WEBVTT - Black History Around the World 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:14.560 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to WIKA F Daily with 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:19.599 Me your Girl Danielle Moody recording from the Brooklyn Bunker. Folks, 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.480 I'm really excited to bring you our monthly series, Make 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.400 It Walk, with our friend Mark Thompson, who is the 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:30.920 host of Make It Plain, another DCP entertainment podcast. And 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:34.400 the reason why I'm excited about this month's conversation with 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:38.200 Mark because he's doing something really exciting on his show, 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.879 which is using the twenty eight days, you know, the 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.640 shortest fucking month of the year for Black History Month, 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:50.560 to bring listeners in for fifteen minutes a day on 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:55.320 facts and history and interesting things that we can discuss 0:00:55.440 --> 0:01:00.279 during Black History. I think that what often gets lost, 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:04.839 particularly in America, is like white people have picked five 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:07.360 Black people that you can talk about for twenty eight 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:10.800 days and then that's about it. And what Mark and 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:14.600 I get into in our conversation today is that Black 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:19.280 history isn't just within the borders of the United States. 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:24.600 Black history is rich. Black history is diasporic, right like 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:29.760 it is the world. And so we will talk about Egypt, 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:34.960 we will talk about our history and first civilizations, things 0:01:35.000 --> 0:01:40.720 that are missing. Frankly from our regular history and discourse. Right, 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:45.880 things that are being erased, even the small things that 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:49.080 we have gained over many centuries as black people, and 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:52.840 in the public school system, things are being erased. And 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:57.320 so it's a really great time, folks. And I tell 0:01:57.360 --> 0:01:59.600 you that for me, Black History is three hundred and 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:02.480 sixty five days of the year. I'm always trying to 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:05.720 read new things, watch new things, connect with the different people, 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:08.400 and bring them to all of you all year around. 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:11.640 If you notice, if you've been a long time you know, 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:15.000 listener and watcher of woke f you know that a 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:17.359 lot of the folks that I bring on from are 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:21.680 from multiple disciplines, right from multiple industries, and they are 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:26.320 people of color. And I am intentional about that because 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:32.600 I think that exposure is necessary. And you know what 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:38.000 annoys me so much is the fact that you know, 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.720 I will tell you this, My mother got a call 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:46.040 the other day asking if she would go to a 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:50.000 high school on Long Island that is predominantly a black 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:54.560 high school to teach yoga for the students for Black 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:59.640 History Month. She was asked that question on like February first, 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:06.800 to do something on that Friday, and my mother opted 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:08.480 out and it was just like, I'm not going to 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:12.160 be somebody's token. And if you're really intentional about wanting 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:16.359 to create something for your students, then why would you 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.200 wait at such a late date. And this is something 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:26.160 that many black professionals, academics, thought leaders, activists have said, 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:32.240 is that you have institutions, organizations, corporations that will reach 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:36.680 out in the eleventh fucking hour every single Black History 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.840 Month to see what they can scramble and do, as 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.640 if it is not the same fucking month every goddamn year. 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.720 If you actually want to be intentional, if you want 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:52.240 to be inclusive, then miss me with your symbolism around 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:56.600 Black History Month. Reach out to people you know, I 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.560 don't know, months in advance, like you would do for 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:04.480 anything else, right, Like, we're not the fucking sloppy leftovers, right, 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:08.400 the sloppy seconds of this country. And it is insulting 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:12.320 one to be asked to do things at the last minute, 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:14.880 and then also to have the audacity to ask us 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:17.799 to do those things for free, as if this country 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:22.839 hasn't taken and stolen enough labor. Right. But you know, 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:26.840 I say all this, folks to say that we are 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:30.200 no longer and probably we Honestly, we've never been able 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:34.440 to just rely on institutions to provide