Latest / DA CREW Podcast / “AST SPEAKS” with Queen Mother Dr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina (affectionately known as Dr. Chen) | airs live every 1st and 3rd Thursday

Transcript

“AST SPEAKS” with Queen Mother Dr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina (affectionately known as Dr. Chen) | airs live every 1st and 3rd Thursday · DA CREW Podcast

0:22
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, May I have your attention please. The
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Speaker 1: show starts in ten.
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Speaker 2: Ve eight.
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Speaker 1: Seven, six, five, four three two one go.
0:53
Speaker 2: Greeting, so tep and welcome once again to another live
0:56
Speaker 2: broadcast of I Speaks. Building a new I can see
1:00
Speaker 2: here with the crew. Podcasts on the first and third
1:05
Speaker 2: Thursdays of every month, at least were twenty twenty five
1:11
Speaker 2: at eight pm Eastern nine pm Atlantic. The intention is
1:18
Speaker 2: for us to talk about and to still be able
1:23
Speaker 2: to have some engaging vibrations around things that are happening
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Speaker 2: in the Caribbean, in Africa, throughout the America's central forty
1:35
Speaker 2: eight contiguous north and South. And we'd like to also
1:41
Speaker 2: make sure that we're speaking of things from a context
1:44
Speaker 2: of being global and at the same time speaking of
1:47
Speaker 2: revolution not just in thought, not just in theory, but
1:52
Speaker 2: in practice. And I have the joint privilege of I'd
2:02
Speaker 2: like to take a moment of reflection for those that
2:05
Speaker 2: have recently begun their ancestral transition journey into the realms
2:12
Speaker 2: of Viamenta into the heavens, including my own matriarch, Queen,
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Speaker 2: great grandmother Alie domas Mejiack Baker Davis. May she continued
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Speaker 2: rise in power, and I also extend that to others
2:32
Speaker 2: that are preparing themselves for celebrations of life for family members, friends,
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Speaker 2: close ones. And again we always send out in these
2:45
Speaker 2: times our well wishes and positive energy beyond the resilience
2:51
Speaker 2: that has been exhibited by our brothers and sisters devastated
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Speaker 2: by Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, Cuba, Ina. And so I
3:08
Speaker 2: think we may have to navigate a little bit differently
3:13
Speaker 2: when we start to speak about what, how does all
3:17
Speaker 2: of this relate to some that we have been having
3:22
Speaker 2: here on this podcast, on these various broadcasts, How do
3:26
Speaker 2: we involved, how do we the center of some of
3:31
Speaker 2: these conversations, and then also how do we begin to.
3:35
Speaker 3: Speak of truth.
3:38
Speaker 2: In the midst of things. To explain some of the
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Speaker 2: back sound, I'm going to ask my guests to join
3:46
Speaker 2: us in the platform, and that is an other than
3:49
Speaker 2: Brother Obi. As soon as I can get that in place,
3:55
Speaker 2: I want to make sure that our okay, sure why
4:02
Speaker 2: I cannot get you up on the board, but I
4:05
Speaker 2: would like for my engineer in the ethers to please
4:11
Speaker 2: welcome our guests who has joined us. Thank you very much,
4:14
Speaker 2: Obi Aguna. Second greetings, Brother Obi, thank you so much
4:19
Speaker 2: at such a short notifica for joining us here. On
4:23
Speaker 2: Us Speaks on the Crew podcast. How are you this evening,
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Speaker 2: I'm fine.
4:28
Speaker 3: It's always an honor to be in your company. And
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Speaker 3: let me begin by just extending heartfelt condolences to you
4:36
Speaker 3: on the transition of your mom.
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Speaker 2: Thank you very much. I really give thanks for that.
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Speaker 2: She keeps me, she's keeping me, she's keeping me as
4:46
Speaker 2: she always has. I'm grateful. I'm really excited because there
4:50
Speaker 2: were so many You spend a lot of time with children.
4:56
Speaker 2: You spend a lot of time teaching children in a
5:01
Speaker 2: very pragmatic, kinesthetic way. You keep them always academic excellence
5:09
Speaker 2: so that they can know themselves, really heal themselves, really
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Speaker 2: love themselves, really respect themselves as much as possible. And
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Speaker 2: even those that are challenged by the world as it is,
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Speaker 2: you still are able to embrace them and strengthen their
5:24
Speaker 2: ability to truly be the spark of any revolution, the
5:27
Speaker 2: spark of change. So I'd like for you one of them.
5:30
Speaker 2: It's not that I want you to talk about a
5:33
Speaker 2: number of things, but I'd like us to start with
5:36
Speaker 2: the activity that took place at Howard University recently.
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Speaker 3: Yes on Sunday Night, the Mass Emphasis Children's History and
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Speaker 3: Theater company in conjunction with the Center for Farrapina Khan,
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Speaker 3: which is a West African dance company and a still
6:02
Speaker 3: pay group the Center. Wow, oh my lord, and let me,
6:10
Speaker 3: I gotta, I gotta look this up.
6:13
Speaker 2: Very good, take your time looking up, because that's what
6:15
Speaker 2: we're talking about. We would like to make sure and
6:18
Speaker 2: and it's.
6:20
Speaker 3: Escaping. Sincerely apologized.
6:24
Speaker 2: Okay, well, no no apologies required. One your your your,
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Speaker 2: you're your king man, you are Papa. And I see
6:32
Speaker 2: that our beloved is giving us some background sound so that.
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Speaker 3: This was most definitely so that way we can keep.
6:41
Speaker 2: Things alive and and authentic here in this broadcast. And
6:45
Speaker 2: we're very grateful for that, right, a really powerful young
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Speaker 2: young royal. Very grateful. You know, I know that there
6:51
Speaker 2: was a lot of conversation of having this connection with
6:55
Speaker 2: the wider community that provides very various forms of Africans centric.
7:01
Speaker 3: The Cultural Academy for excellent cafe and this this is
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Speaker 3: a an incredible children steel pan ensemble like you have
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Speaker 3: never seen.
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Speaker 2: So somebody from the Caribbean, hold hold back, hold back.
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Speaker 3: Oh exactly no, but I'm saying just in terms of
7:22
Speaker 3: to see these children and we know, we know the
7:26
Speaker 3: quality of steel Pan music you're accustomed to and you demand,
7:30
Speaker 3: but to see.
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Speaker 2: Teenagers, excellent, excellent.
7:33
Speaker 3: Teenagers and the end. And so so we did a
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Speaker 3: We did a children's an African children's tribute to defallen
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Speaker 3: Pan African giant and icon Kwameterray on his transition weekend
7:46
Speaker 3: at the invitation of the Kwame Terray Society, which is
7:50
Speaker 3: in his twenty fifth year at Howard University. So these
7:53
Speaker 3: are some students, most of them are seniors, and they
7:57
Speaker 3: invited us and they had a conference on sovereignty and
8:00
Speaker 3: we had the honor and privilege of closing it out.
8:03
Speaker 3: And whenever we perform publicly for the purpose of showing
8:07
Speaker 3: the role of children's institutions and vehicles in the decolonization process,
8:13
Speaker 3: we never want to perform alone. So what happened the
8:16
Speaker 3: other day is farafin Na Khan, whose drumming techniques are
8:20
Speaker 3: Guinea inspired. So taking into consideration that Kwame spent the
8:24
Speaker 3: last thirty one years of his life living in Conacrete, Guinea,
8:27
Speaker 3: that was very special. Then you have a steel Pan
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Speaker 3: children's group understand Ikwame's birthplaces Trinidad, June twenty ninth, nineteen
8:38
Speaker 3: forty one. So they did six songs and then we
8:42
Speaker 3: did which is becoming one of our staple poems, We
8:45
Speaker 3: all Love our Mother and the Children of the Mass
8:47
Speaker 3: Emphasis Children's History and Theater company. We performed it in English, Spanish,
8:53
Speaker 3: ebo Qi, Swahili and Triginya Wow. And we had some
9:01
Speaker 3: children from the Eritrean Community Center in DC, which is
9:06
Speaker 3: the social outlet of the EPR left the government of Eritrea.
