Greetings,
So it as my Baba from Africa told me, "Donald Trump would win the U.S Election for president". He told me it would be a very serious time for Black people in the U.S. THE BIRTH OF A NATION. How ironic, that they gave it that title. The election of Donald Trump is the rise of the KKK, bigots and all sorts of people fed up with the U.S government, the Illuminati, anything in general that they believe is working against their lives. I believe and know, as do Queen Quet and His Royal Majesty Oba Adefunmi II, along with the Ancestors that we choose our own fates. African people must choose to build up African nations in Africa, and African nations in the Carribean or suffer severely from this new and different world. Time is of the essence though, don't count the days but make the days count. Learn to save your money so you can build things that will make you independent. Whatever it is you're working on, a plan, a business, an investment, change a habit, learning a new trade or skill, you'd better take serious making it happen because the time is here where that may not be possible. If you don't commit yourself to do what you intend with all your spirit you may end up a victim of the change of worlds. Ase, ase, ase, ooo!
Coastal Heritage Conference 2017: Sustaining Cultural Heritage as the Climate Changes
by Gullah/Geechee Nation
The Gullah/Geechee Sustainability Think Tank invites you to bring out the family for a day of interactive environmental engagement to protect cultural heritage. Advance registration is required and the event is FREE. Gwine ta
30574381799
Fa mo info email GullGeeCo@aol.com or call (843) 255-6485.
Hunnuh gwine yeddi fa keep we culcha pun de islands een de sea!
Black Folks Land Legacy Conference in the Gullah/Geechee Nation
by Gullah/Geechee Nation
black-folks-land-legacy-conference-flyer
The "Inaugural Black Folks Land Legacy Conference" is being sponsored by the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition (www.gullahgeechee.net) in celebration of their 20th Anniversary as a part of a series of events that they are hosting for the "International Decade of People of African Descent."
The "Black Folks Land Legacy Conference" is an interactive three day session on historic St. Helena Island, SC in the Gullah/Geechee Nation which is a predominately Gullah/Geechee owned and operated Sea Island. This was the place in which the "Port Royal Experiment" was staged and where the Freedmen's Bureau set up to do land auctions during the United States Civil War. This was the staging ground for what many scholars say was never completed-the Reconstruction Era.
St. Helena Islanders have owned their property which some would call part of "Sherman's Reservation" based on Special Field Order Number 15 since the 1860s while the Civil War raged on. As a result, many believe that Gullah/Geeches received their "40 acres and a mule." This conference will dispel the myths of "40 acres and a mule" and tell the story of Black land ownership, self-sufficiency, and subsistence which has led to a consistent battle to protect Black landownership not only within the Gullah/Geechee Nation, but throughout the Black belt/Bible belt south and further points of not only the Gullah/Geechee Diaspora, but the African Diaspora. The on-slaught of land grabs and displacement have been happening using a myriad of tactics. Presenters will address the tools that are being successfully used to fight back and retain, maintain, and reclaim lands that Black people have toiled for generations.
Sessions will include:
• 40 Acres and a Mule
• The Tunis Campbell Panel on Land Rights: Protecting and Maintaining Heirs Property
• The Dr. Y N Kly Human Rights Forum
• The Clementa Pinckney Preservation Panel
• The Mavynee Betsch Environental Justice Circle
• The Ernestine Tobias Felder Food Security Circle
• The Willis T. Goodwin Environment and Economic Empowerment Panel
* Gullah/Geechee Sustainability Think Tank
• Gullah/Geechee SEA & ME Climate Change Action Circle
In addition to these interactive sessions at the landmark St. Helena Branch Library there will be an ancestral tribute, De Gullah Root Experience Tour of historic St. Helena Island, SC and a Dayclean Journeys field trip to Georgia where the meeting of 20 Black preachers set in motion Black land ownership in the region. Participants of the conference are encouraged to worship with the Gullah/Geechee community before departing on Sunday.
Registration for the event is limited. Hunnuh hafa regista now fa mek sho hunnuh dey dey wid we fa hol pun de land!
As Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) and Founder of the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition states:
"Hunnuh mus tek cyare de root fa heal de tree."
Cum fa jayn we and plant sum nyew seed een mo den 40 acres!
Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition Celebrates 20 Years with #GullahGeechee2020!
by Gullah/Geechee Nation
The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition (www.gullahgeechee.net) was started in 1996 by St. Helena Island native, Queen Quet Marquetta L. Goodwine (www.QueenQuet.com). The initial launch event on December 21st of that year took place at the "Spiritual Rhythms Gallery" of Gullah/Geechee native artist, Leroy Campbell in Brooklyn, NY. One year later, the national organization that has since grown to have international supporters and members as well, opened the "Hunnuh Home: Gullah/Geechee Research Center" on historic St. Helena Island, SC. They have operated from that base since then and expanded to having the "Hunnuh Home: Gullah/Geechee Alkebulan Archive and Cultural Heritage Center." They host thousands of visitors and volunteers annually.
