NMBLC takes a look back at a decade of New Mexico Black History Festival events and previews what’s coming up in 2021
In the fall of 2011, a group of like-minded community members from all walks of life met to plan the very first New Mexico Black History Festival. The vision was to honor and celebrate the contributions of Black people in New Mexico while building community from the inside out. This group of volunteers formed the New Mexico Black History Organizing Committee (NMBHOC), led by founder Cathryn McGill. NMBHOC curated and managed events to reflect themes of the week: Arts & Culture; Taste of Soul; and Mind, Body & Soul.
These collaborations created impactful, necessary ongoing programs that have become anticipated traditions in the community. Such events include the Asante Awards, honoring Black leaders and trailblazers in New Mexico, the Roots Summer Leadership Academy, teaching youth self esteem and leadership skills through the arts, and the Young Blacks of Albuquerque Meetup Group, which in turn inspired The Syndicate ABQ, a safe and curated space for Black creatives, Queer folx, and healing.
“A people who lack the knowledge of their past history, culture and origin are like a tree without roots.”
~ Marcus Garvey
When the New Mexico Black Leadership Council (NMBLC) formed at the end of 2019, the NMBHOC became one of the many programs administered by the NMBLC. NMBLC serves as a hub that focuses on Cultural Vibrancy, Health, Leadership Development, Civic Engagement and Youth Development. As part of its Cultural Vibrancy mission, NMBLC supports the NMBHOC and the annual New Mexico Black History Festival. The year 2021 marks a major milestone— the Festival enters its 10th year of providing a slate of artistic and cultural celebrations to bring the community together.
We’re taking a look back at the festival highlights of the past decade. We’re also giving you a preview of what’s planned for the 2021 festival. Most everything will be virtual, or a virtual and socially-distanced hybrid, and it will still be amazing. Mark your calendar for February – July 2021 as we launch DECADES: Past, Present, Future a 10 year Celebration of the New Mexico Black History Festival!
Inaugural New Mexico Black History Festival – Roots Revival (2011/2012)
The theatrical performance of Roots opened with students who are preparing to go on an exciting trip to learn about the past, present, and future of Black history. The Griot (storyteller) uses a backdrop of high-energy music, dance, and spoken word to take these unwitting students, who initially think they “know it all,” on an eye-opening, riveting journey, full of poignant, heart-wrenching, and inspiring stories they didn’t learn in school.
Sold Out Popejoy with Roots Revival (2013)
Roots: Our Story, Our Struggle, Our Glory and Roots Revival chronicled the history of Blacks in the United States in spoken word, music and dance. Our struggle, our story, our glory was the rallying cry for more than 100 artists, staff and crew members beginning in 2012 at a small 150 seat theater in northwest Albuquerque. Roots became the first locally Black-produced event to sell out Popejoy Hall, the state’s largest theatrical venue. The show lives on in the hearts of the participants and patrons who remember it as a launching point for children coming of age, romance, and new business ventures. The critically acclaimed production renewed interest in authentic Black history created about us, by us and for all New Mexicans.
The WIZ (2014)
Throughout the years, the New Mexico Black History Organizing Committee continued expanding its catalogue of performances. The WIZ is a musical written by Charlie Smalls and William F. Brown. The story is a retelling of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African-American culture. The WIZ stage show was the flagship event of the 3rd Annual New Mexico Black History Festival.
Kumbuka Celebrations at KiMo and Lensic (2019 & 2020)
The Kumbuka Celebrations are all about remembering our ancestors. We brought together a stellar ensemble of artists in song, spoken word, and dance to celebrate our ancestors, the ones who are famous in our collective consciousness and the ones who are close to our individual hearts and minds.
Many memorable community collaborations have taken place over the ten years of arts and culture events. Highlights include the One New Mexico Gospel concert featuring gospel sensation Kelontae Gavin, and the Omega Psi Phi Talent Hunt Competition, which awards cash prizes to high school students who win the top spot in the areas of song, dance, and spoken word. Check out winners from the 2019 talent hunt below:
A Taste of Soul
Sweet Potato Pie Contest (2012)
The New Mexico Black History Festival in year’s past included a cuisine focus. In 2012 we hosted a sweet potato pie contest where members of the community were asked to put their baking skills to the test in an effort to win a cash prize of $500, $300, or $200.
Soul Food Cooking Class (2015)
We partnered with CNM to offer a soul food cooking class to the community. The class was hugely popular, filling to capacity within a week of being announced.