9:11
Speaker 3: We had four children come and they recited in their language,
9:14
Speaker 3: So we recited our poem in five languages. So that's
9:17
Speaker 3: what people at Howard University on quame to raise transition
9:20
Speaker 3: weekend got the opportunity to see.
9:23
Speaker 2: Oh, that's fantastic, and that's what I'm speaking to, that
9:26
Speaker 2: you can have that type of an integration of culture, education,
9:32
Speaker 2: heritage preservation and then doing it with the layer of
9:36
Speaker 2: excellence with young people. You know teen agos, you know
9:40
Speaker 2: those that are still navigating who they are strengthening of course,
9:44
Speaker 2: strengthening their identity. And that's what we're navigating. How do
9:48
Speaker 2: we restore ancestral sacred traditions host in a form that's
9:56
Speaker 2: practical like, how do we keep doing that? Tell us
10:00
Speaker 2: a little bit about the history and the longevity of this.
10:04
Speaker 3: It's fifteen years old now and it's inspired by the
10:09
Speaker 3: pioneers of the revolution in Bikina Fosso during the time
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Speaker 3: of Tama Sankara, the Youth Pioneer Institute during the time
10:17
Speaker 3: of Osogy for doctor Kwame and Kruma, and the Convention
10:22
Speaker 3: People's Party and lacoll Manita in Cuba, which is the
10:27
Speaker 3: children's vehicle of the Cuban Revolution. One of them beautiful
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Speaker 3: and what happened is it ended up? It has three
10:34
Speaker 3: components to it. You have the Mass Emphasis, children's history
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Speaker 3: and theater company which enables us to perform. We have
10:40
Speaker 3: something called the Mass Emphasis, Positive Action and Creativity Youth Brigade.
10:44
Speaker 3: What we also showed that day is four years ago
10:48
Speaker 3: we had a ten and thirteen year old two siblings.
10:53
Speaker 3: They did a Kwame Terrae mixtape and it was our
10:57
Speaker 3: effort to complement the Black Power Mixtape, and they ended
11:01
Speaker 3: up using Kwame's speeches and they created a mixtape using
11:05
Speaker 3: a harmonious blend of jazz, reggae, hip hop and blues
11:10
Speaker 3: to compliment brother Kwame speaking in different places on different platforms,
11:15
Speaker 3: so we showed that for about fifteen minutes. We also
11:19
Speaker 3: showed another which has become probably our most popular offering.
11:24
Speaker 3: We have a poem called the Language Poem and the
11:26
Speaker 3: video has taken on a life of its own. It
11:29
Speaker 3: shows children at the Thomas and Karus Center, Berkina Fasso
11:32
Speaker 3: doing our poem, children with the African pri Night Club
11:38
Speaker 3: in South Carolina doing our poem, children with the United
11:42
Speaker 3: African Diaspora. We in Calgary, Alberta, Canada doing our poem.
11:46
Speaker 3: So we showed that, and a few years ago we
11:48
Speaker 3: did a video around when the fiftieth anniversary of the
11:51
Speaker 3: passing up asaject for doctor Kaime Chromosoon that would have
11:53
Speaker 3: been three years ago, we recited. We did a video
11:56
Speaker 3: reciting doctor w e Vy Dupois in Chroma for doctor
12:00
Speaker 3: Kwame and Klum a tribute poem Ghana Calls. So that's
12:03
Speaker 3: what the audience got the opportunity, so they got a
12:05
Speaker 3: chance to see some of our video work and then
12:07
Speaker 3: they got the opportunity to see the children live. So
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Speaker 3: we have those three components working in unisons together and
12:16
Speaker 3: through that we also have done some art shows. We
12:19
Speaker 3: have some children who can draw and we have our
12:25
Speaker 3: children have done an art show to the Henry Reed
12:28
Speaker 3: Medical Brigade Cuban Doctors. They've done an art show to
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Speaker 3: the Late recently Late Fall the Warrior Aside of Olubalashakor,
12:36
Speaker 3: and they're about to start next week. They're doing an
12:41
Speaker 3: artistic tribute to Malcolm X, Patrice Lumumba France, Fannan Medga
12:48
Speaker 3: Evers and Felix Moome out of the Camera Roon who
12:51
Speaker 3: all turned one hundred this year. And we'll be collaborating
12:54
Speaker 3: with Casa del called Tura, which is the Artistic Children's
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Speaker 3: arm in so we're supposed to be working on that together.
13:03
Speaker 3: So those are that's just what we've been up to
13:06
Speaker 3: in the last couple of months.
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Speaker 2: Right Well, I'm really excited about all of the different
13:11
Speaker 2: ways that you've been able to get these young people
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Speaker 2: involved and I'm looking forward to seeing and I love
13:16
Speaker 2: that you have it so it's global, it's regional, yes,
13:19
Speaker 2: it's national, yes, but you've made it international and really
13:22
Speaker 2: just far reaching. And I'm sure that once more young
13:26
Speaker 2: people and persons that are into the creative arts see
13:30
Speaker 2: more of the work that's being done by mass emphasis
13:32
Speaker 2: and all the different layers and iterations. You know, they'll
13:35
Speaker 2: be more involved in the educational piece because by the
13:38
Speaker 2: you know, those regular I'll just call them, you know,
13:40
Speaker 2: freedom Saturday school type activities. That's where they get the content,
13:45
Speaker 2: they get the knowledge, they get.
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Speaker 3: Oh and shout out and shout. And we also have
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Speaker 3: a partnership with Theatre of the Old Press right there
13:52
Speaker 3: in the Virgin Island. Shout out to my Society of
13:55
Speaker 3: the card right yeah, who we thank you for introducing
14:00
Speaker 3: us to when we had the honor of doing the
14:02
Speaker 3: opening address for the Caribbean Studies Association's conference a couple
14:05
Speaker 3: of years ago.
14:06
Speaker 2: WI, how time flies, I know.
14:09
Speaker 3: So we were happy and that was one of the
14:12
Speaker 3: highlights of being down there, was to have a real
14:14
Speaker 3: meeting of the minds with somebody inside this caliber. And
14:19
Speaker 3: we started working together immediately, and we're going to be
14:22
Speaker 3: collaborating for sure moving forward.
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Speaker 2: Right And they are doing a variety of pieces, especially
14:28
Speaker 2: like this, it seems like either we're waiting to get
14:32
Speaker 2: things done or there's so much happening. And especially like hair,
14:36
Speaker 2: it's on the eve of the holiday season, and this
14:39
Speaker 2: is when Saint Croix particularly has its various cultural festivals.
14:44
Speaker 2: Around the Christmas Christmas holiday and it's just so much
14:49
Speaker 2: between pageantry and concerts and more pageantry and concerts and
14:55
Speaker 2: of course parades. You know, the Virgin Islands Department of
14:59
Speaker 2: Tourism is definitely going to have a significant features. And
15:03
Speaker 2: inside of that, there's always a nuance that is grounded
15:09
Speaker 2: in the culture, the heritage, the traditions of this space
15:13
Speaker 2: II Saint Croix with the entire the wider Caribbean, because
15:17
Speaker 2: we have so many people from so many places, so
15:20
Speaker 2: it becomes an authentic next layer of united nations that
15:26
Speaker 2: come together through the creatives. And so I'm looking forward.