To celebrate 20 years at the premiere advocacy organization for Gullah/Geechee people worldwide, the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition will host twenty different events as a part of #GullahGeechee2020. These events will also be part of their continued celebration and commemoration of the International Decade of People of African Descent.
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) represents her people at the United Nations and has been an active part of commemorating the "International Decade for People of African Descent." #GullahGeechee2020 will be a series of events that the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition hosts with a number of national and international partners as a part of the decade.
Fighting for Gullah/Geechee Land!
by Gullah/Geechee Nation
Over the past month, the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition (www.gullahgeechee.net) and the Gullah/Geechee Nation Facebook fan page have been inundated with emails and messages regarding how people can support the Gullah/Geechee Nation in retaining its land and cultural heritage. These thousands of messages and comments came about due to these news pieces going viral:
BBC Coverage: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37994938
La Times Coverage:
Vice News:
The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition has spent twenty years engaged in the battles to protect Gullah/Geechee land ownership and human rights. They have successfully gotten new zoning laws passed that protect Gullah/Geechee culture and assist Gullah/Geechee families with retaining their land ownership. They have successfully worked on laws to benefit heirs property owners. They have won legal cases that returned sacred grounds back over to Gullah/Geechee families and also prevented Gullah/Geechee towns from being destroyed in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. So, they are currently engaged in more of this as well as raising more and more awareness to this issue via the "Gullah/Geechee Land & Legacy World Tour:"
https://gullahgeecheenation.com/2013/11/14/queen-quet-de-gullah-cunneckshun-gullahgeechee-land-legacy-tour/http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gullahgeechee/2016/12/11/supporting-gullahgeechee-land-retention
Gullah/Geechee Riddim Radio featured Dr. Amir Jamal Toure and Representative Glenda Simmons-Jenkins of the Gullah/Geechee Nation in order to outline the on-going land rights battles within the Gullah/Geechee Nation:
Queen Quet provided updates to all those that continued to seek more information on how to truly be a part of this effort:
They responded to the thousands of social media request for a GoFundMe link by launching the "Gullah/Geechee Land & Legacy Fund" GoFundMe campaign which will support the legal fees, educational empowerment workshops for Gullah/Geechee families and more:
Tune een fa yeddi frum Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) disya important een de fight fa Gullah/Geechee land:
Afta disya, jayn we and take a stand fa Gullah/Geechee land!
Support the native Gullah/Geechee founded and operated organizations:
Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition www.gullahgeechee.net
Gullah/Geechee Angel Network www.gullahgeecheeangelnetwork.com
Cum fa jayn we pun we land and help hold pun de culcha een de
Queen Quet of the Gullah/Geechee Nation Keynotes at the International Hill Rice Symposium
by Gullah/Geechee Nation
The Inaugural Trinidad and Tobago International Hill Rice Symposium and Festival is being hosted in commemoration of the bicentenary of the arrival of the Merikins to Trinidad, following the War of 1812 between the United States of America, and Great Britain. The arrival of this group of men and women, who are sometimes described as Black Loyalists, marked the beginning of rice cultivation in Trinidad. That tradition has continued unbroken through the past two centuries.
The cultivation of rice by the Merikins is historically connected to the more widespread economic enterprise in rice in South Carolina and Georgia in the United States of America and in what is now specificially the Gullah/Geechee Nation. Many of the original Merikin settlers came from those areas, bringing various agricultural practices with them, the principal of which was the cultivation of hill rice, also known as land rice, Creole Rice, or providential rice. The roots of these practices lie in the Rice Coast of West Africa, and the tradition has also been established in various parts of the diaspora, including Suriname, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
The Inaugural Trinidad and Tobago International Hill Rice Symposium and Festival seeks to bring together academics in multiple disciplines, as well as farmers and other grassroots persons to discuss various aspects of rice cultivation in West Africa and the Diaspora. It also celebrates through dance, music, song, spoken word and art etc., the practice of rice cultivation in West Africa and the Diaspora. Some rice dishes will be done by Gullah/Geechee Nation Chef BJ Benjamin Dennis. Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) will provide the keynote address at the symposium and will be an active part of the festival activities nationwide.
During this historic event, Queen Quet will autograph copies of her book,
"Gullah/Geechee: Africa's Seeds in the Winds of the Diaspora Volume III:
Frum Wi Soul tuh de Soil: Cotton, Rice, and Indigo."