Another sold out event was the 2015 Sunday Dinner held at the Navajo Elks Lounge. Several Black-owned restaurants, including Nexus and Powdrell’s Barbecue, brought samples of their menu for attendees to sample. A portion of the ticket proceeds went to the Prince Hall Scholarship Fund.
Work It Out Day & The STEM Festival
The festival often culminated with Mind, Body, and Soul Week. This free, all day community event included health and fitness workshops, dance classes, and interactive game stations where youth learned about all the fun career options available in the STEM fields.
Honoring Service and Leadership
The Asante Awards
The Asante Awards focus on different categories of recognition from law, to the arts, to hospitality. Through the past 6 years, the Asante Awards has engaged participants to honor those who have made significant contributions to the Black community. Past recipients of the Asante Awards include the Powdrell family (2015), educator Joycelyn Jackson (2016), journalist and photographer Ron Wallace (2017), and artists Linda Piper and Juba Clayton (2020). Retired judges husband and wife team Tommy and Angela Jewell were honored at the 2019 Race and Law Conference, held in collaboration with the New Mexico Black Lawyers Association.
Cotton Club Gala
The signature Cotton Club Galas, hosted with the Albuquerque Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, was not just a chance for New Mexicans to show up and show out. It was another opportunity to recognize excellence with the Frederick Douglass Award. The 2018 honoree was education champion Dr. Linda Townsend-Johnson.
In 2019, we honored five amazing Black women who received tenure and professorships at the University of New Mexico: Dr. Sonia Gipson Rankin, Dr. Myra Washington, Dr. Claudia Isaac, Dr. Melanie Moses, and Dr. Nancy Lopez.
In addition, a portion of the proceeds from the Cotton Club Galas benefited the Deltas Judith R. Harris Scholarship Fund.
Upcoming 2021 New Mexico Black History Festival Events
DECADES: Past, Present, Future
NM PBS Screening and Discussion: Mr. SOUL! Thursday, Feb.18, 2021
New Mexico PBS and the Society of Professional Journalists Rio Grande Chapter present a screening and discussion of Mr. Soul!, a film by Melissa Haizlip.
From 1968 into 1973, the PBS variety show SOUL! offered an unfiltered, uncompromising celebration of Black literature, poetry, music, and politics—voices that had few other options for national exposure and, as a result, found in the program a place to call home. The series was among the first to provide expanded images of African Americans on television, shifting the gaze from inner-city poverty and violence to the vibrancy of the Black Arts Movement. Through participants’ recollections and illuminating archival clips, Mr. SOUL! captures a critical moment in culture whose impact continues to resonate and celebrates an unsung hero whose voice we need now more than ever, to restore the soul of a nation.
Following the film, join a panel discussion with filmmaker Melissa Haizlip, moderated by journalists Megan Kamerick and Jerry Redfern.
Kumbuka Celebration: DECADES DEEP Friday, Feb. 26, 2021
Kumbuka (Swahili): verb. bring to mind.
Kumbuka asks us to bring to mind, or to remember. At this year’s Kumbuka Celebration: DECADES Deep, we reflect on the past 10 years of the New Mexico Black HIstory Festival and recall the theatrical performances that our community came to know and love.
Though we can’t yet gather in our favorite theaters, our Kumbuka Celebration: DECADES Deep brings the theatre to you. Get your tickets today to gain access to a special celebration featuring the past cast and crew members of For Colored Girls, Roots Revival, highlights of The Wiz, and much more.
RSVP for the Kumbuka Celebration: Decades Deep below:
The national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is Monday, January 18, 2021. For this blog post I took a deep dive into five of his essays and speeches, some famous, some not so famous. I wanted to get a closer look at what he had to say back then and how some of it might apply to what’s happening today. Something beyond the usual oft-circulated quote bits of “I have a dream” and “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” Here’s what I found.
(Note: At the end of the post is a link to local virtual events commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr.)
“And so we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream”
Martin Luther King, Jr. On the “Right” Time and “Right” Way to Protest
“Letter from Birmingham Jail” 1963
The following excerpts are from an open letter that Dr. King wrote while jailed in Birmingham for taking part in civil rights demonstrations. Eight white, liberal Alabama clergymen had called on King to allow integration to play out in court instead of through nonviolent protest. It was not very often that Dr. King took the time to respond to his detractors, but in this case he made an exception.
“You may well ask, ‘Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc.? Isn’t negotiation a better path?’ You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. I just referred to the creation of tension as a part of the work of the nonviolent resistor. This may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word tension. I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, but there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth.”
