Mercer Island High School’s Black Student Union (BSU) co-adviser Valerie Perine said that its “Building community and celebrating identity” dinner was a great way to connect with new people and reconnect with old ones.

Perine, who advises the BSU along with Kelly John-Lewis and Courtney Taylor, said the event featured speeches by John-Lewis and BSU co-presidents — and high school juniors — Omolara Olusanya and Joy Rurangwa. According to Perine, the students said it’s important to have a place like the BSU where they are the majority and how the union filled a gap in their lives.

“I think that a dinner celebrating a part of the diverse populace of a majority white community is a source of hope for me because it shows that no matter what goes on above (in regards to the president), we are still here. Also Black joy especially in uncertain times is a beautiful thing to me,” Perine added.

The event featured Mercer Island’s Crawlspace Gastropub catering the fusion dining experience with Korean, Hawaiian, Latin and American (plus more) dishes; former BSU president Tewodros Sanchez-Alemu and other alumni in attendance; and high school students running around playing hide and seek and basketball with the younger kids.

During the dinner, Perine noted that they thanked the principal and superintendent for allowing BSU to hold the event and for their support and commitment to fostering belonging in the Mercer Island School District.

Rurangwa delved into the importance of the dinner: “With all the attacks against diversity, equity and inclusion — in all aspects, not just the system that benefits people or whatever — but just having people of color or women in spaces that are majority white, I think it was really cool that (on) Mercer Island, which is majority white or just non-Black, that they let us have that.”

Gatherings like this — where they can share space, eat and play games — give Rurangwa hope for the future.

Building and solidifying a community in the schools is crucial for the BSU, she added.

“Every day is different. I think sometimes that we’re heading in the positive direction,” she said. “And for Mercer Island, I definitely have more hope for it than I do for the United States at large. But I think, as Martin Luther (King Jr.) said, like the moral arc is bending to justice, even if it’s slow.”