Latest / Austin Signal / Juneteenth in Austin: Black History Bike Ride Documentary, Book Festival Preview and Reflections on Freedom

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Juneteenth in Austin: Black History Bike Ride Documentary, Book Festival Preview and Reflections on Freedom · Austin Signal

0:08
It's Juneteenth, that means it's
0:10
time for another trek through town
0:12
for the Black History Bike Ride.
0:14
The organization has been hosting
0:15
the event for a few years now,
0:17
and a new documentary has been made
0:19
highlighting the mental and physical
0:20
journey of the ride.
0:22
We're gonna chat with the filmmaker
0:23
about the new project.
0:25
And the Austin African American Book
0:27
Festival is fast approaching.
0:28
We're going to hear some book
0:29
recommendations from the leader of
0:31
the fest. We have plenty more about
0:33
those stories.
0:34
That's coming up on today's show.
0:36
The Austin Signal is a production
0:38
of KUT News, hosted by
0:40
Jerry Quijano.
0:41
Plus, KUT's Miles Bloxson
0:43
speaks to Black Austinites about the
0:45
history of Juneteenth, how they
0:47
celebrate the holiday, and explores
0:49
the question, are we really
0:51
free?
0:52
We've got that excerpt and a whole
0:54
lot more coming up next!
0:56
It's right here on Austin Signal.
1:07
Howdy out there.
1:08
Thank you for listening to Austin
1:10
Signal.
1:11
I'm your host, Jerry Kehannel.
1:12
It is Friday, June 19th,
1:14
Juneteenth.
1:15
Thank you, for spending part of the
1:17
day here with us.
1:19
We're gonna use our time today to
1:21
highlight some stories from Austin's
1:22
black community.
1:23
We've got an excerpt from a Juneteen
1:25
special reported by our own Miles
1:27
Bloxson.
1:28
Some book recommendations from the
1:29
leader of the Austin African
1:31
American Book Festival.
1:32
But we're gonna start today by
1:34
linking back to a story we shared
1:35
with you earlier this week about the
1:37
Black History bike ride that's
1:38
happening this Sunday here in
1:40
Austin. We talked with founder Taleb
1:42
Abdullahi about the ride and
1:44
the new film chronicling their work.
1:46
The film is called Cycles of
1:48
Resilience and it's directed by
1:49
Yaqui Smith, who's joining us now to
1:51
talk more about that project.
1:53
Thank you for being with us, Yaqui.
1:54
Thank you by having me.
1:55
So tell us a little bit first before
1:57
we talk about cycles of resilience
1:58
about your work as a filmmaker and
2:00
your time here in Boston.
2:01
Yeah, so, you know, this is my
2:02
second time living in Austin.
2:03
I actually went to film school here
2:05
at UT.
2:06
So I was originally here from 03 to
2:07
09, moved away for a while and
2:10
then moved back in 2017.
2:12
And really for the last, say 20
2:14
years, most of the films that I
2:16
have produced have either been
2:17
produced here in Austin,
2:19
San Antonio or North
2:21
Texas. Okay.
2:22
Yeah.
2:23
So tell us a little bit about how
2:24
you got linked up with Talib.
2:26
Yeah, so, you know, a few years ago,
2:28
I actually directed a film called
2:29
Juneteenth Faith and Freedom, which
2:31
chronicles the Juneteen holiday.
2:33
And we went into production a year
2:35
after Juneteeth became a
2:37
federal holiday.
2:39
And that film ended up on PBS.
2:42
We had a really great film
2:44
festival run with it, won some
2:46
awards on the circuit and all that.
2:47
And then Talib saw that film.
2:49
And so he reached out to me.
2:51
We had lunch.
2:52
We talked about the film.
2:54
And immediately I was like,
2:56
yeah, I want to do this.
2:57
One, because I really had never
2:59
really heard of the Black History
3:00
Bike Ride.
3:01
Two, I thought the way the
3:03
organization ran and what they
3:04
actually did was one, a
3:06
unique way of exposing
3:08
people to black history here in
3:10
Austin, and really just history in
3:11
general.
3:12
And then also, you know, I'm not a
3:14
big cyclist at all, right?
3:15
I haven't really ridden a bike since
3:17
I was a kid.
3:18
And so I was, it'd be cool to
3:19
actually get out there and...
