The Brandeis Orthodox Organization and the Brandeis Black Student Organization arranged a jam session last Tuesday in the Intercultural Center to promote solidarity between the black and Jewish communities on campus. As Jewish Orthodox black rapper Y-love said via a Facebook video that night, the event would "elevate and not tranquilize" the brotherhood, galvanized by the years of persecution suffered by both minority groups. This was a garden variety ICC event. According to its mission statement, the center is meant to "create a haven of respect, education and celebration that aims to foster growth and awareness of the myriad cultures of Brandeis University." It provides a location for every diversity-preaching, awareness-raising, perspective-welcoming, culturally stimulating group or event that can be conjured up within the scope of any Brandeis student's imagination. What this means is that the ICC is essentially a central nervous system of nontraditional activities that desperately bring together an unlikely assortment of people in an attempt to rattle the minds of all those who have never carried on a full conversation with an individual of a different race. Simply put, the ICC is meant to be the chief foe of ignorance.

The jam session turned out to be a logistical success, with an audience of around 60 feasting on homemade food and good drink. But the only group that jammed that night was a hip-hop band featuring rapper/beat boxer Justin Zullo '09, who, over a variety of sampled beats from the DJ, pummeled the microphone with aggressive rhymes that explained his social views. His delivery was powerful and confident, and his vocal replications of turntable scratching were particularly entertaining and precise to a professional degree. Soon, however, he was joined by trombonist Gabe Gaskin '08, a.k.a. Habeus Corpus, and guitar player Binny Kagedan '08. The two stagnant bookends standing on either side of Zullo accomplished nothing outside of uttering frail, wincing noises that dissipated into the air. Between the trombone's feeble farts and the guitar's annoying bleeps, the musicians left something to be desired.

Their musicianship, however, was not the point of this session and to dwell on it any longer would be an irresponsible and an immature move. No, that night was about the message, the togetherness; a chance for two worlds to come together in peace and in good faith. These ideals are precisely what the featured slide show aimed to bring home. It consisted of black Brandeis students explaining to the camera all the misconceptions they had about Jews before they entered Brandeis. This is no joke, but, unfortunately, it soon became one. "I didn't think Jews smoked cigs," says one student, "but I came to Brandeis and I realized there are mad Jewish cats that smoke cigs . and then some." The laughter from the audience died down only to make room for the next interviewee's comment (referring to Jews): "Most of them are not just like the cats that wear black jackets."

After the show, emcee Jeremy Heyman '08 showed the video of Y-love giving a short monologue about the importance of black-Jewish solidarity. Believe it or not, the Orthodox Jew black rapper is an expert in, and a proud supporter of, cross-cultural dabbles. He was an obvious choice to be the honored speaker for this event.

The night ended with a surprise performance by Zullo's mild-mannered friend, Zayde Buti. It quickly became apparent that his shy introduction was only a farce, as he appeared immediately to lose touch with reality the moment the DJ turned on his beats. As if an electrical current had suddenly commandeered his entire body, Buti began to violently chant disturbing images of corporate America-the Big Mac was a huge focal point-to the type of music that one would be too scared to listen to by oneself for fear of being transported to an insane asylum stocked with funhouse mirrors. Buti seemed distressed, like he was grasping the final thread of his mental connection with the human world and desperately wanted the rest of us to join him in his dangerous mental state. What was most peculiar, however, was that the instant the music stopped, he reassumed his mild-mannered, reserved state once again as if his previous display of insanity had never taken place.

All in all, the BOO-BBSO jam session was everything an ICC event should be. Although there were more black students involved in the night's activities than were Jews, the demographic of the audience made up for it, as it was almost entirely comprised of Jewish people-evidence of this could be seen when the audience was asked to stand in a circle and sing a Jewish hymn, and everyone knew the words. The event was a fair demonstration of black unity. I think that Y-love would agree that prejudices and misconceptions can be overcome with a little bit of music and a place to come together.