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The NORML FORML 5/29, CWCBExpo Booth 116 6/1

EDITORS LETTER

Staff Dear Reader, Managing Editor Jaime Lubin

Guest Editors DX21 Dasun Alex Miller

The African-American community carries a collective legacy, yet to be Black in this country is a singular experience unique to each individual. Their stories are all deserving of attention, but information only begs more questions. How does someone define both a personal and cultural identity? To answer that, we needed this issue to be as authentic as possible. Within these pages are Black artists, doctors, entrepreneurs, politicians, educators and activists, recorded primarily by African-American writers and illustrated by African-American designers. The floor for honest testimony is theirs, no interruptions or interpretations.

Consulting Editors Patricia Bosworth Soleil Nathwani James Litkett Naomi Rosenblatt

We discovered that accurate representation requires such overt sensitivity even in description. Is it Black, black, African American? For various reasons, our contributors made different choices that held significance for them (their preferences are left intact here).

Editorial Jessica Bern Imani Dawson Sarah Doneghy Jourdan Espeut Katie Stromme

For our cover story, we sought out the master of racial dialectics. Spike Lee’s films have given American audiences crucial perspective on Black identity; this year, he’s nominated for his first Best Director Oscar for BlacKkKlansman, and celebrating the 30th anniversary of his 1989 classic Do the Right Thing. Both works give harsh insights about the truth of the hatred dividing our society. But for every hurt, there is hope. Civil Rights icon John Lewis, longtime Congressman from Georgia, believes strongly that future generations will unite for good. Filmmaker A.J. Ali’s documentary Walking While Black teaches that to go beyond racial profiling, we need to approach each other with love. Shawanna Vaughn of Silent Cry and Arthur Rambert of Lead By Example have gone from incarceration to leadership, providing trauma counseling and mentorship opportunities for at-risk communities. Jehmu Greene, a self-described “evangelist for good,” strives to change the minds of those on all sides of the political spectrum in her work for Fox News and the Democratic National Convention. Cannabis experts provide special insight into the dichotomy. Many powerful voices, such as media personality Montel Williams and NFL legends Marvin Washington and Tiki Barber, are throwing their support behind programs that give people of color economic opportunities in this dynamic new industry. Trailblazers like Dasheeda Dawson of MJM Strategy and Shanita Penny of the Minority Cannabis Business Association are inspiring others to transition from corporate to cannabis. Still others, like Jake Plowden of the Cannabis Cultural Association and Grizzly Bocourt of A Rebel Minded Society, are working to ensure that African-American communities, so disproportionately afflicted by the War on Drugs, can have the treatment they need and the education to pursue their rightful place after Prohibition ends.

Art Director Andrae Givans

Creative Director Sam C. Long Art Brette Sims Stan Squirewell Brenna Rhea Art: West Coast Photography Matthew Jordan Smith Alex Harsley Interns Eden Gordon Annie Iezzi Lola Kelleher Ali McPherson Vickram Singh West Coast Nadya Rousseau House Poet Jay Neugeboren Founder/Publisher Ronit Pinto www.honeysucklemag.com FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA www.facebook.com/honeysucklemagazine twitter.com/honeysucklemag www.instagram.com/honeysucklemagazine Cover Image MACIEK JASIK, for GQ, 2018 (c) Conde Nast

Above all, the key word is representation. If you can’t see or hear something, how do you know it exists? Brette Sims and Stan Squirewell are reimagining feminism and global Blackness through their respective artworks, while award-winning photographer Matthew Jordan Smith is breaking barriers that far exceed his days on America’s Next Top Model. He’s now the first African-American Nikon ambassador, incorporating AFROPUNK elements into Tokyo street fashion (and much more). At the same time, the political action committee Color Of Change (COC) reminds us that the hardest journey is from presence to power – we must give everyone a chance to use their voices and we must commit to being allies. We hope you come away from this issue with a new understanding of the beautiful complexities that make up Black America. May we commit to Congressman Lewis’s harmonious vision. It’s time for a family reunion – but let’s give all our brothers and sisters a fair place at the table. The wait has been too long. Ronit Pinto, Publisher Jaime Lubin, Managing Editor

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

50 BlacKkKlansman Best Adapted Screenplay Charlie Wachtel David Rabinowitz Kevin Willmott Spike Lee.

SPIKE LEE

No one exemplifies this “two-ness,” as he calls it, better than iconic filmmaker Spike Lee. The man’s inner vibrations are palpable from the moment he enters a room. continued...

6. THE ART OF

BLACKNESS:

An Interview with Stan Squirewell

AFRO PUNK 2018 has come to an end, leaving us all with plenty to reflect on. There have been ups and downs for us all, but here at Honeysuckle we prefer to focus on the positivity that is ever-present. continued...

38 4

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22 GEORGIA CONGRESS MAN JOHN LEWIS

(TOC), upper right: Congressman John Lewis, Representing Georgia�s 5th District, courtesy of the United States Congress, House of Representatives.

His numbers are impressive. He has been elected to Congress 17 times. He was 17 years old when he met Rosa Parks, having supported the Montgomery Bus Boycott she inspired. continued...

80. TIKI

BARBER

Honeysuckle had an opportunity

to mix and mingle with the revelers at Revel, a cannabis entrepreneurial showcase, and capture a candid

TABLE OF CONTENT

conversation with Atiim Kiambu “Tiki” Barber, one of that evening’s Cannabis + Capital keynotes.

+GREAT STORIES

Barber is a man who isn’t easily

PG. 3 Editors Letter

defined. He’s a highly acclaimed

PG. 9 Taking it to the Streets PG. 12 Justice / InJustice

former running back for the New York Giants, continued...in the Honey Pot...

PG. 38 Afro Punk Check out our

great stories in the HONEY POT...

PG. 58 Awakening Beyond Racism PG. 98 Hiphop PG. 109 Wakanda Forever PG. 110 Tarot and many more...

Cover: Spike Lee Design by : Andrae Givans

63-83 HONEY POT ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

THE ART OF BLACKNESS

AN INTERVIEW WITH STAN SQUIREWELL

By Alex Miller Art by (Stan Squirewell): Huck Mixed Media Collage © Stan Squirewell

It is a chilly fall morning in the South Bronx when I meet him outside his studio in an industrial area known as Port Morris, a neighborhood that’s been around since the early 1800s. Once in decay, Port Morris has turned itself around, rallying behind a FedEx headquarters, Fresh Direct, and over a dozen local businesses, interrupted by CSX train tracks, along the East and Harlem Rivers. There’s an art here, in this place where the years have degraded through the buildings—the buildings fought back. He wears a dark jacket, dark jeans, oxblood boots, and the coolest ash-gray flat ivy cap I’ve ever seen. Even his clothes are a work of art. He reminds me of Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Donald Glover, and he’s no less brilliant. Stan Squirewell instantly becomes my friend when we learn the two of us have a closer connection than either of us knew: my father. He admired, and helped ship out, prints of my father’s work as a young man in DC. STAN SQUIREWELL: I was shipping all the prints out. That was how I got into the business of the art world. The company was called Things Graphics and Fine Art. I used to roll up your father’s work and ship it all over the country. Matter of fact, we shipped internationally. I know I rolled up more than a thousand of Charles Bibbs’ pieces. I know, probably the same for your father’s pieces. Yeah, it was everywhere. ALEX MILLER: Wow. This is just uncanny! Yeah. Before that, I was just like, ‘How do artists make money off this? This shit is impossible.’ We both laugh our heads off. I’m from DC. Went to an arts high school, one of the first in the country: Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Since there are a lot of different art markets, I didn’t know which one I would go for. Would it be the black fine arts market? Or was it gonna be the commercial graphic art thing? Or interior art? So many options. In the end, I just charted my own path, did a combination of all. By the time I was 22, 23, my paintings were selling real well. I had

flunked outta undergrad. That was the worst and the best thing that happened to me... going to an art high school for three years prepared me for the art world. I’d go on to meet and be inspired by David Driskell, Lou Stowall, AfriCOBRA and so many others. You’ve experienced your own art getting stolen? Happened to my dad a lot. It happens. Yeah, it really does. There’s something about the term “black,” that is very narrowing. It limits the scope of my history and genealogy. But the term does embody a certain a level of importance. What I’ve discovered over the past 15 years or so…my ancestors didn’t come over on a boat. They called themselves different things around the country. My ancestors called themselves Cherokee. My work sheds light on “global blackness”... indigenous things around the world. Academia projects the slavery narrative, but blacks have been on this side of the world for thousands of years. Art means a genius level creativity of the mind. In any coup d’état, it’s always the artist who get X’ed out first. Why? Because the artist are the thinkers. We motivate people to change. That’s a really great point. You know how people always say things like,

“black people created jazz, hip hop, and rock and roll.” But you don’t often hear about the influence we’ve had on modern art. Have you ever heard someone talk about that? (Laughs heartily) There is nothing that exists without us. Point-blank. No civilization started without us. In modern civilization, just from a genome perspective, we are a credit to everything that has happened in this world. In a previous interview, you talked about how you can see music in art. I have always wondered how to explain that. It’s like, with Ernie Barnes, you can look at that work and—that’s jazz! There’s this feeling of movement in the elongated appendages. Almost like a tempo. I don’t know how to say it, but you can just see it. Yeah, absolutely I get what you mean. My work—if I had to compare it to a specific genre, I would say it would be classical hip hop. I’m sampling and recreating, in the same exact manner that they did. I’m crate-digging in the museums. That’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m fusing things together. What I learned is that musicians and artists think from the same part of their brain. Where I see color, they hear sound.

Art by (Stan Squirewell): Cool Mixed Media Collage © Stan Squirewell

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

Every color has a frequency. Every frequency has a sound. But they’re all rooted in vibration. It’s all vibration. It’s all vibes. Too many people don’t nurture talent when they see it…or hear it. And this is how you get a society of people who look up to free-thinkers, because most people are too closed-minded to create. Majority of the people I grew up with who didn’t have creative outlets lived very mundane lives. My mom never tried to make me “normal.” I was six when I started drawing. Amazing! What do you think about the future of black art…where will it go from here? Black art will only become more valuable and more important to society in general. My concern is whether it will stay in the hands of people in the Community. I fear that the only time the following generations will be able to look at the works their ancestors created is through the lens of a museum, or in a movie, or from a book. That is a true injustice.

Art by (Stan Squirewell): Khalifa Mixed Media Collage © Stan Squirewell

By Annie Iezzi

ecades of black history reside in Alex Harsley’s 4th Street Photo Gallery, depicted in the master artist’s images from the 1950s to the present day. Harsley, a Southern-born New York staple, provides raw and poignant glimpses into nightlife and street scenes, along with captured moments of celebrities from Muhammad Ali to Nina Simone to Harry Belafonte. His work plays with contrasts, asking viewers to reconsider what they think they know about society. The answers often emerge in sly humor. Over the years Harsley has had a unique vantage point to document the Black experience in America. He’s survived racially-motivated brutal beatings, endured being drafted into the Army (timed well enough to miss getting sent to Vietnam, he says, but poorly enough to be stuck in Alabama during the height of Civil Rights protest-related violence), and borne witness to more riots than he can count. Yet he’s also achieved some milestones of his own, becoming the first African American photographer for the New York City District Attorney’s office in the 1950s. In 1971 Harsley founded Minority Photographers Inc., an internationally recognized nonprofit which has been responsible for cultivating some of the most innovative women artists and artists of color in recent times, including Dawoud Bey and Cynthia MacAdams. One can say with certainty that Alex’s work, and that emerging from Minority Photographers Inc., now preserved in his gallery, is the direct result of being part of specific communities, vibrant and vital to American life but hardly understood unless you’re accepted as a member. As a Black artist Harsley’s had access to a network of such semi-secret societies and recorded them in intimate portraits, conveying them both starkly and lovingly as if to tell us years later: “Don’t be afraid of the truth - that’s really the way it was.”

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

That duality, joyful yet intense, nostalgic yet unsentimental, beats like a heart in every frame. We asked Harsley to choose a few of his favorite images depicting African American culture; his answers are below. In return, he asks that art enthusiasts and history buffs alike to help keep the 4th Street Photo Gallery alive in a difficult economic climate. Check out his GoFundMe (www. gofundme/4thstreetphoto) so his photography may be appreciated by many generations to come. The Dom, East Village, 1960s - a hip club where “Harlem met Bohemia”: “The Dom went through many different phases after I showed up. The Dom was the Electric Circus, and that was an interesting year of lights and no memory. The party happened; everyone would meet in one place, mainly it was my apartment, and we all went over. All these fears have to be addressed in the Electric Circus, and you hope you come out without going into a mental institution. And then it flipped over to The Dom. The Dom was a place for the next generation: you came to the East Village in order to experience things.” Children with tire, Queens, 1980s: “That was a project I was working on out in a place called Arverne, on the other side of Rockaway, New York. In the background, you see the burned out houses; I always try to fill things in with a little of that information in the photographs. From an outside point of view it’s bad; from their point of view it’s beautiful. It’s just a matter of what kind of education you’re going to get, when the process is done.” Shirley Chisolm, the first African American candidate for president, on her campaign with then-Mayor of New York John V. Lindsay, 1972: “She was always that person over there. To me, it was more about being somebody,

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and what people had to go through to be somebody. So she decided that she needed to run for President. Now you gotta face up to all your adversaries and be confident about who you are, in order to become that.” Self-portrait, 1960s: “I still had on my army garb; that’s probably 1964-65. I see this guy here, as a Wall Street businessman. That’s his secretary in the background, and he’s sleeping. And she’s doing all the work.” Ellis Haizlip, the first African American producer in New York public broadcasting, creator of the groundbreaking television show Soul!, 1970s: “That was his brother’s house, with his little niece there. She was so in love with him. Amazing. And he was so in love with her. He had this program called Soul that came on Saturday mornings, with all these different kind of personalities. That was my community, and fortunately, I was able to stay beneath the radar. I can’t imagine somebody dragging me into being famous and what I would have missed out on.” Miss Black Teen America at Madison Square Garden, 1970s: “She [the model] wasn’t part of that, but yet I fit her into that [ the pageant ]. I knew that sign was there, and I wanted to get her with that sign in the backdrop. People get dressed up and go dancing, to the opera; it’s all part of the New York experience. That’s not to say that’s pro or that’s con; it’s all interrelated. And I’m always recording the overall New York experience, as time went along.” The Dom, East Village, 1960s – a hip club “where Harlem met Bohemia”: Children with tire, Queens, 1980s: Shirley Chisolm, the first African American candidate for president, on her campaign with then-Mayor of New York John V. Lindsay, 1972: Self-portrait, 1960s: Ellis Haizlip, the first African American producer in New York

public broadcasting, creator of the groundbreaking television show Soul!, 1970s: Miss Black Teen America at Madison Square Garden, 1970s:

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

MATTHEW JORDAN SMITH SEEING IS BELIEVING By Jaime Lubin

Matthew Jordan Smith is the very essence of possibility. The award-winning photographer, now the first artist of color to travel the world as a Nikon ambassador, has broken barriers and shaped cultural touchstones throughout his 32-year career. Name any major African-American celebrity – such as Oprah, Samuel L. Jackson, and Smokey Robinson – and you’re sure to find their portraits somewhere in Smith’s portfolio. But this visionary’s distinctions aren’t limited to his talents with the camera, astounding though they may be. Smith is a master storyteller, a dedicated historian, a motivator and mentor whose greatest superpowers lie in his endless capacity to hope. “I love photography and it’s my life,” Matthew enthuses to me in a Skype call, his mellifluous voice pulsing through the screen like soothing ocean waves. “I’d like to see more people of color in it, shooting, and know that it’s a viable career option… If you are a photographer and you want to stand out, understand that every picture you take has a message. If there are no people of color who are photographers, that’s a voice that’s being squashed or silenced. You’ve got to share how you feel, visually.” That sentiment has formed the crux of Smith’s work since day one. Born in Brooklyn, raised in South Carolina, he grew up a shy introvert who adopted photography as a communication tool. Seeing life through camera lenses helped him express himself, and representation became key to his personal and professional definition. \“I think about how I got to photography,” he says. “It was seeing somebody else who looked like me. Gordon Parks. If there were no Gordon Parks, there would be no Matthew Jordan Smith… We have to keep going through the generations, inspiring others. But first you have to be inspired!” Parks, one of the twentieth century’s most celebrated photojournalists, was also a textbook Renaissance man – a novelist, composer, jazz musician, film director (the mind behind 1971’s Shaft) and co-founder of Essence magazine. At a young age Smith found collections of Parks’s work and set himself on a similar path. It was fitting, then, that his first big break as a photographer would come from shooting Anita Hill for Essence in 1991 at the height of the Clarence Thomas trials. Essence covers, the first two featuring Halle Berry and Vanessa Williams, plus now-iconic images of Tyra Banks on the cusp of fame, soon followed. Smith became an in-demand Essence photographer and a favorite of legends including Aretha Franklin. His friendship with Banks led to multiple appearances on her phenomenal TV series America’s Next Top Model. Fans often count Matthew’s photo shoots among the most memorable in the reality show’s run, from a Warhol-esque roller skating challenge to portraits of famous couples (both partners portrayed by a single model). To this day, he gets recognized when the decade-old episodes air in reruns. But if the notability made Smith giddy, it was only because he saw in it an opportunity to light the way for others. “I’ve been very shy about putting myself out in public, but it’s duty more than ego to [showcase] your work so people can see. It’s hard to find us if you don’t know where we are. That was always the argument – ‘Are there black photographers? We can’t find them.’ It’s the barrier to entry that we’re not even thought about; we don’t even cross people’s minds. I have a friend who was the only black photographer to shoot 12

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Aretha Franklin. All photos © Matthew Jordan Smith Photography.

Vanessa Willams. All photos © Matthew Jordan

Smith Photography.

for Black Panther, which sounds so strange… I definitely want to see that change.” Smith managed to overcome that hurdle for himself in a very unusual way – he relocated to Tokyo, Japan in 2017. “Being African-American, I think I have more opportunities living here than I have in my own country,” he observes. “Japan never had racism against black people. And never having that history, there is no stigma, so if you’re talented, you’re recognized for your talent, period, without somebody looking at your color. In America, no matter what, somebody’s looking at your color and it’s part of the decision [to hire you or not].” Through the years, Matthew has focused his personal projects on combating this stigma with optimistic views on generational evolution. His book Sepia Dreams was a collection of interviews with fifty African-American artists exploring their journeys to success; it’s subtitled A Celebration of Black Achievement. More recently, his Future American President compiled portraits of dozens of children from all over the country, each sharing a reason why they might someday choose to run for office. The book’s subjects represent every ethnic group and population, no community left out. (It even features an early picture of pop idol Zendaya before she hit it big on Disney’s Shake It Up.) When Smith was just releasing Future American President in 2014, he’d confided to me that he hoped it would spark a movement. Now over the video call from Tokyo, he can barely contain his excitement at reporting that another photographer, inspired by his idea, is completing a spiritual successor project, Future Presidents of Benin. “It’s crazy!” he laughs. “You put your work out there and think, ‘What is it going to do?’ But that’s not our responsibility as artists. Our responsibility is to create, and then the Creator takes it and does whatever. We are definitely in need of future American presidents now.” At this remark, our talk turns to politics. Matthew can’t help noting that the current situation in the United States reminds him of Germany just before World War II. “It’s a horrible situation that I hope changes. Things must happen to divert us from the destructive, disturbing, violent path we’re on... If you’re a person of color, you feel the difference. There are people out there right now trying to take your voice away from you and we can’t let them do that. Number one, don’t let anybody take your vote from you. Number two, if you’re an artist, show the world how you feel.” Practicing what he preaches, Smith points to his coverage of the AFROPUNK festival. He admits that in his earlier career, he might have privatized these images – vibrant, energetic, authentically representing the heart of the black community. But in the face of today’s charged climate, he felt spurred not only to share them, but to use them as a jump-

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

(Matthew Jordan Smith): “Maine,” Future American President

ing-off point for a brand new shoot in Tokyo. “You know, AfricanAmericans have always had this influence around the world. You see it everywhere. I want to start that with AFROPUNK, how it’s visually pulling out all this energy, and put it into Tokyo fashion. It’s just an incredible array of art, visions, people expressing themselves. That’s my experience, and I’m putting my experience into my work, no matter where I am in the world… When you’re shooting something you love, people feel the connection.” At the word “connection,” I notice Smith seems wistful. We’ve been discussing a lot of his greatest milestones, but one subject remains pretty raw – Aretha Franklin’s passing. I knew that Matthew had been photographing her for the last fourteen years, but I didn’t realize he’d spoken to Franklin only a day before her death. “I had an amazing connection with her,” he recounts. “We became very good friends. In November 2017 we had planned to shoot her next [album] cover, and the day before Thanksgiving she was rushed to the hospital so the shoot was postponed. After she came out of the hospital, she sent me an email saying, ‘I’ve got a long recovery but I’d like you to be in touch so we can talk about the shoot.’ So I started contacting her every month and oddly enough, we talked more [in the months before she passed] than we’d ever talked before. Sadly, we never got to do that shoot, but I love the last one we did do, because that memory is more precious to me than ever. That last shoot we did, she was actually up and dancing. She had lost weight and she moved better than she’d ever moved in the past. It was wonderful to

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see her dancing and singing along to her own music.” While Smith did travel to Detroit for Franklin’s memorial service, he says that day on set is how he will continue to remember his longtime friend. “She was a special woman in so many ways and her music will live on forever. I’m glad that I got to be part of her history in that way.” And as Smith makes his own indelible marks on history, it’s clear that he’s living up to his own magic of creativity. He lives every day searching for new challenges, new frontiers to conquer. In addition to his brand ambassador work with Nikon and his vast array of projects, he’s now hosting a podcast called Master Your Lens to expand the global conversation around art and photography. For present and future generations, we’d do well to herald his clarion call, like Cinderellas to an ethereal but omnipotent advisor: “Get out there and live your dream. Change the world. Push the boundaries. Understand that you are in charge of your life; you rule your destiny. When you see yourself as a creative soul, it opens up doors like you have no idea. Don’t believe in the word ‘impossible.’ You always have possibilities as an artist.” -For more information, visit matthewjordansmith.com or @ matthewjordansmith on Instagram.

Samuel L. Jackson. All photos ÂŠ Matthew Jordan Smith Photography.

WALKING WITH

A PANTHER REFLECTIONS ON THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY FOR SELF-DEFENSE BY DASUN IMANUEL

Brother Tarik Haskins will never wish for Wakanda’s warm welcome. He has his reasons, as an original Black Panther, for not being a fan of the Marvel movie’s mania. While many take the film at face value, Haskins ponders its subliminal messages. “I was shocked at the movie… It opened up with a fratricidal scene,” says Haskins. “There’s a scene where the Black Panther hooks up with a CIA agent and they’re going to take down this bad guy who stole the vibranium… But the CIA, they are heading up the programs to carry out genocide against Black people and so there’s no hooking up between a Black Panther and the CIA, the people who are killing us… Stan Lee studied Black history extensively.” Haskins’s mindset is not merely conspiracy theorist paranoia, but indicative of the ingrained critical thinking skills and deep cultural analysis that were part and parcel of ‘political education’ aspects of Black Panther training; looking for the bigger picture and the story behind the appearances of what we see. “Political Education classes were key to everything,” says Sadiki Ojore Olugbala, aka Brother Shep. While many people think of leather jackets, black berets and shotguns, Shep remembers books. Panthers were required to read three hours a day. “Part of that time was reading from Mao Tse-Tung’s [The Little] Red Book, a lot of it was studying [Frantz] Fanon,” says Shep. “We would analyze all of that.” They were also required to study everything in The Black Panther newspaper and view (Black Panthers), upper left: Chairman Fred Hampton of the Chicago chapter of the Black Panthers, courtesy of Brother Shep Sadiki. 16

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movies such as The Spook Who Sat by the Door and Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song. Shep recalls being told to read about ‘dialectical materialism’ during his studies. While looking for larceny in a comic book film may seem extreme to some, the power of symbolism is every serious. “Basically with dialectical materialism, it taught you how to analyze everything in your environment,” says Shep.” Utilizing this revolutionary mindfulness, eating at a restaurant becomes a meditation on where the food comes from, why and how the establishment has been set up and for what ultimate agenda. “Everything you look at, you analyze it and make that connection to how the oppressor utilizes that to stay in control.” When a 19-year-old Shep joined the Black Panther Party in 1973, it was indicative of the zeitgeist. The United States was bombing Vietnam, there were wars of liberation raging in Africa, and Black Power and Black Nationalist consciousness was everywhere from the movie screens to the streets. “The cultural and political climate was about struggle,” says Shep. “The music was key. You’d hear The Last Poets if you turned on the radio. You could hear Gill Scott Heron if you turned on the radio. And even the popular R&B groups, like The Temptations, people like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, they all were talking about struggle, about politics. The Chi-Lites, everybody had a song… The clothing was revolutionary… dashikis, afros, cornrows… we still made our own medallions with the Black Power fist and the red, black and green. All of that was going on during that particular time.”

“Political Education classes were key to everything,” Upper right: Tarhaqa Aleem and Tunde Ra Aleem with Jimi Hendrix and Lithofayne Pridgon, courtesy of Tarhaqa Aleem. Bottom right: The late Black Panthers LA leader Geronimo Ji-Jaga Pratt, Brother Tarik Haskins and DX21 Dasun, courtesy of DX21 Dasun.

In New York City, it was also a pivotal period in youth culture where street organizations formed in opposition to racial oppression and aggression were coming together in major alliances; Black Spades, Ghetto Brothers, Black Pearls, Peacemakers, Savage Skulls, Savage Nomads, Golden Javelins. “They all came together to deal with the White gangs who eventually surrendered and put their colors away,” says Shep. “Unfortunately, after the wars with the White boys, people started fighting each other, but it was a different thing, it was about protecting the community. So, Black Power was still talked about and still seen.” Returning to the theme of education, it was

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

a book that ultimately convinced Shep to join. “I joined the party after finding out what it was about. We were young. We were told that, even those of us that were in street organizations, you don’t want to deal with the Panthers… those mothaphuck*s are crazy. They shoot and kill cops! But I did some reading in general. In particular, I read a book called Look for Me in the Whirlwind, which was a collective autobiography of the Panther 21 [a group of New York Panthers, including Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, arrested in 1969 and charged with multiple conspiracies] and… I ran into some Panthers in that book who lived in my neighborhood, so I automatically associated with that.” Shep obtained a copy of The Black Panther newspaper and wrote to the central headquarters in Oakland stating that he wanted to reopen the then defunct Black Panther office in Harlem on 122nd street and 7th Avenue. Shep did not know that two years earlier, in 1971, there had been a violent political split in the party. He reported to “Seize the Time Records and Books,” a Panther outfit on 96th and Broadway, and joined what was known as the Huey P. Newton faction. The other faction, known primarily as the Black Liberation Army, was mainly underground. Haskins recalls his 1971 initiation into the Party, during the split: “I heard about the Black Panthers while I was in the military… and said that once I got out, I would get in touch with them. So as soon as [that happened] I went to one of the offices.” The office was in a pool room on Brooklyn’s Dekalb Avenue and Haskins received quite a memorable membership entry. “The day that I knocked on the door and a brother named Raheem answered, a police helicopter pulled up in the middle of the street about rooftop level and took our picture. That was my introduction to the Black Panthers… The police got out on the [helicopter] rail and took our picture.” The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense emerged in October of 1966 inspired by the Black Nationalist, Pan-Africanist and armed resistance spirit of the teachings of El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz [Malcolm X]. Its founders, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, adopted the Black Panther imagery

promoted by Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader and Black Power proponent, Stokely Carmichael [Kwame Ture] and organized against police brutality utilizing armed street patrols. They created a 10-point platform of their ideals and objectives and began a quest for the socio-economic and political freedom of oppressed and primarily Black people. Although in Spring of 1966, under the auspices of SNCC, the Black Panther imagery was utilized in New York by communitybased activists focused on education equality, a chapter with official connections to the party in Oakland did not occur in New York until 1968. That year, the name of the organization was shortened to The Black Panther Party and membership significantly increased after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., which caused dissatisfaction in the Black community with non-violent philosophy. Membership reportedly peaked in 1970 before declining in no small measure due to incessant orchestrated attacks from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. “We saw, obviously, in the wake of the Nixon era, after the party had mostly been neutralized, that they were right to be paranoid and to call into question the violence of the state. They were absolutely right,” says author and educator Khalil Gibran Muhammad, a professor of history, race and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. “We moved from the Nixon era to the Reagan era to the era of Clinton, building the biggest prison system the world has ever known, which was itself an anti-Black radical project. It wasn’t just in the name of the war on crime and the war on drugs. It was a war on dissent, and a war on poor people to question a nation that systematically gave privileges to the affluent and White, and withheld them from the Black and Brown.” It was a very troubling time. “I joined right in the middle of the split when we were being hunted and killed,” says Shep. The FBI’s COINTELPRO program to neutralize the Party had done its work so effectively that Panthers did not only have to be wary of law enforcement, they had to be on point against Panthers on the other side

of the split. “Huey had hit squads that were killing Panthers because he got into the drug thing. The FBI was in all of this; CIA too. They were in everything.” Shep was responsible for distributing The Black Panther newspaper throughout the east coast. He also organized students at Hunter College, effectively utilizing the Black student union as a proxy for the Black Panther Party. Distributing the paper was quite a task as it was sabotaged by both the authorities and opposing factions of the Black Panther Party. But there was always joy along with the pain. During the struggle, Shep says that it was the love of the people that kept him going. That love lasts to this very day. A writer walked with these Panthers in October of 2018 during a tour of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture’s Black Power! exhibit. It was interesting to see the faces of an entire room of young Black teenagers light up when they learned that original Black Panthers were right in front of their eyes. The impact the Black Panther Party has had is immense. Muhammad, a former director of the Schomburg, thinks the legacy of the Black Panther Party is holding up pretty well: “We have so much wonderful scholarship on the party that moves it out of the critique by mostly White journalists who saw it as a corruption of the Civil Rights movement’s heroic nonviolent leadership—like Dr. King— and that was always a false narrative. The most iconic images of Black men with guns challenging open-carry laws and police brutality in California were short-lived stages of the Black Panther Party.” Indeed, the most enduring legacy of the Black Panther Party, aside from its emphasis on education, were the social programs it created. “They were feeding the people and the breakfast program came out of that,” says legendary poet, historian and educator Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets. “[FBI Director] J. Edgar Hoover went ballistic; he said, ‘Well, that’s the most dangerous thing they could do is feed the people, feeding the people means that they will have the people’s ears and hearts and minds.’” Oyewole had personal connections to the party as an inspiration to them and in addition to utilizing the Black Panthers as security, Oyewole’s fellow Last Poet, Felipe Luciano,

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uhammad cites the unifying work of Fred Hampton in Chicago and how his early “rainbow coalition” united Blacks, Whites, Chicanos and Puerto Ricans “as a way of challenging a repressive state apparatus both in a Chicago and across the nation.”

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was a founder of the Black Panther-inspired Young Lords Party in New York. In addition to the free children’s breakfast programs, the Panthers set up health clinics, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, after-school programs and sickle-cell disease testing. Some of these programs, such as health clinics and breakfast programs for children, were adopted by the government without credit to the Panthers as the genesis of the initiatives. The Black Panther Party popularized wellness as a matter of social justice to an extent that still influences public health policy to this very day. Muhammad cites the unifying work of Fred Hampton in Chicago and how his early “rainbow coalition” united Blacks, Whites, Chicanos and Puerto Ricans “as a way of challenging a repressive state apparatus both in Chicago and across the nation.” He also speaks about the role of women in the party. “The party itself, as complicated as it was, did have Kathleen Cleaver and Elaine Brown and Ericka Huggins, significant Black female leadership, which often gets minimized in critiques of the party’s hyper-masculinity. It was more of a both/ and than an either/or.” The Black Panther party impacted all strata of society, from the disenfranchised ghetto dwellers to Hollywood elites and rock star entertainers. “There were a couple of instances where [Jimi] Hendrix exposed us to his knowledge of The Black Panther Party and his respect, for that matter, for The Black Panther Party,” says “Ghettofighter” Taharqa Aleem, a longtime Hendrix associate and collaborator. “There was one scenario where we were walking together and we were approached by someone selling The Black Panther newspaper and Jimi was very excited about getting a copy.” Aleem says that he and his late twin brother, Tunde-Ra, then known as the Allen Twins, were very street-oriented at the time and Hendrix helped hip them to other realities with how he interacted with the Black Panthers. “To a certain degree, he opened our mind to the political situation at the time,” says Aleem. “He was very aware of it and he purchased a paper.” While Hendrix purchased a paper, the twins did not. They queried Hendrix about his interest, whereupon he expressed his insights and admiration. “Hendrix was definitely conscious of it and as a matter

of fact [the Panthers] even approached him later on to do a concert, [which] he did at Manhattan Center,” says Aleem. Hendrix performed several songs at the Manhattan Center Black Panther benefit concert in 1969. He showed further commitment to the Black community with a Harlem street corner concert September of that year at 139th Street and Lenox Avenue. The New York Chapter of The Black Panther Party was also involved in the music industry through its affiliated Fair Play Committee. Aleem recalls working with the committee and him and his brother’s dealings with Mookie Jackson, a conscious man with street connections who was part of orchestrating the committee as well as Hendrix’s Manhattan Center concert. “Their objective was to open up opportunities for Black entrepreneurs in the music industry. At that time, we were not getting any response from radio stations. Radio stations were catering to major companies,” says Aleem. “Fair Play Committee was committed to dealing with that matter and reversing the policies… We were able to turn that situation around, getting a lot of the major radio stations that were in our community to play independent music.” Aleem also articulates that the Black Panther Party served as a gateway consciousness to many, inspiring them to pursue various degrees of enlightenment. “People who were being exposed to the Black Panther Party and what they were doing. I think that bought a spiritual and political consciousness that ultimately led to decisions that had to be made; decisions we weren’t thinking about in the past.” Aleem says they changed street hustlers with a savage mentality into more culturally aware and productive members of Black society. “They made us more politically savvy, more conscious of what should be done for the community, what is being done to the community, what’s important and what is not.” That level of awareness inspired the Aleems to seek out the Nation of Islam and eventually the priesthood and God consciousness of ancient Egyptian or Kemetic sciences. Today Shep and Tarik continue the work of The Black Panther Party in their activism fighting for the rights and release of Panther political prisoners held a half a century later in America’s correctional facilities. Many former Panthers are still rotting away in prisons, subject to medical neglect and iatrogenic practices at the hands of what Shep calls ‘quack doctors.’ The duo organizes anti-police terror campaigns and

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advocate community control over law enforcement. They seek to connect with the youth and bring the political awareness and cultural consciousness embedded within them to the street organizations of today. They work under the auspices of the Universal Zulu Nation, advancing Panther principles in a similar fashion to how Shep operated out of Hunter in the past. They see culture as a revolutionary weapon and their International Hip Hop for Humanity project organizes touring performers to educate, uplift and empower utilizing the creative arts. The initiative intends to make a unifying appearance in Cuba in the summer of 2019.