15:30
Speaker 2: We're hoping in the future that we would have mass
15:32
Speaker 2: emphasis actually be participatory in some of the festival activities
15:37
Speaker 2: that happened around this time of year. And if not
15:39
Speaker 2: fit for the Saint Croix Festival, there's Saint John Festival
15:43
Speaker 2: June July, and then there's always April May for the
15:47
Speaker 2: Virgin Island's carnival festivals that happen inside of Sex.
15:51
Speaker 3: It's an honor, it's an honor to even be considered thank.
15:54
Speaker 2: You, you know. So it's I mean, you're doing some
15:56
Speaker 2: really great work and I've had a chance to at
15:59
Speaker 2: least see a lot of the different excerpts and recordings,
16:02
Speaker 2: and that's why it was important to us to be
16:05
Speaker 2: able to hear directly from you. I mean, I know
16:08
Speaker 2: some of the viewers and listeners are like, well, where's
16:10
Speaker 2: the music, where's the video? So if anything, we can
16:13
Speaker 2: just post some of the links to things that we.
16:17
Speaker 3: Will definitely we will definitely send you a compilation of
16:20
Speaker 3: things that we've done so we can share it with
16:23
Speaker 3: the space. And ironically, the last time we were on
16:27
Speaker 3: this platform, you showcased our play in key Swahili, correct
16:33
Speaker 3: the key Swahili Explosion, a whole play in keyth Swahili
16:36
Speaker 3: with English subtitles. So yeah, so any opportunity that we
16:40
Speaker 3: have to expand people's efforts, we can, And for us,
16:50
Speaker 3: it's not only the opportunity to work with children, but
16:54
Speaker 3: to collaborate with other people who understand the immeasurable value
16:57
Speaker 3: of working with children in their respective area. So any
17:01
Speaker 3: platform that gives people a chance to learn our work,
17:06
Speaker 3: absorb our work, appreciate our work, and inspire our work,
17:11
Speaker 3: that's a very humbling process.
17:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we're very we're very excited to be able
17:18
Speaker 2: to do certain things and a lot of times we
17:21
Speaker 2: do not get the joint privilege of doing the things
17:24
Speaker 2: we think that should be done. But we're working in
17:27
Speaker 2: that direction, and I think that that's part of our
17:30
Speaker 2: you know, that's part of our that's just definitely part
17:33
Speaker 2: of our MOO right now, is that we're working towards
17:37
Speaker 2: being able. You know, how do we continue to do
17:40
Speaker 2: these types of activities, do these kinds of programs, engage
17:44
Speaker 2: and again have them properly supported, because that's one of
17:48
Speaker 2: the things that we've always had an issue with is.
17:50
Speaker 3: May I please, may I please share like a historical
17:53
Speaker 3: antidote that in the relationship to Kwame. In nineteen ninety five,
18:01
Speaker 3: I picked Wami up from the airport in DC. He
18:04
Speaker 3: was speaking at the University of Maryland College Park for
18:06
Speaker 3: the last time in University of Maryland, Baltimore County for
18:10
Speaker 3: the last time. And this is before he realized that
18:12
Speaker 3: he had contracted prostate cancer. So we're playing in the
18:18
Speaker 3: car at tape. This is how long ago it was.
18:20
Speaker 3: It was a cassette and it was Santana doing an
18:25
Speaker 3: homage to Olatunji from the nineteen sixty four Drums of
18:29
Speaker 3: Passion album and Kwame's like at the back seat. Who's
18:35
Speaker 3: that trying to do all ATUNEJ song? And I said Santana.
18:39
Speaker 3: So he goes on and he says, oh, you got
18:43
Speaker 3: to return to the source like Cabra teaches us. You know,
18:47
Speaker 3: that's all the tune J and I started laughing. He said,
18:49
Speaker 3: what you disagree? I said, I had both tapes on
18:52
Speaker 3: the dresser, but wanted to be on time to get you,
18:55
Speaker 3: so I left the other one. So I actually have
18:59
Speaker 3: dead tape to my hobbies as I collect music. So
19:03
Speaker 3: he says, oh, yeah, because got to tell you, young blood,
19:08
Speaker 3: the what we're trying to do in the political arena.
19:13
Speaker 3: The artists are ahead of us light years and they're
19:17
Speaker 3: doing it, and you know we're trying to catch up
19:20
Speaker 3: with them. So anytime we have an opportunity to recognize
19:23
Speaker 3: their efforts, we must. And I said, I agree with you.
19:27
Speaker 3: So we keep driving for like ten minutes later. So
19:30
Speaker 3: ten minutes later, he smacks me real hard on my
19:33
Speaker 3: shoulder and I said, why are you in my shoulder?
19:36
Speaker 3: He said, oh, I have to humble myself. I'm sitting
19:39
Speaker 3: here telling you this. Your father was light years ahead
19:43
Speaker 3: of us. He was doing that when we were babies.
19:47
Speaker 3: And struggle. So Denny says, so when you gonna get serious,
19:53
Speaker 3: it's in your blood. When are you gonna pick that up?
19:56
Speaker 3: And at the time, I'm twenty five years old, and
20:00
Speaker 3: so I'm not, and so I'm in my fifty year
20:02
Speaker 3: frontline service. That's the last thing on my mind is
20:06
Speaker 3: using art and culture and writing and playwriting and screenwriting
20:13
Speaker 3: to elevate out let alone children exactly. So every opportunity
20:19
Speaker 3: that we get to do something in this space. Because
20:23
Speaker 3: mass emphasis has been around for fifteen years now, I've
20:26
Speaker 3: written thirty three plays in which at least twenty nine
20:30
Speaker 3: have been performed. And our work has been performed not
20:32
Speaker 3: only in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, as the young
20:36
Speaker 3: people say the DMV. Our work has been done in
20:38
Speaker 3: the Democratic Republica, the Congo. Our work has been done
20:42
Speaker 3: in Burkina Fasso, and our work has been done in Haiti.
20:46
Speaker 3: So to know that Kwame Terrey indirectly his challenge, his
20:51
Speaker 3: loving challenge, ends up resulting in a vehicle of this
20:57
Speaker 3: sort anytime we add about and the play we've done
21:01
Speaker 3: the most is a play called Same Neighborhood, Different Perspectives.
21:05
Speaker 3: A conversation between General Colin Powell and Kwameterray. We actually
21:10
Speaker 3: have two versions of it. Our initial version and then
21:13
Speaker 3: we wrote a version after we went through some training
21:16
Speaker 3: and got a better nuance of how to utilize theater
21:19
Speaker 3: and make it actually theatrical. So, just knowing his role
21:24
Speaker 3: in this process, I reflect on it often that all
21:27
Speaker 3: I could do is smile, So I wanted to share
21:31
Speaker 3: that with the audience. I hope that was fitting.
21:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's quite fitting. I mean, we're still
21:36
Speaker 2: in the month of November, so there's a lot of
21:38
Speaker 2: observances honoring Robert Kwame Terray and his legacy and also
21:48
Speaker 2: looking into the fullness of how do we take all
21:51
Speaker 2: of that that we learned from him, his words, his
21:55
Speaker 2: that whole tenor to how he engaged in revolutionary struggle
22:00
Speaker 2: and bring it to the forefront exactly we pulled from.
22:04
Speaker 2: You know, you've mentioned some power powerhouses, you know, when
22:07
Speaker 2: you're mentioning Thomas Kata, We can you know now live
22:12
Speaker 2: clearly speak of Ibrahim in twenty twenty five and others, you.