3:21
Really document this and see all of
3:22
these cyclists sort of going through
3:23
Austin. And so immediately I was
3:25
like, yeah, man, let's do this.
3:26
Let's make it happen.
3:26
It does sound really cool, but it
3:28
also sounds like a ton of work,
3:30
like, you know, I think of a film
3:31
director as having, like a bit of
3:33
control and, okay, we're gonna be
3:34
here and we're going to be here, and
3:35
then you're just kind of going out
3:36
through the city. What was that
3:37
production like?
3:38
You know, it was unique,
3:40
right? Because to your point,
3:42
there is a certain level of control
3:44
that I think you have as a director.
3:46
Even when you're doing documentaries,
3:48
although things can get out of
3:50
control, you obviously kind of know
3:52
where you're headed, right.
3:52
There's a roadmap.
3:54
And even with this one, we had a
3:55
roadmap, but again, there were
3:57
so many unknowns, right, I think
3:58
there were like 400 cyclists out
4:00
there, three cameras, a drone,
4:02
we got GoPros.
4:03
We literally went on this ride
4:05
around the city.
4:06
And so there was so many things that
4:08
could have gone wrong.
4:09
But I will say, because of
4:10
how well organized the ride itself
4:12
is, it made our
4:14
work a lot easier.
4:15
And not only that,
4:17
Riley, who actually shot another of
4:19
Talib's films before this one,
4:21
he was the DP.
4:22
And so he already kind of understood
4:24
the lay of the land.
4:25
And so it was really helpful for me
4:27
to be in collaboration
4:28
with somebody who had already done
4:30
this before.
4:31
What was one of
4:33
the more surprising things that you
4:35
learned making this film?
4:37
You know, it's interesting.
4:39
So I always got to tell a story.
4:40
I have a antidote for everything.
4:41
That's what the radio is here for.
4:42
About 12 years ago, me and my wife
4:44
were sitting down with her great
4:46
aunt.
4:47
And she was talking about how
4:49
post emancipation,
4:51
a lot of newspapers were actually
4:53
set up
4:55
so that after emancipations,
4:57
people who had actually been torn
4:59
apart for their families, they could
5:01
find their family. So then they
5:02
would run these almost like missing
5:03
ads. Like, hey, I was at this
5:05
plantation.
5:06
This person did this, that happened.
5:09
And here in Austin, right,
5:11
you have a man named Jacob Fontaine
5:13
who started a newspaper.
5:14
And that newspaper was literally
5:17
started for the purpose of
5:19
reuniting people with their loved
5:21
ones post emancipation.
5:22
Obviously they did a whole lot of
5:23
other things. They ran all types of
5:24
stories, but it really started
5:26
from that desire, right?
5:27
To have people reunite.
5:29
And again, I didn't know that he
5:31
existed here. I didn't know that the
5:32
gold dollar building is literally a
5:34
few blocks away from us.
5:36
And so to know that,
5:38
again, this story that, again,
5:40
was sort of an antidote, because I
5:41
had known anyone when I'm talking to
5:43
my wife's great aunt, and then to
5:44
actually be in the space where
5:46
somebody created those stories and
5:48
actually was responsible for
5:50
reuniting people with their loved
5:51
ones, it was amazing.
5:52
And it was a history that I actually
5:54
didn't know existed here in Austin,
5:55
Texas.
5:57
So you have the film's premiere
5:58
Wednesday at AFS,
6:00
so what was that like getting to
6:01
show it?
6:01
It was electrifying, you know,
6:03
this was the first time
6:05
we've screened a film in its
6:07
entirety here in Austin, Texas.
6:09
It was a packed house.
6:11
And there's just something about
6:13
screening this film with an audience
6:15
who understands
6:17
these stories already, right, who
6:19
sort of somewhat understands this
6:20
history, but they're also being
6:22
educated on this history even more
6:23
when they're watching it.
6:24
And then also to be able to show it
6:26
to all of the people who helped us
6:28
make it Because as we know film is a
6:30
collaborative effort.
6:31
And so, so many people touched this
6:33
film in so many ways.
6:34
And so it was electrifying.
6:36
It was great to see it.
6:37
I felt really proud, not only of the
6:39
work that I did, but really just the
6:40
work that Taleb is doing, the work
6:42
that his organization is doing.