While “Wakanda Forever” may be a popular slogan, the Black Panther Party’s impact is arguably just as enduring. “The legacy of so much of the self-help and community-based work has reemerged today as the basis of the movement of Black Lives, which shares in so much of their policy platform with the tenets of the Black Panther party and their fundamental commitment to community-based leadership as the starting point for policy and change,” says Muhammad. “They also learned, these young activists today, how to disrupt the toxic masculinity and patriarchy of the Black Panther Party… They’re borrowing, and have learned from the Black Panthers… That movement remains a cornerstone of social movement-building in the 21st century.” Photos: (Black Panthers), top and bottom: Brother Shep Sadiki and Brother Tarik Haskins, personal collection.

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

By Dasun Imanuel

is numbers are impressive. He has been elected to Congress 17 times. He was 17 years old when he met Rosa Parks, having supported the Montgomery Bus Boycott she inspired. He was one of the 13 original “Freedom Riders.” At 23, he was the youngest member of the ‘Big Six’ leaders of the 1963 March on Washington and the youngest speaker to take the same podium where Martin Luther King said he had a dream. He was one of 58 people attacked and beaten on ‘Bloody Sunday,’ March 7, 1965 in Selma, Alabama. He has been arrested around 45 times, 40 of which were during the fight for Civil Rights, but at age 78, Congressman John Lewis doesn’t appear to feel ‘no ways tired.’ “As a participant in the Civil Rights Movement during the 60s, the 70s, and as a member of Congress during and since the 80s, I would say that we’ve come a distance. We’ve made a lot of progress, but we still have a distance to

travel before we lay down the burden of race, discrimination and the violence that exists in our society toward people of color,” says Lewis, a Democrat representing Georgia’s 5th District. “We’re not there yet. The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in every corner of American society. And Blacks and Whites, Hispanics, AsianAmericans, Native Americans, all of us must come together to remove the stain of racism from our society.” Lewis comes from a different era of activism, where protest meant more than merely making a meme, but he has a great respect for the potential of the hashtag movements of today. “As I see it clearly today, if we can use social media to bring social change – We can talk, we can telephone, use emails, use social media as a powerful instrument or tool, a nonviolent weapon. But we cannot be armchair activists,” he says. “We have to be brave, bold, and courageous, to stand up, to speak up, to get into what I call ‘good trouble.’ Necessary trouble.” The expression rings true with Khalil

Gibran Muhammad, a professor of history, race and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. “His phrase, there’s always time for necessary trouble, is really important,” says Muhammad, who worked with Congressman Lewis during Muhammad’s time as the director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. “He took the time to meet with our students, with the youth program, and even writing the March series. I think [those] are all testaments to his very keen sense that the future of this country depends on what young Black people are doing in social justice. I think very highly of Congressman Lewis, and I’m glad he’s still around.” While Lewis encourages the efforts of digital age activists, he also stresses the need for the next generation to know the history of those that have gone before and for them to create their own legacy. “If our people know the distance we’ve come and the progress we’ve made, and build on that progress, build on that suffering and struggling and bloodshed

March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation.

(John Lewis), upper left: Courtesy of US Congress, House of Representatives

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

of people, then we would be much better off. There’s too many young people, too many young African-Americans, who are going through life without knowing anything about our history, our history of struggle. The history of suffering, of pain and I hear too many young people saying, ‘I’m not going to register. I’m not going to vote. There’s not anything in it for me.’ I always say, ‘Go out there. Register. Vote. Get the best possible education. Run for office. Get elected. Make a contribution. Do something.’” Looking back at the Civil Rights era, while desegregation in the face of blatant institutionalized racism was vital, some wonder if the concept of integrating into mainstream was the best outcome for Black America. According to Harry Belafonte, even Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “I fear I am integrating my people into a burning house.” Lewis offers his perspective on the issue: “I think we did what we considered was right at the time and what… was necessary. We had to break down those barriers, we had to end segregation in places of public accommodation where people could not get a glass of water or get a soda at a fountain simply because of the color of their skin. Couldn’t use restroom facilities in certain places. People had to go to the back of the bus.

Had to stand up rather than take a seat. That was dehumanizing. We had to struggle for human dignity, and the steps that we took, those were baby steps, but they were necessary steps to change, especially in the American South. “During that period we gave everything we had. It was those brave and courageous foot-soldiers, people that were beaten, arrested many times, and placed in jail. There were people who were murdered simply trying to register to vote or trying to desegregate a bus, or to enter a school, and I’d applaud anyone White or Black or Hispanic or Asian-American or Native American doing what they could to make things better,” says Lewis. “People played a role and they played it well. I think it’s left up to another generation to pick up the pieces and carry the torch and carry all of us together down that long road to freedom and equality.” Lewis was one of those brave foot-soldiers, beaten, arrested many times and placed in jail, including having his skull fractured at the bridge to Selma and being beaten unconscious in Montgomery. He had led by example and is in a rightful position to ask service of the younger generations.

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“I think that John Lewis represents the highest ideals of what the Civil Rights movement and its political project hopes to achieve, which is talented committed Black people to help lead the nation towards a better tomorrow,” says Muhammad. “He has done that incredibly admirably and he hasn’t softened his capacity to speak truth to power, where issues of justice and equality matter. I think his leadership, to be more specific in the context of Black Lives Matter, during a period when we still had the first Black president in office, I think is a really important milestone in the career of a veteran politician, because he very well could have followed the perspective that those young people didn’t have much to complain about given the sacrifices of his generation. But instead he kept insisting that the young people al-

ways play a role in social movements, just as he did.” While Lewis has earned his acclaim and accolades and paid with blood and pain for his high regard and honors, can the same genuinely be said, contemporarily and historically, of his political party? The recent ‘Blexit’ argument that the Democrats take the Black community for granted was a ripple in the political pond for a time. While Muhammad sees truth in the exploitative perception, the Congressman offered this assessment: “I don’t think the Democratic Party per se takes the Black community for granted, but we must not allow any political party or organization to take any of us, not one of us, for granted,” says Lewis. “We all must be prepared to do what we can to earn our rightful place in America. By standing up, speaking up, speaking out and fighting the good fight.” Barbershop talk has recently questioned the backbone of the Democrats. Some have the perception that Dems lack the resolve to rein in PostObama Republicans. “I was in a meeting with people in the Democratic Party. Some are very young, some are middle-aged, and some are older, but doing the best they can,” says Lewis of the perception. “But I think we’re too quiet, we’re too patient, and we need to push and pull, and there will come a time when it may be necessary to turn it upside-down, as Dr. King would say again, “to turn

it right side up.” You have to be willing and prepared to disturb the order of things.” It is interesting to note that while Congressman Lewis once called for the impeachment of President George W. Bush, a week or so after President Trump triggered a shutdown and took governmental operations hostage for a $5.7 Billion-dollar ransom, Lewis called talk of impeachment “a little premature.” Despite Trump’s long train of abuses, it is a position that Muhammad can appreciate. “Trump’s base and other sympathetic voters—doesn’t leave the Democratic Party at a distinct advantage in terms of pursuing logic and bringing Trump up on impeachment charges for his lies and his policies as they currently are,” says Muhammad. “Obviously, there’s collusion between his campaign and Russia—that’s a fact at this point—but his supporters have created at least in their minds some firewall between Trump and the half-dozen or so convicted members of his inner circle. The only thing left, really, is for Mueller to make the case that Trump in fact knew what was going on and is in fact guilty. If they jump the gun on that, then in some ways, they could do enough political damage to their own credibility that the Mueller investigation, if it does have facts, could be perceived as a scam. I’m just saying the obvious with regards to why the party leadership would wait for Mueller. I’m not disappointed; they’re probably making the right call.” There is no denying the solid legacy that Lewis has built with his past, but what of the future of the party in which he holds a position of leadership? “I think a lot of standard-bearers will have to figure out where they’re going to fit into the equation with regards to the future of the [Democratic] party,” says Muhammad. “It’s going to be a hell of a lot harder to hide as we get closer to 2020; it’s not going to be easy for people to have their cake and eat it too…. No matter where [Lewis] ends up in 2020, he’s earned the right to

make the political decisions that are his choice. I always respect him for the sacrifices, leadership and commitment he’s made. He’s got a lot of credits built up.” Lewis, facing forward towards the future; feeling no ways tired, has an energetic prescription for the progression of the people: “I think it’s important for Black leaders and spokespeople – Black lawyers and doctors, Black teachers and scholars, Black professionals – to stand. We must cast down our bucket. Help to heal and save our neighborhoods, save our communities, and we have the resources to do it. Let’s do it. Let’s pull together. Just pool our resources. Let’s make our cities, our towns, our communities, what they should be. I am very, very hopeful and very optimistic about the future. We will get there. We will create a different America. We will create a better world. We will create a better community at peace with itself.”

Bottom Photo: President Barack Obama awards the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Congressman John Lewis in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House February 15, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson). Creator:Lawrence Jackson Credit:The White House Copyright:This photograph is provided by THE WHITE HOUSE as a courtesy and may be printed by the subject(s) in the photograph for personal

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

JUSTICE / INJUSTICE By Ronit Pinto and Jaime Lubin

I remained hopeful throughout the case and trial. I didn’t learn about how I was wronged [legally] until years later.

person is, rather than knowing the facts.

When was the moment of “Shit, this is real”?

Yes. It’s totally flawed in that respect. A Black guy and a white guy in court for the same crime – if the Black guy gets three or four years, the white guy’s going to get probation. That’s a proven fact. [In a case a] couple months ago, these guys had the same charge; they sent the Black guy to jail for 22 years and the white guy got probation. Everybody doesn’t belong in prison, whether they’re innocent or not… [But] innocent men will continue to be incarcerated. You have to get people who want to help rather than just punish. Now, those who commit violent crimes, their ass going to jail. But those who don’t should get help rather than going to prison, because that could change their life in a big way. [Change] has to come from outside… Those on the inside are in a position to create change, so why isn’t that change occurring?

When they sentenced me to die… [In] the 1990s, executions in Delaware were being done per capita. Even when I got like three death dates… I always said I was getting out. There were times when I wanted to break down and just cry. But I looked at the other guys around me, cutting their wrists, cutting their necks, stringing up... I said, “That will not be me.” The NAACP Criminal Justice Factsheet states African Americans are incarcerated at more than five times the rate of whites, and as of 2014 African Americans constituted 2.3 million (34%) of the global correctional population. But we’re finding it is the authorities – policymakers, judges, attorneys, police officers, and others in charge of upholding the law – who are guilty of the worst crimes. Meet Jermaine Marlow Wright, condemned to over twenty years on Death Row for a murder he didn’t commit, and Tarik “KoolRik” Ali, convicted of a nonviolent charge and sentenced to live with some of Delaware’s most dangerous criminals. Here, both explain how their cases were handled wrongly and the truth of institutional racism. Like our interviewees, the facts don’t lie. It’s time to speak truth to power.

JERMAINE MARLOW WRIGHT

Arrested shortly after his 18th birthday, Jermaine Marlow Wright was chained to a desk for thirteen hours until the cops got his confession (first they had bribed neighborhood junkies to get his name). Convicted of second-degree murder in 1992, Wright served 24 years in Delaware’s James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, 19 in solitary confinement. After the Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2014, based on a finding that prosecutors had withheld evidence in his first trial, Wright was released… then ordered back to prison in January 2016 when Delaware Superior Court judges overturned that decision. Finally, in September 2016, a Wright’s 24 years were deemed “time served” when he entered a no-contest plea, meaning that he could now live free – with the distinction of being the state’s longestserving Death Row inmate. HONEYSUCKLE: As a legal adult who was still a teenager when you were arrested, were you aware of the consequences? JERMAINE MARLOW WRIGHT: I was in denial the whole time… I was a high school dropout; I didn’t understand the legal process. So basically I went along with everything my lawyer was saying. I always felt that being innocent, I would get out, so

You were in solitary confinement for 19 years, correct? When I became incarcerated in 1992, they… shoved me in the population for five years; [there] was no Death Row at the time. By 1997, they created… a so-called Death Row, the maximum security unit, MSU. [Then] they made the SHU – high security unit. That’s where I spent most of the time. When you have a day that they know they’re going to execute you, every day [they] check your pulse, check your heart rate, make sure you don’t kill yourself, and when the day comes, they bring everybody, videotape it, then they walk the guys out of the chair… That’s the last we’re seeing of them. How does a human cope with that reality of injustice? Everybody copes in their own little way… I had to stop thinking [negatively]. But you can’t help it when the guys before you… start losing their cases and the attorneys did nothing…In the early 90s we were all represented by the same attorney. Our appeals were almost identical! Therefore, guys were losing appeals like it was nothing. [Court-appointed] attorneys, they’re good people, but they just didn’t know the law… That’s the injustice in itself. We’re fighting with the state and with our attorneys who had no experience in capital cases. What should people know about our system? You can’t always believe those that are in power. The ones in power, supposed to protect our society, are damaging our society by robbing it of innocent people. Putting innocent people in jail, because of their own selfish reasons, and they too are breaking the law! If there were some repercussions for prosecutors and cops, then I think society would be a little better. People would not be in jail because of them falsifying evidence, prosecutorial misconduct. They are getting away with all this because they can. We have to fight the system. Kids like myself, when they go to court, the system does not know where we come from. If the system learns about that person, then they probably would think better about sending innocent people or even people with petty crimes to jail. Our jails are crowded with people where the system makes up stories about who that

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Do you see the prison system as a race issue?

Were there guys on Death Row whom you feel were sentenced wrongly? Yes. Michael Mayer, Luis Reyes, Greg Zumbrowski, just to name a few… Not all people incarcerated are bad people. You have to give all people a second chance at life. Part of giving people a second chance is getting to know people. And I think that’s important.

TARIK “KOOLRIK” ALI

Born in Germany, raised in Delaware and New Jersey, KoolRik was arrested on a nonviolent gun possession charge in 1991 and sentenced to two years in James T. Vaughn Correctional Center. While incarcerated, after getting into a fight with a corrections officer, he was transferred from the general compound to the MSU and housed with Death Row inmates. That year, KoolRik and his cellmates made headlines for their in-prison protest against the policy of housing three men in a single cell. He was released in 1993 and is today a respected community leader and business owner in New Jersey. Why was 1991 in Delaware was a crazy time for convictions? TARIK “KOOLRIK” ALI: 1991 in Delaware was a very volatile year. If you look at the prison records, they were arresting 17-year-old kids up through [age] 45 like it was nothing… They changed a lot of laws [that year] and [restored] the death penalty… Under the old law, say you got a year and you might do four or five months. If you went to school [or did community service], you could get time off. Joe Biden’s law, Truth in Sentencing, shut that down… Now you’ve got 16 year olds being charged as adults… In there, it’s eat or be eaten. Especially if you’re a young kid and don’t know what’s going on, but these grown men want to do something to you.

They want your money or they want you to hold stuff for them or they want your ass. It’s easy to get caught up. Somebody says they’re going to beat you up and you can’t go tell the CO, ‘cause then you get labeled a snitch, which is the worst thing you can be in prison, or you can take a knife and stab this guy in the heart. It seems like a lot of people are being mistreated. I had two years for a nonviolent charge. So why was I around cellmates who were on Death Row being executed? I’ve seen people hang themselves, get stabbed. But I think on some level I’ve got to thank the Delaware system. They showed me a fast track. If I would have just gotten out, I probably would’ve gone right back again. Being on that side of things made me say, “When I get out of here, I’m not getting in trouble.” When I went to prison, there was a guy who was in there because he had messed around with little kids. He got a three-year sentence… Now you got a guy who gets busted for an eighth of crack. He gets five years mandatory. I think the guy who messed with the kids should get the [worse] punishment! Those kids he bothered are never going to be the same. I’m not trying to justify people selling drugs, but this guy selling drugs gets busted once and his life is over. Meanwhile you got this guy in jail three years, they’re going to put his name on the sex offender list, but he’s going to offend again. How does race play into this? Race plays into it a lot… [although] now it’s more or less class. Economically, if you’re a poor white kid or Black kid who doesn’t have any money to get a lawyer or get bailed out, the justice system is indifferent. The guy who comes in with money might get probation. The guy who doesn’t come in with money might get five years for the same exact thing… In my [prison] tier, out of 20 inmates I would say we had four white guys, one Hispanic guy, and all the rest African Americans… Race plays a part, but economics plays a bigger part. With the state of the economy, everybody’s in the same boat. Can the system be changed from the inside, or does it have to come from the outside? It definitely has to come from the outside because the inside, they’re making too much money [off of us]. It’s just like Big Pharmacy. If everybody’s rehabilitated, where’s the money coming from? … There’s no reason for a guy to be in jail 20, 30 years and still can’t read after being a ward of the state all that time. Knowledge is power… They’re not going to teach you

any skills that you can make a meaningful living [with] for your family. They’re going to let you out after 25 years and give you $75 in your pocket. What could we do to improve things? Conflict resolution is the biggest thing in the urban community. People don’t know how to communicate with each other. “I’m embarrassed, and if you embarrass me, I’ve gotta kill you.” With conflict resolution, if you can deal with people in the way you want to be dealt with, that could make things a lot smoother. You don’t [often] learn that ‘cause you’re growing up in a community where… from the time you walk out your door, it’s on. Somebody robs you for your sneakers, coat, lunch money. And you can either be the one who gets your lunch money taken, or you can be one of the ones taking. There’s not a lot of options. They’re taking away all the community centers, the kids’ programs for after school. What will the kids do after school? Even if they do have a community center, it’s closed after 5 or 7 o’clock. All the drama starts after 8:30. And when you don’t have any resources, you turn to the streets… ‘Cause if you’re in a neighborhood, and all you see is the drug dealer with the car, you’re looking at the [small business owner] like he’s a nerd. We sensationalize the guy who got out of prison more than the guy who got out of college… What happened to me, is it stopped being cool to be smart. My teachers used to be upset with me because I [acted] up and [didn’t] do the homework, and then I would take the test and get 100… I just wanted to be cool and now that I think about it, that was dumb as hell… I took my GED test in 1988. At that time, I had the third highest score ever [in the state]. So all these people were coming to talk to me; they wanted to give me a scholarship to the University of Delaware [with a] $250 monthly stipend. That’s when I was stupid… I just didn’t go. I wanted to do all these crimes and I could’ve been in college. The beginning of conflict resolution is for people to see one another as themselves. You have to think that way – “I don’t want to die because of an argument.” … Now with cannabis, we can just smoke a joint and talk about it… Being in a fight builds character, but you can’t win every fight. One of my daughters was born while I was in jail. I was locked up in November; she was born in December. So just by being mindful of things like that, that’s what kept me straight… Conflict resolution could solve so many things. It has to start somewhere… Well, I guess it has to start with the kids. Photo Courtesy of Jermaine Marlow Wright

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

Living The DREAM Shalishah Franklin Manifests Excellence By Phylicia Pearl On January 1st, 2018, a photo posted by Collage Dance Collective, a ballet company featuring dancers of color in Memphis, Tennessee, went live on Instagram. The photo featured a handful of the company’s dancers, portraying them in a real and authentic way. “The audacious hope of rooted things” (from the book Ruby by Cynthia Bond) was the guiding force for the shoot. Leotards were dyed with everything from teabags to foundation to match the dancers’ complexions. Their hair was encouraged to be free, in its natural state. The photo went viral and created a new narrative around dancers of color, especially black women. So it’s fitting that the mastermind behind the photo is a black woman herself. Her name is Shalishah Franklin and she is on a mission to promote people of color. After seeing a performance of the exquisite talent at Collage Dance, Shalishah quickly donated her time to elevating their platform. “I wanted to be the one to help the world know about them and ensure more people had access to them.” Instagram was the perfect platform for a photoshoot that not only showcased the company but also struck a personal chord with Franklin. “As a person of color, knowing where you come from is the throughline of my life because you can weather any storm when your roots run deep into the soil.” The popularity of the photo was a clear indication that the world not only agreed with black ballet dancers, but they craved more. But Franklin had more than popularity on her mind. “It [the photo] mostly affirmed all the little black and brown girls who train at their company and gave them an opportunity to see themselves as excellent.” 28

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(Shalishah Franklin): “5 Ballerinas of Color” by Andrew J. Breig, © Collage Dance Collective.

Being the great-niece of el-Hajj Mailk el-Shabazz (Malcolm X), Shalishah is no stranger to excellence. “Our pride…it’s genetic. It’s in our DNA. It’s in our skin. It’s in our knowing that no one can give or take away from us.” Her company, littleFOSTER, named after her grandmothers, both prominent members of their respective communities, is a marketing agency implementing creative marketing and communications strategies for corporations, nonprofits and everything in between. It’s shifting the way people of color, especially African Americans, are portrayed in industries where representation has historically been both inaccurate and slim. A native of Los Angeles County, Shalishah grew up in a cultural melting pot, with race never being a prominent topic. “I never thought race was something that qualified or disqualified you from different things.” However, when she was 14 and her family made the move from L.A. to Memphis, she was placed in a black and white world, where segregation was not law but still a social norm. As a creative art student, Shalishah felt firsthand how race and class distinctions stifled selfexpression. “But I wonder if my having to defend my right to be an educated, young black girl with dreams also invited me to explore what that meant.” And thus began her journey of not only standing for her own rights as a woman of color, but speaking as an advocate and voice for other marginalized people. Milan would be one of the stops this cultural anthropologist would call home. For Franklin, travel is a chance to “unpack all the baggage and different layers that I carry around in this country as a black person, especially as a black woman.” Most of Franklin’s time in Milan was spent during the height of the “Black Lives Matter”

movement. The lives of young men like Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin had been taken by police brutality while Shalishah was living what she deems “a dream life.” When asked about the state of our country today, she declares, “It reminds me of all the men that went to war and came back to a country where they weren’t free. I feel like we’re doing a cyclical thing and it’s exhausting.” After the death of her father, Shalishah would move back to the states, taking on a new mission. “When home is dysfunctional, you may never really have peace. It’s troubling for me to live in a society that doesn’t honor [my] excellence all the time.” Shalishah’s work has allowed her to branch out and touch professions where people of color are barely prominent. Up until the 70s, it was legal to discriminate against African Americans becoming pilots. This has had a clear influence on the people of color working in that field. Of all the people in aviation and aerospace around the world, only 1-2% are black. So it is the mission of Shalishah and the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP) to inspire the next generation of pilots. The professionals volunteer their time travelling to places, both inside and outside their community. “It’s special because they [the pilots] know that at a young age, they saw an example of what was possible. They saw someone that looked like then to do something they had never seen before.” One of the initiatives Franklin oversees is “Cradle to Career,” a program that allows kids to interact with pilots of color. But they don’t stop there. OBAP has outreach programs that continue through junior high, high school, college, and even includes scholarships and mentorships both within the educational system and outside of it. “We build lasting relationships with the intention of creating a pipeline of support and a lifelong connection to the industry. No

(Shalishah Franklin): Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals’ school visit to Dakar, Senegal with Captain Jean Mbog, © OBAP.

one gets left behind. They are always supported. It’s like a family.” For Franklin, the connection goes deeper than its domestic roots. Recently, a few of the pilots went to Senegal to visit an all-girls school in Gorée. The small island is historically known as the Door of No Return, the final exit point for slaves in the slave trade. The island also hosts the House of Slaves: once a holding center for African slaves to be exported, now a museum memorializing the historic period. “What a moment for these incredible pilots to travel back to. The land where their ancestors touched their homelands for the last time. That kind of legacy work is so inspiring to me and I don’t take it for granted that we are thanking our ancestors and we are welcoming our kids and making it easier for them.” I asked the award-winning change artist to name a few brands she believed made a special impact that she’d want to join. She excitedly declared the production companies Array, run by Ava DuVernay, ColorCreative by Issa

Rae, and Hillman Grad Network founded by Lena Waithe. “All of these companies are doing an incredible amount of work cultivating creators of color and giving them access to opportunities.” Shalishah identifies with the mission of these companies, sharing opportunities and bringing up people with them, especially black women. “That’s what I mean about abundance. You don’t get to your purpose alone. Something is ready for you to take advantage of the opportunity.” As someone who has begun a journey to connect with my own ancestral roots, I believe I was meant to cross paths with Shalishah Franklin. She is excellent. But her excellence is not defined by her accomplishments. It’s her sureness and unfaltering belief in her journey. “I know that what is for me is either here or is coming. It’s already there. It’s already mine. And it’s [my] choice to realize it or not.”

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

BLACK WOMEN TOO A COLOR OF CHANGE PLEDGE

By Dadly Filius, Induced Munchies and Jaime Lubin In addition to their incredible voter education efforts and diverse public advocacy (covered elsewhere in this issue), Color Of Change (COC) has been a key organization in reclaiming the Me Too movement for Black women and girls. Most visibly, COC spearheaded the #MuteRKelly campaign to get the R&B artist dropped from record labels and music platforms, while partnering with Lifetime to produce the six-part docuseries Surviving R. Kelly. Helmed by filmmaker and COC board member dream hampton, the series brought more than fifty notable figures from the Black community to comment on Kelly’s abuse of women and the need to believe African American women. Airing in January, it became one of Lifetime’s highestrated programs. Shortly after the documentary’s premiere, COC’s Senior Director of Campaigns Brandi Collins-Dexter launched the website BlackWomenToo, a media platform to help map and prevent violence against Black women and girls anywhere in the nation. Accompanied by an action pledge for protection and support, the site provides information on the dangers Black women face across environments from college campuses to doctors’ offices to Hollywood sets. Honeysuckle asked Collins-Dexter for greater insight into mitigating these existing threats. Spreading this education is a crucial step in ensuring a safe, healthy future for generations of African American women to come. HONEYSUCKLE: Does it seem that Black women are the most suppressed social group in the United States today? BRANDI COLLINS-DEXTER: Absolutely.

Definitely Native American women experience similar [kinds] of harassment, but there are so many statistics out there that we think of or look at about the increased likelihood of Black women facing sexual harassment at work. They’re most likely of the ethnic and racial groups to file a sexual harassment charge, and we see that at all levels, whether we’re talking about Anita Hill at a law firm or McDonald’s workers. They’re the most likely to be disbelieved… [and] the most likely to be arrested when they file a report to the police on a domestic violence charge from an intimate partner, and they themselves are most likely to be assaulted or sexually abused by a police officer. Let’s look at the case of Daniel Holtzclaw, a police officer and sexual predator who for years was able to violate African American women with no fear of repercussions. So there’s nowhere you can go to seek support if you feel unsafe in your home or school, and when you go to the police you’re faced with those same levels of sexual violence. It’s really hard to wrap your head around how it’s possible for Black girls to even grow up and be carefree in a world that doesn’t really seem to care about Black girls. How does the idea that Black women need to protect Black men play into the fear of reporting incidents? It’s complicated. There’s one story of Black women and girls being preyed on and violated, and there’s also this very real story of experience of violence against Black men by the police state… As we’ve walked down the line of this complicated history, what we’ve found, and it’s kind of disappointing, [is] this story of violence against Black men from police officers can sometimes really cloud our ability to tell the story of violence against Black women and girls. You’ve seen this in the

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case of R. Kelly or Clarence Thomas; when they’re facing charges of violence against Black women and girls, they retreat into this narrative of “This is an achievement for Black men.” It’s a very powerful narrative that we all want to latch onto, right? That we all want to be protective of those in our community. But we have to recognize that while that history is real, this history of violence against women and girls is real, and if we don’t offer that same forcefield of protection for them, of ourselves and our girls, that we would for Black men, we’re really leaving our country, our community and our women particularly vulnerable in large ways. How are attitudes toward support for Black women changing across generations?

I think in general we are really living in this era of what may be called radical transparency, which has paved the way for women and young girls to speak out. I find it even goes back to the pre-internet era where you may be having this experience and you’re not necessarily – even if the girl next to you is having that experience, there’s something that keeps you from saying literally “Me Too.” So I think the time that we’re in and terms of what that has allowed, that ability to speak the truth and take power in myriad ways, I think we are seeing that with younger generations. And I myself have found, even coming from a family that’s very “Don’t let other people see your messiness,” and again I think this is part of the cultural piece too for Black people, there are cultural perceptions of us, immediate perceptions that live and influence our place in the world. So you don’t want to reveal that dark part because that reinforces the stigma that you’re already living under. We have seen, whether it’s with R. Kelly or the pushback from older Black women, or people reacting to the fact that you’re going after a significant cultural figure in our society, there’s that generational and social divide, but I think we’re also seeing that radical transparency and speaking up to other people. Now I’m able to have conversations with my mother that I didn’t have twenty years ago. I understand more about her life and what it was like being a flight attendant in the 1970s and what she went through. I’d never heard those stories before. So I do think we are starting to bridge some of those generational divides and really finding community and resilience among each other and in this time that we’re living.

Surviving R Kelly was a milestone in this kind of cultural awareness, but how does COC – and how do we collectively – take women from presence to power? We’re looking to create a lot of different conversations around [the series]… It’s about sharing all these issues around these enablers, sexual gender, reproductive violence against Black women and how these systems weave together, and we’re really looking to tell the other stories of Black women and girls that go ignored. Whether it’s the 64,000 Black women and girls that go missing every year, that go unreported by media, or whether it’s the women that are subjected to some sort of maternal mortality issues, or economic issues like the McDonald’s workers. [At COC] we want to continue [our programs for students] to review and revise standards and protocol that allow for more accountability from sexual assault that does end up happening on those college campuses, and to create a space of empowerment for these young Black women… We want them to feel helped and empowered and to change policy within the system. But we really have to be thoughtful about [it]… So to be in this moment, to call on people on and offline, [is] to really take a pledge to support Black women and girls. Because we haven’t been doing that. We’ve been letting ourselves down and people have been letting us down. And I think in this moment it’s really important that we call people in. Sign up at act.colorofchange.org/ signup/Blackwomenandgirlspledge to take the pledge! (Black Women Too): Senior Campaign Director Brandi CollinsDexter © Color Of Change

Me WHO?

#Metoo struggles with identity and inclusiveness By Nicole Young

It may have been actress Alyssa Milano’s 2017 tweet that sparked what became the worldwide “Me Too” or #metoo Movement, a revolution against sexual harassment and assault, but actually Tarana Burke, an African American woman, social activist and community organizer, coined the phrase back in 2006. And just like many movements in our country, the whitewashed high-profile celebrities create visibility, in this case, Rose McGowan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Lawrence and Uma Thurman who lent their voices. Still, for all the good it did, the #metoo movement suffers from a major diversity deficiency, despite having been started by a Black woman. I began questioning the movement’s inclusiveness soon after it became viral in October 2017. I clearly remember hearing the actress Rose McGowan accuse now disgraced Hollywood powerbroker Harvey Weinstein of rape, then I heard about Mira Sorvino’s accusations and Angelina Jolie’s accusations and Gwyneth Paltrow’s accusations and Annabella Sciorra’s accusations. Yet there were no Black names mentioned in the mix. Though the movement itself and its virally successful name originated from a phrase coined by a prominent Black activist as a connective tissue between women dealing with sexually driven misconduct in the workplace, its specific focus on white actresses and the movement’s newly formed attachment to Hollywood fueled my personal confusion about who the beneficiaries are. It’s a feeling shared by many Black women. “Sadly I wasn’t surprised that we were left out of the story,” said Europe Angelique, a talent manager and founder of Prime Culture Creative, a talent agency that represents a diverse roster of artists and entertainers. “This is what we deal with on a daily basis.” Black women rarely get credit for their accomplishments, whether the issue is as poignant as a dialogue about sexual misconduct or as peripheral as braided hairstyles like cornrows, there always seems to be an illogical debate about the beginnings of cultural watershed moments. “Why in the world would this case be any 32

different? We never get any credit!” says Angelique. The boo-birds in my head began to chirp louder as the movement grew wings, soared into the daily news cycle and took over as the hot topic du jour. Even as more famous faces came forward with their stories, there was no corresponding uptick in coverage concerning women of color. As the real-life Harvey Weinstein horror flick took greater shape, there were still so few revelations being made by women of any color other than white, that when Lupita Nyong'o and Salma Hayek went public with their stories, I expected a shift in current. I believed that the moment would allow for actresses outside of the Caucasian A-list to tell their stories, and encourage everyday Black women to join the alliance and lean on each other. Unfortunately, the shift I’d hoped for turned out to be more of a light breeze and the Black #metoo story that garnered the greatest press traction centered around allegations brought by a Black man, former NFL player turned actor Terry Crews. It’s still unclear how the Brooklyn Nine-Nine star’s decision to call out his alleged abuser, William Morris/Endeavor power agent Adam Venit, in graphic detail will impact his career. As brave a move as Terry Crews’ was to come forward, it hasn’t moved a ton of other Black celebrities of either gender to follow suit. The unfortunate reality is that Black women have to pick their battles very carefully and by nature of their race alone, there is no shortage of battles from which to choose. “#MeToo can feel like a double-edged sword for Black women, and that’s as true for famous Black women in Hollywood as it is for the everyday Black women in Harlem” says People TV anchor Lola Ogunnaike, “but in Hollywood, the glare of the lights poses an added layer of intensity”. In addition to braving the usual setbacks that come with having dark skin in Hollywood - the lack of roles, the stereotyping and pigeonholing, the pay inequality - Black women also bear the burden and scrutiny that comes with pointing fingers at Black men. Brandi CollinsDexter, Senior Campaign Director at Color Of Change, admits that “the compounding ideology that Black women need to protect Black men is very real and often damaging”. Although “Me Too” was intended to be a beacon of change and a platform for inclusion long BEFORE it was a hashtag on social media or a Hollywood-backed movement, celebrities have propelled it to the forefront of our national consciousness. It’s the move-

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#M eto

ment’s own celebrity status that also make it tough for women of color to fully get on board or reap any of the benefits of camaraderie. No matter how many times Alyssa Milano clarifies the origin of the phrase Me Too, the lack of Black voices speaking out continues to plague the movement, lessening its impact in the Black community and all but excluding women of color from the strength of its numbers that comes with membership. Without more Black imagery, the Me Too movement’s struggles with diversity and inclusiveness will continue leading women of color to create more of their own opportunities.