us with the 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.240 information that we actually need. We need to go out 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.920 there and grab that information ourselves and spread it far 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:44.200 and wide. And so I encourage each and every single 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:47.479 one of you who are dedicated listeners and watchers of 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:52.960 this show to connect with buy the books of some 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:56.760 of the folks that mark mentions in our segment together 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.839 coming up in the next couple of weeks. We have 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:06.520 conversations with so many incredible folks. Buy their books. Right 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:10.120 particularly now, I think that it's going to be so 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:14.920 important for us to begin to buy books for one another, 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:18.479 share them right by. You know, when you think about 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:20.919 what should I get so and so and oh a 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:25.240 holiday or a birthday or this is coming up, share knowledge. 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:28.159 That is where our true power lies. And that is 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.400 how we're going to be able to fight against the 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.880 dark forces of misinformation. Right it is going to have 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:38.360 We're going to have to be intentional about our learning 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:43.960 and push away the malaise that these times are bringing 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.560 onto us. Right this, you know, I don't want to 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:51.120 do anything. I feel languishy, I feel depressed, I feel 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:54.440 all of these things We're going to have to be 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:58.360 intentional about the ways in which we treat ourselves and 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.920 the ways in which we want to expand our minds, 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:06.520 our heart, our imaginations. Right, and so I really hope 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:10.320 that you guys enjoy my one on one with Mark. 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:14.520 I think we're referring to this as make It Woke. 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:19.520 I think it is the best title or plain as Fuck. 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:23.440 But I love this crossover. I love my conversation with him. 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.560 Please hit me up in the comments sections and let 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:29.359 me know what you guys think about some of the 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:34.160 information and history that Mark offers up in this special 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:41.920 that we are doing monthly. Folks, it is the beginning 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:45.560 of the month, which means that we are doing our 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:50.880 crossover episode with our friend Mark Thompson of Make It Plaine, 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:55.520 one of dcp's political shows. And when we crossover, we 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.880 come up with random names like make It Woke, make 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:03.440 It Gourmet, make It Woke as Fuck, woken Plane. We 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:06.839 have no idea, but it is a delightful time to 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:12.040 be in conversation with my friend. Happy Black History Month 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:16.760 to you, Mark. How are you just a few days 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:22.720 into this shortest month of the year. Well, I'm fine. 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.240 I hope you will always a pleasure to do this 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.960 with you. Happy Black History Month to you as well. 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:33.560 So you are doing something really exciting on Naked Plane 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:37.560 for the twenty eight days of Black History Month. Now, 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:42.120 you and I both celebrate Black History all year long. 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:46.880 But for those folks that are looking to get more 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:50.920 than the stale Martin Luther quotes, that Martin Luther King 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:55.040 quotes that are rolled out by white conservatives, then the normal, 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.720 Oh here's Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas. Let us roll 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.720 them out, but you know, contextualize them in any way 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:05.560 or give them the fullness of character that they deserve. 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.720 You were doing something what I think is really informative 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:15.800 and interesting on Naked Plane. Tell folks what you're up 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.800 to this month. Well, we're doing, and thank you for that. 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:22.960 We're doing precisely the opposite of that, Danielle, in the 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:27.480 sense that even when it comes to Black History Month observances, 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:33.320 our history begins and ends on these shores in America. 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:36.400 If we're gonna talk about black history, we've got to 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:38.840 talk about world history. We've got to talk about the 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:44.120 many aspects of it throughout the diaspora. Black history includes Africa. 