6:43
And really the work that everybody
6:45
again who touched this project put
6:46
into it to make it a reality.
6:48
And I hope, right?
6:49
Obviously we screened here in
6:50
Austin, but I have high hopes for
6:52
this film because although it is an
6:53
Austin story, it is a very universal
6:55
story. And I want it to be seen far
6:58
and wide. I think it needs to be
6:59
screened all over the US.
7:01
All right, that is filmmaker Yaqui
7:03
Smith. We're gonna have links to
7:04
both of his films in today's show
7:06
notes. Yaqui, thank you for your
7:07
time. Thank you for having me.
7:14
Earlier this month we spoke with Roz
7:15
Oliphant, creator and director of
7:18
the Austin African American Book
7:19
Fest. That's happening next
7:21
Saturday.
7:22
During our conversation with
7:23
Oliphat, she brought a few books to
7:25
talk about, and the first one is
7:26
going to be featured at the festival
7:27
in conversation with the author.
7:30
Here's Oliphate talking about the
7:32
event and those books.
7:34
So the conversation is about the
7:36
1619 project and
7:39
Nicole Hannah Jones is a Pulitzer
7:40
Prize winning author and
7:42
also she writes
7:44
for the New York Times.
7:46
And so this book is a
7:48
compilation of so
7:50
much history,
7:53
nonfiction,
7:55
poetry, art,
7:57
really looking at The Origin
7:59
Story.
8:00
Blacks in this country
8:02
starting in 1619.
8:06
And this anthology is
8:08
one that I
8:10
think every household should
8:12
have.
8:13
It is now in paperback.
8:14
We'll be having paperback copies as
8:17
well as some of the hardcover copies
8:18
on sale for people to buy.
8:21
She will also be signing the
8:23
work and really talking about the
8:25
significance of the work.
8:29
Ashley Goddard will be in
8:31
conversation with her about
8:33
this, looking at how
8:35
this origin story
8:37
for black people in 1619.
8:40
What are some of
8:42
the themes and
8:44
parallels that we see
8:46
happening in this country today?
8:49
We know that it's going to be a
8:51
rich conversation and we're
8:53
looking forward to a lot of people
8:55
joining in because
8:57
Ashley Goddard will be asking
8:58
questions to Nicole Hannah Jones,
9:00
but then we open it up.
9:03
And so people in the audience will
9:05
have an opportunity to interact and
9:07
ask questions as well.
9:08
And how much work do you put into
9:10
making sure that the
9:12
lineup that you bring to Austin is
9:15
sort of meeting the moments that
9:16
we are in right now?
9:18
I dedicate everything I have
9:20
to it.
9:21
I spend, you know,
9:23
months looking and
9:26
thinking about how
9:29
do we meet the moment.
9:31
Extending invitations, receiving
9:33
rejections, extending more
9:35
invitations negotiating,
9:38
just, you know.
9:39
So I give it my
9:41
all to do that.
9:43
Well, tell me about one of the other
9:44
books there. I see with love from
9:46
Harlem. Okay, so.
9:47
Okay, so with love from Harlem
9:49
is Rashaunda Tate's book
9:51
and this is
9:52
about, it's a historical
9:55
fiction work and it
9:57
is about the
9:58
remarkable life of Hazel Scott
10:01
and Hazel Scott
10:03
was one of the
10:05
first superstars in this country,
10:07
first black superstars in this
10:09
county and she was also
10:11
an activist.
10:12
She was married to Adam Clayton
10:14
Powell and just
10:16
a rich story
10:18
about her life and
10:20
her contributions.
10:23
And many people
10:25
don't know about
10:27
Hazel Scott and her legacy.
10:30
This book has done really well.
10:32
It came out earlier last
10:34
year.
10:35
A lot of people have really
10:37
enjoyed it And
10:39
we're looking forward to
10:41
having Rashaunda Tate come and
10:43
talk about.
10:44
The work more and
10:46
talk about Hazel
10:48
Scott's activism and what that can
10:50
mean for us
10:52
as creators,
10:55
as people looking to be more
10:57
active in our communities.
11:00
Okay, cool. Why don't you, uh, you
11:01
have one more maybe or anything
11:03
else?
11:03
Yes, yes, yes.