“It’s up to us [as Black women] to move forward and make a change, ”says Angelique. “We can’t worry about being mentioned in a movement…it’s up to us to hold our heads high, work together and team up on our own. It’s our power and strength that will get us through, like it always has”. Regina King’s 2019 Golden Globes acceptance speech for best supporting actress [for her role in If Beale Street Could Talk] was an excellent use of such power. In her speech, King, also a lauded producer and director vowed to employ more women on all of her projects and challenged people in positions of power, in all industries, to do the same. Seeing a strong, talented, successful Black actress, using her hard-earned moment to not only reference “Me Too” but also announce her personal plan of action may very well be the tipping point needed to inspire other Black women to tell their stories, creating a movement with the space to heal and protect all women.

#M eto

*Editors’ Note: Honeysuckle editor Imani Dawson notes that the #metoo movement got a much needed injection of Black women into the conversation when the 6-part biopic Surviving R Kelly aired on the Lifetime channel in January. The series executive produced by Black woman filmmaker and activist dream hampton, lays out in stark detail decades of alleged abuse by musician and accused pedophile, Robert “R” Kelly. Kelly is an African American man accused of abusing scores of Black women and Latinas, those whose stories have largely gone untold. The expose served as a significant crack in the wall of silence that surrounds the reporting of sexual abuse in communities of color, but many barriers still remain.

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ON BEING BLACK Race and identity mean different things to different people, even in ways it’s spelled. Some prefer African American over Black. We asked different people in the community including photojournalists Jerrbul and Ali McPherson to investigate what “being Black” means to different people. Here are the answers they uncovered.

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BLK ZEN: Guyanese-American, speaks Japanese. By Jerrbul Do you consider yourself Pro Black? I strive for excellence and striving for excellence the way I do makes me problack to many people. I live my life to be an example for others. Ultimately it brings me inspiration. What does it mean to be Black to you? It’s like being in the best exclusive club but people try to sabotage you to get you shut down. Add half a millennium to that and that’s what it’s kinda like. Or like that meme “I love being black, it’s kinda dangerous but it’s lit” Would you consider yourself verbal about and/or unapologetically Black ? I’m definitely verbal about being black within proper context. I don’t randomly talk about being black but I appreciate being black. I get certain benefits in being black even though society’s sabotage is super present to this day. (On Being Black): BLK ZEN © Jerrbul, styled by Alain Fagnidi.

Ali McPherson: African American on my father’s side and on mother’s side I have family that immigrated from St. Eustachius and Barbados. Do you feel pressure from racism and stigma? Yes, there are times where I feel like black people, specifically black women are misunderstood and discriminated against. I do not feel pressured on a regular basis but I think that there is not enough concern and understanding for black women in this country, which is very frustrating. Would you consider yourself verbal about your identity as a person of color? Yes, I try to verbalize whenever I can about how proud I am to be a black woman. I love black women’s strength and beauty. I always tell my black friends, that we are queens who deserve the world. I try to keep myself around positive, strong, black women. What does being black mean to you?

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

Being black means to be inherently graceful, strong, and determined. It is not only a race, but a state of mind. I think there is a swagger, and beauty to being black. ADJI DIATTA: Senegalese American. I descend from Senegalese parents and I was born in America. By Ali McPherson Would you say you’re proud of your black identity? I grew up not being proud of my identity because, you know, kids are really mean and I used to get picked on for my skin color. But with Instagram and social media, I became more confident and I focused on the people who related to me and looked like me. You can focus on things that represent you in a good light. Who would you say, is an important role model for you, that helped you to feel proud of your identity? My mom hands down. My mother came from Senegal, and came speaking little English. She is the most confident person I know, she’s very kind at heart but doesn’t let anyone cross her. I learned how to be confident and kind from her. She taught me how to be confident in my own skin. What does being black mean to you? It means to have immense strength. I genuinely believe that African Americans are the strongest individuals on the planet. We have gone through so much oppression and have been ostracized throughout history because of our appearance.

Adji Diatta © Ali McPherson. Left: BLK ZEN © Jerrbul, styled by Alain Fagnidi. 36

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(On Being Black): Self-portrait © Ali McPherson.

Don’t Do the White Thing By Matt Saber

n Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee’s sadly-still-relevant 1989 film about escalating racial tensions in Brooklyn; the pizza-making Italian-American character Pino spends the majority of the film complaining about black people and referring to them with a mean word that starts with “N.” Simultaneously, all of his favorite cultural icons are black men. When asked to defend this dissonance, he explains, “They’re black, but they’re not really black. They’re more than black. It’s different.” Thirty years later, white America is still making the same distinction. We love black musicians, athletes, and comedians because we appreciate—and thus identify with—the exceptional. We love Black Panther because it’s a Marvel movie and not a political party. Yet we still can’t comprehend that “Black Lives Matter” means “Black Lives Matter Too” and not “Black Lives Matter More.” We may not be shouting the N-word in pizzerias, but that doesn’t mean we understand. You see, the only thing that white people love more than superhero movies is pretending that racism ended with segregation. After all, that’s what cinema keeps telling us. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, several criticallyacclaimed films have addressed racism. Hidden Figures, 12 Years a Slave, and Selma were all Best Picture nominees in the last decade that reminded white people that racism is stupid. They were also all period dramas, which allows white people to think, “Racism was bad back then. I’m so glad it’s over.” Green Book, this year's Best Picture winner and The Help, also Best Picture-nominated, provided us the same safety of removal, additionally allowing us to view racism through the lens of a white protagonist who conquered their own prejudice—as we the white, empathizing viewer, surely also would have done in the 1960s. Then there’s Crash, a Best Picture winner set in modern times (well, 2005), which absolved white people of their racism by making characters of all ethnicities racist, and by insinuating that we should all probably cut it out and be kind to each other. Crash spends two hours providing sob stories to justify the racism perpetuated by each character, and then ends with its only relatively non-racist character shooting and killing a black man for making a sudden movement. If this character can make a mistake, it must mean that police brutality is just a misunderstandPhoto by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

ing—definitely not institutionalized racism. It also tells us, through another of its character arcs, that it’s okay to be a bigoted, woman-molesting police officer so long as you save that woman from a car accident towards the end of the film. Great job, Crash. Still, at least a few newer entries have been tougher to wash off. Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman (2018) takes place in the 1970s, but doesn’t conclude with the tidy proposition that racism is solved. In fact, it ends with a Ku Klux Klan resurgence and then intercuts footage of white supremacist rallies that are still happening today. That made me feel bad. I don’t like feeling bad. Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017) let us know how scary white people actually are, although most of us probably missed the subtext. Finally, there’s Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station (2013), probably the most effective recent film about race, that reaches out to our hardened white hearts by spending an hour letting us know intimate details about the main black character’s life before he’s brutally slaughtered by the police department for no reason whatsoever. Fruitvale Station checks all the right boxes for cuing in-denial whites that there is something wrong with race in this country. It takes place in modern times, it’s a drama with no comedic elements, and the victim of racial violence is the protagonist - someone the film put in an effort to make us care about before taking him away. And it’s a true story. You’ve got to upset white people with the truth, instead of giving them comedic or historical leeway. But then again, will white America even watch a film like Fruitvale Station if it’s not on Netflix? There’s certainly only about seven white people who have seen If Beale Street Could Talk. Maybe instead of producing insightful character studies on black Americans, we just need to flood movie screens with more black superheroes. Let’s make Black Panther a six-film series. Give Luke Cage a movie deal. Let’s give Storm her own movie series and reboot Catwoman. Hell, put Halle Berry in everything. White people will watch it all. If we can’t get white Americans to acknowledge the complexities of black individuals through film, we can try to convince them that all black people have superpowers. At the very least, if Hollywood continues to make films about race; let’s advocate for films that highlight the struggles of now, instead of those that let us pretend the struggle is over.

AFROPUNK By Alexzia Shobe 2018 has come to an end, leaving us all with plenty to reflect on. There have been ups and downs for us all, but here at Honeysuckle we prefer to focus on the positivity that is ever-present. Racial tension and prejudice seem to constantly present problems in our society, but even within that touchy subject, there is positivity to be found. Despite all the hate and injustice that plagued this year, Black excellence continues to be at an all-time high! Black Panther was this year’s highest-grossing feature film (domestically), Drake is the top artist on almost every chart you can find, and in addition to mainstream media, Black artists like Kerry James Marshall continue to make substantial waves in art communities around the world. The impact of the Black and brown community on America’s culture is colossal, and as a Black woman, the highlight of my year by far has been seeing so many people in my community succeed. I believe the best way to commemorate this success is by highlighting a movement that is dedicated to people of color: the AFROPUNK festival. If you’re not familiar with AFROPUNK don’t feel

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any type of way about it, because this is a festival that has been kept close to the heart of the Black and brown community since its creation 15 years ago. The creators of AFROPUNK breakdown the meaning of this festival on their website. Afro: as in, born of African spirit and heritage; see also Black (not always), see also rhythm and color, see also other, see also underdog. Punk: as in, rebel, opposing the simple route, imbued with a DIY ethic, looking forward with simplicity, rawness and open curiosity; see also other, see also underdog (afropunkfest.com). AFROPUNK is a uniquely immersive experience wherein people of color can feel a sense of belonging and understanding that is often lacking in day-today life. This festival offers a haven where Black and brown people of any background can gather to see their own selves reflected in collections of art and within various stories of success. It is dedicated to celebrating the triumph of people of color over every obstacle built to keep them down. AFROPUNK is a worldwide phenomenon representing the reach and impact of Black culture. This festival is held in London, Paris, Brooklyn, Atlanta, and Johannesburg. Each location hosts a wide array of musicians, artists, and poets. The Brooklyn fest

has a skate park where Brooklynites can show off their moves and work up an appetite that can be satisfied at the Bites&Beats Food Festival. Bites&Beats features food from cultures around the world via food trucks and pop-up restaurants. This year a plethora of mouth-watering Black-owned restaurants were set up like the Caribbean King Food Truck, Excell Kingston Eatery, Jamrock Jerk, and more. AFROPUNK also holds a Battle of the Bands every year at each location. The winners of Brooklynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s AFROPUNK BotB were Jules and The Jinks. Their iconic lead singer Julissa Lopez is known for slaying every show, effortlessly hitting a wide range of notes in her sultry tenor and occasionally twerking on her tambourine. Besides the allure of delicious food, dynamic performances from recognizable artists (Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Jaden Smith, etc.), and underground Brooklyn based artists, AFROPUNK draws people in through

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

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All AFROPUNK photos Â© Matthew Jordan Smith Photography.

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

the mood of movement itself. It is rare for Black and brown people to have a space that is wholly dedicated to them. This is a movement that inspires rebellion and inspiration within each individual in attendance. There are no words to describe the feeling of being in a crowd of thousands of people screaming, “BLACK GIRL MAGIC” at the top of their lungs. There’s an indescribable warmth to be felt when Black women who proudly wear their own hair, no weaves in sight, are laughing loudly and exchanging loving glances amongst each other. There is no way to portray how it feels to be completely surrounded by people who have faced the same judgements and obstacles as you, and have risen up

despite it all. AFROPUNK is not contained. It leaves with everyone who attended. You take the unabashed pride with you, leaving behind your shame and perceived isolation. AFROPUNK equips young Black and brown people with the reinforcement they need to rejoin the society that has been constructed to keep them down, and arms them with the spiritual weapon we will require to dismantle that flawed society and rebuild it from the ground up one painting at a time, one speech at a time, one book at a time, and so on. We call AFROPUNK a movement because it does move with us. It moves within us as we move forward and outward realizing our full potentials. 2018 was a stepping stone towards the liberation of Black and brown alike, and AFROPUNK is an imperative element of our journey to freedom. It breaks down the excuses POC have understandably built up in their heads. Thinking you cannot make it because the odds are stacked against you, feeling as if a fight against a century-old, systematically racist society is hopeless, helps no one. There will always be a thousand reasons why you may think you can’t achieve your goals, but in the face of these justifications for your complacency you need to be relentless, because there are movements like AFROPUNK plainly visible, showcasing thousands of examples of people just like you aligning themselves with the passion rooted within themselves. I urge you all to channel the energy that is offered through the AFROPUNK movement and go into 2019 in full confidence of your potential. 2019 is the year of success! Another year of expressing and celebrating Black excellence. All AFROPUNK photos © Matthew Jordan Smith Photography.

VOTING WHILE

BLACK

Color Of Change takes communities from presence to power By Monica Suriyage

I grew up thinking voting was something you did, simple and deserving of praise, like going to an annual dentist appointment knowing you flossed all year. The first time I was able to vote was for Barack Obama’s second term. I felt the victory before my ink stamp hit the little circle next to his name. I voted in North Philly, known for its poverty, rundown homes, and people riding horses and dirt bikes in the street. I was surrounded by black elders who made the room feel like a block party, joyful and unified. A man in all grey commented on the scene with a smile:“Lil sis, this my first time here like this.” I was surprised. How had a man so many decades older than me not voted until this election? I’d been oblivious to how impoverished black people and politics mix. I grew up mostly around white people, and my parents are immigrants from the Dominican Republic and Sri Lanka. So I couldn’t pinpoint why other black voters were so over-the-top about it. Obviously, keeping our first black president in office was a priority, but wasn’t voting something they did every four years? Apparently not. More recently, the 2018 midterm elections showed an outpouring of black voter support for candidates like Stacy Abrams and Andrew Gillum. It was refreshing to see, but that’s because it felt unusual. Some credit for this surge surely goes to Color Of Change. It might sound like a feel-good Bob Marley song, but it’s actually an organization championing black people and our place in politics. They’re getting Confederate flags removed one day and mobilizing black voters the next. “Color Of Change was started in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,” explained Arisha Hatch, Managing Director of Campaigns. “Our founders were like many people watching the news: watching black people stranded on rooftops, watching the media calling us looters for trying to get basic survival supplies. What they [noticed] was that public officials, elected officials, and the media were not afraid of disappointing black people.” This immense disconnect in the treatment and media portrayal of blacks did not start overnight. Traditionally, politics has not included 46

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black people, and has actively worked to keep our voices unheard, for the sake of profit and status quo. Voter suppression against people of color is an unfortunate staple of American history dating back to the Jim Crow era. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 stated that all eligible people should have the opportunity to vote, but it was largely undone in 2013 when the Supreme Court removed a process called “preclearance” from the act. Preclearance, where jurisdictions with a history of discrimination must seek pre-approval of changes in voting rules that could affect minorities, had been a critical tool for combating racial discrimination. From cuts to early voting, to disenfranchising formerly incarcerated voters, to purging half a million registered voters in Georgia, voter suppression is now a hot-button issue due to its prominence in the 2018 midterm elections. These restrictions are largely imposed by Republicans. “The right wing understands that our community really values showing up and voting,” Arisha stated. “They’re doing tons of things to make [that] more difficult… This impacts our ability to have a voice in decisions that are made [both] locally and nationally… [and] to believe in American democracy. The American dream is definitely impacted by these efforts that make it so difficult for us to participate.” So why are white people so afraid of people of color voting? I saw Ava DuVernay’s documentary titled 13th that details the profits made from wrongfully incarcerated black people. I know deep down many whites are afraid of losing their death grip on America, but why go to such lengths to keep us quiet? Arisha believes that “a lot of the issues and values we support are against models of privatization, where corporate actors are seeking to profit from different crises. And oftentimes, black people are voting for a healthcare system that is affordable and accessible for everyone. Or voting against an incarceration system that feels deaf. There’s a ton of actors who not only hold values of supremacy but are making money off the suffering and pain of black people. Us showing up and voting makes it more difficult for them to do those things, and they’re very aware of that.” Corporate actors best beware, because us black people are very aware. And we’re making moves. Color Of Change is working to increase voter awareness in black communities; in some areas it’s the first time people are being told their vote matters. “We’ve really been focusing on how to get to a point where we can expand the black electorate. Lots of people talk about how black voters achieved a higher participation rate during the election. And we believe that there are so many more eligible voters who still aren’t participating and need to join the conversation… We’ve been really focusing on irregular black voters, people who showed up once to vote for Obama or never showed up at all. Having our members engage with them about the issues at stake and why voting matters. About five states in these past election cycles were contacting millions of black voters who normally don’t get contacted.” “We’re in this era where campaigns and candidates have all of this

data on who is most likely to vote. All of their campaigns and polling are predicted [by] who the machine says are likely voters. That means tons of people, not just black people but millions of eligible voters, never receive a piece of mail or a phone call or a door knock or a text message. So we’re trying to talk to those who have been left out of that universe of people and asking them to join with a community of other black people and our allies to retake our democracy.” This was both exciting and disheartening to hear. Millions of people are finally taking advantage of their right to vote. The work Arisha and Color Of Change is doing is astonishing and necessary. I wanted to know more about Arisha’s thoughts on the impact of black women in politics, since we are often the most overlooked and disenfranchised of all minority people. Color Of Change is making sure black women are engaged and involved. They hosted a black women’s brunch with over 15,000 people in attendance throughout the year, thousands of whom then stepping into leadership roles within the organization itself. They are investing time and money into black women, providing us with opportunities to get involved and improve our own communities. Most of my peers are white women, so I found Arisha’s point of view refreshing. When conversations turn political with my white friends, I get frustrated. They don’t understand the stakes black people have to consider when voting. White people vote for their own right to exercise free speech, by voting in a way that I consider wasteful, based on a few singular issues that only affect them specifically, or not voting at all if they don’t like the candidates. “Black women, although united, [are] also not monolithic. All of the challenges that working families are facing are also faced by black women. Most of the women we talk to care more about the education system [and] healthcare than they do about police violence. I think black women have become sort of the moral authority in this country, and we tend to show up not just for our families but for our communities at large. So we’ve seen the refrain ‘trust black women,’ or ‘trust black voters,’ and I think that trust in the ability of black women and their families to win elected [office] is much more headed [in the right direction], because we’ve seen time and [again] that we can take an election. To be a black woman is to be at the intersection of a ton of issues… Black women have a very intricate understanding of how different systems intersect with one another.” Caucasians vote for themselves as individuals. African Americans and other people of color, specifically women, vote with the best interest of our entire communities at heart. How long will it take for white people to realize that systems of racism can only continue their support? Support meaning doing nothing but wearing a pink hat and claiming to not be racist, even though they voted thirdparty in the last presidential election.

exemplified by the August 2014 riots in Ferguson, Missouri. In the immediate days after the murder of black teenager Michael Brown by local police, the people of Ferguson were rightfully outraged and took to the streets. They demanded justice and the Internet was paying attention. But justice was not served; Officer Darren Wilson was not indicted. Arisha asserted that this visibility must be converted into actual power and ability to impact these kinds of decisions. It seems like a daunting task to me, but Color Of Change knows exactly how to get it done. “We’re focusing on prosecutor elections,” it says on their site. “When popularized, they can motivate black voter participation more than most others, and though they often run under the radar, prosecutor elections have an outsized impact on the life and wellbeing of black communities.” Success on this level will influence higher and higher-profile elections. In some ways, it already has. Even though Abrams and Gillum were defeated, Aisha reminded me that while it was disappointing not to break that glass ceiling this time, this is the closest black candidates have come to upending those political spaces. Color Of Change is working to maintain and increase this momentum in future election cycles. It is amazing to see some form of progress on a personal scale. But in my own life, I still feel racially isolated and that I’m preaching to deaf ears. Too often I find myself the only person of color in the room when politics creep into conversation, forcing me to speak for all black people. I related this to Arisha, who encouraged me to remember that while these arguments are often presented as left versus right, at their core they’re about people. We have to have the courage to share our story and push the line for our fellow people of color. She knows how frustrating it can be to hold conversations with those who can’t see past their privilege to others affected. She also said it’s okay for people of color to expect our white friends to show up for us as well as themselves. “As black people, even though it’s uncomfortable and unfair, we need to begin to demand that those claiming to be our friends actually are.” It would be easier to smash through a cinderblock wall with just my head than try to make a white person understand how black people are affected by political outcomes. But talking to Arisha made me feel hopeful about the future of black people, in voting, in changing the outcome of elections, and impacting real, lasting change. Arisha encourages anyone to reach out to Color Of Change, whether they feel confused about their voice in the voting booth and within their community as a person of color, or even if they just want to get involved. I’ve definitely been inspired and enlightened. It’s been so hard for black people to be involved in decisions that affect us for many painful, historical reasons. But with the continued efforts of organizations like Color Of Change and people like Arisha, equality feels closer than it did yesterday.

Black people are continuing to bring awareness. We are much better represented in media currently than any other minority. But it hasn’t felt like that exposure was really doing anything for us. Arisha pointed out that this is the concept of presence versus power, as

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

Walking While Black

L.O.V.E is the Answer By Ali McPherson

Ali’s father is African American and East Indian, and his grandfather came from Calcutta. His mother’s family is African American and Native American. “We had a multicultural family but we were brought up to believe that we were as good as anyone else. We were taught to respect and be involved with other cultures, to know that we were also special and not to let anyone ever try to tell us otherwise.” When I spoke to the Los Angeles-based director about his personal interactions with the police, I was surprised to learn that he had many unfortunate experiences, and for him being able to forgive did not initially come easily. His first encounter with the police happened when he was racially profiled at just sixteen years old, being stopped while driving his car, starting a pattern that’s continued for decades. Recalling that incident, there was no anger in his tone. “I was able to have a civil conversation with a police officer on the side of a road because I knew the law. I knew the amendments to the constitution that pertained to that stop. I knew how to keep a level head.” “I’ve seen my father, brother, and uncles experience it too. I was given the talk at an early age,” he said. “My brother Abby passed away in 1998 and his legacy to me was ‘Love is the Answer.’ He didn’t say retaliation or hatred was the answer, he said ‘Love’ and so in order to honor him I really had to try to live that out.”

In our country, the resistance is brewing. In honor of all of the African Americans we have lost to gun violence, and the victims of mass incarceration, there is a movement of reconciliation that will be the voice for the voiceless and provide help for the helpless, powered on love. L.O.V.E. is the acronym for Learn, Open your heart, Volunteer to be part of the solution, and Empower others to do the same. Filmmaker, activist, and U.S. Air Force veteran AJ Ali has created this movement; through his remarkably raw and powerful documentary, Walking While Black: L.O.V.E. Is the Answer, he is using love to improve relations between law enforcement and people of color. Ali’s award-winning film, which came out in February 2017, gives the audience an inside look at the invariably damaged relations between the black community and the police department and what can be done about it. According to Ali, the things we most need to move forward are compassion and learning how to forgive each other. This way of thinking is not particularly popular, but he believes it is the only way to build unity inside and outside the black community. As a black woman in America who finds it hard to forgive atrocities stemming from decades-old racism, I was intrigued by this talented filmmaker’s viewpoint. AJ Ali was born in Washington D.C. in 1963, a month after the timeless “I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King. Beaming with pride he told me, “My whole life I felt like part of the legacy of that time. Regarding race, when I was a kid, up until age five, we lived in Washington D.C. which was predominantly black. Then we moved into the suburbs near D.C. into a black community which was part of a larger, mostly white community.”

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The veteran also credits his powers of compassion to faith in God “Focusing on [God] kept me looking for ways to seek reconciliation while also seeking truth. We do have to hold people accountable for their wrongdoings, but I think we also need to find every way possible to be reconcilers.” For many, even those who seek God, forgiving someone can be difficult. The beginning of Walking While Black opens with powerful, and disturbing clips of such victims of police brutality as Alton Sterling, Sandra Bland, and Eric Garner. I was curious to know Ali’s initial reactions to these events and his own process of grief to forgiveness. He explained that like everyone else, he felt pain, frustration, and anger. “To be honest, there was just a lot more of the same because having personally experienced racial profiling along with family and friends for fifty-five years now, seeing it on television, while dramatic, was no different than what I’ve experienced my whole life.” He explained that the part that stung most was the vitriol and outspoken racism from people he’d considered his allies. “There were people in my circle that ‘it wasn’t part of their daily life, so they just didn’t care’ and that’s part of what drove me to tell this story, walking while black.” Ali makes this point very clear in the documentary by including a recorded conversation between a black young woman who has just been arrested and a police officer. In the film, the officer asks the girl why she thinks so many people are afraid of African-Americans. He then goes on to say, “Ninety-nine percent of the time it is the black community that is being violent.” As an African American woman, the thought I could have been that young girl handcuffed in the back of that vehicle left me outraged. Another powerful moment in the film, is when prominent AfricanAmerican defense attorney Warren A. Brown called the criminal justice system “a form of slavery.” In the next clip, Dr. Chance M. Glenn Sr., a noted professor of engineering and Grammy-nominated

and see things change. We need to seek them out and give them the support to change things from within.” Ali and his wife are going through a twelve-week course organized by the Santa Monica Police Department. “Twenty people get together for three hours every Wednesday. We learn about the inner workings of the police department. In the process, we’ve been able to establish relationships with all of the people who come in and the last session we went through, they had police cadets and young people, high schoolers and college students, come in and give presentations. “I would say to parents, after you’ve done your roleplaying and had the talk and learned all you can, and read up on the law, see if there are opportunities for your teenagers or college students to [participate] in programs that involve the police. Some people absolutely hate that idea but I really believe that it’s part of the solution because then that person wearing the uniform is no longer ‘that cop’ and that kid goes from being ‘that kid wearing the hoodie’ to ‘oh hey, that’s Jamal, I know him; he wants to become an engineer.” In the documentary, Ali also dove into the stigma of mental health within the police department; how there is not enough being done for those who suffer from PTSD, most likely directly linked to how the officers deal with those they arrest. “I’ve learned that [police work] is one of the more highly stressful [jobs] and they don’t get the support that they require which means they’re in need of greater mental and emotional help and wellness. I’m doing my part to get them access to help so they can be at their best, so that they can perform in a way that’s safer for me,” Ali stressed. “I’m seeing cops from various police departments who are more willing now, than even two or three years ago, to say something against someone in their department who is doing wrong. If good cops know that we’ve got their back, they’re going to be more willing to step up. And so when something bad happens you don’t have one person who did it and ninety-nine people being completely silent. You may have one or two people say, ‘Hey that was wrong and this person needs to go.’ ” songwriter, explained the limitations of one social group characterizing another. Glenn is the son of a police officer who nevertheless has experienced the same severe racial profiling as other black men of his generation. He described the main reasons why profiling has increased: “If officers want to be promoted they need to make their arrests. If prosecutors want to move up in their ranks, they need to get their convictions. The best place to make their arrests is in poor communities, where people don’t know their rights, where people do not have access to good attorneys and protection and where crime is rampant.” I respected AJ’s position of seeking tolerance and empathy. However, I questioned his feelings on Trayvon Martin’s or Eric Garner’s families. Ali took a deep breath, and chose his words very carefully. “First of all I want to say seek God and just know that God loves them. Find a way to forgive, if possible. That's easier said than done but it’s so important. Try to build bridges, to find common ground with those in law enforcement who are not the bad guys, the ones who truly love the community they serve and want to work with people

For the sake of future generations, Ali remains an optimist and will continue to lead only with love. “Even if it’s uncomfortable, especially if it’s uncomfortable, we got to break down those walls and reach out and form those relationships because our lives are at stake. We’ve got to be proactive and part of that change. We’re going to lose more people, there’s going to be more of these unfortunate horrible incidents, and we’ve just got to keep our eyes on the prize and keep pressing forward.”

Images courtesy of A.J. Ali

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

OSCAR WINNING

SPIKE LEE DOING THE RIGHT THING BLACKKKLANSMAN Adam Driver stars as Flip Zimmerman and John David Washington as Ron Stallworth in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, a Focus Features release.

1619 to 2019: Four hundred years of Black history in America. Centuries marked by slavery, genocide, violence and hatred beyond imagination, yet accompanied by endurance, strength, resilience, beauty, creativity, and power unmatched. There is an inherent duality African Americans carry in their psyche from birth and legacy, a sense that extraordinary triumphs can and will be won despite the odds, but in this nation there is still so far to go. No one exemplifies this “twoness,” as he calls it, better than iconic filmmaker Spike Lee. The man’s inner vibrations are palpable from the moment he enters a room. A combination of opposing energies that fuse into an allconsuming force, he runs on the belief in mystical chemistry. “Vibe is a real live thing,” Lee said at a recent Lincoln Center talkback.

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“How many times have you gone in a room and you want to just turn right the fuck around? …You can feel energy, and people with bad energy are a cancer. They could fuck everything up. They’ve gotta go.” In the past, Lee has called himself “an instigator,” but more accurately he’s a visual master who provokes conversations while keeping his own words brief and effective (especially when sly profanity is called for). Youthful, yet worldly wise, outwardly Zen but those carefully-chosen statements reveal an unceasing fire for justice and truth. Down to the second, his time is never wasted, nothing about his life or work spent in excess, but he’s extraordinarily open to those who want to learn. He might just be magic, and for the Black community at large, he is. From Do the Right Thing (celebrating its

bi u L

“I AM AN INSTIGATOR”

30th anniversary this spring) to Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, Jungle Fever, Bamboozled, Miracle at St. Anna and countless other works, Lee has become the defining filmmaker of a generation and a pioneer in raciallycharged discourse. Now Spike’s latest, BlacKkKlansman, stands as a masterpiece that’s finally won the master himself his first Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Based on the true story of the first African American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department, the movie follows Ron Stallworth’s (John David Washington) efforts to infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux

Klan in the 1970s with the help of a Jewish undercover partner (Adam Driver). Through comedy-tinged action that turns more horrifying at every step, BlacKkKlansman forces us to confront our worst selves in past, present, and future tense. The film’s coda, real footage of the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally and ensuing violent protest, serves as a chilling reminder that the struggle between good and evil never fades. During the recent Oscars ceremony, audiences observed the extremes of Lee’s raw energy – explosions of joy as he accepted his award, literally jumping into

All photos are from BlacKkKlansman, a Focus Features release. © David Lee / Focus Features. Clockwise: John David Washington; Spike Lee and Topher Grace; Spike Lee and cast members on set

AMERICAN HERO

IS THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN DETECTIVE TO SERVE IN THE COLORADO SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT!

All photos Focus Features release. © David Lee / Focus Features

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

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John David Washington stars as Ron Stallworth and Laura Harrier as Patrice in Spike Leeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s BlacKkKlansman, a Focus Features release. Credit: David Lee / Focus Features

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

“ONE OF MY FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPHIC THINGS WE DID [IN BLACKKKLANSMAN] WAS WITH THOSE PORTRAITS…” Samuel L. Jackson’s embrace, and later attempting to leave the theatre visibly outraged after Green Book was announced as Best Picture. These reactions encapsulate not only the effects of this particular Academy Awards, but the overall identity schism that persists in our race relations. Where do we stand? And when does it ever become “fair” or “enough”? It’s a good question in an Oscars that was perhaps the most celebratory and barrier-breaking for African Americans ever recorded. The night saw testaments to the vision of optimal progress that is

Black Panther – nominated for seven and winning three awards, including Hannah Beachler for Production Design and Ruth Carter for Costume Design. Their combined Afrocentric universe in the film enabled massive real-life achievements, as both are the firstever Black women to win their respective categories. (Carter’s entry into the industry, by the way, came through working on Spike Lee’s School Daze in 1987.) That same evening, Regina King became the eighth African American woman in history to win Best Supporting Actress for her role in If Beale

All photos © David Lee / Focus Features. Top: Ryan Eggold as Walter Breachway; Adam Driver and Jasper Pääkkönen with Spike Lee; Ashlie Atkinson and Jasper Pääkkönen with Spike Lee. Bottom: Author Ron Stallworth, writer Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee; Spike Lee on set; Topher Grace as David Duke.

