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Celebrities at Essence Festival Urge Students to Empower Themselves

By Melaney Whiting
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Douglass Mason/Essence Mo'Nique with the Rev. Jesse Jackson. "It's a big party with a purpose," she said of the Essence Music Festival. "That's why I love coming here."

Allyson Buckner was just one of dozens of young college students who benefited from the many jobs provided by the 12th annual Essence Music Festival, held this year in Houston.

However, it was not money that made working the Fourth of July holiday weekend so sweet. Instead, it was the priceless opportunity to meet and hear celebrities. More than 200,000 people attended the festival, according to an Essence spokeswoman.

"It was a really good experience. I got to meet a lot of people that I would probably never get a chance to meet under normal circumstances," said Buckner, a Houston resident and rising junior at Tennessee State University. "We didn't get paid in money, but we did get a free ticket to go to the music festival for one night."

Buckner worked the Essence Fashion Show at the upscale downtown Hotel Derek. The fashion show was a nonprofit event whose proceeds went to the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

"I just helped in the back. I escorted some people who were guests staying in the hotel and provided them with drinks and snacks," Buckner said. "Also, once the fashion show started, I helped the models in the back get dressed and put on their makeup."

The celebrities came with messages for the students in attendance.

"I want college students to see how 50,000 people can get together and have a good time," said Mo'Nique Imes-Jackson, the actress known as Mo'Nique who appears on "The Parkers" television series. "I want them to see how black people can get together and have fun with no issues" or "any kind of bad circumstances. It's a big party with a purpose, that's why I love coming here."

Singer Jill Scott, actor Shemar Moore, rapper Common and former video dancer Karrine Steffans, who wrote the book "Confessions of a Video Vixen," concerning her exploits, were part of a discussion on the portrayal of black women in popular music and videos. That portrayal is too often degrading and the black community must find a way to change these images, Scott said, according to the Associated Press.

''It is dirty, inappropriate, inadequate, unhealthy and polluted,'' Scott said at the "Take Back the Music" panel. ``We can demand more.''

Earvin "Magic" Johnson, an entrepreneur who in 1996 was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history, said, "What I'd like college students to get out of the festival is the message on different things like economic empowerment.

"It's all about where we are going as a race and how we are going to get there. We need young people to really set the tone for that because at the end of the day we've had our run and now it's time for them to have theirs," Johnson said.

Photo credit: Douglass Mason/Essence Yolanda Adams: "There is never a time when you should give up hope."

"The message today for Essence is definitely resilience, perseverance, and hope counts for something," said gospel singer Yolanda Adams.

"There is never a time when you should give up hope. That's what this particular Essence means this time." Johnson, Adams and Mo'Nique were among the celebrities made available to reporters.

Many of them said they wanted to ensure that the youth carry on the traditions of the festival, uplift African Americans, and draw up action plans for success.

Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee, D-Texas, said she plans to hold summits so that youth leaders can find solutions to their issues.

"I want to take up the issue 'the agenda of the youth' and start pushing it in the United States Congress, start pushing it in state legislatures, and start pushing it in the city halls of America," Lee said.

"Doing more as it relates to alternatives to gangbanging," Lee said. "One of the issues of course is what is the alternative? And one of the alternatives should not be, with no disrespect, a Burger King job, because obviously you get a lot more doing something else. So, we've got to be talking about real investments."

Photo credit: Douglass Mason/Essence L.L. Cool J. said, ""Struggle can mean it's all right for me to pick up a book."

Hip-hop actor and rapper L.L. Cool J. disagreed about the "Burger King jobs."

"I think as a community we have to be a little more supportive and a little more understanding that people have to struggle, and struggle doesn't always mean it's OK to do something illegal to struggle," he said. "Struggle can mean it's all right for me to pick up a book, and as long as I sweep my way to the top, what's the difference?"

Some of the Essence festival-goers wanted the annual gathering back in New Orleans' Superdome.

"They had to have it somewhere this year, because the Superdome still isn't repaired from (Hurricane) Katrina," said Chris Bullock, a New Orleans native and student at Bowling Green State University. "But, I think they should come back after this year."

He said New Orleans needed the Essence festival more than ever.

"The festival would be great for the economy of New Orleans and would help it get back on its feet," Bullock said. "The Essence festival has a historical attachment to New Orleans and its tradition of music."

Melaney Whiting, a student at Tennessee State University, is a Black College Wire intern at the Dallas Weekly.

Posted July 10, 2006