This Week as an Artivist 2/27/16: New Job, Self Care, Mixedness, The Mountaintop, Black Girl Movement Conference


TRANSCRIPT:

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Good morning Artivists! What’s up you all? It’s a little bit late because my birthday

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was on Friday and so I didn’t make a
video on Friday or – usually I make them

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on Friday nights and then I upload them
on Saturday, but I was relaxing with my

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husband, so I am uploading this one today on Sunday. But it’s still “This Week as an

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Artivist” I’m still gonna go through
everything I did this week. So first of

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all: I started my job on Monday – my brand
new job – and I am Head of Equity and

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Inclusion for Pearl Street Productions.
Pearl Street is the production company

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owned by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. It’s
going to be an interesting ride y’all. The good

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news is I’ve known Matt and Ben since we
were – let’s see…I met Matt when I was

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about nine years old, so the good news is
they know me, they know my politics, they know my

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passions, they know what I stand for and
they’ve agreed to bring me on in this

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position to help make change in the
entertainment industry. I’m glad you’re

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coming along for this ride with us and
I’ll keep these videos going and let you

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know how it goes. Speaking of which,
literally the day that I signed my

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contract this came out. If you haven’t
read this study it’s incredibly

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important if you’re in the
entertainment industry or interested in

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being in the entertainment industry. It is breaking down – with clear data –

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the numbers of women, women over 40, LGBTQ
representations, representations by race

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/ ethnicity and it’s really well done,
very clear. What I really appreciate

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is that at the end they provide a bullet
list for solutions.

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That’s really going to be helpful to
me – here we go – “Solutions for Change” and

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that’s awesome because it’s important to
talk about the disparities and the

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problems, but it’s also important to talk
about what we’re gonna do to change that.

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So I’ll be using this quite a bit in my
new job.

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Also this week I had a meeting for Mixed
Roots Stories – the LA site committee for

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the Critical Mixed Race Studies
conference. So Critical Mixed Race

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Studies is a nonprofit that really
encourages the academic study and a

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critical lens on mixedness. If
you don’t know me well, this is really

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important to me that we absolutely
acknowledge who we are as mixed folks. So

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my mom is White. She identifies as
Cherokee, Danish and Blackfoot Indian. My

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dad is Jamaican – he’s Black, and I’m mixed
and I’m Black and I’ve got White in me

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and I think that’s an
important experience to talk about, but

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with a critical, ’cause I think
sometimes when we talk about it we don’t

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see how we see ourselves only in our own
personal bubble – and it’s important to

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understand the context of race and
culture and the things that have

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happened in this country (if that’s where
you’re living) and across the world that

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affect the choices we make around
identity. So anyway: the Critical

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Mixed Race Studies conference is going
to be in in LA in 2017, and the

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nonprofit that I co-direct called
Mixed Roots Stories is doing the arts

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and cultural programming for the
Critical Mixed Race Studies conference.

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2017 in February. I’ll talk about it
a lot as it comes up – so we had an LA

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site committee meeting on Monday at USC,
and it was great. We’re starting to talk

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about who should be invited, Keynote
speakers, how can we really spread the

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word and get the word out more about the
conference. So if you…check it out, there

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are links there if you’re interested, if you want
to hear more about it, let me know and we

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will bring you on board – we’re looking for
volunteers, we’re looking for people who

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are excited about it and I’ll tell you
more later. OK I want to talk a little

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bit about self-care, because I’m not
great at it, but I intend to be, and

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I think it’s important. For me

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self-care is nutrition, exercise and
spiritual health, and so I started at a gym

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Last Monday. Well, I definitely hurt myself

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after the first couple of days, and then
had to take a few days off, but it’s great

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and it’s a women’s gym and I really
appreciate that everyone really

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kind of pushes each other. It’s called
Pink Iron here, if you’re in LA check it out and then

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also I’ve got this thing where ok during
the week I am eating healthy meals which

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for me a good balance for me are: a good
amount of protein, lots of vegetables,

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and a tiny bit of grains – a tiny bit of
carbs, so that’s gonna be during

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the week. And then on the weekend I let
myself enjoy myself so I’ll get a mocha,

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which I try not to drink a lot of
caffeine, will get a mocha, have a glass

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of wine, some sweets and enjoy myself.
Chocolate. Chocolate is always a good