Street Could Talk, based on the James Baldwin novel. Even Green Book, a controversial victor for its seemingly whitewashed retelling of the Civil Rights movement, pushed inclusivity some steps forward: Mahershala Ali’s award for Best Supporting Actor made him the only African American man with multiple acting Oscars outside of Denzel Washington, while the Best Picture title gave Octavia Spencer the honor of being the first African American woman to win as a producer. But as Spike Lee noted in his acceptance speech, “The world today is irony.” These mammoth successes are hampered somewhat by the realization that it has taken so long to recognize them. If Lee had also won for Best Director, he would have been the first African American filmmaker with that distinction in 91 years of Oscars. Rashaad Ernesto Green, director of the Sundance favorite Gun Hill Road, grew up on Lee’s work

All photos are from Blackkklansman a Focus Features release. © David Lee / Focus Features

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and eventually studied under him in New York University’s MFA program at Tisch School of the Arts. Though Rashaad feels the accolades for BlacKkKlansman are wonderful, he says, “I don’t think that Spike needs validation from the Academy in order to mean what he has meant for this country, for African Americans, for African American filmmakers. He’s Spike Lee, regardless of who says that he’s the best in any particular year. I’m happy that others feel he should be recognized, because he should be, but he has always been the preeminent filmmaker in my heart and mind since I was a child.” Born and raised in New York primarily by their single father, Rashaad and his younger brother Reinaldo Marcus Green felt Spike Lee’s presence from an early age. At home their dad, a hardworking attorney, often fell asleep with the television on and consistently chose Do the Right Thing to play on repeat. “Spike was one of the first filmmakers

All photos © David Lee / Focus Features. Top to bottom: Spike Lee and cast members on set; John David Washington; Laura Harrier as Patrice and Corey Hawkins as Kwame Ture.

we ever encountered,” Reinaldo recalls. “That was part of our upbringing, just watching [Do the Right Thing] in our household and it brought [Dad] a lot of joy and culture, and I felt that he really identified with that film… Our dad was a huge Spike Lee fan.” He wasn’t the only one. Nearing adolescence, Rashaad paid close attention to Lee’s themes and found a kindred artistic spirit. “His films helped me as a young Black man come to terms with my own identity,” he admits. “I viewed myself through the lens of Spike Lee. Without Spike, I might have felt a little lost. [Instead], I felt like I had this guidance and somebody who was basically pointing me through the forest, through works, before even meeting the man… Do the Right Thing was definitely the first [movie] to really get me to examine my own place in the world and who I was as a Black man. Malcolm X was another film that I really responded to… It was such a tour de force, to see that performance by Denzel – it was wonderful to have such pride in being African American and seeing someone who had such a growth and revelation during his lifetime. I even had to check out the Koran at the library as a result of watching that film… The lessons [in our house] came from Dad, but they also came from the films that Spike Lee made at the time. So when I decided to become a filmmaker, there was one person I wanted to learn from more than anybody else, and that was Spike Lee.” Determined to meet his idol, Rashaad initially encountered Spike in person while studying at Dartmouth, where the legend was delivering a keynote speech. After walking the quad with Lee, Rashaad made plans to attend NYU for graduate school, and impressed Spike again during a chance meeting. “I went to a talk that Denzel [Washington] was giving at NYU and asked a question about acting and compromising yourself with certain roles that were available to African American actors at the time. Spike was in the room and he really liked the questions, so he had his assistant ask me for my head shot right after that talk… A couple of days later, I had an audition for Inside Man, the [latest] film= that he was making with Denzel.” You can see Rashaad in several sequences throughout Inside Man, a bank heist thriller, and he confirms the report that to be on a Spike Lee set is a unique learning experience: “Spike has people around him that he’s worked with for decades. He runs a very tight ship. He does not play around

when he’s on set; he’s all business. But the people around him know him very well. They keep the folks happy. [We] were in good spirits, but also we had to tow that line. We had to listen and not disrupt the process, because the man was at work and he comes in on time and under budget, so there’s an intensity on set. When the man is talking, you do not interrupt. You really listen to what’s being said so you don’t have to ask again, and that kind of leadership is wonderful to see and learn from.” Many have noted, unsurprisingly, that Lee also cultivates some of the most diverse sets in the entire industry. The man himself maintains an admirable dedication to inclusivity, commenting, “From the very beginning when I was at NYU, I had the mindset that if I was able to slip in the door, I was going to take everybody with me. Women, [people of color], everybody who’s young and hungry, who’s talented and wanted to work… And the industry’s not really set up for people of color and women to succeed. So I’m just trying to do my part… What’s great now is, I’m really grateful to see so many people telling their stories, because we all have a need to tell our story from our own particular perspective. That’s just part of being a human being. To tell the world, tell the universe, this is who I am, this is who we are, this is our story, and sometimes negate the false stories that are out there.” This responsibility to instill selfconfidence in others, to be a good role model for future generations, is seen most vividly in a memorable sequence from BlacKkKlansman. Rookie detective Ron Stallworth’s first undercover assignment is to attend a meeting where Civil Rights leader Kwame Ture (played by Corey Hawkins) speaks to college students about Black Power. As Ture’s speech builds from emphasizing African American beauty to pride in one’s identity and the need for resistance in the face of white oppression, the viewer is treated to loving portraits and close-ups of people in his audience. Each listener is distinctively gorgeous in his or her own way, and the scene unfolds so potently that it strikes anyone who has ever felt out of step with conventional aesthetic standards. You don’t have to be Black to appreciate the meaning behind “All power to all the people.” Lee notes, “One of my favorite photographic things we did [in BlacKkKlansman] was with those portraits… [Ture’s] telling them, ‘You have big lips, broad noses, your hair is kinky. You come in many different shades, from

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

blue-black to high yellow, Creole to redbone. Whatever it is, you are beautiful.’ Kevin [Willmott] and I didn’t write that script. We compiled several of Kwame’s speeches. And when we were shooting that scene, we were shooting in an auditorium [and] in a side room we had another camera. In between takes I would go through the audience and pick different Black people… And then we incorporated them into that scene so we could demonstrate, so we could visually see the many different versions of people, because it was very important to see. Back in the day, if you called somebody Black, there was a fight. And it was Kwame Ture and even James Brown with his song, ‘Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud’ – So all these things are very, very powerful for people to believe themselves, when they’ve been told from the moment they come out of the womb that you’re inferior, you’re subhuman and whatnot.” In October 2018, a Los Angeles Times article pointed to the rise of a “Black Lives Matter Cinematic Universe,” counting titles including Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal’s Blindspotting, and Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning Get Out as significant reflections on contemporary life relating to the African American community’s sense of self. The story, by Tre’vell Anderson, also named BlacKkKlansman among such films even though it’s set decades earlier than the others (Jordan Peele was an executive producer on the movie). Additionally, he spotlighted one project, a Sundance Grand Jury winner entitled Monsters and Men about an African American man being killed by police á la Eric Garner, as the next ascendant to that canon. It was Reinaldo Green’s first feature as a director. Reinaldo followed his brother Rashaad to film school (after a long and varied career doing many other things), quickly becoming a Spike Lee disciple at NYU. If one looks closely at Monsters and Men, the parallels between Reinaldo’s work and Spike’s – you might even call them homages – become readily apparent. The film stars John David Washington as another conflicted cop and original Hamilton cast member Anthony Ramos (who now stars in the Netflix reboot of Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It) as a young man who captures the shooting on video. According to Reinaldo, Spike was instrumental in connecting both actors to his up-and-coming protégé. “Not only did Spike give grants to both Rashaad and [me], which helped get our first features off the ground,” he states, “but also the offspring of the actors that he’s worked with are now in our films [and some of the actors themselves]… It is amazing how Spike’s influence has really played a big part in Monsters and Men and how we shot in Bed Stuy, how we chose which area to shoot in. A lot of that was trying to pay tribute to him and how he’d go out to Bed Stuy for Do the Right Thing… He’s all over [Rashaad’s and my] work. I respect how he uses visuals and locations as characters… He’s so great at building characters and making people feel you’ve given them a voice. He’s great at improv and letting actors do their thing. It’s incredible to be in the same sphere as Spike… Again, it crosses so many genres. It’s not just about Black culture. There are so many people that respect Spike for his work and what he does to bring people together to enjoy cinema.” Indeed, togetherness is a guiding principle of Lee’s oeuvre, however it may look at face value. For all their ambiguity, films like Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever, and even BlacKkKlansman in its cynical frankness are steering us toward a multicultural conversation. Finding the courage to broach that conversation is a major step on its own. “I tell my friends all the time,” Lee said at Lincoln Center, “President Barack Obama did not become president just by Black folks voting for him. We couldn’t do it alone… it’s a coalition. People come together; we do it together – Civil Rights, women’s

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rights, gay rights… We have a very complicated history as a country and I think history has shown that when we get together, that’s when things move forward.” “I hope to still retain that cultural nuance,” Reinaldo adds, “to be able to engage our communities in front of and behind the camera. To bring diversity and inclusion to the forefront, and not just for the purposes of ticking boxes, but to change the cultural landscape… I think when we take from everywhere, different perspectives, they make our products stronger. Ultimately Spike has been doing that for a long time and he can pass the baton and we should do the same. We’re hoping to bring up a generation of filmmakers behind us… It’s a network to build on the work that Spike has devoted his whole life to building.” Both Rashaad and Reinaldo took full advantage of Lee’s office hours while students at NYU. Rashaad audited his class in Directing Strategies three years in a row to absorb Spike’s wisdom. As a mentor, Rashaad says, Spike Lee is “a man of very few words, but a man of such great deeds.” He elaborates, “We’re a culture that uses language to beat around the bush, to evade, to deflect. [Spike] doesn’t do any of those things. He uses his language to say what he means, and that’s it… As a teacher, he’s somebody who always tells the truth whether you like it or not, [but] he doesn’t like to repeat himself. When you know it’s office hours with him, he doesn’t really have time for niceties. He’ll acknowledge you, but then you have to get right to business. It’s the same when you say goodbye. If the meeting was from 3 to 3:30, when 3:30 comes, he says, ‘All right, bet,’ and that means your time is up.” It sure sounds reminiscent of Clive Owen’s opening lines in Inside Man: “Pay attention to what I say, because I choose my words carefully and I never repeat myself.” Maybe Lee was trying to tell us something. Still, those who get that precious timeslot can tap into an unexpected generosity. “You can spend [your 30 minutes] any way you want to,” Reinaldo points out. “Spike is really open… So if you go in there and say, ‘Hey, will you watch my short film?’ if that’s how you want to spend your time, he’ll watch it. And for someone of his caliber to be so accessible, it’s rare. It’s odd that not every film student at NYU takes advantage of the fact that Spike is sitting there [in his office hours]… If he says one word to you, one sentence, he brings all this knowledge and wisdom. He’s like a Yoda figure. He’s emanating and embodying what it is to be a legacy filmmaker… Spike is not someone who’s going to go and make the film for you or make a hundred phone calls, but he’s someone who leads by example. So I found that my office hours were filled with trying to show Spike my work. And he’d ask questions: ‘Why did you shoot in that location? What camera did you shoot on? How many extras did you have?’ He

was curious about the production, certain things that either stood out to him as a negative or a positive… Spike kind of talks in code, so you have to figure out what he’s saying to you and puzzle over what it means when he asks that question.” One question Lee asked on Rashaad’s first day of class has stuck with him throughout the years. “[That day] he said, ‘How many of y’all want to be directors?’ And of course most of the room raised their hands. And then he said, ‘How many of y’all finished your scripts?’ Maybe two people raised their hands. And he said, ‘See, y’all are bullshit.’ There was like three years’ worth of education right there in the first two minutes of the class… Spike was able to point it out with such efficiency and flourish.” “Spike is so paramount to where Rashaad and I see ourselves as filmmakers,” Reinaldo agrees. “Not only where we are now, but where we want to go… He’s created so much visibility for the role of the director. Oftentimes you don’t even know what a director looks like and Spike is out there on the front lines championing films, going to the events, speaking out on things that he cares about. Those are the things that I think we definitely ought to learn and take from his playbook, because he’s created a very successful career doing what he loves and talking about the things that need to be talked about in a way that’s digestible for the general public… I may not wear the same color suit, but I certainly wear the same color spirit.” That sentiment holds true for both Green brothers as they develop their next features. Watch out for Rashaad’s next film Premature, about a young Black woman experiencing a transformational romance in Harlem (another Sundance selection), now on the festival circuit. Meanwhile, Reinaldo is in pre-production

with Mark Wahlberg on a story from the writers of Brokeback Mountain, which follows a grieving father as he walks across America to survive the loss of his son. These emerging visionaries are internalizing all their lessons from Spike and then some. And what of the iconic but mysterious Mr. Spike Lee? Well, BlacKkKlansman’s success and relevance have given him a perfectly-timed reason to share more than a few words this year. Everything comes full circle, and as we look to the future he can’t help but remind us of our legacy. Standing on that Oscar stage, he invoked the memory of 1619, the horrors of slavery and genocide, but also the amazing will of the human spirit. He paid tribute to his grandmother, Zimmie Reatha Shelton, who saved her Social Security checks for fifty years to help him attend Morehouse College and NYU. Finally, this man of dualities, so insightful about human behavior yet in so many other ways infuriatingly impenetrable, closed with a call to action that left no ambiguity at all: “If we all connect with our ancestors for love, wisdom, and regaining our humanity, it will be a powerful movement...Let’s all mobilize, let’s be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let’s do the right thing!” Fade out. Roll credits. Discuss.

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

Lori B. Lipten, M.A., is an international bestselling author and world-renowned medium. In each issue, we request that she “Speak with Spirit” about a particular topic. The reading below reflects channeled answers from her direct communication with The Divine to explore the origins of racism and how humanity can rise above separation consciousness. We are Elders of the Rainbow Nation, the Grandmothers of the Sacred Hoop, the Rays of Orion and the Divine Keepers of the Sacred Grid on Earth. We are a Collective of Light. We are beings here to serve the highest good and facilitate the answers you are seeking. Humanity was birthed through five star-seed soul groups dispersed throughout the Earth. The five groups began as separate tribal communities that created cultures, rituals, and eventual sister-tribes. For a long time these origin tribes did not know of one another and lived in relative harmony within the Earth Plane. These groups, equally Divine, developed skin pigmentations and features based on their evolution, which came about through free will. Because they derived from varying soul-groups, they were viewed as significant threads within the tapestry of life. Eventually most of these groups crossed paths, intermarried, and created many new variations of human. From a Divine perspective, humanity is one single soul species. Long ago, a virus entered the human ego, creating a vortex of fearful illusions that eventually dominated human thought. The ego was meant to be a tool used by the soul to function within the material world, but the virus had the power to seduce the individual into clinging to one’s human vessel and the material world out of fear of separation from the Divine. It created a belief of unworthiness. Because of its influence on the ego, evolution includes the conscious transmutation of this virus.

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Race is an illusion of the ego. It is a disease on the planet. Oppression of any group reflects a shadow that exists across all of humanity. The United States was built upon the ideals of democracy as a divinely inspired dream, while simultaneously allowing that vision to be infused with the illusions of white male privilege and the systematic oppression of all others. America used this mythology of privilege to subjugate entire groups of dignified humans until their soul loss was so great that they lost their identity. This perpetuation of separation consciousness, and the willingness to participate in harming individuals through systematic oppression, reveals the current level of the human consciousness as it evolves through free will. The privilege of the white ruling class created a state of domination and the wounding permeated within both the white patriarchal system and the people they suppressed. By creating and allowing this system to persist for as long as it did, the virus pervaded the American consciousness and became part of its karmic trajectory. As this level of discord continues, soul-loss becomes generational, influencing perceptions of the privileged and the oppressed. The virus is the ego. The diseases from this virus are all forms of separation from oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s divinity, one another, and life itself. Tribalism based in fear can lead to racism. Racism is a fervently contagious and lethal version of this virus. Colonization, organized religion, and the belief of white privilege were used to justify enslaving, torturing and systematically annihilating People of Color, religious groups, and other marginalized individuals. White people are not the only ones that harbor this disease. Humanity has these oppressive tendencies and must face and heal them for life to return to balance and harmony on earth. The United States is being called to account for its justification of privilege and oppression. This trauma must be faced, healed, and corrected for humanity as a whole to redirect its spiritual future. It must become honest, create authentic reconciliation with all whom it has harmed, and form a new system of holism to right its course.

facilitating this shift in consciousness on the Earth. Humanity is being asked to wake up from the seduction of the ego that feeds such destructive creations. All beings must let go of its paradigms and systems. They must awaken and stand in the power of a consciousness that bridges all humanity into a force for creating holistic systems on the planet. You were born into this body, at this time, to help change the systems in which you live. The socioeconomic, educational, political, environmental, agricultural, religious, and healthcare systems are some of what is changing to reflect the holistic view of the soul, rather than the fear-based illusions of the ego-mind. People of Color are a divine soul group, who are now returning to their noble status on the planet through beauty, light, and exquisiteness. White people are a divine soul group who are younger and evolving from the illusions of domination, privilege, and separation, into harmony and illumination. All humans are divine. If you want to understand why any single group has suffered while others seem to flourish, you must first seek to understand yourself. Awaken to your own divine nature - one that allows you to be in full conscious contact with the Life Force that created you and sustains you. This energy permeates your whole being and can allow you to transcend the limitations imposed by your beliefs. Be honorable in your quest to know your true self. As you awaken, choose to live beyond the paradigms that you have adapted. By doing so you can discover an infinite well of health and thriving within your being that will guide you into a flourishing expression of your beauty on the Earth Plane. You will see that whatever your skin tone, hair color, body shape, gender, sexual orientation, or spiritual beliefs, you are a creation of the Divine Source of life, here to bring your exquisite creative power to its service. You came to remember. You came to love. You came to birth a new world into creation. The choice is yours. Will you remain tied to fear, oppression, and suffering by identifying with your ego and continue the trajectory of inequality and illusion of separation on the planet? Or will you become part of the awakening and through your consciousness bring Heaven to Earth?

The time of privilege and separation is over. Humanityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s veil is lifting, but the shadow is clinging hard to what gives it safety. Your current President reflects this clinging to paradigms that benefit few, while systematically eroding the welfare of most of humanity and life on Earth. Currently there are many such leaders in power and they are profoundly dangerous to life on this planet. Humanity cannot survive much longer if it continues to follow the egoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ideas of white, black, yellow, brown, and red people. These threads of humanity are vital arteries in the system of life and without all of them functioning at their highest capacity, the whole system suffers. All races are illusions of evolution on an Earth Plane only. Within the spectrum of all other dimensions - which exceed the small and narrow view of the Earth Plane - these soul groups are brilliantly capable of living in harmony, justice, beauty, and noble service to all life. We, as star-beings of light, come from such realms and are

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

MOVING

The [Middle]

An Interview with Jehmu Greene By Amyiah Hillian Within these past months the historical efforts of women consistently running for influential spots in media and political environments are rightfully taking off. Jehmu Greene is undoubtedly a leading figure in this diversifying movement. She is an empowered woman, who empowers women. Currently Greene is a Fox News Contributor, Democratic National Convention Representative and founding board Chair of VoteRunLead. What makes VoteRunLead so unique is that they are training over more than 33,000 women to build on their passions and values in order to run for seats in office. This groundbreaking program is not only shaking up and altering what is seen in politics and the media; but it is setting an influential spark to young women across the nation. Honeysuckle had the opportunity to speak with Jehmu on being an authentic and unapologetic progressive. She breaks down the importance of confidence building and how that begins with seeing other women in professional and powerful positions. Her work as an “evangelist for change” amplifies and redefines what it means to be a role model and unafraid of “The Movable Middle”. HONEYSUCKLE: You’ve said before that you don’t want to be in a situation where every single person in the room is agreeing with you, that you’d rather be able to bring some perspective and change people’s minds. Do you still feel that way with our turbulent political climate right now? JEHMU GREENE: I’m wrapping up my eighth year at Fox, an unapologetic progressive, and I’ve seen firsthand the ability to connect with the movable middle. It happens when progressives and Democrats go on Fox. I think for too long we’ve ceded this territory and a lot of conversations by Democrats in general, looking at Fox as a boogeyman. I think, for example, if Hillary Clinton and her team had gone on Fox and embraced Fox more than they did, in the Midwest and some of these places where it was a very, very close election – it was an opportunity to connect with the movable middle and bring them over to our side. We just can’t afford to cede that territory. You were speaking a few months ago about the fact that a lot of black women are deserting the Democratic Party. We’ve seen over the years that there have been a lot of communities, particularly communities of color, that have preferred to remain independent rather than register with either party. Well, certainly we saw in the midterms the reality that Democrats can’t win without women and more specifically, they can’t win without women of color, that those votes put Democrats over the top. A lot of the midterms’ [results] came from black women, and then as it came time for leaderships elections – the House side, we had a situation where all of our leadership was elected, and there was not one woman of color who was going to be part of the House leadership. And I think we saw something happen when Nancy Pelosi expanded the leadership to create room for Congresswoman Barbara Lee. We saw abundance instead of scarcity thinking – [often] our politicians operate from a scarcity mindset. So it’s really refreshing

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to see that change and the leadership be expanded to include a woman of color. It is at the same time, though, insulting that that is still in [2019] the entry into leadership for a group that without the votes coming from black women, without the votes coming from women of color, Democrats simply would not win. You’ve mentioned that you think black women are more inclined toward common-sense policies in voting and politics than anyone else. Why is that? I certainly believe that black women are some of the savviest voters out there and the reason the Democratic party has been able to rely on our votes in such high numbers – in the highest numbers of support that the party ever receives – is because we’re looking at issues like healthcare and which party is going to make it more affordable and which party is going to protect against that place of going back to pre-existing conditions. It’s a real understanding of these core issues and where each party is going to fall on these core issues that hit black women in much more impactful ways, or impact black women very significantly in their pocketbook, in their ability to make sure that their family has all of the opportunities around education, in that they feel that there is a chance for them to move up the American Dream ladder based on this very savvy perspective. And that savviness certainly aligns with the Democratic Party on some issues, but at the same time this disconnect with leadership – and it’s not just the House leadership. If you look at the Democratic Party itself, the DNC, that entity also has a women of color leadership problem that it has to address, and if it doesn’t address what you’re seeing… then we’re going to see a lot of women standing up and saying, “Enough is enough.” What I think is going to ultimately happen is that black women are going to, instead of voting someone else in, they are going to vote themselves into leadership. We’re seeing that now. During the midterms, in your home state of Texas, we saw the amazing election of nineteen black women to the Harris County judiciary. This is happening all over the place, where we’re seeing black women in leadership positions in higher numbers, running for district attor-

ney, running for these positions that have a lot of impact on the criminal justice policies that have been so unfairly impacting the families of black women. And this is a part of the shift that is happening. It’s no longer about getting other people elected; it’s getting ourselves elected. It’s so important to have role models in positions of authority. There are many professions where black men and women aren’t well represented. We can’t underestimate the effectiveness of being able to hear and see a person of color in those roles and how that changes people’s mindsets. You know, I tell the story of my parents. My parents immigrated from Liberia as adults, but growing up as a child of [formerly] undocumented immigrants, one thing I learned [was that] there were teachers and principals and bank presidents and all of the figures of the authority within their community in Liberia – they looked like them. And the impact that had on their confidence in themselves, what they could believe that they could achieve professionally, and they said that to us, because we were right on that side of the country where figures of authority did not look like that. They wanted to make it very clear how impactful that was for them, but also that we had to understand we were just in a different environment, but that didn’t mean we were not as capable in the pursuit of leadership or of any opportunity that we wanted. Because even though we weren’t seeing ourselves reflected in those positions – Seeing that perspective from a very young age influenced me to, kind of in real time, [realize] how important it is to see yourself reflected in what you dream to be… Going back to any table that is set, whether that is the table of candidates running for DNC chair or the leadership operation of Houses on the Democrat side, or a panel discussing any issue or an interview on television around all of the issues that are top of mind in politics – whatever that table that is set, if there is not a woman of color’s voice and participation as a driving force, then something is desperately missing. And we have leaders that don’t see that voice that is missing; they don’t understand how negatively that impacts our ability to not just dream but impacts their ability to really get at an issue in its most meaningful way. If we have leaders who don’t see that that voice is missing and don’t appreciate that, then those leaders need to be purged. In every sense.

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EAT MORE HEMP: A SUPERFOOD RIDES AGAIN Thatcher Michelsen is on a mission to feed and heal the world, and you’d best buckle up, because his campaign will soon arrive in a city near you. The visionary founder of the online platform Eat More Hemp is bringing his years of research to universal resonance, with a bus and pop-up shop tour beginning April 2019, new CBD products to launch, and an agricultural enterprise called Tricrop Farms that are all steering us straight to our holistic future. It’s a combination of projects as magical as the very versatile plant that fuels them. “There are certain types of proteins only found in hemp that are really beneficial to our health,” Michelsen explains. “Globulin Edestin protein helps to reverse aging, repairing our DNA; it’s healing at a genetic level. Only hemp can really do that, so it’s important to eat hemp regularly.” Hemp cannabinoids work naturally with our bodies’ endocannabinoid system, which is chiefly responsible for coordinating cell health throughout all other systems in our body. Eating more hemp ensures a more balanced life, but the superfood has historically been difficult and expensive for many to obtain. With Thatcher’s “Buy 3, Get 1/Give 1” subscription model, he’s breaking the stigmas on hemp, lowering its cost, and allowing those in need of this nourishment a chance to start their recovery process. A tech and environmental entrepreneur, Michelsen has been telling people to “Eat More Hemp” for a long time, becoming such a recognized expert that he’s delivered keynotes on the subject at Nasdaq and Harvard, among other achievements. But as the son of a literal starving artist, his primary focus has always been on accessible health. Eat More Hemp’s customers will not only receive their own consistent and affordable hemp supply (ranging from snacks to CBD extracts, salves and more), but after every three purchases they’ll also be able to donate hemp to organizations working with homeless veterans, teens, and other programs for public sustenance. “[Committing] to a subscription and giveback program,” says Michelsen, “makes sense to everyone economically… to get it into more people’s hands.” The Eat More Hemp bus tour provides a perfect opportunity to involve those hands and hearts directly. Displays will include everything from a model hempcrete house to insulation, linens, plas-

tics and plenty of roasted hemp seeds (which Thatcher calls “Pop Rocks for adults”). However, he’s most excited about conducting “CBD ceremonies” at each stop, where small groups will gather to learn the cannabinoid’s medical benefits, share their experiences, and enjoy true communal and spiritual transformation. Meanwhile, Michelsen is also starting his own farm called Tri Crop Farms to supply quality-sourced hemp for all his products, raised on certified organic farmland in Vermont from seed to sale. Currently he’s implementing a plan to farm 50+ acres of an all-female crop of hemp plants to cultivate CBD, and building an extraction facility and commercial kitchen to process it into products. “This year may be the last year we can grow only female plants outside without the risk of pollination,” he observes. “Eventually all these farms around us will be growing hemp instead of corn… In the future there’s going to be so much grain and fiber produced, so much pollen in the air, that in many regions all CBD-only material will have to be grown indoors.” Michelsen also has plans to grow another 100 acres in southern Vermont’s Champlain Valley for the process of tricropping (growing male and female plants close together for grain, fiber, and CBD) that gives Tricrop Farms its name. “[That’s] the way hemp is meant to be grown,” Thatcher asserts, “in tight rows similar to corn, which really works to the environmental benefit… That’s a more sustainable way to produce CBD… We have tens of thousands of hemp per acre, 14 feet tall, autoflowering. That’s the future of hemp.” Sustainability, social justice, and spirituality working together in holistic fashion to replenish the Earth: Herein lies the beauty of hemp and the reason for Michelsen’s devotion. (Even the Eat More Hemp bus falls in line with these goals; it’s biodiesel-powered and totally fuel-efficient.) If you’re ready to save the world, consider becoming a sponsor of the Eat More Hemp bus tour. The journey to optimal health begins with one exciting ride.

**Learn more about available tour sponsorships and supporting Tricrop Farms by emailing info@EatMoreHemp. com.

HONEY POT - ISSUE # 08 /June 2019

HONEY POT

REBEL WITH GREAT CAUSE By Harvey Leon and Gary Schwartz

Grizzly Bocourt is a New York native who has decided to challenge the status quo by taking action to advocate positive changes in society. As the founder of NYC-based nonprofit collective A Rebel Minded Society™ (ARMS), he breaks the boundaries of creative expression and community organization. From narrative and journalistic media to charitable events and educational panels, the ARMS team provides new avenues of representation and access for people of color, particularly those seeking knowledge about cannabis (medically, spiritually, and how to enter the industry). As the grandson of a two-time breast cancer survivor, Grizzly has been intimately impacted by both the cultural stigma and health benefits of cannabis for much of his life. Honeysuckle was honored to delve into Bocourt’s journey and his programming’s ever-widening social impact. Why are you a Rebel and what is A Rebel Minded Society? As a Cuban/Dominican-American with African descent, I come from a family of warriors and soldiers who fought for freedom, peace, and survival. Being a Rebel is something I was born to do. My grandfather fought as a refugee soldier in the Dominican Republic, and my family faced the Cuban Revolution in Havana before coming to America. I inherited this path and recreated it into something that represents who I am and what I come from. ARMS stemmed from the lack of resources and knowledge I experienced growing up. As a young rebel, I didn’t have many accessible outlets that allowed freedom of expression or creativity. Growing up in an environment with limited innovation and divergent thinking, it was easy to believe I was confined there. As a result, I spent most of my teenage years unaware of my potential or how to discover

it. Instead, I got into mischief, as I didn’t have a dedicated space to spend my time outside of school, work, and home. It wasn’t until college that I had the opportunity to experience life beyond my immediate community—which made me realize that the key to growth and change lies in the awareness that there’s life beyond our comfort zones and familiar patterns, and then having the resources to act on that awareness. I created ARMS in the hopes that we can be that outlet for those seeking expression, and/or to support those who wish to break free from stigmas regarding their race, upbringings, and/or financial limitations. Often, outcasts are isolated and overshadowed because they embrace their individuality and seek to be more than what the status quo deems them to be. We’re here to help those still trying to figure out their path in life, who have the desire to pursue their passions but don’t know how to go about it. How does ARMS create opportunities for people of color? ARMS provides opportunities for people of color by helping them realize the potential they hold. Through the Rebel Minded Platoon™, our lifestyle support group, we recruit and work with people of color to pursue their passion and provide them with resources to guide them to it. With intimate engagement and creative development, we’re able to determine people’s needs while helping them build their skill set and grow their network. Our events also allow individuals to share stories and experiences, as well as provide artists with a stage to express their creativity in a space where people of color can feel free. My motivation is knowing our organization provides opportunities for those people. Which part of ARMS community programming is most personal to you? Our Annual Cannaware Society™ Breast Cancer Fundraiser, because my grandmother is a two-time breast cancer survivor. I’ve participated in the annual Breast Cancer Walk with my mother for over three years. It was an honor to have my grandmother in attendance to see the benefits from a plant she’d looked down upon for so many years, as medicine that provides aid and comfort for those who faced a similar path as hers. My work in the cannabis industry has allowed me to reshape my grandmother’s perspective on cannabis and is a constant motivation to fight against the stigma. What are the biggest challenges AfricanAmericans face in the industry and how does ARMS combat them? In many disproportionate communities affected by the War on Drugs, people of color often face pushback due to past criminal records that relate to low-level cannabis charges. There’s also the lack of cannabis industry resources and access to enough financial capi-

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tal, which makes it difficult to participate in the space. We educate people of color about the cannabis industry, and work with community leaders and legislators to help erase low-level cannabis conviction - as we increase the representation of marginalized and disempowered communities in the industry. As New York heads toward full legalization, how can we work to repair the social injustices that have been done to people of color? We must prepare the community by creating programs for the expungement of cannabisrelated charges and transition from underlegal to legal markets. We must ensure the industry maintains a fair and sustainable workforce with equal job opportunities, and small business growth specifically in those marginalized communities. I would like to see equity and investments for local businesses in disproportionate communities that suffer from the lack of resources. We also must find a way to improve the lives of all those who’ve been denied a fair chance because of a criminal record for something that is now legal. We cannot allow a substance that’s generating massive income for a select group of people continue to do so at the expense of many others. In what ways do you believe greater representation in the media, like you’re doing with your docuseries S.T.A.R.C.H., will benefit communities of color regarding cannabis? Greater representation in the media would help show communities of color that cannabis doesn’t have to be associated with illegality, as it is a plant that can improve the medical, industrial, fashion, economic, and many more sectors of society. Shedding light on people of colors’ current status and movements in the cannabis industry (and the lack thereof) can create awareness, provide knowledge and inspire action for change. These benefits can help reshape communities of color’s perspectives on cannabis. 2019 sees ARMS developing content for their events calendar and upcoming season of S.T.A.R.C.H, a docuseries produced by Rebel Minded Media™. They are also looking a bigger facility to continue their mission on a larger scale. Check @thirdeyerebels on IG for updates on their Cannaware Society educational events and Breast Cancer Fundraisers, CannaMarket pop-up shop event series and El Jangueo series, a unique Latinx dining experience.

