolescent services with the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Department of Children and Family. She has also worked as division of youth and family services case manager and with the Mercer County Youth Detention Center.
“I’m constantly in the community and in the homes of youths who feel that they have nothing to look forward to. Sometimes you think there’s a sense of hopelessness, but seeing the kids running around in the park with their (families) and the adults of the city coming together, putting on a great event, and enjoying themselves is why I volunteer. I want to be part of something that these kids and families can look forward to every year,” she says.
Burke says that her own experiences help her understand the situation and potential solutions. “My family is from Fayetteville, North Carolina, and moved to Jersey City. Every summer I went home and experience the farming, the snapping beans, and the peacefulness of the South. It was a shock to me as a kid to move to Jersey City. It took a lot of adapting and survivor skills. My mother worked in factories in the city. I lived with my (electrician) stepfather. They were big about education. Their way out for me was to make the honor roll every year. I graduated third in my class and earned a scholarship to Trenton State College — one of the first in my generation to go college. My major was English and liberal arts with a minor in criminal justice.”
While she has moved on, she looks back and recalls. “I look at the kids in the city of Trenton, and I was there. I was living in the inner city in Jersey City in the 1980s, in the era of crack. My parents didn’t have the money to take me to museums. My activity was jumping on a mattress or playing stickball.”
Today, she said, kids aren’t finding creative ways to play.
“They’re getting in trouble. My philosophy is that if they can’t go to it, then we should bring it to them,” she says. “There are a lot of services to help the impoverished, but people don’t know where to go. So we bring people from nonprofits to the event so people can make a connection.”
Burke — a former resident of Trenton, lives with her husband, Andre Burke, a postal service employee, and family in Yardley, Pennsylvania. She celebrated a wedding anniversary July 5, and has two daughters and two step children. Her stepdaughter is 25, stepson 19, and her daughters are 18 and 16.
Burke says the festival has brought things out of her that she never knew she was capable of, including calling a major company for sponsorship.
“It’s been a growing experience for me, and I’m sure everyone on the committee.,” she says.
In addition to those already named, committee members also include Candice Frederick, Nina Dawkins, Brenda Evans Jackson, Regina Jackson, and Percy Mason. This year’s presenting sponsor is the Children’s Future. Other support for the $30,000 event comes from Radio One (100.3 FM) in Philadelphia, the Times of Trenton, Christine’s Hope For Kids, and New Jersey Manufacturers, which will supply shuttles for out of town visitors parking near the Sun National Bank Center.
Although the festival is not an independent nonprofit, it receives its charitable status through through E.E. Jenkins Ministry headquartered in Bordentown.
Regarding attendance, Burke says last year they had about 10,000 people, they’re hoping for 12,000–13,000 this year. She said she believes eventually, TAACF can be as big as events in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York.
She is also encouraged by the attention the event has received from the new mayor.
“Mayor Eric Jackson attended on our meetings, and he sat in and listened to our vision for a cultural festival and gave great feedback about getting sponsorship and working with us,” she said. “He was very vocal and spoke with us, and we are optimistic that he’s going to follow through with his vision for the arts and culture.”
Trenton African American Cultural Festival, Youth Sports Expo, Saturday, August 9, noon to 4 p.m., sport fields of Cadwalader Park, Parkside Avenue and West State Street; Main Festival, Saturday, Aug. 16, noon to 6 p.m., Cadwalader Park, main entrance on Parkside Avenue, free and open to all, to contact coordinators call 609-474-4073 or send an e-mail to trentonaapride@gmail.com. For updated schedules and notices, visit taacf.com.
Trenton African American Cultural Festival executive director Latarsha Burke.,