The book is available in advance at www.gullahgeechee.biz and on Amazon.
Support this closing international event for the 2016 stops on the
Continuing Gullah/Geechee African Reconnections
by Gullah/Geechee Nation
by Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com)
Most visitors to the Gullah/Geechee Nation tend to only seek West African links. However, during my journey to Morocco, I found a number of cultural connections there as well. The herbal healing practices including the homegrown mint used for tea, the fry bread in the morning for breakfast, the rag rugs, and keeping the family together so that none of the elders ever live alone all reminded me of my own people. I felt right at home and was even told that I was part of the family.
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation and Sister Aminah preparing Argan oil.
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation with Berber flour and couscous grinding stones.
As the journey continued and I got to see and work with grinders that were small units used to create essential oils and then moved on to see the grinders that were used for flour and couscous, my spirit relinked to using the grinders for flour and grits on the Sea Islands. As I walked through homes and saw their handcrafted items on the bed for warmth, I pictured my own home and my mother's and grandmothers' with handmade quilts on the beds. Then just as in the homes of my foremothers, I was told to sit down and eat.
As I walked along the waters of the river, I took in the peace that I find whenever I am where the rivers of our fathers and foremothers flow. I also wondered where these rivers flow to and with what larger body they ultimately connect. It only took a little while to find out that we were only a few hours from the shore. Essaouira was a fishing town with bateau boats dyed in indigo which reminded me of home once again. I thought about how some of our ancestors could easily have journeyed from here to do trade and been caught in the TransAtlantic Slave Trade. I later found out that the sultan here had controlled this port so that all international trade would come through it. He blocked European and American commerce and culture from his other cities. The Africans here are a blend of Arab, Jewish and Berber people. Learning this clarified why so many symbols in buildings and jewelry seemed to represent more than one thing from different cultural practices all blended together. My mind drifted the blending that went on in our praise houses as various ethnicities and spiritual practices linked and went forth to sustain my people.
As we traversed the roads through the valleys and then up into the mountains, I gave thanks for the strength of the women here that I saw hauling items on their backs on the dirt roads and herding the animals. They reminded me of my mother and the elder mothers of my island and all the hard labor that they had gone through while hauling babies on their backs and baskets on their heads as some of these women were also still doing. I thought about the many early mornings that I awoke and traveled fo dayclean ta de field. I could feel myself balancing my neck as I saw other women with the baskets on their heads the way I carried mine in the fields and how I still carry them on stages now around the world and bring out our continuing African traditions from them for groups of people that still want to learn how we thrived and survived.
I gave thanks for the citizens of the Gullah/Geechee Nation that continue our fishing, quilting, basketmaking, and healing traditions. I gave thanks for those that still speak our language and live in our family compounds farming our lands. The journey of reconnection kept me uplifted as I took time to pause and give thanks in the High Atlas Mountains above it all. I was ready to come back down the mountain and across the oceans to tell the story of the journey and how we should appreciate how as much as we have evolved and advanced in our community, we still hold on to the things that are valuable in the Motherland-GOD, family, and the land. Tenk GAWD fa disya.
North African bloodline women
The Gullah/Geechee Nation is faced with numerous climate change impacts including rapid erosion of the coast, sea level rise, and flooding. However, the Gullah/Geechee issues and those of many indigenous coastal communities have not been addressed in many of the national and international environmental and climate change and adaptation plans. Please support an opportunity to change that by making a contribution to support the travel expenses for Queen Quet's journey to COP22.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) went into power in 1994, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. The Conference of the Parties (COP) was assigned as the preeminent administering body of the Convention. This year for the first time, the Gullah/Geechee Nation has an opportunity to have representation at this historic conference. Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation ( www.QueenQuet.com) has been invited to attend this conference to not only represent her people, but to be able to contribute to the dialogue and share the various environmental endeavors that she is collaborating on with numerous partners. Please help her bring the voice of our people to this international arena.
Tenki Tenki fa hunnuh support!
Gullah/Geechee Action Call from COP22: Wha Hunnuh Gwine Do?
by Gullah/Geechee Nation
by Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com)
Throughout the streets leading to the location of the United Nations' COP22 are signs bearing the word "ACT" in various languages of the world. Upon entering the space for dialogues, the speeches and interactions are based on how action cannot be gradual, but immediate. As I pondered the words in the context of my express purpose for making this journey-to insure that cultural heritage and the continuation of traditional indigenous cultures is not lost as the new policies get printed and enacted, I wondered how this could be phrased for my people as well as the rest of us that are focused on protecting cultural heritage in the face of climate change.
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) presenting to the global community in the UNESCO Pavilion at the United Nation's COP22 Conference in Marrakech, Morocco.