Grizzly Bocourt, founder of A Rebel Minded Society © ARMS / Rebel Minded Media

FLASHBACK: INTEGRATING LONG ISLAND By Jessica Bern

On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court, ruling on Brown v. the Board of Education, decided that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In 1962, this ruling was put to the test, this time in Long Island, New York. At that time, the Malverne school district was made up of a portion of three villages, Lakewood, Lynbrook and the Village of Malverne. Each had their own elementary school, Lakewood being the only one that was predominantly black. I had a chance to interview Craig Zaffe, who was a resident of Lakewood at that time, and whose mother Beatrice was actively involved in the local civil rights movement. “I remember when some of the white families in my neighborhood moved out. All the remaining white families put a for sale sign up on their lawns. My mom put a sign out too but hers read, ‘House NOT for Sale’. She wanted to make a statement that we were there to stay,” Craig said. Beatrice felt it was important to be a part of the change and not long afterward became active in CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and the NAACP. She also began hosting dinners where many of her neighbors, most of whom were black, would come over and talk about what they could do to further the civil rights movement in their area. One thing they all felt strongly about was having an African American on the Lakeview school board. Since 75% of the student population was black, it seemed to them only fair that they have at least one person to represent them. Not surprisingly, the white community fought against the idea. In response, a demonstration was held outside the school where Beatrice marched alongside Lincoln Lynch, President of the Long Island chapter of CORE. It was Mr. Lynch, along with Craig’s mom, who chained himself to the front door of the school, in one of many acts of protest against the board’s racist policy. Also at that time, African American families were unwitting victims of “redlining” by those in the real estate industry. Redlining is defined as “a discriminatory practice where insurance

companies, banks etc., refuse or limit loans, mortgages, insurance, etc., within specific geographic areas, especially inner-city neighborhoods.” To bring this issue to light, Beatrice and her best friend Irene went undercover to expose this ongoing prejudice. Eventually, charges were brought against some in the local real estate community and laws were changed as a result. At one point, Craig shared with me, “Harry Reasoner [one of the creators of CBS’s 60 Minutes] came to our house to interview her for his Sunday News Show. He started out by asking her about her kids. She said, ‘I don’t want to make them out to be greatest. They are average.’ On national TV she told the world I was average, can you believe that?” he laughed. “When I asked her about it she told me, ‘Every mom says their kid is the best of best. I wanted world to know you were average.’” Craig let me know how proud he was of his mom throughout those years and beyond, and was grateful that he was able to be a witness to what has become a long journey towards civil rights.

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HONEY POT

FAMILY BONDING

By Dadly Filius, Induced Munchies When you think cannabis, it’s usually in a negative light. Some don’t believe it is helping people across the world, or a positive way to connect with friends or business partners. Cannabis, even with its recent rising popularity, is still stigmatized. For some time now the industry has not promoted or highlighted minorities in business. I had an opportunity to sit with two individuals who aim to change that. Tarik Ali (better known as KoolRik) and Shan are a father and daughter working together to make a space for themselves in the cannabis industry. KoolRik, a 2018 High Times Cannabis Cup judge, is a New Jerseybased cannabis advocate and talks to people about surviving his gunshot

FACTS wounds and how cannabis helped him through recovery. His testimony as a patient is supported by the fact that many doctors and seasoned professionals are coming out to state the plant’s medical benefits publicly. Through his advocacy and events to raise community awareness, KoolRik has been providing proof that cannabis helps with recovery much better than pain meds or psychoactive drugs. Shan is the founder of BlushiiBabez, LLC, an ancillary brand out of New Jersey with cannabis-themed apparel and accessories geared toward mostly women. (Her tagline is “Feminize Your High.”) However, the company soon will be launching apparel for men as well. Logon to www.BlushiiBabez.com for more info on how to order your favorite accessory from the online store. Both KoolRik and Shan are breaking the ice in their own way with their unique brands. With cool merchandise and great testimonials, they make an amazing team. They are very active on social media and engage their community of followers in outstanding events. Stay on the lookout for more from these incredible individuals. (Family Bonding): KoolRik and Shan © KoolRik

HoneySuckle Magazine - HONEY POT

COMING HOME: CANNA TOURISM AND THE BLACK DIASPORA By Tanganyika

annabis tourism is undoubtedly the future of travel, and will revolutionize how we plan our next trip. This is not a new concept, and cannabis tourism is simply seeking out destinations of travel based upon the available and accessibility of cannabis. I’ve sat down with several experts and it amazes me how they don’t see this trend, as if wine, beer, and alcohol tourism doesn’t already exist. Travel is a billion-dollar industry and so is cannabis. The merging of the two worlds are inevitable when you have the entire CariCom (Caribbean Community) meet, and they all decide that the War On Drugs is a failure and it’s time to legalize cannabis. No one is more aware of that failure like Black people throughout the diaspora and beyond. While we continue to be locked up in legal states at a disproportionate rate, our Caucasian counterparts freely boast of month over month record sales in their prospective cannabis businesses. Cannabis tourism will open up the opportunity for those of Jamaican, Haitian, and any other Caribbean descent to go home and utilize family land to create retreat spaces that people will gladly pay to come visit. Even if you were not one of these descendants, would you not like the option to visit one of these tropical destinations to learn about new cultures, their history, and try new food, all while consuming premium organic local-grown cannabis? This is why I encourage those throughout the diaspora, separated from their original homeland, to recognize the potential of cannabis tourism and get involved early. Black people are farmers and explorers by trade, so cannabis tourism is the best of both lucrative worlds. We also shouldn’t forget about the importance of medical tourism to our community. Many people do not have access to quality care in remote areas so it is necessary for medical professionals to travel to them to provide those much-needed services. That

requires transportation services like planes and taxis, and also lodging, while they render these services. The logistics needed to ship medical supplies is paramount, and will require local support, that will inevitably strengthen relations in foreign countries. All a win-win! The future of cannabis tourism will allow Black and brown people the opportunity to travel without risking their freedom by bringing cannabis with them on their vacations. It eliminates language barriers, and guarantees that you have all the products you need to have a successful trip. If you want edibles over flowers we can arrange that, or if you would prefer to just have an infused massage, we can handle that as well. As the Director of Outreach and Development for Coral Cove Cannabis Health and Wellness resort in Jamaica, my team makes sure you have at least a half-dozen variety of strains to try in your room upon check-in. We even have pain salves that you can rub on for immediate relief when you arrive, if your travel plans have been stressful. This is the new norm, and I’m excited about the legalization transformation happening right before our eyes. Canada is now federally legal and they offer direct flights to St. Kitts—a potential green rush opportunity. Whatever your thoughts on the subject are, cannabis tourism throughout the diaspora is inevitable, and this will be the closest thing to reparations I believe we will get. Take advantage of this business and pleasure opportunity, and make sure you don’t let it sail away into the sunset. All photos courtesy of Tanganyika and Sly VEGAS Photography

HONEY POT - ISSUE # 08 /June 2019

HONEY POT

JAKE PLOWDEN: JUSTICE TALKING By Dadly Filius, Induced Munchies

“How do I include people of my community in this industry?” That question provoked Jake Plowden, Nelson Guerrero, Sonia Espinoza, Christine Jordan, and Kamani Jefferson to found the Cannabis Cultural Association (CCA) in 2015. Since then the nonprofit organization has been on the front lines in the emerging Green Rush, spearheading efforts such as a federal class-action suit against the Department of Justice and redefining social equity for people of color. Plowden, who grew up in Colorado and New York, experienced the War on Drugs’ destruction firsthand. “A lot of my friends weren’t able to go to college. A lot of my family members were not able to access institutional resources due to criminal offenses or drug trafficking… Coming to [cannabis] on a career basis and hearing about

legalization and the future of the medical industry in New York – I realized that there were no [other] people of my hue in the room… So we [the CCA founders] decided if we don’t provide our own solutions, no one will.” CCA approaches multiple aspects of advocacy, focusing on health and wellness, urban development and policy. They host educational panels, business networking events, and communal meetups like monthly brunches to reach a wider audience. Plowden frequently speaks at churches, collaborating with local pastors to explain how cannabis fits into spirituality. He co-hosts the weekly podcast In the Know 420, which spotlights cannabis industry leaders from different fields – many of whom attest, as Plowden does, that using the plant medically turned their lives around. (Jake also mentions that his great-aunt has recently become a proponent of CBD among her friends, and that his work through CCA has inspired his parents to rethink their views on cannabis.) But the primary step toward genuine diversity and representation, according to Plowden, is simply realizing the need to start a conversation. He admits that many Black communities hesitate to accept cannabis as a legitimate industry because of the stigmas that have been re-

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inforced over the decades. The “lazy stoner” and sinful “reefer madness” stereotypes remain pervasive. Still others have more personal reasons for their opposition; Plowden remembers hearing one woman say she couldn’t stand the smell of weed because it brought back painful memories of drug addiction in her family. Collectively, Jake notes, African Americans “are dealing with trauma that is more or less still very, very difficult to talk about.” Yet Plowden hopes that as perspectives toward consumption shift, so will the possibilities. “Honestly, it starts at home… If you are able to talk about cannabis with your family, then you will be able to evolve that con-

versation to your church leader, your political assemblyman or senator. [But] be prepared to be more financially knowledgeable than you have ever been in your life. Be realistic about your approaches to entrepreneurship. You have to emotionally prepare yourself for the harsh realities of how people truly view the economic hardships of being Black in America.” Top: Jake Plowden and comedy writer Nehemiah Markos (Never Sad), courtesy of Jake Plowden. Bottom: Jake Plowden © Averie Cole

they can accurately represent the local population. “If you put dispensaries up in Harlem,” Marvin says, “you’ll see the majority of business there will be minority owned. In that way, you wouldn’t have to worry about participation because you’d be doing it in your own community. The money that is coming in because of the interest of their neighbors will be funneled back into their own community. When we start doing that, then we can make change… by showing minorities running businesses and being successful.” The social justice playing field definitely needs to be made level. Putting African Americans – who are disproportionately incarcerated due to marijuana possession – at the forefront of new businesses could revitalize countless at-risk communities by introducing jobs and investment incentives.

BRING ON THE MEN

Building Black Leadership with Marvin Washington By Alexzia Shobe “I’m trying to help people and everything else will fall behind it, you know what I’m saying?” We know exactly what Marvin Washington is talking about. The NFL legend’s remarkable achievements in advocacy for racial socioeconomic justice prove that the cannabis industry means so much more than money. As an entrepreneur in the burgeoning space, Vice President of Business Development and board member for the CBD innovator Isodiol, Marvin remains first and foremost an activist. He makes it his mission to fight for just causes, supporting communities in need from fellow athletes seeking medical cannabis treatment (he’s also on the board of the nonprofit Athletes for Care) to creating new opportunities for diversity in business. Since our earlier profile on Marvin in last year’s CANNABIS issue, he has taken great strides to ensure that African Americans aren’t left in the cold as our nation pushes toward the legalization of cannabis. Above all he wants to see Black men and women empowered in leadership roles across industries, especially in neighborhoods where

“Everyone asks, ‘Marvin, why did you get on the board [of Isodiol]?’ [So] I could effect change within the company,” he explains. “Thereby building a cannabis nonprofit… In ten years, in twenty years, this thing is going to be a fully integrated, mainstream industry that will rival the tech industry in terms of profit. We have a chance to ensure that we have a voice, and we need to do that now. We can make a difference by being conscious of diversity, of inclusivity, of the communities that were affected most by Prohibition.” Today Marvin addresses these issues professionally through his work at Isodiol and more personally, speaking at churches, colleges, and any events that enable people outside the cannabis industry to get educated. He acknowledges that Black women have already developed a dynamic space for themselves as entrepreneurs, pointing to organizations like Women Grow which provide resources and networks to aspiring leaders. However, he distinctly feels the lack of similar platforms for Black men. “I just think to myself, ‘What’s wrong with having a cannabis-focused organization managed by African American men where we can get together to discuss ideas, and successful techniques in this wonderful industry?” Marvin posits. “That’s my frustration, because it hasn’t happened, but it needs to. I don’t know how we can get there, but I would like to be a part of it.” One way he suggests bridging the gap is to consider staffing more Black men in already-prominent companies: “There are enough qualified people to be in cannabis, an African American man specifically, we’re not talking about affirmative action… I don’t know how any company could go wrong by having a minority on their board, because if

they don’t, it has to be addressed. You have to go out and do it, because that’s what I’ve done. I’ve proven that it’s possible, so there’s no excuse now.” Many people of color have seen the pitfalls of white cannabis entrepreneurs wanting to profit from minority consumers without allowing them to join in the rewards. In Chris Rock’s stand-up special Never Scared (2004), he verbalized what remains a popular thought to this day: “The first reason they will never legalize weed in America is because the Government makes way too much money putting our brothers and sisters in fucking jail! That’s first of all. For bullshit. The second reason the Government will never legalize weed in America is because, God forbid, some brown people got wealthy. Can’t have that. ‘Cause good weed comes from brown countries!” Legitimizing an enterprise that will very likely stimulate Black wealth is an intimidating prospect for some people, and welcoming in or working alongside people of color in the cannabis industry seems to be an abstract prospect to many white moguls in the business. Marvin is all too aware of that wariness. He reiterates, “When this plan is brought into the community, it should be led by the people who look like they live [there]. So if you go into Harlem, the Bronx, Brooklyn or whatever, the cannabis industry owners should look like they live in the community… I think minorities, particularly African Americans in this industry, make a conscious effort to preach to the choir.” And Marvin should know, as he dubs himself “the biggest cheerleader” for minority participation in cannabis. We are far from seeing equal representation in any industry, let alone one that’s still federally penalized, but opportunities are growing daily. As Marvin and his colleagues work to mentor young entrepreneurs in cannabis and reach out to organizations from 100 Black Men of America to the NAACP to the National Urban League and more, the possible paths to success seem limitless. Call it a winning move by one of our greatest social equity champions “It’s a collective, and I think we’re all connected,” Marvin notes. “There’s that lift, that power… There are so many wonderful people of color in this community and this industry that I could name… I’m their biggest supporter, and if there is any way that I can help anybody in this community, I will.”

HONEY POT - ISSUE # 08 /June 2019

SOUL SISTERS AN INTERVIEW WITH THE FOUNDERS OF SYNERGY SESH

By Tanganyika

he number of Black women in cannabis is continuing to grow by the day. However, it is still pretty low compared to our Caucasian counterparts. That being said, when some sistah’s are doing big cannabis events down at the Black music mecca called Essence Festival, you can’t help but take note. I liked the vibe and pure energy of Shellise “Sistah” Rogers and TiYanna Long, the ladies behind Synergy Sesh, a networking Meet-Up designed to spotlight diversity in the cannabis sector. Both Rogers and Long are highly educated women whose corporate skills transfer lucratively into this evolving industry. Each event garners increasing admiration. How did Synergy Sesh get started and what are your individual backgrounds? TIYANNA LONG: I’m originally from Oakland, California, and my background is finance technology and corporate philanthropy. Shellise and I met last year at a Cannabis Cultural Association event, the first Latinx event in New Jersey. It’s been history ever since. I had been working in the industry for at least a year volunteering and meeting anyone I could. Being from California, I’ve been around cannabis my entire life, and the industry on the West Coast was very different from the East Coast in 2016. Both of us coming from corporate America realized that there was something missing - the development of the entrepreneur. We took it upon ourselves to go into the mental side of entrepreneurship. After you get funding for your business, then what? How do you sustain your personal and business finances if you’re not mentally prepared to handle it? It’s always glamorized to be an entrepreneur in the cannabis space, like when you transition your career, you will make a ton of money, and that’s just not the case. It could be five years before you start to see a profit, and the struggles that entrepreneurs of color face are even tougher. Shellise and I came together because we noticed we had a lot of synergy during sessions, so we created Synergy Sesh from that and this was the route we wanted to go. [We’re] two Black women from completely different spaces working together to create real Black Girl Magic. I also have Medisi Ventures, a consulting firm for social impact enterprises focused on the sustainable development of the emerging cannabis industry. SHELLISE ROGERS: Sistah Rogers got started when I got serious about my spiritual journey, and coming out of the revolution that happened to me. My family is from the Caribbean, and that upbringing affects the way that I look at herbs and plants. My dad was an herbalist, so growing up utilizing plants as medicine is not something new to me. I went to St. John’s University for my undergrad, and I have an accounting background, but I was always volunteering. I was also really involved in the community for social justice issues, homelessness, [and] women’s rights. These are the values that have followed me through life. Sistah Rogers is a faith-based social enterprise about cultural conscious consumption. This plant is another living thing that has its own energy that we need to be mindful of. I realized I could get people to change their minds and cannabis makes them more open. I would like to go to school now for psychology so that I can have my own accreditation of how to talk to people about consuming more mindfully, setting intentions before consumption even for the business development side of things. I also am a youth pastor and spend a lot of time speaking at churches. It’s a way to connect with people [from] different faith communities

when they’ve had their own experience with cannabis. Being a millennial, I can bridge the gap between the congregation and the cannabis consumers they are trying to reach. Your first Synergy Sesh was at Essence Festival July 2018. Why did you choose that location and what was the response? TIYANNA LONG: For us, Essence is like a Black mecca and we wanted to make sure that people that looked like us were involved in the conversation. Synergy Sesh launched a “Keep Your Network Popping” event during that weekend. We brought together entrepreneurs who are actively working in the space to discuss how and why they do what they do. This gives attendees a true look inside at the struggle that you may not see on Instagram. It was our first time at Essence Festival and hosting an event as well. We were able to plan it remotely from New York and for it to turn out so well really excited us. We had a diverse panel of cannabis professionals, and we tried to keep it a small crowd for a more intimate dialogue. We have been to cannabis events where we get a lot of information [but] leave still not knowing what to do so we give consultations at Synergy Sesh events as well. Since Essence, we have been to Washington, D.C. [for] the Congressional Black Caucus, and then this one in California. Those pilots helped us plan to make them even better for 2019. What can we expect from you in 2019? TIYANNA LONG: We will have more “Keep Your Network Popping” intimate professional development workshops in summer 2019. We’re launching e-courses for entrepreneurs as well as a retreat - three days of intense focus on your business with different facilitators who will help you make changes you can immediately apply. You will see more of the Consumption Chronicles, which is the documentary series that I produce as well. SHELLISE ROGERS: You will see more meaningful topics like Financial Literacy, especially around the term “generational wealth.” It will be showing people how to get to where they need to go, and building community around that so they aren’t doing it alone. Collaboration is key, and there is a full community out there that looks like us. We want to make sure we continue that for the needs of the people, and we’re stronger together. Clergy connection is a focus as well to connect interfaith, because a lot of them had the same questions and concerns around cannabis, so we’re planning a cannabis conference for them next year. Where can people find you? TIYANNA LONG: info@synergysesh.com and all things social media - Synergy Sesh.

HONEY POT - ISSUE # 08 /June 2019

CRITICALLY ALLIGNED DR. CHANDA MACIAS TREATS DISEASES HOLISTICALLY WITH MEDICAL CANNABIS By CannaBoomer At age 14, Dr. Chanda Macias had an encounter with a doctor that ultimately saved her life. In that moment she knew she wanted to make a difference in other people’s lives and would dedicate her own to doing so, whether through medicine or science. Her path as a biomedical researcher who has studied various diseases and dis ease states led her to holistic wellness. She is today the founder of the National Holistic Healing Center (NHHC), a medical dispensary in Washington, DC. This was not a direct path, but came as a result of Dr. Macias’s discovery of recurring health disparities in her graduate research on prostate cancer, specifically as it disproportionately affects black men. Early on in her studies, she also began to understand that medical cannabis could potentially be therapeutic for cancer patients. Though discouraged from researching medical cannabis as a complementary holistic treatment during the peak of the “War on Drugs” when mandatory sentence minimums were at their worst for Black communities and the idea of cannabis as medicine was not accepted, she realized the systemic repression affecting these communities from a healthcare standpoint. “If we could not research holistic approaches for the diseases that affect us most, how would we effectively find natural, holistic therapy options for patients?“ she asked herself. CANNABOOMER: Is it true that Black women suffer in higher numbers from some diseases than other women? What are some of these diseases and is this due to genetics, poor medical care, or the absence of care? DR. CHANDA MACIAS: Women of color are disproportionately affected by various diseases. Black women specifically are disproportionately suffering from high-blood pressure, breast cancer, diabetes, fibroids, lupus, multiple sclerosis, HIV, and sickle cell anemia. The [Center for Disease Control] states that as of 2015, Black women will live an average of three years shorter their white counterparts. These healthcare disparities exist for a myriad of reasons including economics, systemic issues, and the war on drugs. Often, because of our past negative experience with cannabis, people of color are slow to embrace both the health and economic benefits that legal cannabis has to offer. The accessibility of affordable treatment options and medical cannabis is also something that is disparate, but is not as widely discussed. What holistic treatments do you recommend?

The NHHC is an alternative healing center where patients are consulted regarding their specific needs with a recommended treatment plan. These patients have already seen medical doctors and have been diagnosed. Once they come to NHHC, we begin the holistic approach of “ailment strain alignment,” proper dosing, and assigning an optimal method of consumption. “Ailment strain alignment” is the process I use to treat a specific ailment, disease or condition with a specific strain of cannabis. When we think about ailment strain alignment, we need to consider underlying issues. For example, I frequently see patients seeking alternatives for pain management. However, pain is not always physical, and can be attributed to many different causes, and manifest in the body in many different ways. THC is important for these patients because it can help with that pain relief. I also often see patients with pain coupled with depression. This may indicate treatment with a hybrid strain that can help with both mental and body/systemic issues. The indica aspect of a hybrid strain can promote muscle relaxation and tension relief while the sativa aspect of a hybrid may help with mental clarity. It’s also important to consider the mode of consumption with each patient. If we are treating

acute “spiking” pain, depending on the patient’s metabolism, I generally recommend a quickacting delivery method, like an oil cartridge or vaporizer. These methods typically take effect within 30 seconds and can last up to two hours. If a patient has chronic pain, at a constant plateau, use of a tincture or edible would be appropriate to provide pain management for a longer duration, typically 6-8 hours. You’ve recently become a cultivator. Why is this important to your holistic practice? I realized soon after entering the cannabis industry that cultivators were growing strains of cannabis that were popular, not necessarily growing strains of cannabis that were complementary to the needs of the patients. As my patientpopulation continues to expand, I will work with other growers and cultivators such as Ilera Healthcare, to source strains that have specific benefits that addressed the conditions that I was treating most often. Patients are receptive to the benefits of medical cannabis because it is a form of individualized healthcare medicine. As both a dispensary owner and a cultivator, I am able to make informed decisions about genetic sourcing of strains that are beneficial to patients.

HONEY POT

A LEGACY IN MEDICAL CANNABIS ADVOCACY: MONTEL WILLIAMS

SPEAKS TRUTH TO POWER

By Nadya Rousseau Speaking Truth to Power is a statement that has been revisited with significant momentum in the last two years. In a time that is as technologically progressed as it is socially regressed, political activism is on a necessary uptick. 2019: a year where AR, VR, and AI capabilities triumph the affordability of healthcare in the United States. A year where a young man of color wearing a hooded sweatshirt, walking home at night from a part-time job, can be profiled by police while a young white man gets off easy after sexually assaulting young women at his university. It is, invariably, a year where pioneering leaders of the 1960s would have not expected such racial, gender, and socioeconomic inequity to remain at the forefront of the nation’s challenges. Movements such as Black Lives Matter (BLM), #TimesUp, #NeverAgain, and grassroots activists resisting President Donald Trump’s oppressive policies show how necessary speaking truth to power remains, even as we edge towards 2020, a year that should usher in more than “change”: a total deletion of antiquated and oppressive beliefs around marginalized people and issues as fundamental as healthcare and the environment. Another movement speaking truth to power is the movement for federal cannabis legalization, for the millions of people suffering from illnesses that can be aided by the medicinal properties of the plant. And one of the earliest champions of medical cannabis is none other than multi-hyphenate Montel Williams.

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Known for his legendary Emmy Award-winning talk show, The Montel Williams Show, which was on the air for nearly 20 years, and extensive research on medical cannabis for not just managing but preventing the escalation of multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms, Montel has been paving a path forward for himself and millions of others suffering from MS, chronic pain, and other medical ailments since being diagnosed with MS himself. “Back when I got diagnosed with MS in 1999, there were people being dragged out of their homes, hooked to IVs because people reported them for growing marijuana plants. How dare we judge people for trying to live a productive life. Cannabis isn’t hurting people, it’s helping people.” In 1996, medical cannabis became legal in California. Today, marijuana is legal in over 32 states for medical purposes—but stigmas still remain. There has always been an ignorance, or even denial, of the positive impacts medical cannabis could have on people suffering from degenerative illnesses like MS. “When I was diagnosed, I was told to prepare to go home and die,” Montel reflected. “Ignorant and myopic! I own the definition of who I am and will not live up to another person’s expectations.” And with that, Montel spoke truth to power, rejecting the traditional therapies for MS, opting instead to dive headfirst into research on the benefits of alternative therapies. His choice to stand up to “medical authority” is a choice most Americans fear—the same can be said for standing up against any institutional authority dictating the course of our lives. “We live in a nation where that is par for the course; a large percentage of people who live in this country think doctors are Gods and won’t do anything that is contrary to what their doctor tells you. But take the time to read, study, and learn—they don’t know much more than you do! With my new regimen, I realized I can make an impact in the trajectory of what my illness was going to be.” A major component of his regimen Montel Williams © Aria McLaughlin / LenitivLabs

was medical cannabis. For many people with MS, cannabis has proven helpful in preventing muscle spasms, pain, and neurological symptoms like tingling in the hands and feet. Learning and experiencing firsthand how transformative cannabis was for his MS, Montel founded the Montel Williams MS Foundation to expand upon his research and provide necessary resources to people suffering as he had.

for minorities.

The establishment of the foundation and years of advocacy work eventually led him to establish his own medical cannabis company, Lenitiv. Lenitiv “provides patients and adult users with safe, reliable access to the same high-quality CBD (cannabidiol) and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) oils that [Montel Williams] personally has relied upon for nearly two decades to improve his own quality of life.” For Montel, Lenitiv was years in the making, and he’s proud to be not just the founder, but the formulator of all the company’s hemp and cannabis products.

Montel Williams understands speaking truth to power, and it is also imperative to be armed with necessary knowledge to challenge the opposition’s rebuttals.

“I did not jump into the cannabis space because I was jumping on the bandwagon. I was one of the leaders in emphasizing to this nation that there are alternatives to what we think. [With Lenitv] I am involved hands-on and the formulator.” Montel Williams not only wears a lot of professional hats in his life—media personality, cannabis advocate, and now social entrepreneur as the founder of Lenitiv—but also personal identities. Although a public persona with a net worth in the millions, Montel has still experienced racism, especially targeted towards his use of medical cannabis. “I have literally been arrested a few times and then it was thrown out with judges making bold statements about why I should never have bothered to begin with. I felt like I was scrutinized more as an African-American. The one time I was stopped because I had a new glass-blown pipe; back in the day when I was stopped probably 95% of the time, people were doing so with such an expensive object. The person saw this thing and got nasty [because] I had a pipe!” Montel’s personal experiences, coupled with a larger awareness of the stigma around cannabis, especially for people of color, has led him to commit to expanding opportunities-

“60% of all African-Americans in prison today have had some type of cannabis charge. The truth of the matter is that people sitting in prison right now are African-American kids who were arrested for having one joint in their pocket.” Color should never impact one’s ability to climb the corporate ladder—or do anything. “We will hire the best qualified people, period, and help them ascend.”

“Knowledge is one of the easiest things to gain and share in this age. If I Google one thing I get 35 articles. So, it’s incumbent upon me to have the knowledge that someone can reach out and ask someone that knows more than me.” In this case, we will acquiesce to the knowledge of Montel Williams, as he takes a stand against medical injustice. He’s pioneering the movement for federal cannabis legalization, through his advocacy and company, offering multiple solutions to people suffering from chronic illness. Truth to power, and knowledge is king.

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RECLAIMING THE WHOLE FEMININE: HOLISTIC PRACTICES ARE CHANGING WOMEN’S SEXUAL HEALTH FOR THE BETTER By CannaBoomer Cultural conversations among Black women around sexuality and sexual wellness have historically been shrouded in secrecy. This is in contrast to a hypersexual social stereotype. However, the statistics tell yet another story: there are delayed or denied diagnoses and/or treatment and high mortality rates among Black Americans, in particular, many associated with sexual health and the failures of mainstream medicine to address. But the work of a new generation of bold plant medicine practitioners like Mayasa Telfair, curator of It’s Time to Heal Holistic Sanctuary have begun to remove Black women from the margins of conversations on femininity and sexual health. Mayasa Telfair brings ancestral wisdom into focus in a non-“woo-woo” way based upon her teachings as a second-generation holistic health practitioner. She grew up between the American South, raised by her grandfather who was a sharecropper, and the Caribbean, at the knee of her grandmother, who was indeed a true medicine woman. For Mayasa, there was only holistic medicine in her early life. Like many Black and poor families, no one went to the doctor. There were no immunizations. Life and death were believed to be in God’s hands alone. “We grew our food and our own medicine,” said Mayasa. CANNABOOMER: Black women are three times more likely than women of other races to suffer from uterine fibroids and noncancerous tumors of the uterine walls , according to the Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health. This, together with premature delivery, sexually transmitted diseases, and cervical cancer are four of the eight top diseases that disproportionately afflict Black women. Have you found this to be true in your practice? MAYASA TELFAIR: In the big cities and the areas where I lived later in life, people constantly went to the doctor to seek care, often to address some of these issues. In general, women received medications that gave them side effects, creating yet other conditions. Instead of

treating the disease, they were essentially being treated for their symptoms. In conversation, I’d often ask if they’d tried this or that, something I remembered my grandmother used to do. Or I’d suggest something my grandfather used to do. Some of my earliest lessons stem from family traditions but became very popular with clients in the area where I was then living. I broadened my education, experience, and exposure through travel to different parts of Africa while studying dance. Everything in my life was about natural health, whether it concerned yoga training or learning how to cook and eat raw. This became my lifestyle. Is that why you created It’s Time to Heal Holistic Sanctuary? It started and remains an appointmentonly sanctuary because I was part of a community that focused on women under what we called the Red Tent. We learned to chart our moon cycle in the Red Tent. You know the first calendar was a lunar calendar of the woman and at one point in history, we could predict the weather and all of these things, based on a woman’s body. I also recognized there can be a lot of brokenness that follows women. In our society, women can become calcified from going to work day after day, from being a mother, from being the matriarch of their family. Essentially, they lose their femininity. Tell me about your services. How you are tying intimacy and femininity together in the holistic services you offer? Many of our services deal with the yoni, a Sanskrit word for the vagina, a most sacred aspect of a woman. We provide doula birthing services as well as support to women physically throughout their pregnancy into delivery. We also integrate the postpartum phase of their pregnancy. The Sanctuary also offers holistic nutritional consultations. How have you incorporated cannabis into your practice? This is another secret among Black women, especially of an older age group. Yes, CBD is one of the most crucial elements in my practice because it’s entirely plant-based. It’s particularly important to my vaginal yoni steam offering, which is my most popular service. Did you know the yoni is the largest space of absorbency in the body, even larger than your mouth?

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We address issues associated with Premenstrual syndrome (PMS), Polycystic ovary syndrome, (PCOS), and endometriosis, for example. Some women suffer from a diversity of medical issues as it relates to their yoni. That could mean intercourse has become uncomfortable. We use cannabis of different strengths in our holistic practice, particularly with women who have anxiety specifically around the sexual or sensual experience of womanhood. We can provide them with a particular strain or dosage that will help them relax. Some women suffer from vaginal dryness and can benefit from fantastic CBD suppositories. Others wish to intensify their sexual experience. A lot of times women aren’t able to feel vulnerability due to their hard-working day. We understand the plant and are abreast of various high-quality forms of CBD and different strains of cannabis. How can you be certain that each client gets what they need? Before I meet with each client, they fill out a holistic health history intake form to learn what they’re taking and what their issues are. I use my many years of practical herbalism training and indigenous training to offer a recommendation. Based on their information, I create a tincture or topical cream for them. By the time they see me, I’ve already got a protocol laid out for them. Perhaps I will provide them a tea to drink. I may offer a cream that they can use topically. I could offer a suppository, and I might recommend the vaginal yoni steam. Hold on a second. So does the vaginal yoni steam give you an orgasm? It does not give you an orgasm. However, during the vaginal steam, I can teach you how to increase your orgasm, how to have an orgasm on your own; how, for example, to incorporate the use of different types of cannabis plants and how to use the yoni egg. No one will deny that the benefits of sexual gratification flow out into other aspects of our lives, our health, and our overall welfare. Most of us want more of this, no matter our age or sexual preference and will pay to maintain what can only be described as a healthy, well-exercised sexual system that is on top of its hormones. If you believe that, it’s hard not to pay attention to Mayasa’s beliefs and holistic health practices.