11:04
So, we also have John Hope Bryant,
11:06
who is the founder and CEO of
11:08
Operation Hope, and he's
11:10
going to be discussing how financial
11:12
knowledge, capital, and
11:14
opportunity shape individual
11:16
outcomes and community
11:18
stability.
11:19
With John Hope Bryant, we're really
11:21
looking at economic
11:24
liberation.
11:27
How do we attain
11:29
it? What are steps we
11:30
can take.
11:31
And Sylvia
11:34
Holt-Rabb who
11:36
is a
11:38
professor at Austin Community
11:40
College and
11:42
the past
11:44
economic director for
11:46
the city of Austin is going to be in
11:48
conversation with him.
11:50
That was Roz Oliphant giving us a
11:51
few book recommendations for this
11:53
Juneteenth holiday.
11:55
This is Austin Signal.
11:56
Thank you for spending the holiday
11:57
with us. We'll be right back.
12:00
This is Austan Signal.
12:01
Welcome back.
12:02
Juneteentht was long celebrated by
12:04
the black community well before
12:06
becoming a national holiday in 2021.
12:09
One year later, KUT host Miles
12:11
Bloxen asked black Austinites one
12:13
question about the holiday and that
12:15
was turned into the audio
12:16
documentary Juneteenht.
12:18
Are we really free?
12:20
In this part of the documentary,
12:21
we'll hear what Juneteenth means to
12:23
the Black Austinites she spoke with.
12:26
Juneteenth is the
12:28
actual Independence Day
12:30
of the United States, to me.
12:33
I think some people have,
12:35
I know even black people who have
12:37
some disdain for Juneteeth, which
12:39
really blows my mind,
12:41
they're like, you know, why would
12:42
you celebrate the day someone
12:44
supposedly thought you were free,
12:46
like, but I'm
12:48
Haitian and my background is that
12:49
you free yourself.
12:51
And the narrative may not have been
12:52
displayed that way. That doesn't
12:53
mean that that's not what happened.
12:55
That people did not free themselves,
12:57
despite of how the narrative is
12:59
like, someone came and freed you.
13:01
Like, no, not at all.
13:03
You came and free yourself.
13:04
And I think that's powerful
13:06
for America
13:08
to embrace.
13:09
My name is Stephanie Lang.
13:11
I am a community curator working
13:13
to tell the lost, stolen and hidden
13:15
stories of black people.
13:18
Juneteenth means to me.
13:23
Mixed emotions.
13:24
It means to me, um,
13:29
the ways in which
13:32
my ancestors
13:36
Whirrrr
13:41
Waaargh.
13:45
I'm getting emotional,
13:49
subjugated.
13:52
I mean, it means to me the true
13:54
horrors of slavery,
13:56
not this ways in which we
13:57
romanticized it.
13:59
And it means, to me,
14:03
this sense of survival.
14:05
It means to be, it's
14:07
a meaning of like being bittersweet
14:09
because it's like we,
14:12
our ancestors had to.
14:15
You know, endure this for
14:17
two years longer than they should
14:19
have, you know?
14:20
They should have never had endured
14:22
this, but then add two years to
14:24
that.
14:26
It also is a strong sense
14:28
of pride.
14:32
It's also just an
14:34
overwhelming sense of...
14:38
The debt that I think
14:40
is owed to them
14:44
that can never be repaid.
14:46
What do you do on Juneteenth?
14:49
I think Juneteenth is
14:51
a holiday where I
14:53
purposely go out of
14:55
my way to like curate a day full
14:57
of blackness.
14:58
I am Chaz Moore, I am the
15:00
founder and executive director of
15:02
the Austin Justice Coalition.
15:04
Me and my sometimes good friend Bill
15:06
Wallace, who's taught me a lot
15:08
about the city, we've really
15:09
been on his vibe over the last
15:11
couple weeks to like really
15:13
curate just black
15:15
Super black days and on Juneteenth
15:17
is no different.
15:19
You know, like we either in Rosewood
15:20
Park or we'll go around the Rosewood
15:22
Givens and just really
15:24
soaking in all the community and
15:26
joy and laughter, all the commotion
15:28
of black Austin.
15:29
So, cause I think I'm a super black
15:31
person for people that know me,
15:32
right? Like the shirt I got on right
15:34
now is made by some
15:36
young cats in New Orleans.