22:18
Speaker 3: Know, and to know that we are working with a
22:22
Speaker 3: children's center that are twenty five twenty six year old,
22:26
Speaker 3: naming them. Richardson launched off the ground that has been
22:30
Speaker 3: so successful and so received number king unify so. But
22:36
Speaker 3: because of the South Hell Alliance earlier this year they
22:38
Speaker 3: opened their second center in the Jair So to know
22:41
Speaker 3: that we have a partnership with them, to know we
22:44
Speaker 3: have a partnership with Theater of the Oppreston of Virgin Islands.
22:47
Speaker 3: To know we have a partnership. We're developing a partnership
22:49
Speaker 3: with Costa del Co children and La called Manita in Cuba.
22:53
Speaker 3: To know that our work is And we did a
22:57
Speaker 3: play a few years ago, Carl, y'all understand what I'm saying.
23:00
Speaker 3: And it was a tribute to Paul Robson and we
23:04
Speaker 3: did it. One of we used one of our poems
23:05
Speaker 3: as the backdrop of the play. The poem was performed
23:08
Speaker 3: in fourteen languages. Bend and Sarah brought exactly so. A
23:16
Speaker 3: young sister did it in Norwegian, two of my students
23:20
Speaker 3: did it in Portuguese, Spanish, one of my students, Ziem
23:25
Speaker 3: Muhammad did it in Mandarin, and Mendey in Sarah, leone
23:33
Speaker 3: a Kan in Ghana, Shona in Zimbabwe. And just to
23:38
Speaker 3: see that we have hands on interaction with children in
23:42
Speaker 3: all these different places who are part of vehicles. So
23:46
Speaker 3: when you think about the Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare and
23:52
Speaker 3: OSIJ for doctor Kwami and Kruman talking about the All
23:54
Speaker 3: African Committee for Political Coordination, and to see that you
24:00
Speaker 3: have these children's vehicles that are so difficult to maintain
24:05
Speaker 3: once you establish now as you know as an organizer,
24:10
Speaker 3: and to see that we have these functional relationships and
24:14
Speaker 3: we're collaborating every opportunity we get, no competition, collaboration. So
24:20
Speaker 3: it has that United Front character, it has that revolutionary
24:23
Speaker 3: Pan African character. Everything we could ever want it to be,
24:27
Speaker 3: if we were putting it down on paper, if we
24:30
Speaker 3: were having theoretical discussions about it that one.
24:33
Speaker 2: And not just conferences. I do remember that conversation as well,
24:36
Speaker 2: that we're doing something that extends beyond conferences or even
24:40
Speaker 2: congresses or work seminars. The intention not that those things
24:47
Speaker 2: are not functional. They have a place. However, as we're moving,
24:52
Speaker 2: I should say, in addition to as we move beyond
24:55
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five and go into the spaces where we
24:59
Speaker 2: can have more pragmatic.
25:01
Speaker 3: And doctor Chann, I feel like I'm cheating. I'm gonna
25:05
Speaker 3: be honest with you. I'm starting to feel like I'm cheating.
25:07
Speaker 3: And what I mean by that is when I'm in
25:09
Speaker 3: those spaces and you know our favorite part of those spaces,
25:14
Speaker 3: well what we need to do, and when you know that,
25:16
Speaker 3: you're doing it every day and you're reaching people all
25:21
Speaker 3: over and the response is what it is. But there
25:24
Speaker 3: are people saying we need to do that, I do
25:28
Speaker 3: feel like I feel like I'm cheating. I feel like
25:30
Speaker 3: we have this unbelievable advantage and just having an opportunity
25:34
Speaker 3: to expand on it all the time because we're not
25:37
Speaker 3: satisfied every time we make a breakthrough. We're looking for
25:41
Speaker 3: the next breakthrough correct always working, always probing, always searching.
25:46
Speaker 3: So I love it. That's one thing. I love. Your
25:51
Speaker 3: ability to move you and Mukasadata in terms of people
25:54
Speaker 3: who I work with directly, your ability to move around
25:57
Speaker 3: and so when you tell me how you move around
25:59
Speaker 3: and you tell me on some of the exchanges because
26:01
Speaker 3: I'm stationary these days for now, but to know that
26:05
Speaker 3: from sitting right here in Hyattsville and Maryland, every time
26:08
Speaker 3: we make a contribution, we're connecting with folks a little
26:12
Speaker 3: bit of everywhere, taking advantage of being in this Washington,
26:16
Speaker 3: d C. Space too, never taking that for granted, right,
26:19
Speaker 3: So it's as.
26:21
Speaker 2: Long as you're you're protected, we're grateful because that's usually
26:25
Speaker 2: the concern that persons have, especially those of us that do,
26:30
Speaker 2: like many escapes from the forty eight contiguous and then
26:34
Speaker 2: have to find ourselves escaping from the global americanisms and
26:38
Speaker 2: then trying to find some type of solace and sanctuary.
26:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, we do what exactly.
26:45
Speaker 2: Without any hindrances or any interference. So true, that's the part.
26:51
Speaker 3: And one more and one more thing thanks to our
26:53
Speaker 3: conversation and thanks to our conversations, would you one more
26:56
Speaker 3: thing that we've gotten into this year that is really
26:58
Speaker 3: taken of. We've been dealing with the food and security
27:03
Speaker 3: dynamically many who may not know on this platform in Washington,
27:08
Speaker 3: d C. At this moment, one out of five children
27:11
Speaker 3: go to bed with our food in Washington, d C.
27:15
Speaker 3: Do I need to say that again? One out of
27:17
Speaker 3: five children go to bed with our food. So four
27:21
Speaker 3: times this year already we've gone into communities because we
27:25
Speaker 3: have our Saturday classes. That's the third part of Mass Emphasis,
27:28
Speaker 3: the Mass Emphasis Children's History Education and Navigational Institute. Third
27:33
Speaker 3: Sister History class fancy name for history class. So we
27:36
Speaker 3: go in we do the class virtually, but we go
27:40
Speaker 3: into what are considered the challenge communities once a month
27:44
Speaker 3: and we teach a class, but we provide that community food.
27:48
Speaker 3: And this is not nonprofit. This is grassroots inspired by
27:53
Speaker 3: people who do this work already. So there's church support,
27:57
Speaker 3: there's family support. Some of the children, the parents of
28:01
Speaker 3: the children who we teach, and we feed these children,
28:04
Speaker 3: but we teach them too. So we've had four successful
28:06
Speaker 3: programs under our belt, and we have a new component
28:12
Speaker 3: that we're willing to explore for those who are not
28:16
Speaker 3: as traveled like you, doctor Chen that may not know
28:19
Speaker 3: the DC metropolitan area. Right outside of DC is a
28:23
Speaker 3: place called Prince George's County and in Prince George's County
28:26
Speaker 3: there are two communities, in particular Brandywine, Maryland and Upper Marlborough.
28:31
Speaker 3: That is the agricultural belt of the state of Maryland,
28:34
Speaker 3: and you have acres of land owned and controlled by
28:38
Speaker 3: African people, and so we've been meeting with them. So
28:42
Speaker 3: we're talking about this summer launching a project where we
28:45
Speaker 3: take children out of the most challenged communities teach them
28:49
Speaker 3: how to build bathouses. Because for those of you who
28:52
Speaker 3: know agriculture that's eat a a thousand mosquitos an hour,
28:57
Speaker 3: so you protect the fertilizers. They're going to learn how
29:01
Speaker 3: to use tractors, the three type of tractors that you
29:04
Speaker 3: mostly use in the agricultural space. So we're talking about
29:08
Speaker 3: collaborating with projects in the different agricultural based HBCUs. But
29:15
Speaker 3: we want to connect with the Agricultural Department at the
29:18
Speaker 3: UVI where you are, because we know they're doing some
29:21
Speaker 3: children's work. We're looking at children in Venezuela, children in
29:25
Speaker 3: the Sahel Region, children in the Static Region of Africa,
29:29
Speaker 3: children in Guinea Basal, and we want to have by
29:33
Speaker 3: the end of around this time next year the first
29:37
Speaker 3: All African Children's Agro Expo in honor of a Malecar
29:43
Speaker 3: Cabral and George Washington Carver. So that came out of
29:47
Speaker 3: our efforts just going into the community, feeding the babies,
29:51
Speaker 3: feeding their minds and their bodies simultaneously. So you know,
29:56
Speaker 3: so even though we don't even though we are not
29:59
Speaker 3: at these conferences assemblance.