SHE’S THE BOSS: SHANITA PENNY ON MINORITY BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN CANNABIS By David Kellman This year's Marijuana Business Daily’s Marijuana Business Conference (MJBizCon) in Las Vegas, Nevada, currently the cannabis industry’s largest B-toB conference where all the biggest brands, businesses, and thought leaders come to network and speak on the state of the industry, spotlighted women and diversity. After the Minorities in Cannabis Luncheon hosted by Ardent Cannabis CEO Shanel Lindsay, Budding Solutions CEO Shanita Penny, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission Shaleen Title and Supernova dispensary founder Amber Senter, we caught up with Penny for her insights. Shanita Penny is also President of the Board of Directors for the Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA); she filled us in on how she came into the industry, where she thinks it needs to go and her experiences as an entrepreneur. A former Fortune 500 executive, Shanita was able to transition into the Cannabis Industry utilizing her skills in compliance, project management, and business development to start her own consulting company, Budding Solutions. Transitioning into the industry was not easy, especially while still holding a traditional non-cannabis job. Admittedly, Shanita was nervous to enter the industry until clearer guidelines and regulations were established.Fueled by a passion for the cannabis community and its patients and seeing an opportunity within the industry to help solve economic disparities in America, she persisted and eventually found her role. Her position in the MCBA further allowed her to work directly with minority and women-owned businesses to ensure their success. Founded in late 2015, the MCBA is the first 501(c)(6) not-for-profit business league created to serve the specific needs of minority cannabis entrepreneurs, workers, and patients/consumers. When asked about the state of the in-

dustry, Shanita said she is excited and hopeful, particularly for minority business. Less than 1% of the industry is minority-owned. Fortunately, minorities are working to get licenses, starting ancillary businesses, and getting involved in the industry wherever they can. She warns against being tokenized, saying “There’s a difference between being the first— recognized, acknowledged, or doing something first — and being tokenized.” Legal hurdles still make it challenging for minorities to get involved in the industry, especially for those either currently incarcerated, or with prior convictions relating to cannabis. Even in states with regulated legal industries, people with low-level marijuana charges are still in jail, and those with prior convictions are not allowed to work in the industry. Where does that leave them? In a position where people with skills are overlooked for people with money, “That person in jail for selling cannabis could be someone in charge of retail operations for a dispensary” Shanita said. While some states like California and Pennsylvania, where Shanita recently worked, have programs in place to expunge old charges relating to cannabis, she shared that this is a good but problematic win. Some states only have limited expungement (only smaller charges like possession are forgiven) or some states, while allowing these pardons, leave the onus up to the individual counties. “Legalese and processes can really slow down expungement.” Shanita thinks “pardons” may work better, along with setting up an automatic system in order to not further muddy our justice system with cannabis-related matters. A criminal record doesn’t only limit access to the cannabis industry, but can keep violators from obtaining student loans, government assistance of any kind, or even things such as apartment or car leases. Shanita implores aspiring entrepreneurs to “look at the industry and movement as a whole and leverage their skills” to help shape progress. She speaks about the benefit that could come from already established groups like the Small Business Administration accepting cannabis into their realm of business and offering sufficient support to minority businesses looking to startup. Partnerships like this are needed to develop entrepreneurs, and mentor people. When groups and congregations accept cannabis into their structure, they can help push social equity programs and build small businesses. When asked for the moments she felt most oppressed as a member of soci-

ety she said, “The election of Donald Trump. It revealed a lot of people’s real intentions and beliefs and it shocked me that America would empower someone who was deliberately so oppressive and problematic.” And asked when she felt most inspired, “The election of Barack Obama and our forever FLOTUS Michelle Obama.” For her family and friends, it was life-changing. Her grandparents, especially her grandfather who had fought with cancer in the past and found relief through medicating with cannabis, are some of her biggest inspirations for her working in the industry. “If I can convert them, I can convert anyone. Cannabis is my life. I’ve always been good at my job, but never felt particularly fulfilled. Working in the industry has allowed me to be my best personal and professional self. The work I do I’m passionate about. I’m helping create new millionaires, and generational wealth for my community.” Exhausted, after what feels like running like a madwoman in an entrepreneurial race, things are definitely starting to align for Shanita. Regarding her 2019 agenda, she divulged, “Lots of big things. Many seeds planted are not yet ready to harvest, but definitely starting to flower.” She was, in part, speaking about plans for a fully-operating cultivation and processing center in Pennsylvania. MCBA is having its first conference at Howard University in Washington D.C. working on continued policy and expungement efforts. In the cannabis industry, advocacy is just part of the job. Shanita noted that in Maryland she felt like there weren’t enough people focusing on the full picture of the industry in terms of legal, social justice, and advocacy. And that’s when she learned that there is actual power in voting. She hopes to bring this knowledge to people through MCBA’s annual conference and fundraiser, used to directly help minority businesses with capital. When asked what an ideal cannabis industry looks like, she responded “Perfect in cannabis is, legalization with a focus on social justice. Locked up people pardoned, no more people arrested. Lower barriers to entry. Free/horizontal markets. No licensing limits. No monopolies. Small, medium, and large businesses where people serve the patients and consumers.” Sounds good to us.

HONEY POT - ISSUE # 08 /June 2019

HONEY POT

CAPITAL IDEAS: CAROLINE PHILLIPS BRINGS COMMUNITY TO THE NATIONAL CANNABIS FESTIVAL By Tanganyika

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Caroline Phillips, the founder of the National Cannabis Festival (NCF), is blazing a trail. She’s the first African-American woman in the industry to produce an event this size, the largest cannabis music festival on the East Coast with over 5,000 attendees annually. I’ve known Phillips for some time; we first met at the Women Grow Leadership Summit in Denver, and we’ve watched each other develop from learners to earners in this male-dominated industry. In April 2018, Phillips debuted the National Cannabis Policy Summit, which brought together diverse panelists for intense action-oriented discussion. (I spoke on the panel titled “Exit Drug: Can Medical Cannabis End The Narcotics Epidemic?” The level of sophistication, the expertise of the speakers, and accessibility of the venue made it a top-notch education event that was broadcast live on C-Span.) With bigger and better plans upcoming for 2019, I was so excited to delve deeper into Phillips’ journey.

that could provide education, information and networking that these expensive conferences promised but [weren’t delivering].

How would you describe yourself and your background?

[I’ve been in similar situations myself. People show their true colors when they think you are subordinate to them. They start off by literally treating me like the help, and by the end of the conversation practically beg me to join their team when they realize I’m the expert. It was exhausting at first, but now the delight I get from walking away with my knowledge brings me pure Black Girl Joy. ]

CAROLINE PHILLIPS: I am the founder and owner of The National Cannabis Festival. Before [that] I was working in foreign policy and international human rights, and in education nonprofits. Finding ways to help vulnerable communities, whether it was low-income students at our public schools around the country, or helping work on initiatives for asylum seekers’ and refugees’ representation with human rights groups was how I cut my teeth. I learned about translating complex policy information into something more digestible for the general public. One of the best methods for doing that is by building events that help people experience, understand, or learn about a particular issue. What drew me to cannabis, especially in the DC area, is when Initiative 71 [legalized adult-use]... I was asked to produce a big conference [on the subject]. I know how cannabis has impacted our city. I am a medical cannabis patient. I have a lot of friends who have been arrested, and when I was growing up I knew parents who were arrested. My mom taught in school; she had students whose families had generations of incarceration. To know that a lot of these parents had been jailed for non-violent crimes related to cannabis really upset me. When that first conference came to DC I was excited to help with it, but I was disappointed by how expensive it was, and to see who was in the room because of that expense. I saw mostly older white people, and that is not reflective of our community or [industry]. As that conference wound down, I was having a conversation with some other folks, saying how it would have been great to get our local small businesses involved, and wouldn’t it be cool if we put together something more accessible for everybody. That’s where the wheels started turning for me. I thought that I could pull together a coalition of people to [produce an] event in DC that would be affordable enough for all, and

That is an issue everywhere, an economic barrier to keep a certain demographic out of these events. For you to recognize that is amazing. What’s it like to put together a festival? Definitely not easy. The music festival scene is pretty male dominated, the cannabis festival scene equally so. You don’t see many people of color with leadership roles. At first a lot of people didn’t take me seriously. To this day, more often than not when I meet with people about the festival, they will ask me “Who is in charge? Can they speak to the boss?” On the other hand, never underestimate the value of the shock factor. I hear and see things people may not say in front of someone they think is in charge because they aren’t expecting that person to be me.

ers out there, give a really inspiring speech and in 2018 we had Cypress Hill. How did you pivot into the National Cannabis Policy Summit?

After the second year of the festival I noticed more conservative lawmakers seemed hesitant to come. I figured if we created an event that felt more like Capitol Hill, we had a better shot Crowdfunding got the initial festival started; at getting them in the door. The idea behind how did that community involvement shape the summit is to convene unlikely allies from all political views in support of cannabis policy NCF? reform. It will be back at the Newseum [this I started the festival with [my own savings], but spring] and free to the public. I put down a deposit at RFK Stadium and realized I needed a lot more money. People weren’t necessarily ready to listen to the brown girl who’d never sponsored a cannabis event before, so I got on IndieGoGo. However, we found ourselves being blocked by Facebook for illegal content, so we put a public plea out. Within a couple of weeks we had crowdsourced the initial dollars we needed. That was a really exciting moment for us, seeing the community get behind [NCF]. If that had not happened there would not have been a first festival. I work every day on this, but the real unsung heroes are my teammates who come and work nights and weekends to help get this done. It’s all been a volunteer effort to date. We’re hoping to make this into work opportunities for more of the people who have been helping every year, but it means so much to us to see people start to understand that the festival is more than recreational consumption. It’s also about social justice, community, support networks and sharing information. People really start to plan out their trip and which exhibitors and advocacy groups they want to see. We’ve been fortunate to have incredible artists like De La Soul [who talk] about their experiences with cannabis and how arrests impacted people in their lives. In year two we had Talib Kweli, one of the most politically active perform-

HONEY POT - ISSUE # 08 /June 2019

HONEY POT

REVEL YELL: TIKI TUNES A CANNABIS CAPITALIST GROOVE WITH GROVE By DX21 Dasun and Alexzia Shobe

change in society. The campaign to legalize cannabis is an issue concerning our economy, mental and physical health and countless other aspects of our day-to-day lives. The prevalence of cannabis is widely recognized today, but its use is still subject to criminalization especially with African-Americans. Barber is highly aware of the impact this has not only in the sports industry, but in the lives of those close to him. “I don’t want to say we’re out legislating to change laws, but we realize that there are a lot of minorities and minority communities who have been unjustly vilified for simple marijuana possession,” says Barber. “Part of what we want to do is obviously fill businesses, but we want to have a social impact as well.” Barber, as an athlete, shied away from substances thinking they would be detrimental. But over the years he has seen the other side of substances, how legal medications used to counter performance pain and injuries can destroy athletes, yet they are persecuted for using natural alternatives. “It was a wake-up call to the damage that medicine can do to your body. I also know that there are a bunch of guys who have gotten suspended for four games, eight games, or even full seasons because they have realized that danger and chose to medicate themselves differently,” says Barber. “Some of the guys had issues, whether it was psychological or physical that drew them back to marijuana. They know that in some cases cannabis can slow down the damage that occurs on the field. To ignore that is a fallacy on the part of leagues that vilifies those who smoke marijuana.” This vilification of marijuana in the sports industry is parallel to the criminalization of African-Americans. “I think it’s fear. You see someone smoking a joint and you may think there’s something much larger going on,” says Barber. “In actuality, if you went into many of the homes, affluent or not, in that same community you would see the same thing going on.” He sees things slowly changing. “The amount of money that is wasted on those misdemeanor prosecutions and the tax on our jails is astronomical. At some point that changes, things shift, and it gets people to wise up.”

Honeysuckle had an opportunity to mix and mingle with the revelers at Revel, a cannabis entrepreneurial showcase, and capture a candid conversation with Atiim Kiambu “Tiki” Barber, one of that evening’s Cannabis + Capital keynotes. Barber is a man who isn’t easily defined. He’s a highly acclaimed former running back for the New York Giants, co-host of CBS Sports Radio’s nationally broadcast afternoon show, Tiki & Tierney, author of several children’s books, the first NFL player to star in a Broadway musical, and most recently the Chief Business Development Officer & Co-Founder of Grove Group Management. Grove is a next-generation investment and management company identifying and launching enterprises in the rapidly rising cannabis industry. The Grove team works to deliver superior returns to their investors by providing capital and proven business expertise to high-growth companies across the globe. They add value by identifying synergies, increasing distribution channels, and creating scale. Barber is actively striving to instill hope and encourage success within our communities through his work with Grove and has big long-term plans. While Cannabis is still a taboo subject in professional sports, Barber says that the stigma surrounding the subject is fading; making way for new business opportunities. But Barber is not just following the money. He wants to instigate

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Barber sees how cannabis can be safer for recreational use than other substances; how it can be a calming come-down from the ramped-up rat race. “A perfect example would be after a football game. You’re so physically charged up and emotionally charged up. After three hours of beating on somebody, winning or losing, or whatever you’re still getting to that top. The way that people would come down is to have a drink, or ten, and you’re putting depressants in your body that are ultimately destroying your body,” says Barber. “Each of our chemistries are different but there is science behind finding the right Cannabidiol (CBD)… combination for marijuana that can bring you to the right level of homeostasis without having to go get hammered. It’s not talked about enough, and it’s not just for athletes. You close a big business deal, you have a good day at the office, or a bad day at the office, the same type of iterations happen.” Barber also highlights the medical implications of cannabis use. “With epilepsy,” says Barber, “multiple studies have proven cannabis’ effectiveness treating. Recently a Cannabidiol (CBD) based drug was approved for people suffering from Epilepsy. It’s coming slowly. That’s why this space is so fun. That’s why you see private equity and institutional money coming into this space. The opportunity is real and will be apparent sooner rather than later.” As a parent, Barber brings a perspective informed by that experience to his business. “I have six kids: two teenagers, eight-year-old twins, and two toddlers. It’s really something I’m starting to address

with my 16-year-old. It’s the same conversation we had about alcohol and the illegality of it for minors,” says Barber. “Educating them and making them aware of the dangers of it at a young age is how you best address it.” Barber is undeterred by projections of difficulties that AfricanAmericans have in making their way in business and society. “I think part of that is also an internal stereotype. Some AfricanAmericans or other minority communities just believe that they can’t come out of it,” says Barber. “Hope is an invisible bridge. The only way to fully make it visible is to believe in yourself, and then your path becomes very clear. It’s hard to do sometimes; when you have been knocked down so many times and told that you can’t, you can’t, you can’t. It’s a cliché, but it’s also real to life.” Barber wants to be living proof of this assertion. “I think one of the important things for guys like me who has been an athlete and an entrepreneur, or even a guy who is a banker and is also a minority, is to give young minority kids a vision of what they can be other than an athlete or entertainment,” says Barber. “There is a whole other existence that I think minority communities are missing sometimes, because there’s a collectivism and it hasn’t been taught yet. I think it can be though.” There is a golden opportunity to get that accomplished with Grove. “Right now we’re growing our funds. We have two funds; our Cannabis Fund and an Opportunity Fund, and in short our Cannabis Fund touches the plant and the Opportunity Fund does not. That covers the technology, deliverables, and everything else around the cannabis space. We’ve touched into a little niche that’s really neat because of our collective connections.” Grove is looking into investments in California and the blossoming market in New Jersey and New York. Barber is excited because there is so much to learn and so much potential for growth. “We did an event in California with a group named ‘Green Table,” says Barber. “Seeing the interest, the learning, and teaching was amazing. People would walk in and wouldn’t really know what they were doing. No one was an expert on all things cannabis. There’s a learning process that is occurring right now across this country... We have opportunities everywhere.”

Tiki Solo: Tiki Barber at Revel’s Cannabis + Capital showcase in New York, © Sara Wass. Group photo: Tiki Barber with Revel founders Lulu Tsui and Jacobi Holland at Cannabis + Capital in New York, © Sara Wass.

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HONEY POT

SISTER ACT MJM STRATEGY IS A FAMILY BUSINESS DETERMINED TO TRANSFORM THE FACE OF CANNABIS.

Sometimes, it takes a tragedy of monumental proportions to shake off the security of the status-quo. On April 1, 2016, our wonderfully vibrant, vivacious and eclectic mother, a doctoral candidate with three masters degrees, the kind of woman who could artfully use the words “elucidate” and “motherfucker” in a single breath, passed away suddenly from liver cancer. As the eldest, it was my responsibility to deliver the news. Mom had gone to the doctor for a routine check-up as part of her monitoring as a breast cancer survivor. We thought nothing of her distended belly, a tell-tale sign of liver cancer, and neither did her doctors. Her Monday afternoon checkup turned into an overnight observation at the hospital for shallow breathing. By Friday evening, she was dead. “Mom is gone.” I spoke to Dasheeda by phone in a quiet, even tone masking the grief churning inside. I was determined to be strong for my little sisters. Dasheeda, our family problem solver who instinctively understands the meaning and subtext of almost everything, was for once stunned and bewildered.

BY: Imani A. Dawson

“I don’t understand how this happened.” Her voice was broken by sobs.

ondays are for meetings. For the better part of the day, MJM Strategy’s team members are glued to their laptops in different cities discussing projects via video conferences. But when your colleagues are also relatives, weekly meetings take on the easy camaraderie of family reunions, jokes and gentle teasing plus the latest news about kinfolks interspersed among the business points. This combination of work/life balance has instilled an extra layer of purpose in the company led by Dasheeda and supported by her sisters: me, Ice, and Vida.

We buried Mom a week later on a warm Atlanta, Georgia spring day, surrounded by forty people, just a slice of the thousands she’d touched during her sixty years.

MJM Strategy began as a strategic consulting company designed to help budding entrepreneurs and established organizations alike bolster performance and adapt to the burgeoning industry. Dasheeda envisioned a family-owned enterprise from the start. To honor our mother’s free-spirited legacy as an educator, counselor and long-time cannabis user, Dasheeda offered us part ownership and the chance to bring our skills and talents into the “green rush.”

Procuring a medical marijuana card was one of Dasheeda’s first moves as an Arizona resident. After relying on black market cannabis to relieve arthritis pain and anxiety, she was grateful for a legal method of obtaining the plant, but disturbed by her experience as a patient. She encountered products that weren’t properly labelled, budtenders who couldn’t provide information about medical benefits or recommend strains for her specific ailments, stores that felt dark and seedy. Immediately she recognized the opportu-

Afterwards, her four daughters went our separate ways. Dasheeda headed back to New York, attempting to regain a sense of normalcy. On her first day back to work, she quit her high-powered gig as a senior-level retail executive at a Fortune 500 company. She packed her bags and headed to Arizona to heal and reflect on her life and purpose.

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nity to help expand the cannabis industry by bringing in the best business practices from traditional retailers. Inspired, she created the framework for MJM Strategy and shared her vision with the family. As her older sister, I believed in the vision, but was initially uncertain about leaving my twenty- year career in communications for an industry that wasn’t fully legal in New York, my home state. I’m a wife and mother, and had to broach the subject gently with my more socially conservative husband. Decades of social-conditioning made us both hesitant. We had worked hard to move beyond our working-class upbringing in East New York,one of Brooklyn’s most notorious neighborhoods. We recognized how tenuous success could be for people of color, particularly in a volatile economic climate and that any misstep, like a drugrelated arrest, could curtail a promising future. Ice, the baby sister, jumped in with Millennial eagerness. The second official MJM employee, she rode shotgun for all the excitement and uncertainty of the company’s first year, flying across the country from coast to coast for a dizzying number of cannabis conferences and events, and managing the social media platforms that recorded every exhilarating moment. Ice became known as the Cannabis Socialite, on the scene for the trendiest industry gatherings and exploring cannabis culture from an unapologetically girly-girl point of view. She is a white-clad whirling dervish at events, snapping selfies, on all the social medias, spreading love, peace and cannabis to anyone who’ll listen. After watching Dasheeda and Ice crisscross the country from California to Florida building a diverse client base ranging from small start-ups to sovereign nations, I took the leap, joining the company as a VP and Managing Partner in January 2018. I oversee the content that we create for clients and internal brands and ensure that our messaging is powerful, informative and inspirational. In March 2018, our sister Vida came aboard, tasked with building out a retail operation for The WeedHead™, the content and commerce platform Dasheeda has created to document her experience as a corporate executive turned cannabis trailblazer. Vida is the third of our mother’s four girls, a fitness enthusiast studying to become a certified trainer (she has the best abs of the crew). She has found her

niche by combining cannabis’s wellness benefits with working out. We are the satellites that orbit Dasheeda. She had the courage to walk away from a comfortable life that left her feeling unfulfilled; the vision to recognize cannabis’ enormous potential for wellness, wealth building and transformation. She had the resilience to survive the bootstrapping phases, endless days writing business plans, making pitches and sleeping on friend’s couches when necessary to start and grow the business. With Dasheeda’s growing prestige, the model has shifted to focus on developing our in-house brands, including The WeedHead™. Her mission to broaden access to medical cannabis for all communities and make the industry equitable and just, particularly for those disproportionately impacted by America’s war on drugs, has remained steadfast. But her vision for how this manifests as a revenue-driving business is elastic, moving deftly to fit the rapidly-changing industry. Dasheeda’s advocacy led her to cre-

ate C.E.A.S.E., a non-profit organization aimed at increasing awareness and education about the medical and economic benefits of cannabis for consumers, especially those vulnerable to the racism and classism plaguing America. She’s partnering with organizations like the Drug Policy Alliance, Minorities for Medical Marijuana and local lawmakers across the country to push for restorative justice measures such as record expungement and equity licenses to level the playing field for people imprisoned for low-level drug offenses. But her ultimate gift to the community is the move into formal cannabis education and training. To empower the next generation of cannabis entrepreneurs and investors and increase their chances for success, Dasheeda created an online masterclass and workbook titled How to Succeed in the Green Rush---for entrepreneurs, contractors & professionals. The WeedHead™ masterclasses and workbook series provide a solid foundation for prospective entrants, allowing them to sidestep many mistakes that have bankrupted others chasing dreams of

fast money dancing in the sticky green. For her next big venture, Dasheeda has come full circle, returning to her consumer product background as President and COO of Good Way Brands, a privately held company that develops, markets and distributes its own highquality hemp-based, cannabinoid-infused consumer products and brands. There are no overnight success stories in this industry, and Dasheeda and her little company that could are no different. Our organization is being built brick by brick, by blood, sweat and tears, long nights and client meetings, small events and big ones. It is the culmination of her efforts as a Brooklynborn scholar athlete with the audacity to dream big and play hard and keep going long after everyone else has quit. Others may have more money and connections but no one has more heart. It is Dasheeda’s heart, home of her compassion and courage, that keeps us going, telling us we will win. We choose to believe it. (Sister Act): The Sisters. Left to right: Vida, Imani, Ice, and Dasheeda Dawson. © MJM Strategy

HONEY POT - ISSUE # 08 /June 2019

That White Black Girl Too black for my white friends, but not brown enough for my family. by Amyiah Hillian

I live in Williamsburg, Virginia, a place where approximately 15% of the population identify as “African American” and 73.8% identify as “white alone”. When you are a part of the inferior percentage, as I am, you are taught early in life that if you want to have a chance to succeed you must learn how to bleach your darkness. My mother was raised in the projects of Norfolk. No one in my mother’s family dated outside of our race. There were only ever black people at our Thanksgiving and Christmas parties; there wasn’t a chance you’d find any mixed babies running around. But although I’m not mixed, I always felt lighter skinned than my mother. My family would even poke fun at the way my caramel colored skin laid against her cocoa complexion. They would taunt me, “You must really think you’re white now.” When I first started elementary school, all my friends were Caucasian. I remember there was one girl in my class whose skin tone was more like my mother’s. Looking back at those school photos now I find her to be the sweetest looking child but back then I loathed her, even though we never spoke. I was only six years old and had yet to understand why it was that I disliked her, only that the feeling seemed natural. I didn’t realize the ways that colorism can seep itself into one’s childhood, that my white friends were unconsciously being fed racism at home and passing it along to me. I didn’t understand that the taunts of my African American family would lead me to racially stereotype those who looked just like me. When you are both black and sensitive, it can be crippling, especially when you are young. My family would scold me after hearing me 84

stretch out my words “juuussst” or “liiikkke”, among each race at my school. She was conwhich resulted in them yelling at me to “Stop sidered to be a “white black girl”: just white talking white.” I was in first grade and their enough to fit in with the white kids and just words never failed to make me cry. In my black enough to be looked to as a token. The mind I was simply talking, not trying to sound older I got, the harder it was to obtain this like anyone but myself. oversaturated image of what a black female Over time, I became very self-conscious. I’d was supposed to be. barely open my mouth when going thrifting When I turned twenty, I set a plan in mowith my grandmother in Norfolk and when tion to free myself from the place where I was I did dare to talk, people would stare at me. I raised. I transferred to an art college in New knew not to discuss my interest in Deep Pur- York City, where I knew every part of me ple with my family; that was designated for my would be valued. I wanted to fall in love, to white school friends. The word hair wouldn’t be around those that sounded and looked like ever leave my mouth if I wasn’t surrounded by me. I wanted to know what it felt like to simother kinky and coil- haired women. ply be without judgement. This joy released itEight hours a day, five days a week, for eight- self from inside my body when I witnessed all een years I was surrounded by people with these people of color conversing in diverse diafrosted complexions. Often I felt like the only lects and styles. After three years of living in brown child in the classroom. What I wanted New York, when I visit home, I now notice the more than anything was for my family to un- lack of brown faces at restaurants, or the stares derstand that suffocating feeling I got when when I am shopping for food. I want to shout, the wooden beads dangling from my hair “I’m just like you, living and breathing!” were labeled as a distraction, or how small I felt when my third grade teacher sent me to With my family, I can now voice this frustradetention because she didn’t think I was action and their mocking stings a little less. My tually reading in class (“there was no possible shouting “I am just like you!” has been turned way a colored child could be reading that fast,” into a conversation. she’d said.) Eventually, I was even able to ig- My mother also grew up to be more than just nore the comments about being “pretty/smart her surroundings. She raised children and has for a black girl.” succeeded beyond every limiting perception In high school, I got used to being single, be- of what she was to be or not be. Maybe she cause being a “carefree black girl” wasn’t quite and my other taunting family members are “in” yet. The boys would clump all the choc- finally beginning to understand that their narolate girls together, leaving us to sink to the rative falls in solidarity with mine. The shade bottom of the dating pool. In order to climb of your skin does not have anything to do with the social ladder, you had to be able to quickly your intellect, your confidence, your interest, code-switch, dress to fit in and most impor- your worth, or who you turn out to be in this tantly have straight hair. I could count on one world. Nothing about me takes away from my hand how many African American girls in my blackness. school rocked their natural coiled hair; out (That White Black Girl): © Amyiah Hillian of that handful, only one of them was liked

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THROUGH THE EYES OF A MOTHER By Dr. Claudia Harris

wake up with an impulse to write the words of my heart: being a daughter, a lover, a touter of feminine power, a sister of African descent… a mother.

As a mother I look at our current events, at the resemblance of this 2019 to the 1960s and 1970s to create awareness that hopes to spring society into an awakened position. I look at the obvious calling for tolerance. From my vantage point, it seems tolerance may not be the thing to call for. Being a nurturer, protector, cheerleader, dream cultivator, wound healer, Mother – it seems the correct play is for embracing. A call to action would need to be one that rallies the embracing of human beings. The call begins with the clearing of false beliefs, removing facts rooted in ignorance or shame taught to many and immortalized in text. To make the call productive means inequality and practices of dehumanizing must be revisited, the logic aired out, and the humanizing connectors of truth uncovered, then publicly shared. Allow another human being to exist in peace without undue threats of violence, oppression, abuse of any kind; allow them to be treated without bias without prejudice without assumptions and inequalities. My children should be able to access the living practice of the unfulfilled dream of Dr. King without the present-day tokenism: In order for my darlings to enjoy the process of living this life from their heart space first, there needs to be a conversation. A conversation that addresses the ill-placed logic that somehow people of African descent do not reason, do not feel pain, do not think analytically, do not have or appreciate culture in the same way as people of European descent do. A conversation addressing the fact that today’s society still look at my children in wonderment as my babies display their natural curiosity about the world around them. A conversation that looks at our country’s beautiful Constitution, the language and manner in which race and slavery practices are hidden within the text: Article I, Section 2, Clause 3: “Other persons.” Article I, Section 9, Clause 1: “Such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit.” Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3: “Person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof.” See as we have sown seeds of bigotry, shame and make calls for tolerance, we have not changed at our root, like in the Confederate states’ Constitution of old.. As a mother, this is alarming because I am among people of various self-proclaimed ethnicities, ages, educational backgrounds, varying economic standing who enjoy saying, “Things have changed…” At last in my strongest, most alluring, encouraging voice, I state firmly things have not changed, merely changed in outward presentation. Yes, shifting the presentation of something gives the illusion of change, but change is evident in the release of previous habits and doctrines with the replacing of doctrines and habits rooted in truth. Truth that comprehends that pain is pain, no matter how we present while enduring the pain; truth that comprehends the people of African descent, like those of European descent, reason, analyze, appreciate culture and cherish family; truth that comprehends and acts on the understanding that people of African descent are just as humane as people of European, Asian or any other descent. I caution my children, as do many mothers of color who aspire to birth and cultivate offspring they’d like to see surpass their own ac-

complishments. I caution and dare them to see the world as a place to thrive despite the miseducation that they will encounter. To lead with their hearts, to dream big bodacious dreams that will cause them to embrace themselves first and then embrace others. This is a teaching of old, still painfully relevant today. Back in 1889 the wealthy African-American businessman Mr. O.W. Gurley purchased 40 acres of land in Tulsa, Oklahoma to support this aspiration and sold parcels to assist, stipulating that his property could only come under black ownership. Greenwood, the community built on those acres, was established in 1906 and continued to thrive. It would later be referred to as Black Wall Street. Greenwood was self-sufficient, separate from the Jim Crow-ridden neighboring towns, illustrating that despite alienation and mistaken beliefs, black people are more than capable of doing all things any other human being can do. Then one day an undisclosed incident occurs between a teenage black boy and a white female elevator operator, resulting in a two-day annihilation of Greenwood. What precisely happened in the elevator is still not known today. However, that did not stop the torment and destruction that ensued. Today the 1921 riots are considered among the most violent race-related events in our country’s history, leaving approximately 300 African-Americans dead, over 800 in hospitals, and more than 6,000 arrested. When the National Guard was called in, their suppression efforts focused almost entirely on detaining Greenwood’s black residents rather than identifying the initial mob of white aggressors. Amid other parts of the chaos, homemade explosives and incendiary bombs dropped by private planes from a nearby airfield helped destroy more than 35 blocks of the once-prosperous district. The survivors that chose to go back to Greenwood found it difficult to do, but committed to their task. Rebuilding was arduous, with slippery slopes masked as assistance that yearned to steal the land from the displaced. It took a decade to rebuild Greenwood to a shadow of its former glory. After 98 years, the wrongs committed during the two-day race riots have yet to be addressed, nor reparations made to Greenwood’s displaced surviving families. Bringing us to a familiar quiet that haunts African-American communities to this day. Presently in 2019, I grapple with the fact that my children may have to be more resilient than I was. Hearing the forceful calls for tolerance and witnessing the superficial changes, I reiterate change is not topical but foundational. The heart’s truth needs to take place in the familiar surroundings of our homes, clubs, institutions of religion to focus on practices such as“poor race relations.” If the societal conversations regarding race, inherent practices of hiding and sighting those of African descent along with the general desensitizing of matters involving those people of color does not take place as a matter of public health, or of respect for oneself and others. Healing for wholeness and improving the quality of life, is something I need to train my babies to do. I’ll also teach them to be as cunning as a snake, as peaceful as a dove, as strategic as chess and oware moves. All photos are from Blackkklansman aFocus Features release. © David Lee / Focus Features

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

Hearing the Silent Cries By: Jourdan Espeut

“I started Silent Cry out of my own silent tears.”

orn to a mother incarcerated at the Corona State Prison for Women in California, Shawanna Vaughn got a taste of the world’s tainted system early. At nine years old, her father died and she lost her older brother to gang violence. “For me, it started a course of discourse,” she said. “Nobody ever thinks about the siblings in these situations. I became a wild child. I turned to the streets.” The streets provided Shawanna with something she couldn’t receive from home: emotional refuge. “The streets [give] a euphoria to anyone seeking any kind of consoling or safety.” It wasn’t long until her dangerous behavior caught up with her. At 17, she was sentenced to five years in prison for robbery. While incarcerated, Vaughn received no rehabilitation. I saw the pain in her eyes as she recounted her years trapped in a cell: working arduous hours assembling machinery, shuddering at clicking sounds in the night, and sharing a cramped space with three other women. “It’s the new plantation. Mass incarceration is nothing but an industrial slave shop. We talk about people overseas in sweatshops, but we ignore inmates being victimized and tortured. Once you go to jail, you’re forgotten.” Vaughn said. Looking back, she’s not surprised she ended up there. “Young people get lost in the trauma. Getting lost in the trauma causes adverse reactions. We don’t go to therapy. We suppress everything. We don’t even know what suppression is.” By “We”, Vaughn was referring to Black people. Mental health is a stigma in the Black community. Instead of seeking out professional help, we oftentimes mask our pain with drugs or suffer internally. According to the Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, African Americans are 20% more likely to experience mental health issues like depression and anxiety. This is due in part to a higher exposure to violence and poverty—an issue Vaughn hopes to end with Silent Cry

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Inc. “Mental health and hope is being diminished by the injustice system. Dignity is nonexistent. Not everyone makes it out.” But Shawanna has defied the odds. Asked how, she said, “I had to will myself.” Perhaps one of the most surprising outcomes from Vaughn’s incarceration is that she was able to forgive her brother’s murderer. “Redemption is for everyone. It was important for me to forgive so that I could continue my own healing.” After being released in 2000, she experienced a culture-shock. Gone were the days of beepers and fifteen cent pay phones. She felt alienated from her family. It wasn’t long until she made her way to New York City. After working for Operation: SNUG, an anti-violence program under the de Blasio administration, Vaughn thought her life was back on track. That is until she allegedly had to fend off gang recruiters in her own work space. Vaughn sprung to action. “I’ve been called to a fight that I didn’t start, but I’ll die in it. This is not a choice to want to heal my community. This is not a job. It’s not a moment—it’s a movement. Somebody heard my silent cries. I’ll be there to hear others’.” In 2011, she started the nonprofit organization Silent Cry Inc. Its aim is to provide resources to those dealing with trauma and loss due to gang violence and police brutality, in addition to aiding women recently released from jail with counseling services. Through events like the annual Healing Through Pain Gala, a day to honor twenty-five parents and siblings who are victims of violence, Vaughn is able to bring members of the Black community together. Her most recent gala, held December 2018 at New York’s famed Riverside Church, featured insights from such illustrious speakers as media personality Martha Reeves Jews; Matt Meyer, co-convener of the War Resisters International Africa Working Group; legendary poet Sonia Sanchez, a cornerstone member of the Black Arts Movement, and Oscarnominated writer/producer Jamal Joseph, a former Black Panther. Now a 40 year-old mother of two, she juggles Silent Cry Inc. and a full-time job as a massage therapist. This is no easy feat, coupled with an impending legal battle against Operation: SNUG (she’ll be representing herself ), and a heart condition that has left her dependent on a defibulator. Silent Cry Inc. plans to expand in 2019 with the introduction of Paint through Pain to highlight more issues, such as physical health and domestic violence. Amazingly, Shawanna Vaughn remains resilient. It’s evident nothing will keep her from putting the pieces of her village back together.