As I meditated on the discussions and participated in interactive multimedia displays that truly brought to life the purpose of this entire event, the words finally started to surface in my soul:
Cultivate
Unite
Lower (our carbon emissions)
Turn (another way from current habits and turn off the lights and the tap)
Undo and unlearn (things that are damaging the planet)
Recycle and replant (such as the oyster shells as well as the trees)
Environment
Inspiring
Necessary
Accentuation of
Cultural
Traditions
In
Operations
Naturally
CULTURE IN ACTION!
I am looking forward to getting back to the waters of the Sea Islands and to the Gullah/Geechee Nation to get my people into the flow of this action while we await seeing the “Blue Book on Water and Climate” which will be launched by the Moroccan Government and its partners as a concrete outcome of its interim International Conference on Water and Climate, hosted in Rabat in July 2016, in cooperation with the Government of France and the World Water Council.
The publication collects the orientations and recommendations brought forth by the international water community to support the implementation of climate commitments and proposes a variety of concrete and applicable solutions related to adaptation and resilience through water management.
Coupling the Blue Book with some of the vital information directed at the tourism industry via the "World Heritage and Tourism in a Changing Climate" report that was presented during COP22 by our partners at the Union of Concerned Scientists and ICOMOS will assist us in the implementation of numerous components of the sustainability and adaptation plans that the Gullah/Geechee Sustainability Think Tank has been working on for some time. The resiliency that is inherent in the traditional lifeways of the Gullah/Geechee Nation are critical to such planning and to the continued global efforts to combat climate change. As I have written before, the Gullah/Geechee Nation continues to thrive and survive even as the sea levels rise:
https://gullahgeecheenation.com/2015/12/02/gullahgeechee-surviving-and-thriving-as-the-sea-rises/
Living literally on the shores of the frontline of climate change impacts makes the immediately implementation of CULTURE IN ACTION absolutely necessary because as my mama always taught me "Time and tide wait for no man or woman!" The changes are already flowing. So, now it is a choice in which way we will be going. Disya a Gullah/Geechee Call ta Action frum COP22! Wha hunnuh chillun gwine do? The quality of life in the world is truly up to you!
****
Insure that you read about the complete journey Queen Quet had getting to and through the United Nations' COP22:
https://gullahgeecheenation.com/2016/11/09/gwine-ta-de-motherland-fa-tek-a-stand-gullahgeechee-cop22/
https://gullahgeecheenation.com/2016/11/11/tossing-de-gullahgeechee-wid-moroccan-tea/
https://gullahgeecheenation.com/2016/11/13/gullahgeechee-connections-with-the-global-climate-change-community-cop22/
Make sure to contribute to this historic journey!
It is not too late to support the Gullah/Geechee!
https://www.gofundme.com/QueenQuetCOP22
www.QueenQuet.com
www.gullahgeecheenation.com
The Blue Zone
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) arrives for the first day at the United Nations' COP22 in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Gullah/Geechee Connections with the Global Climate Change Community @COP22
by Gullah/Geechee Nation
by Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com)
As always, the arrival at a United Nations conference can be one filled with stress due to all the numerous things that have to be done to even allow you clearance into the country where it is being held and then into the venue for the event. When there are 20,000 delegates from approximately 197 countries, that does not make the process any simpler to navigate either. So, I was truly appreciative of the fact that once again a major international journey coincided with a 21-day meditation challenge so that in the midst of all the movement, my breathing would remain paced for yet another journey of a lifetime.
The ride on the shuttle bus from the square was smooth and easy and I set my spirit to recognize that this was what the rest of the entire COP22 would be-smooth and easy. As always, I was right on point in that regard! I was in and out of the registration area just about as quickly as my bag and coat went through the metal detector. With my new UN COP22 ID, I was now truly ready for the world!
Version 2
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) arrives for the first day at the United Nations' COP22 in Marrakesh, Morocco.
We made our way into the Blue Zone and wondered why there was a Blue and Green Zone other than having these symbolize the water and the earth. However, I quickly realized that the Blue Zone was that of the dignitaries and the few additional people that had been accredited to this high level security zone to present primarily to their own colleagues since many of the main people on the front lines of the issues we were there to dialogue about where grassroots folks that did not have the connections to get them into this zone. I had seen this happen with the indigenous people at the Indigenous Peoples' Forum and so I was not surprised, but I zoomed in my focus to see who was truly walking by me in this space and to observe the interactions or lack thereof.