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:49.400 Black history includes the Caribbean, Black history includes South America, 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:54.600 Black history includes Europe. Over the years that I have 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:58.720 been on the air at different points, I've kind of 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:00.960 tried to have a university of airways when it comes 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.800 to Black history and talk. We've had an opportunity of 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:08.560 the asatuks to some of the most iconic scholars in 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:13.120 Black history. Unfortunately many of them have passed on, but 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:15.959 the likes of doctor John Henry Clark, doctor Josef been Yakin, 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:20.800 and doctor Francis chris Wellsing, doctor Ivan van Serdam and 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:26.480 doctor Charshi McIntyre and most recently doctor Ronoco Rashidi, who 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:32.160 passed away last year his expertise and I would encourage 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.480 people to read all of these authors and scholars even 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:39.320 now and that now that they are ancestors. Reinocco spent 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:44.880 his life studying the African presence throughout the world, and 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:48.120 so we have a footprint as African people all over 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:51.360 the world because we were, after all, the first civilization, 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:55.880 so everything flows from us. Now. I know some people 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.920 are offended when you say that, but that is just 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:07.920 a biological, genealogical human fact. Also in that same vein 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:12.360 what we're focusing on, this, this Black History Month is 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:17.800 actually the role of Egypt in Black history and African 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:21.720 history and African American history. Um, many of us know 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:24.480 about the civil rights movement. I mean, that's the history 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.199 most talked about, slavery, that's the history most talked about, 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:29.679 Civil War, all of that. But a lot of us 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:36.760 still have not embraced the reality that the first civilization 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:42.080 on Earth was an African civilization. It was in Egypt, 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:44.920 which is what the Greeks called it, but we called 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:49.560 it kimmitt in the indigenous language of the meta nature. 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:55.600 And so we're exploring that, and it's really been um profound. Uh. 0:10:55.800 --> 0:11:00.960 Tony Browderum is leading that conversation. Who is really become 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:03.040 the heir of parents to all these other scholars who 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:07.400 transition to the ancestry. He leads right now the most 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:12.280 popular tour of Egypt, historical tour of Egypt. I encourage 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:16.440 everyone to go on in. He has discovered you know, 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.480 white folks told us that they discovered everything in Egypt, right, 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:25.400 But they're discovered everything period to the right, right and 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:30.760 but but he has discovered even more tombs of ancient 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:34.200 dynasties in antiquity in Egypt and it's the only African 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:38.960 American doing so to lead these types of excavations, and 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:42.480 so it's really exciting. Um, and so we're learning about it. 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:44.839 One thing I'll say, and I think you particularly will 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:50.800 find this interesting. Um. You know, social media has become 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.640 so ubiquitous in our lives and so many things are 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:56.440 defined on social media. I'm not real comfortable with that 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:02.560 because social media alone not making one credible. Okay, just 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:08.200 you know, scholarship in history, and so they're those who 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:13.520 use social media to exaggerate their knowledge and credentials, and 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:19.000 they have invited scrutiny when it comes to issues of 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:25.079 history and black progress, black thought, black movement, and they've 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:30.640 even inspired a pejority. I'm sure you've heard people who 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:36.600 are called hoteps. People like and many of these hoteps. 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:41.600 This term is often assigned to men who purport to 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:45.640 be in our freedom movement, but who oftentimes women accused 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:49.720 of even being sexist. What is unfortunate. We talked about 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.680 this this month. Hotep is a meta natural word. It 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:59.120 comes from our culture. It means peace, just like Aslama licam. 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:01.880 It was the name of a great African multi genius, 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:05.160 the first world multi genius m Hotep, who was the 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:10.200 father of surgery and medicine in ancient Egypt, in ancient Kimmitt. 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:15.240 It's really sad that a term indigenous to our people 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:19.240 in our history, hoteps, has become a pejorative and we 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:24.800 have made the inn word endearing. So we say when 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:27.440 we speak with someone neighbors, so that's a hotel. But 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.640 then when we see a friend, oh, that's my nigga. 