15:37
I try to support, you know, I got
15:39
the Basquiat little
15:41
chakra.
15:42
Bracelet on like I try to support
15:44
the culture as much as I can but on
15:45
Juneteenth I like go extra
15:47
black
15:48
Oh, wow, it definitely is,
15:50
it's like, Fourth of July is
15:52
that for some people, but for us
15:54
Juneteenth has become like,
15:55
let's get together, let's be a
15:57
family, let's being
15:59
seen by each other.
16:01
You know, I know we're in Austin,
16:03
but as much as I wanna
16:05
just put that plea out to all of
16:07
the organizers of the parade, like
16:09
it really needs to be really black,
16:11
you know?
16:12
Because we need to see each other,
16:14
that's what that's about for me,
16:16
like.
16:17
I think about the first Toon
16:19
Teeth a lot, a
16:21
lot. And why that hasn't been on
16:23
screen yet.
16:25
What that jubilation, the tears,
16:28
the weight, the gravity,
16:34
the disbelief that people
16:36
believe, the questions people had
16:38
about what that means,
16:40
about why this is,
16:42
what your body felt like
16:44
after that announcement.
16:47
All of those things come
16:49
to mind when I think about
16:50
Juneteenth, people's bodies,
16:53
that the freedom to move it,
16:55
the freedom to like, oh, I'm not
16:57
going to wake up at the crack
16:59
of dawn because someone told me to,
17:01
or because my leg is lame and
17:04
I still have to put in, you know,
17:06
I have to disregard the
17:08
pain of my own body for the sake of
17:10
someone else's advancement.
17:12
Like I think about how
17:14
people felt.
17:16
That that didn't necessarily
17:18
have to be a part of their reality
17:19
anymore and
17:22
the discharge that came
17:24
from that, you know, and the
17:26
need for jubilation.
17:28
Yeah, I'm here for all the black
17:30
cowboys. I'm hear for like, you
17:31
know, the ice chest coming out and
17:33
the grill coming out and people
17:35
coming out and just celebrating,
17:36
telling stories.
17:38
It's the same, cause we haven't done
17:39
a Juneteenth yet.
17:40
I don't think with like native,
17:42
like Austin, I like actually like
17:43
kind of just, you know, like
17:45
done it their way.
17:46
We've always kind of been in the
17:47
mix. So I would love to really
17:49
like have that experience.
17:51
I haven't had it yet where it's
17:52
like, we kind of, just like get in
17:53
with y'all and you know what I mean?
17:54
Just kind of roll whatever y' all
17:56
doing, you know?
17:58
But I just hear for all
17:59
the beauty that
18:02
is on display.
18:03
I'm out in the community in
18:05
East Austin and I go to Pflugerville
18:07
and Maynor and all these other
18:08
places that are having events
18:11
and I also
18:13
take time to really reflect.
18:16
I'm quiet and still as
18:18
well.
18:19
So I'm communing and having
18:21
fellowship and then I'm also quiet.
18:22
And then I usually will go to
18:26
a.
18:26
Known plantation usually
18:29
ruins in Austin with
18:31
friends and we take white carnations
18:33
and we go and we
18:35
sit and we
18:37
give honor to those that
18:39
were enslaved in that space.
18:42
My name is Stephen Brown.
18:43
I'm born and raised in Austin.
18:45
I'm a fourth generation Austinite.
18:47
I grew up on the east
18:49
side of Austin on
18:51
Ninth Street.
18:52
For me, I definitely enjoy the
18:54
parade. I like watching the horses,
18:57
the horsemen.
18:58
There's all kind of music and
19:00
festivities.
19:01
The parade is definitely the
19:03
highlight for me.
19:05
And then later on, we normally go
19:07
to Rosewood Park and
19:09
fellowship with folks that we hadn't
19:11
seen.
19:11
And just kind of enjoy the food and
19:13
the festivities.
19:15
One of my favorite things to do, I
19:17
take that back, is to sit around the
19:18
elders. Like there's a lot of
19:21
elders wait for Juneteenth to
19:23
sit on around and kind of engage
19:24
with the younger people.
19:26
And I just love sitting and
19:27
listening to their stories.
19:29
I do look forward to just catching
19:30
up with people that I hadn't seen.