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Hair (Sandy for Grateful Dreads). The microbraidwig was made in Nigeria. Make up; Samantha Leur Model: Tiffany Kendall (@kengeta) Photos: Darrien Pope

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BLACK ART

Art by Brette Sims

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Artist Brette Sims, founder of STUK Designs, in her studio ÂŠ Brette Sims / STUK Designs.

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WOMAN-LED ARTS TRANSFORMING THE WORLD WITH BRETTE SIMS By Chadley Britton This world is full of magic makers and visionaries, voices which are loud and proud and unable to be silenced. I have had the honor to interview one such powerful artistic force. Brette Sims is a feminist artist and founder of STUK Designs, an art organization and nonprofit brand dedicated to empowering self-love education for girls and women in underserved communities internationally. Her educational background and passion are seen in every vibrant brush stoke and in her advocacy work with girls everywhere from Watts, Los Angeles to Kumasi, Ghana. Based out of California, Sims recently returned from helping transform the art program at Kumasi’s Diamond Academy, where she provided essential resources from shoes to pencils and coloring books to local schoolchildren. As Brette likes to say, “Self-love propels girls into women of purpose” - a motto she inspiringly embodies. Your art is so powerful! Where do you draw inspiration from? I draw inspiration from the women I have met, feminists of the world, the beauty and color of nature. How did you create STUK Designs? Well, it started in college while at LMU [Loyola Marymount University, California] as a part of my senior thesis project. I would make handprinted shirts with empowering words on them and sell them on campus. I began thinking, how can we get empowering messages out to more people? I am a feminist at my core and I wanted to create a way for women to empower themselves, a place where they could come together and talk and teach each other about self-love. I had had not-so-great experiences in my own personal life and I felt there had to be some way to combat this feeling. So [a group of us] began printing shirts with [self-love] messages and images and shared them. Where did the name STUK come from? (Laughs) We were throwing around names for the group and for the better part of all the name searching we were stuck. Literally. Then we looked at the word “stuck” itself and used that, but changed it around to STUK, which stands for Strong, Talented, United, & Knowledgeable. We now provide a loving community and online platform where growing girls

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

are supported by strong women. We also host community events and art shows inspired by the “each one teach one” philosophy… Through art we aim to inspire girls and women to live without fear and, with inner love, to maintain lasting success. You just got back from Ghana! What was the purpose of your trip? I went to Ghana through an amazing opportunity to work with a children’s school there called the Diamond Academy and help their art program. The people were very welcoming and I felt in love with the patterns and tribal aesthetic, which I drew a lot of inspiration from for my own work. What was the most amazing thing about being there? It was such a whirlwind experience; it 94

taught me so much about my own life and humbled me in the most gracious way. It made me think about all the things I take for granted back home. There were power outages every week, usually from 7pm till daylight. It was such a regular thing . There were no cell phones and no cameras, (laughs) and definitely no wifi. Some of the little girls had no shoes or school supplies. If the parents can’t afford shoes or lunch money, they can’t [attend school]. It was such a huge lesson of gratitude. The community in Kumasi has a great need. Many girls [there] live in one-room shack-style homes with many siblings and families that often have little to no money. Traveling to Ghana, [STUK provided] girls’ shoes and custom #STUKGIRL coloring books. The girls went crazy when we gave them their own books, pencils and crayons because they had never had their own supplies before…

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They finished the coloring books we gave them in a day! What are your visions for your future and STUK Designs? I want to be invited to travel through my art and company to work with more girls in Africa. To trust the process of this crazy thing called life. (Laughs) I create vision boards to help me stay diligent about goals and how I can manifest them. One vision I’ll share is that I wish to get more funding to open up a larger-scale venue to have people (girls and women especially) to come and find joy and create art for themselves. I recently got approved to start an after-school program here in L.A. with undeveloped schools and its neighbors at the Resolute Academy, which is a charter school in Watts. I am thrilled! It’s once a week with middle school girls. Teaching young girls self-love is so important and I know they will carry that

power and love through their adolescence and into their careers and relationships. Do vision boards really work for you? Oh, yes! The vision board has helped me learn to trust the process of life and the journey. It’s not always easy, but it keeps me grounded. I encourage the girls in my program as well as friends to use this tool of manifesting as well as journaling and being mindful of their thoughts. Do you do commissioned work? Yes! I love working with women who come to me for pieces; from logos and flyers to personal [creations]. It’s important to me that all women are represented and to see how uplifted they are when they get their own personalized work. What do you do to relax with your busy life? I love to relax with friends and family. They are

a huge part of keeping me sane and I can be myself around them. I also love yoga and hiking. I’m a huge dog lover! I love food, but sushi is my absolute favorite. It’s important to me to have down time, as I think everyone should; we focus so much on grinding and working that we neglect taking care of ourselves.

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

Ask An Exotic White Guy By Samuel Clemens Long

White people have been up to some craaazy shit. What if I told you there was a shadow organization that wants to: Eliminate unions, suppress voting, stop action on climate change. Deny basic services – schools, roads, sanitation - to those who can’t pay for them. End Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, business regulations. Privatize all education and everything from public parks to toll roads. Bring back child labor and end minimum wage. Enshrine protection and enhancement of corporate profits into the fabric of our laws. End government-backed air, water and earth protections. Increase police for putting down popular anger. They want to promote all of this by burning their change into the Constitution. Oh… and end democracy in America, to “give us freedom.” They’re called Libertarians. And you thought Libertarians were kooky politicians who wanted to legalize weed. NOPE. The fact that you don’t think Libertarians are dark Sith lords hell-bent on revolutionizing America into a slavery era nightmare proves my point. This is not crazy tinfoil hat stuff. This is well documented. Start with Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean. These Libertarians got caught with their dicks in the cookie jar, so many times, that it became necessary to bring “freedom” to America by only the most devious ways possible: conspiratorial secrecy and outright propaganda (and seizing the elections of judges and state level politics.) But this sounds familiar, you say. It’s colorblind greed. Just rich white people wanting to maintain power and wealth. They don’t care who is affected. Again, NOPE. This is the vision of two men, James McGill Buchanan (not the ex-prez) and Charles Koch, and it’s absolutely based on race.

It all started with the end of slavery. In the 1800s the majority said, “No more owning people” and the wildly rich (on the backs of black slaves), propertied class, said, “That’s not fair; you shouldn’t be able to tell us how to run our businesses.” We settled the debate with a war. Then came black kids saying, “I deserve the same education as white kids,” to which rich white folk responded, “You can’t use my money to educate n*****s, even though the federal supreme court says so. If you do I’ll shut down all schools and privatize education, so I can exclude black children.” Which they actually did for a while. By the 1950s this got our boy Buchanan thinking, This is some bullshit; this is really the case of the majority stealing from the people making the economy successful. We are the victims here. Buchanan dedicated a lifetime, earning himself a Nobel prize in 1986, to the idea that the will of the majority shouldn’t infringe on the “freedom” of the individual (rich white man) to make money, however he sees fit. Enter Charles Koch, who like every other industrialist, is basically Satan but donates to PBS occasionally. Koch immediately saw that outright and very unpopular assaults on public institutions was no vice. Backed by his billions over the past several decades, Koch has orchestrated a stealth takeover of American democracy. So where’s the racism? Buchanan, the architect, warned in response to Brown v. Board of Education, of “colored heels upon white necks” creating a “negro supremacy.” In 2005, Buchanan again commented that people who failed to save money for future needs “are to be treated as subordinate members of the species, akin to… animals who are dependent.” Koch weighs in through his philanthropic organization/ institution/school whose motto is “Proba te Dignum” – “Prove Yourself Worthy.” The rallying cry of conservative commentator Jack Kilpatrick for why the federal government shouldn’t help black people: they should “earn” any improved standing. These are just words, but let’s look at words leading to actions. MacLean in her book points to economist Tyler

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Cowen, Buchanan’s successor. In his blog, Cowen prescribes (however literally or figuratively), “lower income parts of America ‘recreating a Mexico-like or Brazillike environment’ complete with favelas like those in Rio de Janeiro. The ‘quality of water’ might not be up to what U.S. citizens are used to.” Enter Flint a locally popular democraticallyelected government, replaced by a state level appointee, changes the water supply that results in the lead poisoning of black majority residents. All “legally” brought to you by Koch, who funded and staffed the Mackinac Center think tank which oversaw the switch. Flint was not by accident, but by design. But it can get much worse. Pinochet’s Chile was the wet dream of the Libertarians. Buchanan personally helped design their constitution and economy, for maximum “freedom.” A freedom that could only operate under a brutal dictator known for mass killings and torture. Pinochet crushed unions and radically altered education, healthcare and social security. Sound familiar? This is what the Libertarians want. This may sound like a conspiracy theory. But then, it might actually be a conspiracy. Replace democracy with dictatorship/ oligarchy, rewrite the U.S. Constitution, and it’s all actually happening right now. All because of the fear that a little melanin strikes into white hearts.

netic mentoring force at the nonprofit organization Lead by Example Reverse the Trend, assisting disaffected Black and Hispanic youth, keeping them out of trouble and educating them about their self-worth. He helps detained men and women, and others on probation, to get the assistance they need during that tumultuous time. He participates in anti-gun seminars, effectively addresses street violence, and brings awareness to the police brutality disproportionately affecting the Black community.

ARTHUR RAMBERT: FROM PRISONER TO PAYING IT FORWARD By Lauren Jones

As of February 21, 2018, people of color comprised only 37% of the United States’ population, but were 67% of all prisoners. This staggering statistic has more to do with institutionalized racism, the impetus for the prison industrial complex (PIC), than the severity of the crimes committed. PIC is a term used to describe the interconnected interests of government and industry that utilize surveillance, policing and imprisonment as answers to economic and sociopolitical problems. The PIC promotes a social engineering agenda in media propaganda pandered to certain demographics to project a path of limited options. At one time, Arthur Rambert subscribed to the program of substandard and limited mindsets prevalent in his community; despite pursuing higher education. Rambert grew up in The Bronx, receiving all of his compulsory schooling there before attending Virginia State University. While in college, the unthinkable happened. A friend was shot; Arthur retaliated and found himself convicted of robbery and murder in the first degree. He faced a life sentence and the continuous cycle of self-loathing from having taken a life. While incarcerated, he read 350 books which led him to become more enlightened and self-aware; he was eventually released after 25 years. Rambert doesn’t want others to go through what he did and is now a champion for at-risk Black and Hispanic youth. “When I interact with young Black and Hispanic men, you know they don't know that they're great because they don't see a lot of greatness. We seek happiness in other things. We become a savage in the pursuit of happiness, not knowing that happiness ensues instead of having to be pursued,” says Rambert. “Happiness should be long lived-in, not short-lived through material items. But that's when you're coming from an environment with nothing. You tend to place your value on material esteem instead of selfesteem.” The formerly incarcerated African-American man is now a staunch advocate for prison reform and a mag-

“I had the opportunity to align myself with Antonio Hendrickson, who is the CEO and head founder of Lead by Example Reverse the Trend, and he started this organization in the federal prison system,” says Rambert. “It's a cure violence program where he goes into the schools and he interacts… one-on-one and turns all schools back into a safe havens. Turns young boys into young men through training, through mentorship, through self-awareness, and community development.” As Hendrickson helped him, Rambert is now paying it forward in his work. Hendrickson, Rambert and other mentors use their lived experience to provide a new way out of the insidious incarceration mechanizations that have their arms outstretched. Mentorship programs are a sophisticated counter to the power structure. They advocate for brighter futures and making better choices through one-on-one counseling. “[Hendrickson] afforded me an opportunity when I came home to give back. You know it is the best part because the best form of getting back is giving back,” says Rambert. “We do protective policing, which is interacting with the police department and the community. Getting the police aware of the community… [Hendrickson] built social capital, a social network, and he showed me how to do the same.” The program operates at locations such the Horizon Detention Center in The Bronx under the guise of Friends of Island Academy. “I do one-hour workshops dealing with gunfights, offering young men all of the alternatives to gun violence, showing them a better way to channel their anger; basically more or less conflict resolution,” says Rambert. “How to downplay a situation instead of inviting a situation.” He also has volunteered for the Alliance of Families for Justice (AFJ), an organization founded by world-renowned actor Danny Glover and Soffiyah Elijah, a civil rights advocate and criminal defense attorney who became the first Black woman to serve as Executive Director of the Correctional Association of New York. AFJ understands that reforming the criminal justice system starts with individuals, families, and communities affected by of mass incarceration. New York state prisons alone have a population comprised of nearly 80 percent Black and Latino people. Rambert understands that the media furthers the PIC by poisoning young minds to think they only have certain options, landing them in the same traps. This is because certain corporations want to reap the benefits of low-cost prison labor. The Netflix documentary 13thexposes how the Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in 1865, states that slavery is legal as a punishment for crime. Congress actually incentivizes private industries to get inmates to do labor. “People have their own agenda and big businesses and big companies get behind and market these agendas to the point where the small powers and the people are always going to be dis-

ruptors,” says Rambert. “That's why oftentimes when you invest in people you're making the most marketable investment ever, because people are the best asset on the stock market.” Rambert wants to start his own mentorship program called Saving Lives Using Mentors. His unwavering dedication can be seen on Instagram, where he speaks from the heart in empowering videos. “I just offer ideas and techniques that will help them get to the root of this self-hate,” he says. “Self-hate is the root of a lot of problems for young men and women today. If they can just see the value in themselves… Antonio Hendrickson has told us how to share marketing skills, teach them business, offer them on-job training, showing them how to tie a tie. Just something as simple as that can bring young people into a better way of thinking.” Rambert acknowledges that there is a lack of critical thinking being taught in schools, which can reinforce distorted views of self. Schools propagate ideologies that don’t reflect the needs and values of minorities, thus instilling the vicious cycle of self-hate and distrust of authority. This creates antisocial behavior because of institutionalized lack of cultural learning. “There's some books in some of these schools that their uncles may have been taught out of,” says Rambert. “Update the information, so that we can be on a level playing field as well. Don't teach me about my greatness just in February. Show me how I can be great every day.” Rambert is also focused on financial empowerment and has a list of things that youth of color could use to improve their futures. “Economic opportunities or the options to see more people bring in more… trades, school, and opportunities. You have S.T.E.M., you have technology. What about the individual who may not know that this is readily accessible? Don't write him off because he might have his pants down. Don't write him off because he doesn't speak properly or as correct as he should right now. Don't write him off because in his mind he's a genius.” Police brutality is yet another issue Rambert confronts, an aspect of the PIC and an outgrowth of the military industrial complex where militarized police forces are often detrimental to the communities they’re supposed to serve and protect. “Well, you know when they're in our areas they are trained differently and all they see is generally targets,” says Rambert. “There's always probable cause. I can be in my car and bat my eyes and police can say that's probable cause because you look nervous... That's a natural response but that can be deemed probable cause for them to search your vehicle and give you a hard time.” There is so much work to do, but Rambert is up to the task. “I came from the whole situation and to come back and be able to give back is a beautiful thing… Being successful means the ability to give of myself to others and share so much of who I am that I enrich others through my experience,” says Rambert. “So lead by example… Boots on the ground… We confront it head on because we shouldn't have to be afraid of our own people and that's what I want. To welcome our young men and young women… They're our sons, they're our daughters, they're our nieces. Why be afraid of them?”

DECIPHERING THE CYPHER

EXPLORING HIPHOP’S SPIRITUAL ESSENCE BY DX21 Dasun There was a time when aboriginal societies would listen to nature, commune with trees and seas and converse with cats, caterpillars and chameleons. But now the soils of savannahs, the grasses of Great Plains and the thickets of forests are replaced by asphalt, concrete jungles, and brick and mortar experiments known as housing projects. The city-dwelling descendants of the aboriginals chat with cats in cyberspace; cats that used to be hip to jazz but now they rock and roll with reservoir road dogs trapped in “trap” who kill at will to “drill.” They won’t hesitate to sic the wolves on you; not realizing their rap renditions are transitions of timeless traditions. There are some who see the connection between Hiphop and the ancient cultures of its creators; the pulsating energies of native spirituality, West African mysticism and infusions of Eastern teachings. Thing is, today’s downloads have little to do with 98

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deliberate vision quests. The rituals rarely recognize reaffirmations of relations to righteous realms. The hiphoppas listen to different types of streams than the babbling brooks of their ancestors. Jay-Z said the streets are watching, but what’s more, if you listen, the streets talk and the streets are teaching. But living in Bob’s Babylon, it’s hard to see what the sidewalks have to say of the spirit. Old Man Streets has prowled and pounded Harlem’s pavement since it was strewn in the 60’s with shattered glass and syringes. A ‘street scientist’ for around a half a century, he has spent over two decades as a cultural critic and political correspondent with the community press. “Music has always been spiritual,” says Streets. “The magic word in spiritual is ‘ritual.’ What’s more ritual than music?” Spirituality has many names with the realm of Hiphop culture, whether it’s called being ‘woke,’ consciousness or cultural awareness; it’s alluding to the same phenomenon. And while JudeoChristian traditions are always prevalent within the ethos, in this context, spirituality is being referenced outside of that frame. “I think that anything black people create, there is always going to be a connection to spirituality, because we are spiritual people, even if we don’t want to claim that; that’s who we are,” says Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets. The legendary and revolutionary artist collective is recognized as the ultimate forerunner, precursor and foundational element of Hiphop’s linguistics. “Every living thing has a beat, a pulsation of some kind, and hip hop amplifies that beat in a big way so that it becomes dominant, and then you ride words over the top of the beat,” says Oyewole. “When you’re dealing with that type of thing, that’s a call to Africa in many ways. Many of our hip hop artists probably don’t realize that, but that beat is a sound calling out to Africa, and they’re riding the waves to go back home. I don’t know if many of them have made that connection, but that is the direct connection.” Author, artist and activist, Supa Nova Slom, the Hiphop Medicine

Man; a student and teacher of Kemetic and Native American sciences, sees even deeper into the dark waters within the veil. The son of renowned holistic healer and Kemetic priestess, Queen Afua, Slom has long been entrenched in the ancient teachings and makes many correlations. “If you was a graffiti writer in an ancient Kemet (Egypt) you were writing hieroglyphs, you were writing on the walls. So we’ve always had tagging on the walls—man has been tagging walls since man came on the planet,” says Slom. “And then we had the stewards of sound—the DJs, the beat-maker, the drum-maker. And then you have the [djali] (the griot in French): the orator, the MC. And then you have the breakers, the ones who would do the ceremonial dance. So you have all these tenets and all these elements. And then you had the fifth personality, the one that had the knowledge of the Godhead that would tie everybody together.”

that intuition of who you really are, rather than who society tells you you are. We knew we were kings and queens. These mothaph*ckas were trying to tell us different, and through hip hop we were able to tap into our spiritual side regardless of what society was trying to say we were. “

Slom links hand signs prevalent in Hiphop street culture to the ritualistic poses of yoga’s tantric mudras. He speaks of relations between dancing in the streets and dances seen at Native American powwows among other connections. “We can go to Kenya, we can go to the Congo and Zululand. We can see how they would use the drum, and they would chant to the drum in masses,” says Slom. “They’d form a cypher, and perform in a circle and kind of like how you have breaking. Then you’d have folks dancing and folks chanting, chanting the dances on, kind of like how we would get into a cypher. We would chant back and forth to raise the energy.”

Artist, cultural icon and Hiphop purveyor and tastemaker Fab Five Freddy concurs. “It was an organic development primarily because the Five Percent had such a strong spiritual urban connection to some of the most dynamic brothers and sisters on the street,” says Freddy. “That goes back to the 60’s, but mid80’s into early 90’s as Hiphop shifted into high gear, many of the leading rappers were a part of the Five Percent Nation and infused their rhymes with those ideas, ideologies and that dynamic way of speaking and also thinking.”

While the cypher may historically descend from ancient sacred circles of chant, dance and drum, in Hiphop, it is directly influenced by the “knowledge of self ” consciousness of The Nation of Gods and Earths, commonly known as Five Percenters. ‘Cypher’ is a corruption of the Five Percenter term ‘cipher,’ which has many meanings within God and Earth society. “Getting in the cipher? What do you think the cipher was?” says Streets, one of many longtime advisors to Nation of Gods and Earths members. “The cipher ain’t nothing but what Gods was doing; getting in the cipher dropping bombs on each other… they [just] started doing it musically.”

(Hiphop): Upper left 1: © Fab 5 Freddy Upper left 2: © Poetic Life Photography Bottom left 1: Blue Pill, YouTube screengrab © blackmagik363 Bottom left 2: YouTube screengrab © blackmagik363

Slom passionately asserts the debt Hiphop owes the Gods and Earths, even suggesting that rappers give five percent of their income to build a Five Percenter learning institution in Harlem. Even a writer was exposed through Hiphop to the Nation of Gods and Earths and to Dancehall, which ultimately led to the discovery of Rastafari. The spirit rituals of music and culture are very powerful. “If you ever look at the Universal Parliament and how the Gods [and Earths] got up and expressed themselves,” says Streets. “That was a whole new thing.” A thing Streets and many others say are at the foundation of Hiphop.

That ‘whole new thing’ Streets spoke of was often at odds with the traditional Judeo-Christian spirituality of the American mainstream; one that many in the Hiphop world found historically oppressive. Streets sees a conflict akin to a Neil Gaiman novel with the ‘Old Gods” of the Judeo-Christian elite in opposition to the ‘New Gods’ of Hiphop. “We’ve been creating it; they’ve been controlling it… That’s why it’s so hard to put out a conscious record,” says Streets. “You see how they hushed the real God of rap, Rakim. Eminem and all the ones they praise, praise him, but they can’t praise him because he says he’s God and he’s going to say the Blackman is God… How come he never got a Grammy?”

It was through the street corner, rooftop and playground ciphers that the Gods and Earths spread their teachings; the ciphers culminating in their monthly meeting, the Universal Parliament. This whirlwind of street science swept through New York City and was deeply embedded in the youth culture during the same period as the genesis of Hiphop. This cross-pollination influenced the international Hiphop society of The Zulu Nation and eventually impacted the culture directly through acts such as Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Poor Righteous Teachers, Brand Nubian, Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Erykah Badu and countless others.

But was it really a new thing or just a continuation of what always was? It is compelling to note that Oyewole, a Hiphop forefather whose fingers help fashion the aesthetic, is a practitioner of Ifa, the West African science permeating Yoruba, Santeria, Candomble, Vodou and many other historical and Neo-African mystical practices. Whether conscious or unconscious, this strong undercurrent flows within Hiphop culture as West African people are the primary African element of African-American ancestry. “Many of us are not aware, but in all things, yes, Ifa has a lot to do with us,” says Oyewole. “The majority of the Africans who they tried to make slaves… the majority of the people who they captured, apprehended, and put on those boats came from… the places that were practicing Yoruba.”

Brand Nubian’s Lord Jamar presents an understanding of Hiphop’s spirituality shaped by decades of Five Percenter study. “I would label it as ‘rolling with your true self;’ rolling with more of your higher self than your lower self,” says Jamar. “Going with

Oyewole sees Ifa running rampant in Hiphop. “When you start dealing with beats and rhythms, you’re dealing with the whole African tradition, and of course there is no greater tradition than dealing with the Orishas, those big personalities, “says OyeISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

cieties; for better or worse, the rapper holds a similar role in modern day. “We see how the knowledge of the [djali], the storyteller, how that also was a theme in the native traditions and African traditions,” says Slom. “[So too,] we see how the MC’s story tell, and tell us of their surroundings, about legends, [and] about the people that came before them.” While thanks to strong connections to Rastafari, Reggae has retained a regal amount of the spirit ritual; rap has been sapped of a lot of its mysticism. At one time or another, even teachings such as Buddhism and Hinduism have made their way into the music and culture. Slom talks of how many schools of thought were united in Hiphop such as the Moorish Science Temple, The Nation of Islam, the Nuwabian/Ansar Allah community, the Black Hebrew Israelites currently influencing stars such as Kendrick Lamar and Kodak Black; and even Rastafari.

wole. “I can look at Biggie and I can look at Tupac and I can see Obatala and I can see Shango. I can look at Queen Latifah and see Yemoja. I can look at Foxy Brown and see Oshun.” It the ability to see his people in the Orishas that attracted Oyewole to Ifa in the first place. “They had Gods that reflected the personalities of people who I actually knew—and I could recognize those Gods walking the street. Now many people don’t recognize them because we are not taught that. We’re Christian, we’re into this Christianity and we try to make Jesus work for everything and Jesus is just one of the Gods, he’s not all of them,” says Oyewole. “We are a multi-god people, and they all have a place and should all be respected.” Streets, Freddy and Oyewole all say that the tradition of toasting, telling streets tales in rhyme, played a part in the verbal pugilism of rap. Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of The Last Poets’ 1973 rendition of the traditional toast, “Hustlers’ Convention,” is considered a watershed moment in Hiphop’s evolution. Toasting itself is connected to the djali; the historical and spiritual repository of information in West African culture. Some sources seek to categorize toasting (the chanting of a Dancehall Deejay) in Jamaican Reggae as being different or distinct from African-American toasting rather than recognizing their commonality in the djali; with variations being geographical. It is such compartmentalization, mainly due to marketing considerations, that helps to keep the current manifestations of mystical music and mythmaking cut off from, and without the explicit contextualization of, its cultural root. As the djali perpetuated (and continues to perpetuate) the cultural content and context needed to maintain and advance African so100

the synergies of spiritual traditions, some see oppositions and conflicts. “It was the JudeoChristian visionaries who put mothaph*ckas out like Biggie. Biggie turned the wheel. So rap swerved away from consciousness to money.” It’s poignantly poetic to point out that The Notorious B.I.G.’s first single appropriated the penultimate lines of Oyewole’s classic recording with The Last Poets; “When the Revolution Comes.” Where the Last Poet ended his piece is where Biggie Smalls began. “There was a big part of me that was hurt that it was misused because it was something that I was saying that we should not do, because we should really be preparing for revolution,’ says Oyewole. “To hear that—I didn’t realize that Biggie was the first one, but I knew it was being used a lot by different rap groups—I was just very hurt that people would take what I had said and turn it inside out and actually use it as a chant.” But even without corporate control, just as most spirituality deals in duality, so too Hiphop is a double-edged sword even if left to its own devices. It can free the mental with instrumentals or make slaves with sub-bass. “We’re doing some God music,” says Jamar, “but we f*ck it up with lower vibrations and themes and sh*t.” Ignorance could be a dangerous bliss as Hiphoppas may be summoning powers and entities without having an understanding of them. Blue Pill, the visionary scholar, online entity, and one of the Twin Pillars of “the conscious community” has extensively lectured on the impact of certain frequencies found in rap music.

Some blame a decline of influence from societies such as these and The Nation of Gods and Earths as proportional to the decline of spirituality in Hiphop. Streets disputes this as a mischaracterization: “It was a business decision that made the music go that way, not lack of the Five Percenters. We make the music. We don’t control it. They’re in the meeting room with long tables just like that scene in The Godfather when they said, ‘We’re going to give the drugs to the darkies, they’re animals anyway…’ The powers that be didn’t want to hear all that sh*t about how [they] killed the Indians and how [they] enslaved the Blackman and, even now, how the cops are shooting mothaph*ckas down in the streets. So the money was taken out of that genre.”

“[Musical elements like] 808 and boom bap; these would be considered war drums, four fours and military war rhythmic syncopations,” says Pill. “It gets you ready and prepared for trance for war. I would say that it has worked in our benefit and to our detriment because when you are channeling war spirits; those spirits have names. So the fact

At one time Hiphop was dominated by consciousness, but the paradigm shifted. “As eras and styles of music evolved, then that Islamic-inspired Five Percenter thing became strong in Hiphop and it had a nice little run,” says Freddy. “But artists and styles emerge and artists want to talk about different things.” While Oyewole speaks of

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that we have the drums without the direct calling upon said entity, it has worked to our detriment because we have called forth these particular entities without knowing their names and giving them any direction.” Blue Pill talks of other elements that have become prevalent in Hiphop. “Little less than a decade ago we were having an open conversation in Hiphop about the presence of, for lack of a better term, satanic forces, you know by way of the Illuminati,” says Pill. “The conversation somewhat hit a crescendo in about [2009] or [2010] with the release of The Blueprint III with Jay-Z. And people were having this conversation in Hiphop, the education pretty much wasn’t all the way, this was coming out of (the documentary films) Loose Change, Zeitgeist, these different introductory series to people that somewhat gave them the understanding that them seeing the all-eye seeing pyramid was the devil or a particular hand signal. It was more so about the symbolism than anything else. And then it proliferated. It became something that the culture actually adopted and embraced. And then now we’re in a place where the Lil Uzi Verts of the world or the Trippie Redds of the world, or different young artists are openly saying that ‘I’m a devil worshipper and this is the team that I’m riding with.’” But all is not in dire despair, in contemporary culture, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole and even Chance the Rapper are mentioned as

new luminaries. 21 Savage is a known follower of Ifa traditions. Spirituality remains but just not as dominant. “I think it still exists. You’ll still hear certain artists, but it’s not as permanent and mainstream and inyour-face as it was back then. You have to search for these types of messages and individuals,” says Jamar. “You can never destroy it, you can just try to cover it up; whatever. You can try to bury it, but it’s always going to unmask itself in different ways. Even in the ones that you think are negative. Certain things about how they move people is spiritual, even if they’re trying to cover it up.” Blue Pill thinks it is a matter of the mindsets making waves in the digital age. “Everything is about time keeping; our ancient ways was always about tracking the cycles of time. With that being said, said disciplines have to know that they have to be in line with the times. The Nation of Islam is going to be here because they have a youth movement, shout out to Brother Ben X and Brother Rizza Islam and other members of the [Nation of Islam] that are youthful; that got a grasp of social media and have a digital footprint in that world.” Jamar for his part, does the work of unveiling with his “Yanadameen Godcast” show. Blue Pill, along with his twin brother and pillar, Red Pill, lectures relentlessly, promotes powerful messages and imagery in their fashion line, Kingz Kounty, and has an enormous body of scholarship in the digi-

tal realm. Slom publishes books, instructs incessantly and is releasing his latest studio album, Love in the Midst of Chaos. Freddy never rests from sparking art. Oyweole and The Last Poets still travel the world shining enlightening lights and Streets continues to teach. “Kids who go to Hiphop concerts are moved by the spirit of the music, the sound, and the rhythm. They might be saying something that’s got nothing to do with something that’s gonna lift them up, but the spirit of it all is the sound,” says Oyewole. “It embraces you, and causes you to move; you just can’t stand still, you’ve got to move your body, you’ve got to get into the flow of it all, because it’s a dominant feeling. It’s the voice of God, and you can’t avoid that.” With the spirit, it is truly a circle, the cipher, 360 degrees with no beginning or ending; what goes around comes back around again. “Africa is going to be with us and we’re spiritually motivated in everything we do,” says Oyewole. “That’s never going to stop. It’s Africa calling.”

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

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FATHER OF MYSTERIES: SPIRITCHILD AND THE NEW REVOLUTION By Jaime Lubin

Anyone called Spiritchild has got to be on the path to enlightenment. That was my immediate thought upon my first introduction to the revolutionary artist, co-founder of A New Black Arts Movement, as I watched him sing, educate, and open the hearts of an emotional Brooklyn crowd this autumn. We were at the debut benefit for the Black August Coalition, a bail fund for people of color serving time on Rikers Island, established by Spiritchild and his colleagues as a memorial for Rashaun Pope, a young man he’d mentored who had recently been murdered by the police. To be one with Spirit means understanding how two seemingly opposite ideas connect, and in this understanding Spiritchild is aptly named. He advocates for Black Liberation, following in the footsteps of Malcolm X and Amiri Baraka, but defines revolution in terms of universal love. He acknowledges our country’s severe problems of social inequity, but inspires his children with unbridled optimism that they can create their own realities. He is ordained in one of the world’s most mysterious spiritual systems, but defies conventions to break the stigma. Speaking to him, I discovered the most unimaginable epiphanies. Born in Staten Island and raised in the South Bronx, Spiritchild grew up practicing Santería, an Afro-Caribbean religion that evolved from Yoruba traditions in Nigeria. In popular culture, Santería is commonly misinterpreted as voodoo, if discussed at all. (Think of Gloria Mendoza in Orange Is the New Black, whose references to the practice always foreshadow some disaster for other characters.) For Spiritchild, participation in Santería was a natural calling, a way to commune with people and heal their ills. At the tender age of 12, he became initiated as a priest. “It’s been a blessing to be part of that spiritual community,” he says, but adds that getting indoctrinated as an adolescent is not typical. Heeding the call of the supernatural took the effort of his entire family. Santería traditions dictate that children cannot be ordained as priests before their parents, so his mother went through the training herself. This included the provision that novitiates wear all white for a year and seven days, a stipulation that particularly irked the young Spiritchild. “Nobody really prepared me for that,” he remembers. “It’s really hard not to stand out when you’re a baby and you’re just coming up for initiation… I was terrified and I didn’t want to have too much attention. During your year and seven days, it’s a test, because you’re really going through a rebirth. You have a light around you… [People’s] eyes are on you and they know what you’re doing but not really knowing what it means; there’s all these perceptions of who you are that you either have to answer to or be ignored for. It’s really difficult. But knowing what I know now, I would do it five times over.” At its core, Santería shares similar principles to other major religions; based in holistic and homeopathic teachings, its legends and elemental theology align easily with familiar Greek myths. Still, the religion has had a shadowy history in the United States, especially after a notorious Supreme Court ruling in 1993 declared its practice unconstitutional, due to the animal sacrifices being involved in certain rituals. As Spiritchild explains, these sacrifices are rare and occur only in extreme spiritual cleansings – and in those cases, every part of the animal is used, both during the ceremony and 102

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after in communal meals. (Most of the time, candy and fruit are used as ceremonial offerings instead.) A 2009 appeals case overturned the unconstitutional ruling, but many communities active in Santería keep their practice private, fearful of potential ramifications from authorities who simply don’t understand what they’re doing. “The discrimination factor is heavy,” Spiritchild admits. His own mother lost her job while undergoing training for the priesthood. However, he observes that “it was probably the best thing for her, to learn that she should be [working] at a place that would accept her… I wish we all had something so significant, that are rites of passage at any age. I learned who my friends were, who loved me, at 12, but I also learned how [harsh] society is, and that shit woke me up quick.” Eventually Spiritchild’s experience with the priesthood would form a bridge between his passion for street activism and his ability to tap into a higher power. Combining revolutionary ideals and Yoruba teachings, he and the late musician-turned-social activist Fred Ho developed A New Black Arts Movement. They began holding workshops, instructing young people of color to “Know Your Roots, Know Your Rights” so that they could protect themselves against injustice and police brutality. Today he travels internationally, spreading the gospel of self-determination as the path to change, utilizing art and music to mobilize and galvanize communities of color in direct actions. Through Urban Art Beat, an offshoot initiative of A New Black Arts Movement, Spiritchild engages at-risk youth in cultural programming. One of his most successful projects is the Musical Connections initiative at Carnegie Hall, granting artistic access to young men at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. “Revolution is a rebirth of culture,” Spiritchild notes. “I try to be innovative, imaginative, and not so depressing – because revolution can be depressing… I’m blessed to at least know some things that are very wrong with our society. There’s a lot of people that don’t even know what’s wrong, and you can’t expect to fix anything if you don’t see that there’s a problem.”