30:01
Speaker 2: Actually but actually, because that's what I'm saying, like, the
30:06
Speaker 2: reason that we're doing these types of interactions and discourse
30:10
Speaker 2: is so that because there's a. I'll give a perfect example.
30:13
Speaker 2: There's getting ready to be an international Black Women's March
30:18
Speaker 2: in Brazil and started this weekend, and you know, around
30:23
Speaker 2: the time where the United Nations designated November twenty fifth
30:28
Speaker 2: is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women,
30:32
Speaker 2: you know, and again as a tie to not only
30:35
Speaker 2: an international space, but linked to the assassination murders of
30:41
Speaker 2: the Minnabel sisters in Cuba, you know century, So there's
30:46
Speaker 2: like a whole connection of that that's being highlighted, and
30:50
Speaker 2: then the connection to what's happening with the afrodiscendient, the
30:54
Speaker 2: Afroan descendants ascendance more correct, let me make sure I
30:58
Speaker 2: correct myself. We tend to say Africa descendants because we
31:01
Speaker 2: keep letting colonizes define terms, but it should proactive and
31:06
Speaker 2: that we're speaking of African ascendence because we're rising, right, yeah,
31:10
Speaker 2: And that's kind of what's taking place in Brazil, and
31:16
Speaker 2: it's bringing very progressive sisters from around the globe.
31:21
Speaker 3: Are you are you going?
31:23
Speaker 2: I was invited, but because of my recent shift, I'm
31:27
Speaker 2: not going to be able to attend, you know, because
31:29
Speaker 2: if I went, I can only stay for lack a
31:31
Speaker 2: day right now.
31:32
Speaker 3: You're you're but you're in contact with the organizers being
31:35
Speaker 3: the incredible networker that you are. Okay, so let me
31:39
Speaker 3: just you and doctor Chan is so humble, don't let
31:42
Speaker 3: her fool you, guys. In the last two years, doctor
31:45
Speaker 3: Chan has been one of the main coordinators of a
31:48
Speaker 3: campaign called the Aside of Your Core Cuba Defense Campaign,
31:52
Speaker 3: which was a campaign set up to get us side
31:54
Speaker 3: of your terrists, get two million dollar bounty lifted on
31:58
Speaker 3: her hand, and to get Cuba off the list of
32:02
Speaker 3: countries US imperialism accuses of state sponsor terrorism. Y'all know
32:07
Speaker 3: how courageous that was because they were people in these
32:10
Speaker 3: Cuban solidarity circles that felt it was not necessary worldwide
32:16
Speaker 3: strategically to merge ASADA's issue with the issue of dealing
32:21
Speaker 3: with Cuba and the relationship with the state sponsor terrorism.
32:25
Speaker 3: So we were defiant with love, defiant with humility, and
32:32
Speaker 3: we ended up also incorporating a project within the campaign
32:37
Speaker 3: in honor of Assida Shakur and Pauline Lamouba, which is
32:41
Speaker 3: working with Cuban doctors on the African continent. So that's
32:44
Speaker 3: some of the things that doctor Chen is involved in.
32:46
Speaker 3: But one of the ways we've pivoted from the campaign.
32:50
Speaker 3: We want women, all African women and other women in
32:53
Speaker 3: solidarity with the African cause all over the world to
32:57
Speaker 3: demand that former US President Obama apologizes to the African
33:02
Speaker 3: world for adding another million dollars to the bounty on
33:07
Speaker 3: the side of Chaqueur. It was one million, he added
33:10
Speaker 3: another million dollars to it, and the Congressional Black Caucus
33:15
Speaker 3: apologized to our community worldwide was supporting the extradition attempts
33:21
Speaker 3: on sister Asida because even though she was safe and
33:24
Speaker 3: sound in Cuba, many people have no idea of the
33:27
Speaker 3: insidious attempts to try to extract her against her will.
33:33
Speaker 3: So that's something that's something that we've definitely So we
33:37
Speaker 3: have an album coming out in honor of Patresea, Pauline
33:41
Speaker 3: Lamuma and Asida Shakur, but to highlight Cuba's medical work
33:47
Speaker 3: on the African continent. So that album is supposed to
33:49
Speaker 3: be ready around March. So for all you artists out
33:52
Speaker 3: there that understand the two aspects of our music of resistance,
33:58
Speaker 3: music with a message and music with a car, we
34:00
Speaker 3: would love you to be involved in that.
34:04
Speaker 2: Because there's some artists there and the children. I think
34:09
Speaker 2: that what you're doing, Like I said, how we.
34:11
Speaker 3: Started, We've collaborated before it.
34:13
Speaker 2: Yes, right, I'm looking forward and.
34:17
Speaker 3: Our children and the children of mass Emphasis. Guess what
34:19
Speaker 3: they did, Remember that doctor Chann mc the press conference.
34:22
Speaker 3: They put a call out to African children all over
34:25
Speaker 3: the world and before July twenty six next here we
34:28
Speaker 3: should have all Africans children's collage of images of Cuba's
34:33
Speaker 3: medical brigade at work all over the world. And it'd
34:38
Speaker 3: be the first all African children's collage at that point.
34:41
Speaker 3: And the first thing that we were able to do.
34:44
Speaker 3: We were able to give support to the son of
34:47
Speaker 3: Mukasa Dada, the pet African and Black Power icon. His
34:51
Speaker 3: son Ebeku da Da, my play nephew, who's a graduate
34:56
Speaker 3: of the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba, who
34:58
Speaker 3: practices in Savannah, George, in one of the poorest rural
35:02
Speaker 3: areas in Georgia. He went to Guinea Bissau for the
35:07
Speaker 3: month of August and worked hands on with Cuban doctors
35:10
Speaker 3: on the ground. In Guinea Bissau in a community that,
35:13
Speaker 3: based on electrical outages, have to shut down electricity at
35:19
Speaker 3: three pm in the afternoon, so for the rest of
35:23
Speaker 3: the time he had to treat these people. And he
35:25
Speaker 3: told me he worked eighteen hour days. And they started
35:30
Speaker 3: a group called the International Medical Society, which consists of
35:33
Speaker 3: Cuban graduates from Cuban's medical school who are going to
35:36
Speaker 3: go to nations all over the world and work with
35:39
Speaker 3: their doctors on the ground. And we know they have
35:42
Speaker 3: four thousand doctors on the African continent. And this is
35:45
Speaker 3: important because his doctor chen has been to Ghana at
35:48
Speaker 3: least three times in the last four years. Osogy for
35:55
Speaker 3: doctor Kwame and Krumer was the first world leader to
35:58
Speaker 3: recognize the victory of the So it's so we have
36:03
Speaker 3: a brother in Ghana right now that's negotiating to have
36:07
Speaker 3: the Cuban Medical Henry Reed Medical Brigade have a sit
36:10
Speaker 3: down with those who relocated to Ghana around doctor King's
36:16
Speaker 3: birthday with some Ghanean students who graduated from the Latin
36:19
Speaker 3: American School of Medicine, so they could talk about what
36:22
Speaker 3: they could do. And you may and the reason that's
36:25
Speaker 3: important George W. Bush as the largest highway in Ghana
36:29
Speaker 3: named after him because he's a born again humanitarian. And
36:34
Speaker 3: remember from any of you the same insults you are
36:37
Speaker 3: hurling at President Trump. Were those same insults, those same adjectives,
36:42
Speaker 3: those same adverbs, those same nouns you were using those
36:46
Speaker 3: to label President Bush twenty years ago. And he's set
36:51
Speaker 3: up a foundation, and according to record, he's claiming to
36:55
Speaker 3: have tested more African women for breaston cervical cancer in
36:59
Speaker 3: any family foundation that has made Africa their focus. So
37:04
Speaker 3: the fact that the United States Agency for International Development
37:08
Speaker 3: die deserving LIS this gives us the opportunity to have
37:13
Speaker 3: a project where we are invested in Africa's future at
37:19
Speaker 3: a time when from twenty ten to twenty thirty eight,
37:24
Speaker 3: the World Health Organization said fifty seven million people on
37:28
Speaker 3: Earth would perish by noncommunicable diseases. For those of you
37:32
Speaker 3: who aren't familied in medicine like us, but that's diabetes,
37:37
Speaker 3: that's strokes, that's cancer, as heart attacks. They have now
37:41
Speaker 3: surpassed AIDS, cholembra, and malaria as the number one killer
37:45
Speaker 3: of the human being. And all those diseases. Our numbers
37:50
Speaker 3: are disproportionate to the rest of the planet. And Cuba
37:54
Speaker 3: now has a treatment for diabetes victims that prevents the
37:58
Speaker 3: amputation of limb.