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:33.280 So it just goes to show you how we have 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.040 in this culture on these shores which are ours, and 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:38.960 how we were brought here, how we have managed in 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.680 that assimilation to turn everything upside down on his head. 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:44.760 We need to figure out a way in Black History 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.480 Month to turn the right side up, you know, Marky 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:51.080 brop So, I mean so many things. One, I have 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:55.720 always wanted to go to Egypt. I have always wanted 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.400 to go on an excavation. I don't know, maybe it's 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:02.280 like that the inner crusade uh in me from growing 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:04.200 up in you know, in the eighties with all the 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:07.240 movies that uh that used to come on. But I've 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:10.560 always wanted to do that because you know, everything that 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:14.640 you stated is fact, right, like we the birth of 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:21.120 civilization comes uh comes from from Egypt, from blackness, right, 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:24.960 and I mean we have always been been taught the opposite. 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:29.520 But it is through that whitewashing, through that brainwashing, um, 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:36.600 that we have been removed, displaced, disassociated, disembodied from this history. 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.600 And this is what pains me too about Black History 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.200 Month is at one, it's the shortest month of the year, 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:46.440 which I just find insulting on its face. But then also, 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:52.200 you know, we in America have the have the ability 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:56.480 to just keep having the same cyclical conversations with the 0:14:56.560 --> 0:15:00.600 same characters, as if as if it isn't a global 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.800 as if we aren't a global people, right um. And 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:10.560 I and I think that too. You know, these these 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:17.520 uh iterations into different conversations about our ancestry are necessary, 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:22.960 and especially at a time when we're battling against radical 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:27.080 right wingers who are doing what they've always done, which 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:32.120 is whitewash history, which is a remove anything um that 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:37.200 was discovered, innovated, changed, you know, build upon, or created 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:42.080 by black indigenous people of color. And so, you know, 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:46.320 at a time when book banning is now back in vogue, 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:53.880 where now you're you're seeing curriculums and teachers be threatened 0:15:54.400 --> 0:15:59.360 you know, how how do people engage or how should 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:04.920 they attempt to engage with this level of understanding? What 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:09.720 kind of intentionality do you think is necessary in order 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.920 for us not to be swept up in the latest 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.840 white erasure. Well, you know, it's funny. I had a 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:18.160 friend in the movement called me late last night to 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:22.320 really raise that question, and he said to me, he said, 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.840 you know, we're fighting on all these fronts voting rights. 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:29.800 Now we're about to have a big fight around the 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.160 first black woman's Spreme Court nominee, which really shouldn't be 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:33.760 a fight. And I'll come back to that in a minute. 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:39.760 And he said, Mark, who is fighting against all of 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:43.560 the education banning that is going on? And I think 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.520 about it, said, no, you know, no one there is 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:51.080 right now, not really any organized movement unless it's happening 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:53.440 on a super local level. And I'm not even aware 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.400 of those to stop the banning of books and knowledge 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:01.000 and education. It is mostly some thing that is being 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:04.840 covered by the media, but there's not necessarily a movement 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.679 to do anything about it. So we all understand that 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:11.400 we've got to figure out how not to be so overwhelmed, 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:15.959 how not to how to walk and chew gum at 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:17.800 the same time. But see, I think this is the point, 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:20.439 and this is why our history is kept from us. 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:22.919 This is why I was kept from us during the 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.560 period of enslavement. This is why the true meaning of 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:29.920 the Bible was distorted the Bible. We were taught that 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:35.159 we were supposed to be enslaved. Knowledge and information is power, 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:37.480 and that's what they have been trying to keep from us. 