As we ventured into a session and also attempted to locate another, things became clearer and clearer. I watched more and more people disconnected from the people here, but connected to their laptops. I thought, "They paid money to get here to do what they do all the time? You can post and email later." Just as the thought formed, I remembered that in this zone these folks were highly unlikely to have had to raise their own money to get here to speak out on an issue or speak up for anyone. In fact, their jobs sent or brought them here and so they are still at work doing their daily routine. I totally understanding using WiFi if you can if you are in a place where you may not have another opportunity. However, I appreciate being connected with the global community face-to-face instead of via key strokes all the more. How do you truly assist people that you do not even directly dialogue with?
Being a person of the water, I am accustomed to blue being a healing element and to it often being connected to things flowing. So, I judged how to get into the flow of all that was going on around me and to take it all in.
After going to sessions and seeing how (unlike at other United Nations' events) there were very few opportunities to have translation head phones and that you either had to know the languages of every speaker on a panel or be patient to hear the ones you knew and then use the time during the speeches of the others trying to make out what they said or simply logging on to use that WiFi like others were doing, I decided to move on to the Green Zone.
The Green Zone was appropriately named since life was truly popping there and relationships seemed to be growing! The public was coming into this zone and they were interacting with each other. Children and adults were there and people at the exhibition booths were not online. They were lined up to greet you as you came pass their exhibitions in many cases and they welcomed your interactions!
The Green Zone finally provided me with an opportunity to connect with the global community and to see what others were doing that related to my land and my people in the Gullah/Geechee Nation. From the high tech but low energy use interactive exhibitions with holograms and specialized sound circles to stand on to hear what a person on screen's message was while not disturbing others entering the same space to doing art work with colors made from natural things to electric cars, every exhibition space lived up to why it was in the Green Zone.
The energy of the indigenous people that were presenting on their communities and their cultures in their native tongues as well as hearing their partners and supporters share their presentations on the projects that they had underway also spoke to why these people were in the Green Zone. It was obvious that they had done what I had done as I rode by the hundreds of banners on light post that are written in numerous languages. They had taken to heart the charge that we were here to keep and they realized that being in green was a light signal that it was now time to go and do what was on the banners-ACT!
As the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon stated:
"Today's global challenges demand concerted global action and joint solutions."
It is because of this reality that the Gullah/Geechee Nation's citizens wanted to insure my ability to make this journey. Our Sea Islands and our cultural heritage of the Gullah/Geechee Nation can only be protected when the global community recognizes how we all connect to one another. We need to return to the circular cosmology and ideology and realize that if we are part of one large global circle, what is done will go around and only return to you. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." from Galatians 6:7 immediately comes to mind coupled with "...if any would not work, neither should he eat." from 2 Thessalonians 3:10. As an agrarian Sea Island person, I can truly attest to the fact that if you sow not you reap not and you eat not. Once again, there is a call to action!
I sat back and pondered these words and realized that if we do not get to work together on this issue, we won't eat because our earth will not be in the position to feed us from the land nor the waters. The loss of lands and waters by the many indigenous communities that are here doing all that we can to connect with one another and with others that will work with us speaks volumes to how this space is a microcosm of how the world is already split into zones and some are being barred from the access to resources that will allow things to truly flow for all of us so that we can re-green the entire earth. Some see green and only think money and others see it and think land, but the land in all cases is the wealth while the value of the money fluctuates. It is for Gullah/Geechee land that I am here to take a stand. That rich land through and around which healing and nurturing waters continue to flow and allow the seeds that we plant to flourish. That process does not simply happen. We must work! We must act!
With this charge being the energy to move me, I marched on to connect with the rest of the global community at COP22. Hunnuh chillun kno gwine on da wha de Gullah/Geechee do!
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) arrives at the brand new terminal in Marrakech, Morocco for the United Nations' COP22.
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) and Kwame Sha of the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition (www.gullahgeechee.net) are greeted by members of the Moroccan ministry with a traditional glass of hot tea.
Gwine ta de Motherland fa tek a Stand! Gullah/Geechee @COP22
by Gullah/Geechee Nation
by Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com)
"The land is our family and the waterways are our bloodline."
• Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com)
"Hunnuh mus tek cyare de tree."
• Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com)
I have heard these words come from my mouth thousands of times over the years because they are rooted in my heart. They are rooted as deeply as Gullah/Geechee culture is into the soil and the souls of the Sea Islands. These islands are from whence the blood comes that runs through my veins like the waters that flow to and from our shores each day perfectly syncopated in polyrhythmic rhythm to the motions of Gullah/Geechees as we move about and walk the sacred ground that holds the blood, sweat, and tears of our ancestors-our family.