38:00
Speaker 2: So pause, pause, you got to see Cuba.
38:04
Speaker 3: Cuba. Cuba now has a treatment for diabetes victims that
38:10
Speaker 3: prevents the amputation of limbs. Match that with their program
38:15
Speaker 3: to eradicate glaucoma called Operation Project Miracle with Venezuela, which
38:20
Speaker 3: has restored eyesight to thousands of people. And we would
38:26
Speaker 3: like to Brother Stevie Wonder as a symbolic gesture to
38:29
Speaker 3: consider that treatment, just to make a strong statement at
38:33
Speaker 3: this historical moment. So these are and then of course
38:38
Speaker 3: during the Corona pandemic, they were the only nation in
38:40
Speaker 3: the Americas to create a vaccine institute defend Lay Vaccine
38:45
Speaker 3: Institute where they created three vaccinations and another one that
38:49
Speaker 3: dealt with nasal and understanding that they're the only nation
38:53
Speaker 3: in the Americas where green medicine is part of the
38:56
Speaker 3: national health policy. They exactly, and I want to thank
39:04
Speaker 3: you and Sister Rhoda for pushing CSA to develop a
39:11
Speaker 3: memorandum of understanding with Cuba, which are the type of
39:14
Speaker 3: things that make this work that we're talking about possible,
39:18
Speaker 3: the vehicles we already have in place. And thank you
39:21
Speaker 3: so much for getting us on Ambassador David Comasong's radar.
39:26
Speaker 3: It's a very valuable contact to have. He's always very
39:30
Speaker 3: not only supportive, but encouraging definitely and inspiring. So yeah,
39:36
Speaker 3: so just looking at all this work, just looking at
39:39
Speaker 3: all this work, so I missed the road, to be honest.
39:44
Speaker 3: But when you're traveling like you're traveling, I feel represented.
39:49
Speaker 3: When Mukasa's traveling like he's traveling, I feel represented because
39:53
Speaker 3: for me, at.
39:54
Speaker 2: This particular point, all our lives like literally, I'm.
39:59
Speaker 3: Just feeling at this particular point. My role individually for
40:04
Speaker 3: this collective struggle is to develop the project that are
40:09
Speaker 3: the most adequate follow up in these assemblings that we're having,
40:12
Speaker 3: because we have to make assemblance a weapon like they
40:17
Speaker 3: were before the fifth that African Congress is remembered, not
40:22
Speaker 3: to the other four or the other seven or eight,
40:24
Speaker 3: the number one through four, number six, number seven, not
40:28
Speaker 3: that they weren't great, but we know I've resulted in
40:33
Speaker 3: fifteen years later, thirty five nations in Africa being independent. Correct.
40:39
Speaker 3: We know what the NAACP was created, what that resulted
40:42
Speaker 3: in people to say what they want. We know what
40:46
Speaker 3: the National Association Colored Women. All these institutional vehicles, organizational formations,
40:53
Speaker 3: they come from assemblance. A student conference to Shawn University
40:58
Speaker 3: created the Student Coordinated Committee. This is our culture. We've
41:03
Speaker 3: never wasted time when we assemble correct. We don't allow
41:06
Speaker 3: intellectual show voting when we assemble correct. So even though
41:12
Speaker 3: that appears to be problematic a little bit, I would
41:15
Speaker 3: say to people who are a little bit discouraged, just
41:18
Speaker 3: let your history inspire you. It will be fine. Matter
41:22
Speaker 3: of fact, the enemy needs to have alternative conferences because
41:28
Speaker 3: we're working so hard and we are making breakthroughs, so
41:32
Speaker 3: they have to paint the picture that nothing is being done.
41:36
Speaker 3: Now where we compromise, we'll always say not enough is
41:40
Speaker 3: being done. Is we know we can never do enough.
41:43
Speaker 2: And that is true.
41:45
Speaker 3: Every contribution we make, we know when we go back
41:48
Speaker 3: and reflect, we go crazy. We could have did this better,
41:55
Speaker 3: we could have done that better. So as long as
41:57
Speaker 3: we are not satisfied, we don't rest on our laurels
42:00
Speaker 3: or we're not supposed to this. So I see that
42:03
Speaker 3: whole And this is why the other thing about kwame
42:06
Speaker 3: Terrae to be at Howard University in this particular space
42:11
Speaker 3: at a time where on their shuttle bus they take
42:13
Speaker 3: pride in having the most Peace Corps volunteers in the
42:17
Speaker 3: HBCU community. And we know the only difference between the
42:21
Speaker 3: Peace Corps and the CIA is the same difference between
42:24
Speaker 3: the White Citizens Council and the Ku Klux Klan. So
42:27
Speaker 3: to know that they are open, yeah, so to know
42:31
Speaker 3: that they are openly recruiting that way. And after the
42:36
Speaker 3: George Floyd situation when Bill Clinton took y'all talk about
42:39
Speaker 3: white privilege, but you don't talk about white liberal latitude,
42:45
Speaker 3: and where he took white liberal latitude and decided to
42:48
Speaker 3: insault Brother Kwame at John Lewis's funeral, Yes, we knew
42:53
Speaker 3: that what that meant was they were telling students in
42:55
Speaker 3: that HBCU space that John Lewis's approached the struggle was
43:00
Speaker 3: more advantageous for them than Kwame to raise approach the struggle.
43:04
Speaker 3: So to have us so to have a society on
43:08
Speaker 3: Howard's campus that brings us in within two weeks to
43:13
Speaker 3: have an Assiders Court tribute, and then we follow up
43:16
Speaker 3: with this African Children's tribute to Kwame. It lets us
43:19
Speaker 3: know that things are looking very promising in the immediate future,
43:25
Speaker 3: and we'll continue to do what we do. We'll just
43:28
Speaker 3: get into these spaces when we can, and we'll make
43:31
Speaker 3: the most of our opportunities when we get them, right.