“We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have never yet engaged in a direct action movement that was ‘well-timed,’ according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation.”
“For years now I have heard the words ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’”
—Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
The Realities and Legacy of Police Brutality
“I Have a Dream” 1963
Folded within the optimistic and transcendent spirituality blanket of Dr. King‘s most famous speech are stark expressions of frustration. He offers a glimpse into the reckoning to be faced by the United States regarding treatment of Black peoples.
“And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content, will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.”
“There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.”
“There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’ We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.”
“At that moment it seemed as if the Kingdom of God appeared. But it only lasted for a moment.“
—Coretta King on her husband’s speech that historic day in Washington, DC.
Examining Democracy and Economic Power
The following are from King’s article “Black Power Defined” summarizing his understanding of African American nationalism. His book titled Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community, published in 1967, further analyzes what he views as the merits and drawbacks of the Black Power movement.
“Negroes have illuminated imperfections in the democratic structure that were formerly only dimly perceived, and have forced a concerned reexamination of the true meaning of American democracy. As a consequence of the vigorous Negro protest, the whole nation has for a decade probed more searchingly the essential nature of democracy, both economic and political.”
“The other economic lever available to the Negro is as a consumer. . . . In Birmingham it was not the marching alone that brought about integration of public facilities in 1963. The downtown business establishments suffered for weeks under our most unbelievably effective boycott. The significant percentage of their sales that vanished, the ninety-eight percent of their Negro customers who stayed home, educated them forcefully to the dignity of the Negro as a consumer.”
Martin Luther King’s Words – Chilling Prophecies
“Showdown for Nonviolence” 1968
Before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had expanded his mission to include economic justice for all people regardless of race. The Poor People’s Campaign, that he organized along with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, lost steam in the wake of King’s assassination and the escalation of the Vietnam War. Recent events, including those of this past year, seem to be foretold in some of Dr. King’s words of the corrupting and rotting effects of extreme poverty on a civilization.
“There is an Old Testament prophecy of the ‘sins of the fathers being visited upon the third and fourth generations.’ Nothing could be more applicable to our situation. America is reaping the harvest of hate and shame planted through generations of educational denial, political disenfranchisement and economic exploitation of its black population. Now, almost a century removed from slavery, we find the heritage of oppression and racism erupting in our cities, with volcanic lava of bitterness and frustration pouring down our avenues.”
“In spite of years of national progress, the plight of the poor is worsening. Jobs are on the decline as a result of technological change, schools North and South are proving themselves more and more inadequate to the task of providing adequate education and thereby entrance into the mainstream of the society. Medical care is virtually out of reach of millions of black and white poor. They are aware of the great advances of medical science—heart transplants, miracle drugs—but their children still die of preventable diseases.”
Injustice takes Its Toll on Humanity
“I See the Promised Land” 1968
On the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s assassination, he was in Memphis in support of the sanitation workers strike. It was his last action of commitment to his broader vision of economic justice for all people. In reading the speech, I was struck by how loosely it was structured in comparison to his other essays and speeches. There’s an almost rambling stream of consciousness quality to it. It’s as if he was bone tired, soul tired, and already straddling the line between this world and the next. An autopsy conducted after his murder revealed that his heart resembled that of a 60-year-old. Dr. King was thirty-nine at the time of his death. It’s a sobering illustration of how, as accomplished and as exceptional as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was, and in contrast to our exalted, mythic, nearly superhuman view of him, he was a man. A human being bearing the brunt and the scars and the never fading injury of being an advocate against injustice while also a recipient of it.
“That is where we are today. And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn’t done, and in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, the long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed. Now, I’m just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period, to see what is unfolding. And I’m happy that he’s allowed me to be in Memphis.”
“And that’s all this whole thing is about. We aren’t engaged in any negative protest and any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God’s children. And that we don’t have to live like we are forced to live.”
“And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?
Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land.”
We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God’s children.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. “I See the Promised Land”
For a list of local virtual events commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr., click here to view our January calendar. Due to COVID-19, the annual MLK March in Albuquerque is cancelled.
Five Black Events including Book Releases, Movies, TV, and Celebrations for January 2021
Welcome to 2021! The New Mexico Black Leadership Council rounded up five Black events in the areas of books, film, and celebrations to look forward to during the winter days of January.
