Leaders Of Tomorrow’s (LOT) 3rd annual Dunbar Cafe event is fast approaching; it is only one week away on Wednesday, February 16, 2021 at 7pm in the BHS auditorium. Dunbar Cafe’s main purpose is to celebrate Black history, both the tough and good times.  The club members will be celebrating Blackness and its beauty in numerous ways. Some students will be singing, some will be dancing and others will be reciting poems. This is just a mere summary of what will be happening during Dunbar Cafe. Judging by last year’s events, I predict that this year’s events will be exceptional.  Preparations for the event are already happening. On February 9, members held their first rehearsal.

Adeseeke Olofintuyi is the President of DECA, the president of LOT and an exceptional photographer. Adeseeke is not only involved in the planning of the events, but she is also the founder of the first Dunbar Cafe.

“I came up with the idea after reading an article in my sophomore year in the PSAT about Paul Lawrence Dunbar. I thought it was really cool that he owned a set of apartments in New York, and he would often house a lot of poets (Langston Hughes). Dunbar was also a poet himself, and because of this, I wanted to create Dunbar Cafe like a house for all and a living space for Black art,” Olofintuyi said.

One unique thing Olofintuyi will be doing in this year’s Dunbar Cafe is a photo gallery. I was lucky enough to be a witness to the photoshoot last Saturday at Plainfield where she handled her camera and the shoot with style and professionalism. In an interview she gave details of why she chose to do it in her gallery/short film.

“The gallery will be presented as a film. I really wanted to capture Black beauty, the essence of Blackness and Black normalcy. Most of the media we get to watch are centered around Black pain, and the short film I am producing is going to highlight a certain segment of that. It will also capture everyday Black beauty. It is also to commemorate Black art, Black authors, the impact they have had in my life and the creation of Dunbar Cafe.”

Dunbar Cafe gives opportunities for students like Olofintuyi to showcase their talents. Last year, I was able to break out of my shell, and I recited a poem with a lot of eyes watching me. With what she is doing for Dunbar Cafe, Olofintuyi hopes to inspire other creative students to create when they have the chance.

She believes life is about emptying yourself and all your talents and giving the world everything that is deposited within you so that you can immortalize yourself through a legacy and you can inspire other people.

Concerning Dunbar Cafe, she hopes people have this euphoric sense of what Black History Month is about. The premiere of her short film will be during Dunbar Cafe. I already have a glimpse of it, and I am telling you, you don’t want to miss it!