19:32
I mean, gentrification
19:34
took place in East Austin and
19:36
it's kind of scattered everyone.
19:39
And there's sometimes a sense of
19:41
a little bit of a loss of a
19:42
community. And so Juneteenth
19:44
provides those an
19:46
opportunity for us to all come back
19:47
together and tell stories and catch
19:49
up with one another.
19:51
How did you feel when Juneteenth
19:53
became a national holiday?
19:55
It's like yay,
19:57
but also it's kind of like,
19:59
you know, we're doing it wrong,
20:01
right? Like it's, so
20:02
one, culture is meant to be shared,
20:05
period. Culture is meant be shared.
20:07
But like when you dive
20:09
into the culture and don't really
20:10
understand what it means,
20:12
what it represents, it
20:14
just becomes tacky, right.
20:15
So like Juneteenth
20:18
in like
20:19
Wyoming, you now?
20:20
Okay, cool, but like.
20:23
You know what I mean?
20:24
Like, do you know what we, like do
20:25
you why we really here?
20:26
You know, what I'm mean?
20:28
So it's just like, I hope as
20:30
we continue, cause it should be a
20:31
federal holiday. I do believe in
20:33
that, but I do want people
20:34
that's engaging in Juneteenth
20:36
activities to actually understand
20:38
like, what it means
20:39
to like people in Texas,
20:42
black people in taxes and put some
20:44
respect on, like if you're doing a
20:46
Juneteen celebration in Wyoming, but
20:47
you ain't talking about nothing that
20:49
the black community did in Texas.
20:52
To pave the way for this to become a
20:54
national thing, I feel like that's
20:56
slightly disrespectful, you know
20:57
what I mean?
20:58
And like, Texas culture gets
20:59
disrespected a lot.
21:00
You know, I just really want people
21:01
to start respecting like the
21:02
influence that Texas has on
21:04
like national culture.
21:05
You know what mean? Like Juneteenth
21:07
wouldn't even be a thing if
21:09
Texas wasn't a thing, you know I
21:10
mean.
21:10
I'm Lisa B. Thompson.
21:12
I am a native
21:14
San Franciscan and I'm
21:16
a professor of African and African
21:18
diaspora studies as well as a
21:20
playwright and I teach at UT
21:22
Austin.
21:23
It was a mixed feeling.
21:25
One was like, I don't need you
21:27
to recognize it.
21:29
I already do. Actually, my family, I
21:30
would stay home from school
21:32
on January 15th, which was
21:34
early King Junior's real birthday
21:36
and I still feel like that's the day
21:37
I celebrate.
21:39
I was that kid.
21:40
So I feel that
21:42
without a
21:44
change in language policies and
21:46
day-to-day lives of black people
21:48
shift, the holiday is
21:50
an empty gesture for
21:52
it to be national.
21:53
But I'll take it, but I think about
21:54
this, as I prepared to come speak to
21:56
you today, was thinking about both
21:58
MLK Day and Juneteenth,
22:00
our days, they're filled with
22:02
activity and some labor
22:04
attached to it.
22:05
And I would like for black people to
22:07
have a holiday where we don't do
22:08
anything.
22:10
Or we just sit by
22:12
a tree and rest, because we've
22:14
been denied that,
22:16
the ownership of our time and our
22:18
energies and our bodies and our
22:19
minds and our spirits and our souls.
22:21
And it'd be nice to, the day of
22:22
service, let somebody else do the
22:23
day service.
22:24
We didn't kill them, right?
22:27
Or we didn't enslave them.
22:28
Prepare us the food for us and we'll
22:30
go sit by, a beautiful place.
22:33
But for me, I love
22:34
Juneteenth, but if also it is
22:36
a bittersweet no matter what,
22:38
because of what it celebrates.
22:40
That was an excerpt from the audio
22:41
documentary, Juneteenth, Are
22:43
We Really Free?
22:45
Hosted by KUT's Miles Vloxen.
22:47
Additional voices we heard were from
22:49
Jonathan Chaka Mahone and
22:51
Key Data.
22:53
That is it for us today on Austin's
22:55
Signal. There's more at KUT.org
22:57
slash Signal.
22:58
We'll be back at the same time
22:59
Monday.
23:00
Talk to you then.