43:34
Speaker 2: Well, I just wanted to add a linkage to several
43:39
Speaker 2: things that you said in terms of, you know, the
43:42
Speaker 2: types of gatherings that persons are having, the historiography in
43:46
Speaker 2: terms of how there's more organizing happening many people may
43:52
Speaker 2: not know, and then all the different layers that mass
43:54
Speaker 2: emphasis the various efforts that are being done. You know,
43:59
Speaker 2: these things are being done while our beloved revolutionary Empress,
44:05
Speaker 2: Queen Aside of Chakor was still on this side of
44:09
Speaker 2: the stay there you go, Well, that we were doing
44:12
Speaker 2: this and even on with her now moving into that
44:16
Speaker 2: ancestral transition and within her forty days, right, for sure,
44:20
Speaker 2: I think it's powerful that we're continuing to keep this
44:23
Speaker 2: kind of work on because we have to protect those
44:27
Speaker 2: that protect our interests as ancestral ancient African people. Right.
44:31
Speaker 2: So I want to just what was happening today, and
44:35
Speaker 2: we'll continue in about.
44:38
Speaker 3: And her daughter and her daughter, her daughter Coquia was
44:42
Speaker 3: so thankful for what we were able to do. And
44:46
Speaker 3: just because you remember in the beginning people were like,
44:49
Speaker 3: well did you get the clearance from the family, Remember
44:51
Speaker 3: they saying that to us and of course, like we
44:54
Speaker 3: were going to tell people on the phone with our
44:56
Speaker 3: level of interaction with the family was yeah, exactly right, right,
45:06
Speaker 3: So just to know, so just to know that we
45:08
Speaker 3: were able to do that, and of course we had
45:09
Speaker 3: the opportunity before he transitioned to be advised by Blao
45:14
Speaker 3: Ali exactly.
45:16
Speaker 2: I'm just That's what I'm saying. This was a very powerful.
45:19
Speaker 3: And meeting him, meeting him and meeting and when I
45:25
Speaker 3: met him in Selma, he had heard me close out
45:28
Speaker 3: the educational segment of the conference. So he just comes
45:31
Speaker 3: up to me smiling and I said, man, I've been
45:33
Speaker 3: looking for you. He was like, I'm not hard to find.
45:34
Speaker 3: So we talked outside the George Wallace Community College for
45:38
Speaker 3: like about check the name out, like for about two hours.
45:41
Speaker 2: Nice.
45:42
Speaker 3: So I just so I used your term actionable deliverables, right,
45:47
Speaker 3: And I told him, I say, bro, what if I
45:51
Speaker 3: told you that a campaign could be launched in our
45:54
Speaker 3: sister's honor and you just have to advise from the background.
45:58
Speaker 3: He's smart and he smiled and said I said, well,
46:02
Speaker 3: I would say, get to it.
46:05
Speaker 2: So and we got to it.
46:07
Speaker 3: No, and I and I told him, I said, you
46:10
Speaker 3: probably don't you probably you have every reason to doubt us, sir. Right.
46:15
Speaker 3: So when we did it, and when he spoke at
46:19
Speaker 3: that press conference, remember that smile on his face.
46:22
Speaker 2: It was wild.
46:25
Speaker 3: So that's what I'm saying. So when you when you
46:27
Speaker 3: have these type of experiences, I mean you, you're gonna
46:32
Speaker 3: have nothing but confidence and optimism moving forward. And like
46:37
Speaker 3: I said, I have, I have a lot of fun
46:39
Speaker 3: in these circles. It's starting to scare me. Like I
46:42
Speaker 3: remember one time, just a minute ago, when we first
46:46
Speaker 3: got mass emphasis off the ground. I won't say the
46:48
Speaker 3: person's name, but no, I can't because it's all. We
46:53
Speaker 3: were on a platform with Marine ba Ani at San
46:56
Speaker 3: Copa bookstore. So she says, we have to have political
47:04
Speaker 3: education for children. Where is that being done? So people
47:09
Speaker 3: are pointing at me. I'm on the platform next to her,
47:11
Speaker 3: you understand, And she's like, what are you'all pointing at?
47:15
Speaker 3: They were like, oh, Mama, the young man next to you,
47:18
Speaker 3: he's doing that. So we going and she says, but uh,
47:24
Speaker 3: they're up for children. The black guarts.
47:27
Speaker 2: Move my darling renaissance, that's us.
47:29
Speaker 3: Where is that today? They're pointing again? She says, what
47:33
Speaker 3: do y'all keep pointing at She's like the young guy there.
47:35
Speaker 3: So after the thing is over, she says, well, I
47:37
Speaker 3: didn't know.
47:38
Speaker 2: I said, well, you know now right, And I think
47:43
Speaker 2: that that's a powerful way because I want to again,
47:46
Speaker 2: our time has really come to an on We've got
47:50
Speaker 2: a few more minutes, but I just wanted to foremost
47:53
Speaker 2: appreciate you sharing and giving some context to what mass
47:57
Speaker 2: emphasis and all its iterations from being occasional piece the
48:01
Speaker 2: creative arts, the cultural heritage, the preservation and the economic
48:05
Speaker 2: drivers so that you can keep this going. Yeah, that
48:08
Speaker 2: you share it with us, And I want to highlight
48:10
Speaker 2: that something that's happening as we speak, it started yesterday,
48:15
Speaker 2: well today and is moving into tomorrow, is the seventh
48:20
Speaker 2: annual Pan African Diaspora Conference that's being convened in Arusha
48:25
Speaker 2: in Tanzania as we speak. And so this morning at
48:29
Speaker 2: two o'clock our time, let's see one o'clock Eastern time
48:34
Speaker 2: to nine o'clock Tanzani in time, I had the privilege
48:39
Speaker 2: to be able to be part of a platform that
48:42
Speaker 2: was speaking to the different programs the projects that are
48:47
Speaker 2: in place to not only deal with reparations through the
48:50
Speaker 2: lens of the theoretical space, but what are the current
48:54
Speaker 2: actionable deliverables that are being implemented, you know, with really
48:57
Speaker 2: good engagement and outcomes to address repair, justice, the institution
49:05
Speaker 2: of artifacts. And it was powerful because on the panel,
49:08
Speaker 2: at least one that I had the joint privilege of
49:10
Speaker 2: being on, it focused on the repatriation of not only
49:17
Speaker 2: human remains that were stolen by colonizers and their allies,
49:21
Speaker 2: but by the sacred, the ancestral sacred treasures and what
49:27
Speaker 2: people like the artifacts that we know them belongings that
49:32
Speaker 2: actually stripped the sovereignty of many of our people in
49:36
Speaker 2: the African continent in other spaces. Oh god, I just
49:40
Speaker 2: want to highlight that this It's funny.
49:43
Speaker 3: It's funny you brought that up because one of the
49:46
Speaker 3: things I always showed my students is the chapter of
49:49
Speaker 3: the World World in Africa by the Boys written in
49:52
Speaker 3: nineteen forty thix. Chapter, my favorite one, the Rape of
49:55
Speaker 3: Africa with the chronicles the slaughtering.
50:01
Speaker 2: Correct. Yeah, correct, And that's important because this was about restitution,
50:09
Speaker 2: restorative justice, reparations, the right to return, decolonizing education, climate change, agriculture,
50:18
Speaker 2: real estate, and investment. But this is the part that
50:21
Speaker 2: I want to make sure I share with you with
50:23
Speaker 2: this partnership with the sixth Region African Disport Alliance in Tanzania,
50:29
Speaker 2: in partnership with the band On Africa that on Saturday
50:34
Speaker 2: they're going to be hosting a large body of young
50:39
Speaker 2: Africans on this Beyond Borders Youth Conference. I just like again,
50:44
Speaker 2: I'm very grateful. I'm I have to give my thanks
50:49
Speaker 2: and deep appreciation to Nana Abana James of the sixth
50:54
Speaker 2: Region African Disport Alliance in Tanzania, who's also are on
50:58
Speaker 2: you know, with Boots on the Round in Tanzania and
51:01
Speaker 2: definitely producing all kinds of actionable do.