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:43.440 So if we but knew that we are descendants of 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:48.880 the first civilization, the first scientists, the first doctors, the 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:52.960 first language speakers, the first even interpret human kind's relationship 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:58.240 with God, the first women to be rulers, equal rulers 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:03.399 with men in dynasties. If we knew and understand that 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:06.000 we could believe in ourselves that we could tackle all 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:10.399 of these things and not be so overwhelmed and not 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:15.080 feel so besieged and marginalized. If our young people today 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:23.520 knew that pursuing stem fields and stem education is in 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:27.119 their DNA, because we come from a place where all 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:29.960 of these sciences were created. If they knew that they 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:33.240 could excel far greater than they ever could. But what's 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:37.320 happening right now that's not being taught, and it's less 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:39.159 likely to be taught with all this banning. So an 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:44.320 answer to your question, we ought to organize, We ought 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:48.040 to fight on the level it is it is, you know, 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.640 school and education policy is at the local level. I've 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:56.520 always been an advocate, Danielle, of local organizing and local 0:18:56.560 --> 0:19:00.760 mobilization because that's ultimately where decisions are made. I've said 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:05.359 that about the police departments. There's no national panacea or 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.280 no national policy that can cure all police. Police departments 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:12.920 are government locally. We can't tweet away police violence. Okay, 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:17.639 Come on voting rights, All that's controlled in the states 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:19.879 on a local level. That's what election boards are, the 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:23.399 election commissioners and the secretaries of of of of state. 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:26.760 We can't tweet that away either. We've got to get 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:29.280 our hands dirty. And if we really want to know 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:32.359 the history of Dot's king not the stale versions. As 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:37.000 you mentioned, he organized locally. He went from Montgomery to Birmingham, 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.800 to Sealman all Beny, Georgia to the Chicago housing projects. Now, 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:43.840 if that King were around the day, people be telling him, 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:46.000 hey man, you need to get you a national social 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.959 media account and get a blue check, and you have 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:53.000 a national organization. Everybody I got a nationally but but 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:57.639 but not about going into the trenches that he tried. 0:19:57.720 --> 0:19:59.879 He went into those places. He said, we need you 0:19:59.920 --> 0:20:02.960 to come to Chicago. He went Chicago and moved into 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:07.800 the projects and struggled around that issue. So that's the 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:12.920 true history of doctor King. All politics is local, all 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:15.879 local politics is personal. We've got to do that. And 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:18.320 so if we're going to combat this thing, and I 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:21.080 really think we this is this is passing us back. 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:24.840 We're missing an opportunity to engage in this fight, and 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:26.680 we're going to look up and be sorry for it. 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:29.560 You know, I want to stay with this for a 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:32.919 moment too, because I will tell you that as a 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:39.240 former educator that when I was in the classroom teaching 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:43.479 black and brown kids in Washington, DC, you know, I 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:47.000 made it a point to try and develop curriculum, to 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:51.320 try and develop units for first and second graders where 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:54.639 they could see themselves, where they could get excited about 0:20:54.680 --> 0:20:57.159 what it was that they were learning, because it was 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:00.600 a reflection of them. It was it was you know 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:02.879 what we consistently hear that if you see it, you 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:06.359 can believe it. And so that makes me Mark think 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:11.680 to myself, this isn't just it isn't It's like the 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:15.800 tentacles of white supremacy are so many and so deep 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:20.160 because they know that to be true that if if 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:22.960 black people let's just talk about black people for a moment, 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:28.320 if black people on new their true history, their true power, 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:35.160 their true connection to source, right, then they would assert 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:40.080 themselves right in a way that is about power and 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:44.520 ownership and voice. And so part of the grand experiment 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:50.080 right of chattel slavery, was to see what happens to 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:55.440 generations of a people right over centuries when we disconnect 0:21:55.480 --> 0:22:00.960 them from their source and then feed them right the 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:07.960 lines from our Bible, our interpretations of why whiteness is superior, right, 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:10.600 and just give them a steady diet of that. And 