March 2003
The Afro-Caribbean Society It's more than you could ever have expected

By Julie Dube

The Afro-Caribbean Society, a.k.a the ACS, has been present within the University of Lincoln's clubs and societies network for a couple of years. Despite its early establishment, it is only due to recent efforts and the fresh arousal of interest that it has really taken off.

With a full range of activities, meetings and events scheduled throughout the academic year, it's alive with the flair, diversity and culture it strives to represent within the student community.

Contrary to popular belief, the ACS is not a society "just for black people". In fact, that notion is far from the minds of those who have worked hard to kick-start the society this year.

Two of the acts from the ACS's Urban Flava's event held in the Delph Bar at the uni.

The Afro-Caribbean Society represents a whole multitude of cultures, lifestyles and experiences. Its purpose is not in excluding groups of people and restricting individual races, it is far from being a society that encourages racial segregation.

The true aim of the society is to bring people together, irrelevant of race, background and belief, to help promote self-empowerment.
The society is about sharing experiences, positively exploring our differences and understanding the many cultures that makeup our societies.

When it comes down to it, as people, we have more in common than we have in difference, and the ACS helps to promote that.
Whether it's through discussion, heated debates, education or the simple love of I music, the ACS brings people of little difference, but of much affinity, together, in a highly positive way.

A Little About Me...

Julie Dube

I've been a member of the ACS for going-on 5 months now. I'm in my first year and before I came to the University I hadn't had the opportunity to be a part of an Afro Caribbean Society.
The prospect of being part of something like that in Lincoln was exciting to say the least.

There isn't a very big population of black people in Lincoln, so knowing that there was a small community forming within the University was positive to me because it suggested the opportunity for us to come together, share our experiences and empower ourselves.

A friend of mine, of white descent, had also heard about the society and genuinely wanted to go and see what it was about but she thought she'd be out of place. As it turns out, she believed it was only something for black people. Nonetheless, I persuaded her to come, and she did.

When we got there, we saw that I'd been more than right - there were white, Chinese and Asian people at the meeting, as well as black people. Clearly, it wasn't just a "black thing". And to this day, I'm proud to say that it never has been.

Since I joined the society last September there have been meetings on a regular basis and plenty of music orientated events including the appropriately titled, 'Urban Flava's'.

Awareness of the society within the student community is growing, and the aim of it to bring people together is moving from strength to strength.

Any glance at the line-up of each of the ACS' events will show just how diverse and cultured the society is and how it really is open to everyone.

Its name can be misleading; especially to those in doubt about whether they are of the right race to participate. But race isn't everything, least of all to the ACS. The Afro Caribbean Society is something that I belong to and I want to share it, so enter into it.

Hopefully through my eyes, my words and my vision I'll be able to open you up to something a little like another world.