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thing. So anyways SELF CARE. What do you
do for self care? I’d love to hear. OK you

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know I like to go see theater as much as
possible,

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and I saw The Mountaintop. It’s playing
at the Matrix theater until April 10 here

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in LA. So if you’re in LA please go see
it. It’s by Katori Hall. It takes place

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the last evening before Martin Luther
King Junior is assassinated, and he gets

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a visit from a woman – I can’t tell you
much more about it to not spoil it, but

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the woman – the character is incredible. I
think she’s one of the strongest, most

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complex and beautifully developed Black
women in theater – who’s specifically

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written as a Black woman – and this woman:
Danielle Truitt plays Ca’Mae and she’s just

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incredible and Larry Bates is also great. He
plays Martin Luther King Jr. Without

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question, though, Daniel Truitt steals
the show. This production is also

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directed by Roger Guenvere Smith. There were not enough people in the

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theater when we went, so PLEASE go see
this. Support them. Spread the word. If

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you’re not in LA, see if anybody’s doing
this show. They’re doing it at the

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Matrix for Black History Month – you don’t
need to only see it on Black History Month,

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you should see it anytime. It’s so good. Oh
my gosh! April 7 through 9, 2016 I’m

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looking at my phone ’cause I want to
read this to you. There is the Black GirlĀ Movement Conference in New York. It’s
being held at Columbia University – which

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is my school!!! I went to Teachers College – yayyy! So, “Black Girl Movement – a national

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conference is a three-day gathering at
Columbia University in New York City to

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focus on Black girls, cis, queer and
trans girls in the United States.

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Bringing together, artists, activists – ARTIVISTS! –
educators, policymakers and Black girl

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leaders themselves. This first national
conference on Black girls seeks to

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address the disadvantages that Black
girls in the United States face while

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creating the political will to publicly
acknowledge their achievements,

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contributions and leadership.” Alright I
know you can read yourselves, but I just…

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I read that and I get excited every time I
read that. So links for everything down

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below. What are your goals? What’s going
on? What have you achieved as Artivists?

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Keep up this great, great, incredible, important
work we do – and wish me luck on this new job.

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and on staying in shape – staying FIT and I’ll talk
to you next week. Bye bye.

One Drop of Love Testimonial: Ashley – one story DOES make a difference


TRANSCRIPT:

CHANDRA: One of the best parts about the post-show conversations is when people feel compelled to share their own stories. In this clip, Ashley shares what it’s like for her as a Black female traveling through the Dominican Republic.

ASHLEY: One of the things that really resonated with me was the dynamic with race in other cultures. As a Black individual I’ve had the experience to go live in the Dominican Republic and there’s this racial dynamic between Haitians and Dominicans and oftentimes I was cussed out in four languages, by Haitians – they were telling me I’m denying my Haitian roots. The Dominican family I lived with, they had problems with my braids because those were identified as Haitian. Especially as a Black American you go on these journeys to really figure out who you are because you DO have so many people trying to tell you who you are – or what it means to be Black, or what it means to be this and, you think – well I had the perception that if I go overseas, I’ll be able to connect more, and I’ll be able to just be me, and it won’t have to be about race or how dark I am or how I sound and, just hearing that my experience wasn’t the only experience like that. That it really didn’t matter, like I didn’t find that oneness, that wholeness that I was expecting to find. I found more divisions. And hearing that in the story, it was sad.

Because I’m actually a Youth Pastor at an all-White church (laughs). At an all-White church. I never share that story. I always kind of tread on light water because I always have this feeling that…I know that my being here is a great thing, but it ruffles some feathers as well. And it’s like you never know when you’re put in these environments how you’re supposed to be. What’s uncomfortable? What’s not comfortable enough? What’s too, what’s saying too much? How bold can I be? Our congregation is older, white individuals, it’s a highly conservative church and things that are just uncomfortable? We don’t really do.

PATTI: And that’s the show. Like, if it’s uncomfortable…

ASHLEY: You just gotta deal with it yourself. You’re uncomfortable within yourself because you can’t find any comfort talking about it. But, with this show I appreciate it because you realize how many people have similar stories. Even if it’s just a little part of her story resonates with someone else, you realize that, OK. I’m not uncomfortable by myself. People ARE talking about this. And…one story DOES make a difference. The stories are never the same but the themes are always recurring. It’s human nature.