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:13.160 now you know, when I was a public school teacher, 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:17.399 I was saying, you know, here's the thing. Public school 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:19.000 and I say it all the time on woke f 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:23.200 is the biggest proponent of white supremacy because by virtue 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:26.080 of the peep white folks sitting up in a room 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:29.919 and being able to design curriculum for millions of kids 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:32.760 across the country, they get to tell you what should 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:35.919 be digested who is important, who should be celebrated, and 0:22:36.000 --> 0:22:39.480 who shouldn't be right, who should be ignored. And so 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:43.600 when you continue with that prophecy right, it becomes a 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:47.120 self fulfilling one. And you know, and then you want 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:53.200 to give us, give us right, these symbols of equity 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:59.440 without actually providing equity, right, without actually providing culture. And 0:22:59.680 --> 0:23:01.239 so the question that I have for you, because this 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:03.840 is something that I did think about a lot, is 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:08.840 you know, as and maybe there is and I'm just unaware, 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:13.480 but as Black folk who are very diverse right in 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:17.240 our in our origination, whether it be from the Caribbean 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:20.920 like my people hail from, whether it be from you know, 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:25.959 from um, you know, various parts of South America, African nations, 0:23:26.040 --> 0:23:30.520 or what have you. Should we be developing much in 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:33.480 the same way that you have Sunday school for Christians, 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:36.639 you have you know, you have synagogue, you have this, 0:23:36.840 --> 0:23:40.160 that and the other thing for other religions and races 0:23:40.160 --> 0:23:46.159 and ethnicities. Should we have or is there right schooling 0:23:46.240 --> 0:23:51.040 that is about filling in these purposeful gaps for K 0:23:51.240 --> 0:23:54.679 through twelve and on. Well, that's a part of our 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:59.080 history too. There has always been at different points in 0:23:59.119 --> 0:24:03.200 our history a freedom school movement at different points along 0:24:03.240 --> 0:24:06.720 the way. Probably hasn't been anything like that since the 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:09.399 late sixties and early seventies when the Black Panther Party 0:24:09.440 --> 0:24:14.199 and other organizations did that. The All African People's Revolutionary 0:24:14.240 --> 0:24:18.440 Party used to have something called work study where people 0:24:18.480 --> 0:24:20.960 would come together even as adults, see because some of 0:24:21.000 --> 0:24:23.280 us got to go back to school too, because we 0:24:23.320 --> 0:24:26.639 don't know and understand our history and our culture. But 0:24:26.760 --> 0:24:28.840 that is not what it used to be. I think 0:24:28.880 --> 0:24:33.480 the places where that is mostly housed now are in 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:37.720 private and independent African Senate schools, And when you look 0:24:37.760 --> 0:24:39.360 at it, you know, you would go back to the 0:24:39.520 --> 0:24:42.400 eighties and nineties. And I was involved in that struggle, 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:45.520 the African Senate education movement, where we looked at all 0:24:45.560 --> 0:24:48.399 of these K through twelve public school systems in the country, 0:24:48.960 --> 0:24:52.000 many of them predominantly black, and we wanted to insert 0:24:52.359 --> 0:24:57.320 African Senate curricula into these schools. There was there were 0:24:57.359 --> 0:25:02.200 big fights about that and then eventu really um they 0:25:02.280 --> 0:25:06.879 managed to manipulate other cultures, our enemies into watering it 0:25:07.040 --> 0:25:12.359 down to multicultural education, and then that was taken away. 0:25:12.400 --> 0:25:15.560 That never really even got off the ground. So so 0:25:16.040 --> 0:25:18.920 you know, we've gone from that to this now where 0:25:18.960 --> 0:25:23.280 they don't they want to ban books, even books having 0:25:23.320 --> 0:25:26.359 to do with the oppression of other people like Jewish 0:25:26.359 --> 0:25:29.159 people from from the school system. But yeah, we do 0:25:29.280 --> 0:25:32.200 need that, Danielle, But we keep we have these fits 0:25:32.240 --> 0:25:35.720 and starts. We will start and then we won't finish. 0:25:35.800 --> 0:25:39.720 That is a part of the oppression that we deal with. Um, 0:25:40.040 --> 0:25:42.119 we've got to get beyond that. We've got to stop 0:25:42.200 --> 0:25:49.040 behaving as if wm IC the white Man's ice is colder. Um, 0:25:49.640 --> 0:25:54.880 we've got to go back to our HBCUs. I think 0:25:54.880 --> 0:25:57.720 the generation behind you and me, well, I'm a little 0:25:57.720 --> 0:26:00.920 older than you, but but they these kids need to 0:26:00.960 --> 0:26:03.280 go back to some of our HBCUs. And I'm glad 0:26:03.320 --> 0:26:05.240 to see more parents doing that. I'm glad to see 0:26:05.280 --> 0:26:10.040 more professional athletes kids. Yeah, yep, normally go to a 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:12.919 Division one right school, say well, I'm gonna go to HBCU. 0:26:13.000 --> 0:26:15.960 I think what coach Prime is doing in Jackson State 0:26:16.640 --> 0:26:19.160 is a good thing, and coach to Georgia Tennessee State. 0:26:19.520 --> 0:26:21.840 But you're right, we have to get back to that 0:26:22.720 --> 0:26:25.800 because the other cultures do it. They understand their culture 0:26:25.800 --> 0:26:29.760 where they came from. But they have not been for 0:26:29.760 --> 0:26:36.359 four centuries, right right? You hate themselves right like we have. Yeah, 0:26:36.480 --> 0:26:38.600 you know, I think that that is an important thing 0:26:38.640 --> 0:26:41.640 to note too because I often, you know, we used 0:26:41.640 --> 0:26:43.959 to really piss me off back in the day, is 0:26:44.040 --> 0:26:46.400 when you know, black folks would be like, well, why 0:26:46.400 --> 0:26:48.639 can't we be like Jewish people? Why can't we be 0:26:48.800 --> 0:26:50.879 like this group? Why can't we be like that group? 0:26:51.080 --> 0:26:53.879 See how they're together, see how they built community bahba. 0:26:53.920 --> 0:26:58.040 And I was just like, because there wasn't a systematic, 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:05.119