45th National Council for Black Studies Virtual Conference Program Book

Yet With A Steady Beat…….

A MESSAGE FROM VICE PRESIDENT ALPHONSO SIMPSON Greetings Brothers and Sisters! Habara Ghani!

For 44 years the National Council for Black Studies has convened…we have been coming together in our togetherness, celebrating and basking in the beauty of our blackness. In year 45 we are still here not missing a beat! As James Weldon Johnson so movingly said, “We have come over a way that with tears has been watered…Out from the gloomy past til’ now we stand at last where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.”

When we were in Atlanta last year, who would have known that we were on the cusp of a new way of being? This “new way” has taught us many lessons from then until now. During this season of wonder – so to speak, as a people, we have all found ourselves on the hill of confidence as well as in the valley of despair. Collectively, we have all been worried, frustrated, challenged, and even grieved within the span of just a year. However, when we really sit back and reflect on what felt like the utterly impossible, we’ve come to realize that we were actually learning lessons through it all. My NCBS family, what we have to remember is that the fertilizer that helps us "grow" is often times in those valleys and not always on the mountaintops, and it is a proven fact that everything needs a little dirt to grow. Moreover, we have to understand that the “valley” experience has always been vital to our growth as Black Folks. Consider this truth: only by much searching and mining are gold and diamonds obtained. In this, our 45th National Conference (though it may look and feel quite different) I know that we can find every truth connected to our being if we will allow ourselves to dig deep into the mines of our soul as we excavate TOGETHER! Yes, we have been through a lot both individually and collectively, but in retrospect we have ended up so much stronger and wiser than we were before. Actually, as we begin to turn the corner of possibility we will begin to see that we have grown more from these experiences – good or bad and we are finding ourselves better…so much better. Take joy, for we are at a steady beat… gradual, but steady. Throughout the past year, we have come to understand more about people and life, we have become more sensitive to one another, and because of our efforts, virtuous or debauched we can say that we are better equipped to adapt and continue to appreciate life and its experiences as we continue to live in this altered state of normalcy.

As Vice-President and Conference chair, It is my hope, that as we embark upon this virtual platform to make our 45th National conference a reality, that each of us would carry from the lessons that will be shared over the next few days, a very profound message. I want us to find the good…it’s all around us, and when we find it, let’s share it with all who are willing to listen. I know that there is enough good to cover us all and if we just take a moment to regroup, redefine, and realize that we are a resilient people who are in the words of our dear brother Maulana Karenga “Radically Reimagining and Remaking the World through reflection, reaffirmation, and resistance, we can really make it through anything. We have come this far already.