51:04
Speaker 3: You know you know, you know you got to connect yourself.
51:07
Speaker 2: Oh well no, you're already connected. You already know that.
51:09
Speaker 2: That's why I'm saying that this is something that is
51:12
Speaker 2: in process and I know that. So that's what I'm saying.
51:16
Speaker 2: So even while you're being still, and and even for
51:21
Speaker 2: me being still is that I'm just I tend to
51:25
Speaker 2: stay in this hemisphere. But the work that we're doing
51:28
Speaker 2: is literally going is just going global, and I just
51:32
Speaker 2: for person to just be aware. So if you want
51:35
Speaker 2: to get more information or if you want to at
51:37
Speaker 2: least they do have online options for this conmence that's
51:41
Speaker 2: going to continue again for us on this side, it's
51:44
Speaker 2: like between one and two in the morning until about
51:47
Speaker 2: seven in the morning. Seven in the morning, well, well you.
51:50
Speaker 3: Know, we've we've worked from people like you. We will
51:53
Speaker 3: follow up after it's over.
51:54
Speaker 2: That's the exactly exactly, because yeah, you know, and I
51:57
Speaker 2: thought it was just really powerful.
52:00
Speaker 3: Hard people underestimate how difficult it is to really have
52:04
Speaker 3: a strategic meeting on the sidelines of these conferences. It's
52:08
Speaker 3: not easy because people have their agendas, they have people
52:11
Speaker 3: that they want to see, especially if they're meeting you
52:13
Speaker 3: by accident. You're going there looking to meet certain people.
52:17
Speaker 3: So sometimes that's not the best scenario. But people realize
52:21
Speaker 3: after the fact when you follow up with them that
52:24
Speaker 3: you're serious about not only what you're serious about, but
52:29
Speaker 3: you have a genuine appreciation for what they bring to
52:31
Speaker 3: the table. Right.
52:33
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's important that I also highlight that
52:36
Speaker 2: our sister is an East African Coordinator for the u
52:40
Speaker 2: n I aac l r C twenty two in addition
52:44
Speaker 2: to a long list, you know, serving as the chairperson
52:48
Speaker 2: of the six regiencies that you know working with our
52:52
Speaker 2: DC is an African lead facilitator, you know, working with
52:55
Speaker 2: the Africa USA Chamber of Commerce, working with the One
53:00
Speaker 2: Many six plus, and you know, it's.
53:02
Speaker 3: Ineffable, it's the inevitable that we'll get together and make
53:05
Speaker 3: the most people we get together. So yeah, exactly, So
53:08
Speaker 3: thank you, so thank you so much for this opportunity.
53:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it's been a joy, it's been a privilege.
53:14
Speaker 2: And again, like people, people.
53:16
Speaker 3: Don't know how often like we we communicate with each other.
53:19
Speaker 3: So getting the opportunity to just get a taste of
53:23
Speaker 3: our interaction and a regular basis, on a regular basis,
53:26
Speaker 3: and it is only and it's not only some of
53:29
Speaker 3: the most meaningful interaction I'm having at this particular historical moment,
53:33
Speaker 3: but it's some of the most meaningful interaction I've had
53:36
Speaker 3: in my thirty five years of involvement. So thank you
53:38
Speaker 3: so much for.
53:39
Speaker 2: Well, thank you for just being receptive and for always
53:44
Speaker 2: bringing truth as power, not just to power, but truth
53:49
Speaker 2: as power. And then the level of work that you
53:52
Speaker 2: do is just it' stellar. So it helps you know,
53:56
Speaker 2: it's like iron Starping's iron. It's really a good. It's
53:59
Speaker 2: a good, it's a good engagement, and so I'm very
54:01
Speaker 2: grateful that.
54:03
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. Now. Well, those of you in the Caribbean,
54:08
Speaker 3: we just know that we hope you're lucky to know
54:11
Speaker 3: what caliber of human resource you have in doctor Tanzera.
54:14
Speaker 3: So well, y'all take care. Long Live the African Child, Long.
54:18
Speaker 2: Live the African Child. And again, we really want to
54:21
Speaker 2: thank those listeners viewers that have joined us on this
54:25
Speaker 2: podcast of our speaks building a new legacy. That's part
54:29
Speaker 2: of the Crew Podcast Broke programming that is eight pm
54:35
Speaker 2: every day. I think that there's going to be some
54:38
Speaker 2: shifts as they move into the next season in twenty
54:40
Speaker 2: twenty six. So between now and the end of this year,
54:45
Speaker 2: there's going to be some other engaging broadcasts. We really
54:48
Speaker 2: do hope that persons will really tune in. I mean,
54:52
Speaker 2: we have a couple of other I may have a
54:54
Speaker 2: bonus show here or there before December thirty first, and
54:59
Speaker 2: I'm working out some of those dates. Because I write
55:01
Speaker 2: this moment, I'm not remembering all of those dates, but
55:04
Speaker 2: I know that my regular pieces will be on December
55:07
Speaker 2: fourth and December eighteenth, and then there'll be some other
55:11
Speaker 2: bonus dates that I'll be able to broadcast. Persons that
55:14
Speaker 2: want to get in touch can either email me at
55:16
Speaker 2: as Speaks that's A S. T. S P E A
55:20
Speaker 2: K s at gmail dot com, or you can just
55:22
Speaker 2: look for Chinsrekahina whether it's in Instagram or Facebook. I
55:28
Speaker 2: don't really use x for obviously reasons. And then you
55:32
Speaker 2: can also go to the YouTube page and just look
55:35
Speaker 2: for as Speaks A S T. S P E A
55:38
Speaker 2: K S at Yahoo Yahoo. Listened to me at YouTube right,
55:43
Speaker 2: so that you'll be able to get some updates on
55:46
Speaker 2: some of the things that we're doing. And there's a
55:48
Speaker 2: lot more to share because there's so much that's going on,
55:52
Speaker 2: even right here in Saint Croix. We've got the Black
55:57
Speaker 2: Heritage Tree Project that's going to have a feat event
56:01
Speaker 2: at one of our largest bio bob trees, and just
56:04
Speaker 2: having people share narratives and holding space and minimizing the
56:09
Speaker 2: erasure of our literature, of our narratives, of our history,
56:15
Speaker 2: of our culture, of our traditions in these spaces. So
56:18
Speaker 2: we have a lot that's going to be shared in
56:21
Speaker 2: the very near future. So with that we say Land
56:25
Speaker 2: is our foundation. Spiritual harmony unifies us, and we know
56:30
Speaker 2: that you are part of that house of life that
56:33
Speaker 2: really brings truth as power in our practical work. What
56:38
Speaker 2: are the actionable deliverables that you'll get to speak about
56:42
Speaker 2: the next time we speak and reason, I'd like you
56:45
Speaker 2: to think about that. Remember to stay true to yourself.
56:48
Speaker 2: Remember it's good to know yourself, respect yourself, and love yourself.
56:53
Speaker 2: And do something good for someone in your space, in
56:57
Speaker 2: your community, in your nation, and for humanity. Reparations now,
57:05
Speaker 2: repatriation now, restitution now be free, Give thanks and have
57:13
Speaker 2: a blessed evening, and I'll look forward to the next
57:15
Speaker 2: time that you join us here on our speaks building
57:19
Speaker 2: a new legacy and a new generation. Give thanks, good night,