From culture to true political change, Spiritchild is planting those holistic seeds of thought everywhere. This October he hosted his twenty-third annual rally against the criminalization of black and brown youth, organizing with local mothers who have lost their children to prison and police brutality. Spreading this awareness is only the beginning, but it hearkens back to ancient Yoruba matriarchy. “That is probably one of the most important missions of my life, working with mothers and young people,” Spiritchild comments. “[My mother] assisted me in my path as a revolutionary with her spiritual energy and politics… And that’s why one of our tenets in [A New Black Arts Movement] is revolutionary matriarchy.” According to Spiritchild, part of the new revolution is for all parents to embody different gender roles at different times. He and his wife raise their two young children as gender-neutral, allowing the kids to create their own identities as they grow older. In workshops, he emphasizes that men should learn “how to mother” from an early age and spend as much time taking care of their children as possible. When I ask Spiritchild what he hopes for his children, the answer is simple: “That they keep the stories alive, respect their ancestors and be as holistic as possible. Be not just revolutionaries, but a change in everything they do; that means intellectually, spiritually, creatively.” He smiles widely as he mentions that while performing rituals at his home altar, the kids will follow him around and try to catch the smoke from the burning sage. They are crafting their own traditions from Santería before they are even old enough to decipher its mysteries, forging a new path to a holistic future and perhaps someday to a post-race society. (Hey, anything is possible when you’re connected to Spirit.) I would urge everyone seeking greater enlightenment to get involved in Spiritchild’s movement. After all, where there’s sage-scented smoke, there’s bound to be revolutionary fire. Both images © Spiritchild XSpiritmental

“A captivating legal thriller that’s impressively unpredictable.” —Kirkus Reviews

NEMESIS

Two married men. One murdered woman.

Photo by Sam C. Long

lliot has everything: A successful medical practice, New York City townhouse, beautiful wife and family, and a powerful, independent mistress. Ted, Elliot’s close, long-time friend, relishes his booming law practice, beautiful wife, fast car, and his sexual dynamo of a mistress. Both competitive to a fault, Elliot and Ted don’t realize that their long nights of erotic exploits transpire with the same woman, Lindsey. That all changes the day she is murdered. Evidence points to Elliot’s culpability and Ted gallantly defends his friend in a vicious courtroom battle. But as Elliot’s sordid affair airs in court and the nightly news, observers begin to suspect that he’s taking the fall for someone else. Sex, murder, deception and betrayal. Will justice be served—and to whom? DAVID PINTO was born in Israel and has lived in the United States for over 40 years. He studied at the University of Michigan and the University of Texas, graduating with a degree in architecture from UT. He designs and builds residential homes in Austin, Texas.

FICTION $16.50 heliotropebooks.com Available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNobel.com

davidpintoauthor.com “A courtroom thriller depicts a friendly rivalry turned deadly. Elliot Barrett’s life is an enviable one. He’s a prestigious physician with a thriving practice, a well-appointed home in New York City, a devoted wife, and two loving children. He risks it all when he becomes romantically involved with Lindsey Anderson, the seductive daughter of a patient. When she turns up dead, the police immediately blame Elliot. There is incontrovertible evidence placing him in her apartment and damning if circumstantial evidence suggestive of a sexual aﬀair. Elliot decides to deny the tryst and enlists the help of his best friend, Ted Lapoltsky, a successful lawyer, to defend him. Unbeknownst to Elliot, Ted also had an aﬀair with Lindsey and wanted to leave his wife for her, a design she squarely rejected. Ted and Lindsey had become locked in a passionate argument about it, and when she revealed she was also seeing Elliot, Ted grabbed her in a jealous fury, causing her to hit her head and sink into unconsciousness. While Ted defends Elliot, he’s careful to avoid even a hint of self-incrimination. He also revels in the opportunity to see his prudishly judgmental rival publicly disgraced. A captivating legal thriller that’s impressively unpredictable.”

What makes David Pinto's debut novel, Nemesis, so startling is that he invokes all the essential elements [of] strong fiction writing... in the first few pages of his riveting noir style novel. Actually, he hits the bull's-eye on page one. David Pinto may have set a record for narrative lapel-grabbing... It's safe to assume that there will be a boatload of upscale crime and passion revealed... the author deftly [uses] dialogue to establish tension, danger, and inevitable conflict... Experience awaits anyone who picks up this spellbinding novel... The entire narrative turns on the incrementally revealed sexual choreography that's unfolded in the lives of two upstanding, solid citizens. They come to discover that the dead woman about whom the police have questions (and whom they assume was murdered) is, in fact, the same woman that each man, unbeknownst to each other, has exploited as a mistress. A tight, cinematic, onrushing narrative flow carries the story, and Pinto's skill with dialogue and details is robust each step of the way. This novel has the simmering heat of up-market erotica of 9 1/2 Weeks and the excruciating, white-knuckle legal machinations of Scott Turow's best works. Nemesis reminds us that powerful storytelling is always a royal seduction.

—Kirkus Reviews Heliotrope Books—Neworld Review

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LIVING PROOF: MALLAH-DIVINE & FATHER EL-NAKAR

By DX21 Dasun; Additional Reporting by Father ElNakar Allah-Ade Father El-Nakar Allah-Ade and Mallah-Divine Mallah are members of the Five-Percent Nation of Gods and Earths, commonly known as Five Percenters, who embody the nation’s principles of ‘knowledge of self ’ and divine elevation in their daily lives. The Five-Percent emerged out of the Nation of Islam’s (NOI) Black Muslim movement in the early 1960s when its founder, Clarence “13X” Smith, deduced that he himself was the almighty true and living God while studying esoteric teachings of the divinity of the original Blackman. By 1964, Smith had taken the name “Allah” and was teaching the youth of Harlem with lessons liberated from the NOI that the Blackman is God. He gave them the tools of “Supreme Mathematics” and “Supreme Alphabets,” where each number and letter has a specific meaning, as keys to unlocking the mysteries within the sciences of life, love, peace and happiness. The ultimate objective being for them to live out their fullest equality as supreme beings. Male members of the Five-Percent Nation of Gods and Earths are known as ‘Gods’ and females are known as ‘Earths.’ The concept of the Five Percenter comes from the teaching that five percent of the population know and teach that the almighty true and living God is the original Blackman. An additional ten percent of the population know this truth and conceal it from the remaining eighty-five percent so that they can keep them mentally enslaved, use them as tools and get rich off their labor. If a person is blind to their divinity, they can easily be misled into surrendering their power to “mystery gods,’ following behind whatever the powers that support this kind of god dictate instead of being ‘I self lords and masters.’ Just having ‘knowledge of self ’ is not enough. Once one has this knowledge, it is essential to put it to practical use in terms of self-empowerment and self-elevation. Allah-Ade and Mallah are living proof of this understanding. Both men have elevated themselves since periods of incarceration. Allah-Ade is a fashion designer with his own line, VII Kreative Soul Art. His company and Pan-African designs embody the spirit of kujichagulia (selfdetermination) kuumba (creativity) and ujamaa (cooperative economics). All of his fabrics are imported directly from African nations. He is also a core member of the cultural activist society known as the Ankhsgiving Collective, which organizes events such as Kwanzaa celebrations and Pan-Africanist educational and social occasions. “Self-determination is the key here to empowerment,” says Allah-Ade. Mallah is fond of the expression ‘when you know, you owe’ and partially pays this debt with his literary works. Prison Survival: Hell’s Prism documents his empowering journey from prisoner

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to college grad. The Hidden Hand: Duality of Self is described as the “first urban political street thriller.” It serves as an illustration of philosophies developed from insights of ‘empirical experiences’ gained throughout his life on the inside and out. He has worked on the #CLOSErikers campaign to shut down New York’s notorious Rikers Island prison complex and has lobbied for the Kalief Browder bill in Albany, NY. (The bill, which passed in August 2017, makes services such as vocational training, counseling, and therapy to address drug dependencies accessible to any inmate detained at Rikers for over ten days.) In 2017, Mallah participated as a national organizer and keynote speaker at the iamWE Prison Advocacy Network’s Millions for Prisoners Human Rights March in Washington, D.C. “The purpose of the D.C. march was to galvanize disenfranchised organizations, because people came from [all over] to protest the legalization of slavery, what we call the societal 13th Amendment, that allows a lot of the things that we see to go on,” says Mallah. “A lot of people don’t recognize the impact of the 13th Amendment, so the purpose of the march was to bring that light to organizations that are already doing that work in different aspects of prison, social prison and things of that nature. I think there was never no march like this before, and this one specifically, with the prisoners’ rights issues and the 13th Amendment.” Not all Five Percenters make practical application of their knowledge on a God level. Mallah seeks to connect with those who do. “I’m dealing with people of like minds, you know? There’s probably hundreds of thousands of Gods and Earths globally, everywhere,” says Mallah. “A lot of us don’t think the same; a lot of us don’t value the same issues… Everybody’s got to understand we all can’t be in the same pot. So, I’m just dealing with those that understand what I’m dealing with.” Brothers such as Allah-Ade and Mallah who have experience with the prison industrial complex are in a unique position to assist others who have fallen victim to a similar path. “You’ve got to be vigilant. I think that any God, any Earth, that was actually incarcerated, they are the ones that need to be paid the special attention,” says Mallah. “The ones that haven’t been incarcerated, they’re not really gonna understand. So they’re working with empowerment and talking to people, but they’re not really gonna understand how a person feels when they’re behind the wall. But Gods that were behind the wall, they are the best advocates for people that are behind the wall, because they understand the justice system.” Rest assured that Mallah and Allah-Ade will continue to do their part. “If everybody’s got a certain foundation, no matter what other philosophy you’re dealing with, you have those core principles that you embody. Your core principles are going to tell you how to interpret that ideology and philosophy. So when I look at knowledge, and I look at my core principles and values, it’s always going to be an ideology that I utilize,” says Mallah. “I think that everybody’s got their own reasons for doing what they’re doing and you’ve got to have a certain type of mind. I think that whoever’s qualified is qualified; whoever’s not, is not.”

ISSUE # 08 / Spring 2019

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Embrace

Humanity

the

An Interview with Leland Gantt By Alex Miller Leland Gantt has worked in film for years. I remember seeing his face as early as 1992 in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X; he played conspirator Wilbur Kinley. Gantt reminds me a little of LeVar Burton, but with the slick, smooth, effortless confidence of Ving Rhames—he is, in a word: cool. He's got this leather jacket, a skullcap, and jeans that I instantly appreciate when we meet at the diner. He tells the waitress where we're going to sit, a booth near the TV, close to the rear of the establishment. The conversation just seems to work from the start. We get each other. I am in awe of his work—his Drama Desk Award Nomination for the play Let Me Live, numerous film and TV credits (including another Spike Lee joint, Miracle at St. Anna), and his recent solo show Rhapsody in Black, which Gantt has performed internationally, has been widely lauded as an outstanding portrayal of blackness and the racism that goes along with it. But it was time to learn his story offstage. ALEX MILLER: Where are you from? LELAND GANTT: I'm from McKeesport in Pittsburgh. It was not only a major industry town, but also a pipeline for the Underground Railroad. During that steel mill era, you could always see the smoke stacks working, pumping out smoke plumes of white, gray, or black. That's how you knew people had jobs. And it was great for the town. I never really knew my dad, but I had two sisters and a brother, and a couple of my mother's boyfriends stuck around to give some form of male household figures. And this was the 60s, through the 70s. There was a bar on every corner back then. And pimps had actually ‘pimp mobiles' with the half-landau roof, cow horns on the front grill, dice on the rearview mirror. (We both laugh at this last little miracle of black ghetto-hood culture. Although nothing is funny about the way those pimps treated prostitutes, the era of these dudes who looked stereotypical, like they “came right out of a comic book” is still fresh in my memory.) What's the biggest problem with telling a black person they're "imagining" racism? It's really just a simple instance of experience. If you get 10,000 hours on the job, you are an expert in your field. I've been a black man my entire life. For six decades I've been walking around in this skin. You're trying to tell me I don't know what racism looks like by now? People don't see 108

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the same things that black people see because they're not experts in the field of being black. Exactly! The people most oblivious to racism think they know what it looks like. In the 60s so many white people didn't realize how bad race issues were, but then claimed in the 80s that at least shit wasn’t as bad as the 60s. How can they profess to know how bad racism is in this country today? It's just ridiculous. True, true. But there was something about that time period that is very much reminiscent of today. In the 60s, Jews and non-marginalized groups of whites were right there in the thick of it. Freedom Riders were getting murdered for their beliefs, and some of them weren't black. The PC movement came out of that time period, because too many cameras were filming the worst that this country had to offer to its own citizens. The 90s really opened up a new can of worms, but the 60s for the first time caught America red-handed, and showed everyone that things hadn't really changed too much. What's your favorite most hated phrase people outside the black community use about people inside it? Mine is "Fix your own community first before you ask society to change!" (Laughs heartily) 'Favorite most hated phrase?' I don't think I really have one. But I think the fact that a man from one of the most marginalized groups in America, not only righted the ship after George Bush crashed it, turned it into an economic boom that this Agent Orange (points to image of Donald Trump on the television behind me) can get away with taking credit for, is a great example of how people steeped in privilege live their lives. (Laughing) ‘Agent Orange!’ Yeah, that’s the guy. My problem with the whole “fix your own community” ideology is that too many of these people don’t understand how it got that way, how hard it is to change it, and that there are too many other factors outside the black community keeping it the way it is. It’s fucked beyond the comprehension of people who aren’t black. Too many of these experts thought racism was over as soon as Jackie Robinson made it onto the Dodgers. Yup! They live on TV and don't know how blacks, or others across the world survive, but they have these opinions on just about everything. I was in Romania this one time, filming this commercial, and these people passed driving wagons, and I was stuck comparing the anachronism as soon as a current-day vehicle swerved past them. I had no idea of their world. And it led me to a simple concept: when you embrace the humanity in yourself, you can see it in others. That's what makes me think so many people pushing aside the struggles of others just can't make that connection. They can't bridge the gap to show empathy with people they don't identify with because they don't understand that we’re all the same. I feel you, man. One more thing… How do you feel about white people today? You’ve dealt with the stares, the finger-pointing, the name-calling longer than I have. Have you evolved in the way you wanted them to? I have my antennae up with white people. All the time. I’ve been in groups of whites who actually accepted me for me. The first time it happened, I was just shocked. I couldn’t believe it. Growing up in a society where you’re still a nigger no matter how much you make, who you are, or what you do—when you come upon a group of Caucasians who honestly, earnestly accept you for who you are and will go to bat in your defense, it blows your mind. Ever since then, I give people a chance to fail. I don’t let them ruin my day, either way, but I wait to see what they do. At the end of the day, we’re all animals. But some people let their wild out. Those are the ones who don’t believe in progress. Those are the ones who put Trump in office, and those are the ones who have set us back 60 years, in only two. (Leland Gantt): Leland Gantt © Shirin Tinati.

WAKANDA FOREVER By Soleil Nathwani

Black Panther, the superhero origin story of Marvel’s titular character as conceived by 31-year-old Black director Ryan Coogler, in only his third feature, was deservedly viewed as a Cultural Revolution. Black Panther carries in its vibranium charged story and enduring character portrayals the demise of a racist studio-made myth that a Black lead cannot win the audience. It blew through the billion-dollar box office mark, making going to war with entrenched ideas feel like a night out and won three Oscars, a first for a Marvel movie. Two of these awards went to Ruth Carter and Hannah Beachler for Costume Design and Production Design, categories in which Black women had never won. The film marked the beginning of a much awaited shift putting Black faces at the vanguard of cinema, behind and in front of the camera. In Black Panther, Coogler imagines a never-colonized African nation resplendent as afrofuturistic Wakanda, where, cloaked in gorgeous landscapes and superb action sequences, the central conflict between Michael B. Jordan’s Black American soldier and Chadwick Boseman’s Wakandan King T’Challa hinges on what home means for the enslaved. All the while he elevates women as warriors, spies and scientists. Coogler insisted on working with a team of predominantly Black creatives, going out on a limb as a young director tasked with making a big budget Hollywood movie early in his career, arguably with everything to lose. The result is an authenticity of voice rarely seen in the superhero genre that speaks to the identity of its team and to Coogler’s foresight in stitching together what he has described as his “most personal film to date.” In a movie that feels like a movement, the phenomenon within the phenomenon is Coogler himself. Black Panther shows that Ryan Coogler is in act one of a long legacy. The film has the type of wide and loyal fan following not seen since Star Wars, inspiring sold out Halloween costumes, mass community viewings and legions of people immortalizing Wakanda Forever as a peace sign for the Woke. In the pantheon of impactful films, few have depth while bearing repeat watching, continually inspiring wonder, and reassuring. Coogler, demystifying why Wakanda is Forever, gives us this hard-won trifecta of a Forever Movie. In seeking to heal what he’s described as the wound of not knowing his ancestors, Coogler pours himself in, grappling with his racial anxieties within a grand superhero narrative, captivating hearts and commanding attention.

Commercial auteurs such as Spielberg, Scorsese and Nolan share an ability to mix substance and spectacle, making hits out of intimate films like Taxi Driver or Memento and bringing epics like The Dark Knight or Goodfellas to screen without losing depth in scale. Coogler, only three films deep, has mastered the balance with a voice and commitment to purpose that doesn’t compromise his craft. Here is a young man who grew up with activist parents, cited the influence of Martin Luther King early in his career and until recently worked counseling incarcerated youth. His oeuvre sheds light on the African American identity well beyond those who live it, showing the world that ‘Black’ cinema is universal cinema. *A version of this piece was first printed in Rolling Stone India.

Titles: Black Panther People: Florence Kasumba, Danai Gurira, Sydelle Noel, Jénel Stevens, Janeshia Adams-Ginyard, Marie Mouroum, Marija Juliette Abney, Maria Hippolyte, Zola Williams, Carrie Bernans © 2018 - Disney/Marvel Studios

nerability. To be vulnerable translates to being weak, which allows others to take advantage. Putting up blinders to emotional energy does not halt its onset, but actually impacts the way people communicate. Trying to hide vulnerability, one often becomes guarded, suspicious, and manipulative due to lack of trust. Communicating from that place has a completely different effect than if someone recognizes, validates, and shares their emotions and works through them, either independently or collectively. A long-standing mistrust of others has been passed down through generational bloodlines. Until those curses are broken and trust on both sides stems from working together instead of against each other, the current state of affairs will continue for many more generations. We asked V, “The Tarot BFF,” to do a reading on the present and future of the African-American community. After consulting Courtney Alexander’s deck Dust II Onyx: A Melanated Tarot (dust2onyx.com), which explores the intersections of Black identity through paintings and mixed media collage featuring historical facts, cultural myths, icons and symbolism of the Black Diaspora, these were her answers. What is the reason for racism in the United States and globally? With the 2 of Gourds, American racism boils down to resisting that two halves make a whole. Partnership needs a solid foundation of emotional reciprocity and acceptance of difference. Like Yin and Yang, you cannot have one without the other. When mankind was created, there was a hopeful promise of balance for future partnerships, but due to one ethnicity refusing to accept the look, culture, spirituality, gifts, etc. of the other, being “different” was viewed as a threat and that fear watered the seeds of racism. Partnering with “contrast” is very much like accepting the “shadow” of one’s own personality, and we all know how much we LOVE that (said sarcastically). We may find our shadow self quite dope, but hide our love for it and punish ourselves because it doesn’t look like what is considered “socially acceptable.” Little do we know that our greatest sources of power reside in that space. Racism, and all the hurt and hate geared toward a specific population of people, is the fear of collaboration on something greater than ourselves. The Ace of Blades tells us that globally, a mindset of superiority and the protection of ideas and innovations sit at the crux of racism. “Whoever has the best idea wins,” is the sword being wielded and its blade is sharp - the goal is for the accomplishment to speak for an entire race. With the world’s available resources varying greatly from place to place, the haves versus the have-nots has become a real-life game of Survivor. Those living in poverty, without the means to “play the game,” are overlooked and therefore discounted as people. Cutting the playing field in half ensures a victorious outcome. What is the plight of black people in America? With Lil’ Blade reversed, the plight seems to be the lack of compassion across races as well as within the race itself. Many focus on keeping emotions at bay to make logical decisions, as there is a fear of vul-

Why do black people suffer so much? The ability to withstand punishment at the hands of others, and survive, feels ingrained in the DNA of African-Americans. In this lifetime, we not only possess the ability to survive, but also thrive. In order to reverse the effects of our mental conditioning and grow, there is a need to look at our situation as a collective, find the lesson that we keep testing on, erect boundaries to that which does not support elevation, and change the patterns we have been repeating. Victim mentality and the generational predisposition to withstand punishment and pain at the hands of others comes through strongly with the 10 of Blades. At the heart of our suffering is the belief that negative instances are happening to us rather than happening for us on a much grander level. Some choose to be victims instead of trying to see what is being taught. Don’t get me wrong, it’s easy to get down when you are kicked, but it’s also your responsibility to assess the situation, change course, and rise. What is the African American community’s destiny? As time progresses, African Americans will continue to fight for their civil liberties, to be seen as equals, and for justice. With Young Blade reversed, it may be said that Malcolm X’s motto “By any means necessary” could very well resurface and be used as the means to an end. This lack of compassion and impulsiveness, when it comes to thought processing, planning and execution, could have some serious repercussions. However, given that we have been fighting all our lives for one thing or another, it will not stop the drive to the finish line. The Six of Staffs ensures a well-earned victory in our future. There will be battle scars and casualties to account for, but the energy driving us forward will be that of equality and harmony infused in race relations; a final acceptance of our respective shadow sides.

(Tarot): All Tarot card images are from Dust II Onyx: A Melanated Tarot by Courtney Alexander © dust2onyx.com (Tarot): V The Tarot BFF © Red Light Readings

EVE’S GARDEN: THE PERSONAL IS PLEASURABLE By Jessica Bern

The #MeToo movement continues to embolden women to share their stories and gather strength from each other. Additionally, women are now taking more charge of their lives regarding sex and pleasure, whether on their own or with a partner. Emblematic of this is Eve’s Garden, a boutique selling erotic and sensual toys for 45 years. I recently attended one of their educational workshops. Hosted by Kim Ibricevic, their manager/buyer of 20-plus years, the evening focused on how women can better pleasure a man while also pleasing themselves. Sitting in a circle, surrounded by a small group of mostly women, Kim held a basket of toys while demonstrating various lubricants and devices. Founded in 1974, Eve’s Garden was entrepreneur Dell Williams’s response to a shaming experience she’d had trying to buy a magic wand at a local drugstore. According to Kim, “Dell told herself, ‘No more of this’, and here we are.” “Dell was a big magic wand user even in her eighties,” said Kim. “It’s like a jackhammer and considering how fragile she was, I don’t know how she did it, but it’s a great, iconic item. She would always say everyone should have one. She was so cute, she’d literally be on the bus handing out business cards saying, ‘You need to come to Eve’s Garden, you need a vibrator’ or ‘I saw you arguing with your husband. You both need to come and see us.’ She would.. turn to a customer on the [pharmacy] line and tell her, ‘You need to smile more. You should come to my shop… An orgasm a day, keeps the doctor

away’. Dell wanted everyone to be comfortable in their own skin and help educate people. Her feeling was this is the healthiest thing you can do in life.”

workshops a year, maximum fifteen participants at each to maintain the intimacy. “We’ve had sex therapists come in to speak,” said Kim. “One night we talked about fetishes, another night BDSM. I just want people to know we’re here to help them, make them comfortable and allow them to explore their bodies. There isn’t enough information out there, yet there are so many fresh and fun things people and couples can do. Eve’s Garden has always prid- We’re here to help facilitate that; it’s my job and I love it.” ed itself on being a safe, intimate place where women can 2019 workshops include: explore. Kim said, “There are SPANK THE ONE YOU LOVE some customers who know what SPANKING WITH FUN AND CONSENSUAL ROLE PLAYING they want, but for novices, comBDSM 101 ing here allows them the privacy LEARN ABOUT KINDS OF FETISHES and space to share what they ORAL SEX 101 need to make themselves feel ORAL SEX TIPS TO MAKE YOUR PARTNER HAPPY good, instead of just blindly PISS PLAY, DIRTY TALK, AND SWING 2019 grabbing something and buying CALL ( 212) 757 8651 FOR DATES AND TIMES it. My philosophy is to dig and narrow it down to what they think they would enjoy, how they’re going to use it; if they’ll share it with another person, whether they’re in a new relationship or trying to add spice to one [that’s longer-term].” When asked if #MeToo has impacted the women she meets, Kim responded, “Yes, women... aren’t as afraid to say what they want. There has been so much more exposure [to] sexuality, masturbating and toys [through] social media, Sex and the City, Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s much more mainstream. Years ago I’d say 35% of our clients [knew] what they wanted or were willing to explore. Today, I’d say it’s closer to 70-75%. It used to be ‘I’m buying this for a friend.’ Now it’s ‘My friend recommended the womanizer because she had four orgasms in a row and I have to have that too.’” Uniquely, Eve’s Garden products are thoroughly vetted by Kim to ensure everything is hypoallergenic. None of their lubricants contain glycerine, paraben or propylene glycol. “I go through the all the products with a fine-tooth comb. There is so much out there, I have to be choosy while still keeping in mind the price point and preferences of our clients.” The

boutique

hosts

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• more protein than beef • more Omega-3 than salmon • all essential amino acids • CBD is anti-inﬂammatory

• replaces coal, oil, & gas • makes supercapacitors • makes renewable biodiesel • produces biochar

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• requires less chemicals • requires less water • improves soil health • sequesters CO2

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CONTRIBUTORS CONTRIBUTORS BIOS (BLACK) Father ELnakar Allah-ade is a writer and poet based in New York City. He manages VII Kreativ Soul Art and Three Gracious Poet. Jessica Bern is a Staff Editor for Honeysuckle Magazine. Her writing has appeared in CafeMom and SheKnows, among other outlets. She is also a voiceover artist, producer, and video editor. Bernthis.com Chadley Britton is a sexual health educator based in NYC as well as studying to become a social worker with a focus on cathartic kink for couples. In her down time she enjoys reading poetry and holding safe spaces for women to come together to grow and share. Check out IG: goddess_gatheringnyc for more information on these uplifting sister circles. Justin Bullock, known as Jerrbul, is an AfricanAmerican artist with albinism from New York in his early 20s. @jerrbul @youngkoii Award-winning writer, director and communications expert Imani A. Dawson has nineteen years of experience creating and curating award-winning content across print, linear and digital platforms for major media outlets including MTV, BET, VH1, Fuse, and the Associated Press. She’s a strategic consultant for small businesses and a managing partner at MJM Strategy: the cannabis industry's first minorityled, digital focused strategy and management consulting firm. @MJMStrategy “DX21” Dasun is a writer, poet, editor and speaker of the cobo bobo misfit mystic. Dx21presents.com @dx21dasun Jourdan Espeut is a recent college graduate from The New School University. She is a Brooklyn native, with a passion for social justice. Her work has previously been published on Huffpost. Dadly Filius is a content marketing professional in the Cannabis industry. With an inbound marketing and sales experience he helps companies attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers. Recently, Dadly launched his brand Induced Munchies, a media company to help educate people on benefits of Marijuana medically and for adult use. @induced_munchies Dr. Claudia Harris is a practicing clinical nutritionist and public health practitioner. She resides in New York City with her family. Dr. Harris is cofounder of BeautifulBlog.org and has been writing pieces close to her heart since 2010. Amyiah Hillian is a 22-year-old writer of poetry, fiction, and occasionally nonfiction works. Raised in Williamsburg, Virginia, she is now based in New York and is completing her undergraduate studies at The New School. Through writing she tries to be progressively open about

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human experience, particularly from her viewpoint as a black female. Her goal is to find importance in all human interaction, both beautiful and painful.

currently working on a pilot based in New York. She is a lover of yoga, tacos, The Bachelor, and all things Oprah Winfrey. phyliciapearl.com, @ thatssophylicia

Annie Iezzi is a second-year student at Barnard College of Columbia University, studying English and Political Science and writing in her scarce (and cherished) free time.

Nadya Rousseau is an L.A.-based social entrepreneur, multimedia journalist, and activist. She is the founder and CEO of Alter New Media, a digital marketing agency for impact. Alternewmedia.com, @nadya_rousseau, @nadyarousseau

Lauren Jones resides on the West Coast. As a marketer for Alter New Media, she has marketed numerous nonprofits, fitness companies, startups, entertainers and fashionistas through social media. A published photographer, in 2015 her art was exhibited at the Exposure at the Louvre show (Paris) and published in a coffee table art book of the same name. David Kellman is a college athlete turned cannabis advocate, entrepreneur and vape and cultivation specialist. His writing has been published on The WeedHead among other outlets. @moarbluntsnuff Lori B. Lipten is an international bestselling author, world-renowned medium, contemporary shaman, and empowering retreat leader and teacher. llipten.com Harvey Leon is a creative professional, filmmaker, events producer, and co-founder of the Byas & Leon curation and production house which specializes in Haitian craftsmanship and apparel. A key team member of A Rebel Minded Society, Leon created the organization’s original docuseries S.T.A.R.C.H. TheLeonPerusal.com, @leonharveynyc Samuel Clemens Long is not Mark Twain, in this incarnation. He is a photographer, filmmaker, writer, director, and mischief lover. SamCLong.com, @samuelclemenslong Based in New York, Ali McPherson regularly contributes to Honeysuckle Magazine. She has also published work in the New School Free Press and is currently an editor for Eleven and a Half Literary Journal. Alex Miller is a writer and editor for the black media website Blackexcellence.com. He has published work in Forbes, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, among other places. Patricia A. Patton, aka CannaBoomer, is a strategist and health and wellness advocate interpreting the intersection of cultural change and the cannabis industry on the Boomer generation. Bylines include Dope Magazine, CivilizedLife, Spinsucks, and EstroHaze. Hollah at her on cannaboomer.net, Twitter (@CannaBoomerNA), Facebook (@BoomerWiz1) or LinkedIn. Phylicia Pearl Mpasi is an African American female in her mid 20s. She was last seen as a cast member in Disney's The Lion King and is

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Matt Saber lives a quiet life in suburban Michigan and dreams of one day developing a passion for something other than sarcasm. Based on Long Island, Gary Schwartz is the owner and creator of the bestselling cannabisthemed game Roll-a-Bong and Quantum RPGs3D Tabletop Gaming. He has over 25 years of experience in the game design industry. Gary is also a writer, comics artist, and science educator. roll-a-bong.com @roll_abong. Alexzia Shobe is a screenwriter and journalist. Her writing has also appeared in The New School Free Press. Follow her on Instagram at @lexzi97. Monica Suriyage is a filmmaker, writer and video content host. Currently a writer and director at Body Checker Productions and a content creator at Hissy Fit, her work has also appeared on women.com and The Talko, among other outlets. She was recently featured in Xavier Burgin’s Shudder documentary Horror Noire as an emerging Black horror filmmaker. @harmonicablues Tanganyika is a Marine Corps veteran who specializes in International Cannabis with a focus on Tourism. She is the Director of Outreach and Development for Coral Cove Cannabis, the world’s first all-Inclusive Resort with onsite consumption and cultivation. Her hobbies include cannabis, food, and travel. www.jayn.green, @_jayngreen V. The Tarot BFF is a “round the way” girl with class, sass, and pizazz, that just so happens to read cards. She is the Intuitive Mistress behind RedLight Readings and an Intuitive Reader at the BEST metaphysical and psychic readings store in Metro Detroit – The Boston Tea Room. If you’re ever in town, go “get red”!” RedLightReadings.com, @redlightreadings A lauded TV host, author, and lifestyle influencer, Nicole Young has hosted and contributed content for major networks and outlets including ABC, E! Entertainment, the CW Network, BET, WE/TV, InStyle, The New York Post, The Daily Mail, and In Touch Weekly. Founder of TheBeautifulBody.com, she is also a designer, Shu Uemura makeup artist, and recipe developer. @nicoleyoungstyle

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The Photography Project: Taking it to the Streets