The more that these words flowed, the more GOD put me in places where I was not only hearing them, but thousands of people around the world were hearing them and some were even quoting them (especially the latter) without giving proper citations for the words and simply calling it a "Gullah/Geechee proverb." Proverbs I know well especially the one that states:
"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." • Proverbs 4: 7
The more I seemed to hear myself repeating this proverb, the more I seemed to encounter a world of people that lacked understanding and also refused to seek it. Yet, these same people would consider themselves wise. These same people have not been wise enough to pay attention to the things that truly matter. The things that will not be able to be recreated once they are gone-family, land, community, and culture. These are the branches of that tree that so desperately needs healing in so many places. Since my mama's wisdom taught me that "Charity begins at home and then goes abroad.", I started my work on my home island and then started going throughout the United States and abroad internationally to let the world know that there was a culture that existed that they may not have knowledge of and even if they have heard of it, it is likely that they have been misinformed about it. The misinformation that had been going forth for generations was financially, intellectually, and politically beneficial to others that were not living the traditions that my people live. Yes, hunnuh chillun, webe Gullah/Geechee!
While some tried to erode the truth of what Gullah/Geechee living is all about, my beloved Sea Islands of the Gullah/Geechee Nation literally began to erode with every hurricane and every spring tide (which we now no longer hear of because it has been replaced with the king tide) much less with just the daily motions of the oceans and Intercoastal Waterways as they rise and fall each day. I started to literally see the roots of those trees that stood around us which were part of the trees that I sought to take care of. These trees are the ones beneath which many placentas of our babies had been buried so truly this was family.
As this continued seeking ways to heal our roots, I started speaking to others and documenting what I saw and gradually, I realized that there was a circle of people around the world who had a language that they were using within the scientific circles that did not often flow out into the circles of the indigenous cultural communities on the front shorelines of all that was being lost. They were using the words "sea level rise" to mean something different than those high and low or spring or king tides. They were speaking of "climate change" and "climate science" as well as "ocean acidification." None of these were in daily use in the language of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.
As I entered the circles with additional scientific minds and activists of environmental justice, I gained a new lexicon. I was easily able to "adapt" to it not yet knowing that the next set of new vocabulary words that were going to come forth for me were "adaptation" and "resilience." The latter of which Gullah/Geechees are the living definition of and the former is something that we have had to do since our ancestors were kidnapped from the Motherland and placed on the soil of Sea Island sand where they became rooted and our culture grew. At least it was growing in a healthy way until those that did not see land and water and family and community the way we did came....
It became very interesting to be asked how my community was charting out adaptation plans while those that were overbuilding and derby fishing all around and as some would say "up and through" our homeland were not being asked the same question. It was interesting to find that people now wanted traditional knowledge to be considered by the scientists that had coined the aforementioned phrases and they could fund folks to "study" ethnic groups of people, but would not fund the people that lived the cultures from which the traditional knowledge arose to keep their cultural heritage alive in the face of these climate change dynamics. They wouldn't even cover the cost of them having seats at the tables where these issues were now being discussed by people from not only different states, but around the world.
I supposed I shouted beneath those trees in my community enough times to have had the power of the blood of my people from generations back enter me to give me the strength to answer these questions. It was also the place were I could meditate and have the answers come to me about how to get to the tables. Each time I emerged from these meditations, GOD would send forth the right person at a critical time that would be the link that I needed to get to the table and each time I was able to drag that table a little bit closer to the Gullah/Geechee Nation's shoreline for people around the world to see what was going on and how Gullah/Geechee culture is a major culture that needs to be a part of their discussions and that we needed to plan together.
As I made my way to one such a table to share what we had already successfully been doing in the Gullah/Geechee Nation and to learn more about the best practices being done elsewhere in order to keep cultural heritage resources protected in the face of climate change, I read an airline magazine that had a story in it about how Marrakech, Morocco was one of the safest places in the Motherland. Within two days of reading this, I was at an evening reception when I heard someone mention "Marrakech" and I immediately turned my head and proceeded into this conversation only to find out that the United Nation's was going to host the 22nd Session of the Conference of Parties aka COP22 in that city! I said to the people in the conversation, "I read about that city on my flight here and I said to myself, 'I want to go there!'." Everyone was stunned and smiled, but then folks started sharing how difficult it is for anyone to get accredited for the conference.
I believe in Divine Order. So, I proceeded with contacting who GOD lead me to contact at my NGO, the "International Human Rights Association for American Minorities (IHRAAM)." Our leader there, then put me in touch with author Elizabeth Woodworth, the co-author of "A Global Climate Revolution." As Ms. Woodworth and I communicated, we both were able to connect to Brother Ayodele Akele, Executive Director at the Labour, Health and Human Rights Development Centre in Nigeria. We all rapidly became a circle of global partners seeking to advance climate change action.
I thought it interesting that it would be a brother that carried the same blood as my ancestors that was still holding on and holding strong to the cultural heritage in Nigeria in the face of climate change that would reach across the globe to his family of the African Diaspora for us to work together. Through his emails, I could feel the outstretched hands that were pulling me not only back to the Motherland, but to take a stand!
Once again as I prayed and meditated on the sacred ground of the Sea Islands in the midst of Hurricane Matthew that brought forth a tremendous amount of information that the world needed to see and that scientists and elected officials needed to pay attention to. I knew I would live through the storm to make it to a table that would be set with tea in Marrakech. I felt everything within my being telling me to simply pack because there are those that believe in the importance of this work and this journey and they know that this is an opportunity to take care of the land and to heal the tree. Disya chillun gwine mek sho hunnuh gwine ta de Motherland fa crak hunnuh teet bout who de Gullah/Geechee be an wha gwine on pun we islandts een de sea!
I packed and I worked. The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition got the word out through GoFundMe and within a few hours, donations started coming forth. When I got on the plane, the full amount still had not been raised, but "delay is not denial" is what my soul kept telling me. By the time I landed in the Motherland, Gullah/Geechees, friends, family, and supporters started stepping forth to contribute to getting the campaign to its goal. I was emailed and Facebook messaged about collections that were being taken up by leaders in the Gullah/Geechee Nation from folks. I gave thanks as my spirit sat beneath my electronic tree with the family that was more excited about my arrival in the Motherland than me! I gave thanks!
When I read about the place where I landing having been called "the land of GOD," I thanked GOD for having ears to hear and the will and ability to move. I thank GOD for my circle expanding. Aaaah, hunnuh chillun, mi staated shoutin den! Tenk GAWD fa disya blessed journee!
Tenki Tenki ta all wha paat disya circle! A toss to you all with some Moroccan tea!
****
Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation's keynote address at the Lowcountry Montessori School on the 209th episode of Gullah/Geechee TV.
Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation's keynote address at the Lowcountry Montessori School on the 209th episode of Gullah/Geechee TV.
You still have an opportunity to join the Gullah/Geechee family in supporting this historic journey by making a donation at https://www.gofundme.com/QueenQuetCOP22. Tenki Tenki fa helpin de Gullah/Geechee tek a stand een de Motherland!
List of Pan African, Black Nationalist, and Traditional government fundraisers
Supporting all these worldwide fundraisers would cost about 50 U.S Dollars. Give as much as you can, it all goes to support infrastructure for African American communities.
Our main donation page at OyoTunji African Village.
OAV Partners.
Oyotunji African Village Partners, Kingdom Investors and Online Patrons provide us with generous contributions that allow us to stay afloat. Because of them we have the resources to continue to fulfill our commitment to our community by expanding as the premier institution for Yoruba culture and education in North America. Become an OAV Strategic Partner today and contribute to the building of America's oldest authentic African Village. Email us today.
See below for the entities and individuals that have helped to sustain our community.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help save Gullah Gee Chee land. Fighting hard for African liberation since the 17th century, descendants of Angola, the Gullah Gee Chee people, managed to preserve some of their native tongue, their ancestry culture and pride. From slave revolts to freeing other slaves, civil rights struggle, Pan-Africanism, many of the members of the famed, "Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church" of Charleston are Gullah Gee Chee descendants. Because of the low state of economy of South Carolina's Low Country, government seizure of their lands and vicious taxation, many Gullah people are losing their lands. Support the Gullah Gee Chee Traditions school that teaches youth vocational skills and trades, from blacksmithing, fishing, construction, gardening, shopkeeping, basketweaving, artistry, and more! Give to help with the Gullah Gee Chee African traditions. Here is their GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/panafricanfamilyem
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Umar Johnson Fredrick Douglas Marcus Garvey Academy- A school for boys and girls modeled after the original Tuskegee Institute under Dr. Booker T. Washington
He is raising $5 Million dollars hopefully from supporters that are willing to give $5.00 a month, preferably by mail. But you can donate online here now:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Also support the Collect Black People Movement. They have a .27 a cent day, $8.10 fundraiser a month, they already have a thousand people signed up. Click here: http://www.cbpm.org/neweconomicplan.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Much love for my believers on the Nation of Islam they also have a fundraising that's set at .30 cents day, about $10.00 a month. They are shooting for 16 million people, trying to raise about 250 million in a year. Click here: http://www.economicblueprint.org/
For more info: http://noimoa.com/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Empire Washitaw De Dugdahmoundyah. The Nation of ancient American Mound Builders they came before Columbus from Africa on Egyptian boats. Africans were sailing the seas for thousands of years. The Washitaw are ruled over, like the Gullah, by a Queen Mother, Her Highness Devine: Empress Wendy Farica Washitaw. Please show your support for their nation. We are only as strong as our weakest link as African Diaspora. The Washitaw donation page: http://empirewashitaw.org/index.php?p=1_15_Make-a-Donation ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please support all these Black Nationalists efforts to provide true economic freedom and total liberation for all African Diaspora. The hand has five fingers and they all must be strong, work in coordination, to build a stronger Diaspora.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Economic Venture is headed by Dr. Marimba Ani and Baba Baruti
ULU is an acronym for Us Lifting Us Economic Development Cooperative, LLC, a global business organization designed to change the way we do business with and among ourselves and with others. Our primary objective is to put in place successful business models that give us the capacity to gain significant control of the economics of our communities and nations, and to help free us from the current state of economic domination and exploitation by multiple forces in the world.
ULU represents the leading edge of a new and exciting movement to integrate large-scale cooperatively owned business enterprises into the economic landscape of Black communities. This strategic innovation is vitally necessary and has proven to be effective in other communities globally.
How Does ULU Work?
1). ULU, as a For-Profit Member Owned Cooperative, with the capacity to attract thousands of members, pools its considerable base of resources, both intellectual and financial.
2). ULU then uses these resources to open and operate for-profit co-op businesses that provide needed goods and services, that create jobs and that generate profits. Profits are used for expansion and for rewarding its’ Members/Owners with a direct monetary return.
3). All ULU Co-Op Businesses are owned by the general Membership, but each Co-Op Business is managed by the Member/Owners who work at that particular location. This arrangement helps to insure that ULU Businesses perform exceptionally well and that they contribute to the security and welfare of their communities.
These methods provide ULU with a practical way to capture and redirect massive resources to build and sustain our communities and to stay the hands of those who seek to dominate and exploit our people.
*ULU takes the strong position that significant economic advancement is impossible with traditional entrepreneurship and business ownership alone. Radically different approaches are required. The ULU Cooperative Economic Empowerment Plan adds the otherwise missing and vitally necessary element.
Why should you consider joining ULU?
Millions of our people sincerely desire a stronger and more vibrant economic foundation for our communities. And there is widespread frustration with our failure to make better use of the large sums of economic resources that flow through our collective fingers. If you count yourself among these numbers, join with ULU and help to build the machinery of real and lasting economic power for our people. We need you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Henry Garnett said, "If we are to bleed, then lets bleed all at once.
Those who have it to give should give large amounts. In the upper ranges of $250.00 one time. If we can get 10,000 people to give $250 that would be $2.5 Million to complete , His Royal Majesty Oba Adefunmi II's 7 year plan, all in month. So give now! Up you Mighty Nation-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Queen Mother of Africa, Her Royal Highness the Nnabagereka (Queen) of Buganda, Sylvia Nagginda Luswata. Please give $1.00 per household member and show your support for women and children of Africa. As we know women suffer the greatest on the weak political platform of Africa and children die in record numbers. The Queen Mother makes 3/4th of the Africa world, women and children, her first priority. Her example must be followed worldwide, Her Royal Highness the Nnabagereka (Queen) of Buganda, Sylvia Nagginda Luswata, is bringing is the change of Africa. Donate: http://www.nnabagereka.org/en/
Our goal is $1 Billion, raised by all Africans worldwide, all languages and all ethnic groups.
Put $100.00 in a Black Bank for Jan, 2017.
If you have a passport you can put money in a West African or East African bank or even Caribbean. You must be applying for your passport as of yesterday, this is very important!
Here is a list of Black Banks near you!
Boycott in simple ways, spend less money, forgo simple desires, spend less during the Christmas Holiday season. Instead of gift shopping, stock up on supplies, go on family outings, spend family time at home playing games, singing and enjoying life without materialism. We can't avoid failure without sacrifice. I guarantee you waking up Jan, 1st, 2017 hearing there's millions of dollars in Black Banks you will feel better about the whole vision of change.
The Plane Earth
The Luhya Tribe of Kenya
How the Man is head of the family and how issues of polygamy are resolved with the family structure. I believe this a very good explanation and could help understanding what we have lost in terms of family and community structure as Africans.
The Plane Earth
The Luhya Tribe of Kenya
How the Man is head of the family and how issues of polygamy are resolved with the family structure. I believe this a very good explanation and could help understanding what we have lost in terms of family and community structure as Africans.
Thanks for sharing, nice post! Post really provice useful information!
ReplyDeleteHương Lâm chuyên dịch vụ cho thuê máy photocopy màu hoặc bán máy photocopy màu uy tín, giá rẻ tại TP.HCM và giải đáp máy photocopy nào tốt nhất cũng như link download driver toshiba 456 chính xác.