Read The Prophets, an Antebellum Black Queer Love Story
Robert Jones Jr.’s debut novel The Prophets imagines a love story between two young enslaved black men on a cotton plantation in Mississippi. Jones, a gay Black man who longed to read stories about Queer love when he was growing up, wrote the book that he wanted to read back then. He worked on the book while also writing a blog called “Son of Baldwin” that discussed race, sexuality, gender, and disability. It was through this blog that he made the connections necessary to land a book deal with Putnam. The Prophetsreleases on January 5th.
Watch (or Re-Watch) Underground on OWN January 5
In 2016, the groundbreaking show “Underground” premiered on WGN America. The series, co-created by Misha Green (Lovecraft Country showrunner) and Joe Pokaski and starring Aldis Hodge and Jurnee Smollett, told the story of an enslaved man named Noah who organizes a daring escape from a Georgia plantation. The travails of “The Macon 7” trended on Twitter every Wednesday night for the next two years. To the outrage and disappointment of many, the show was canceled after the second season when WGN underwent a reorganization. In December, OWN announced that they are acquiring Underground. The revitalized presentation, hosted by John Legend, will include introductions by cast members and behind the scenes footage. Catch the re-release of Underground starting January 5 at 7 PM mountain on the OWN Network.
Watch the Premiere of One Night In Miami on Amazon Prime January 15
Actress Regina King makes her directorial debut with her adaptation of One Night in Miami. It originally premiered at the Venice film festival and has been generating Oscar buzz. The story is a fictionalized account of one night on February 25, 1964 when boxer Muhammad Ali won his first world title match in Miami and celebrated with civil rights activist Malcolm X, football star Jim Brown, and singer Sam Cooke. One Night in Miami, starring Eli Goree, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom Jr., premieres on Amazon prime video on January 15, 2021.
Commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with Grant Chapel MLK Celebration January 18
Celebrate the life and ideals of Dr. King with Grant Chapel AME at their twenty-fifth annual commemoration on Facebook live and Zoom! The theme “Keeping the dream alive: A day ON, not a day OFF!” encourages us to work toward creating a fair, equitable, and inclusive society by Dr. King’s example.
Grant Chapel’s MLK Celebration takes place via Zoom on January 18, 8AM Mountain Time.
Witness the Inauguration of the First Black Female Vice-President January 20
The Inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be a largely virtual celebration. The televised socially distanced swearing-in ceremony in front of the US Capitol will be followed by virtual diverse performances and communities across the country. The 2021 inauguration will not only be the first in the wake of the coronavirus but will be historic as the first inauguration of a Black female vice president.
The New Mexico Black Leadership Council says goodbye to Black icons who passed in 2020 and have now become ancestors.
This has been a year of many losses. Black icons who passed in 2020 include civil rights giants, sports legends, a mathematician who helped launch us into space, and our very own superhero. The Coronavirus ravaging the globe took some of our Black icons too early. As we prepare to send this year into antiquity, we bid farewell to those who inspired us, changed our world, and made our existence brighter.
Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers Basketball Star
Source: Wikimedia Commons
January 26, 2020, Age 41, Helicopter Crash
The Lakers legend and his daughter Gianna died along with seven other passengers in a helicopter crash in Calabasas. The news hit just hours before the airing of the 2020 Grammy awards, shrouding the ceremony in a pall of surreal sorrow and inspiring last minute tributes by Lizzo, Alicia Keys, and Boyz II Men. The 6-foot-6 guard made his pro debut in the 1996-97 season opener against Minnesota; at the time he was the youngest player to appear in an NBA game. Bryant and leading scorer Shaquille O’Neal quickly morphed into one of the most lethal scoring and defensive combinations in the league. Bryant retired in 2016 as a two-time Olympic gold medalist .
“Kobe was a legend on the court and just getting started in what would have been just as meaningful a second act.”
B. Smith started off as one of the country’s first high-profile black models, becoming the second black model on the cover of Mademoiselle magazine in 1976. She went on to host a lifestyle show, “B. Smith With Style,” and was often dubbed the “Black Martha Stewart.”
“I’ve climbed a mountain of no’s to get one yes,” B. Smith once said.
She owned three restaurants and authored three cookbooks. Her loss was mourned by celebrities such as Viola Davis, Ava DuVernay, and Gabrielle Union.
“So supportive and so damn fly… she is, was, and forever will be an ICON”
Source: Science Photo Library via Albuquerque Library
February 24, 2020, Age 101, Natural Causes
Many people never heard of Katherine Johnson until Taraji P. Henson portrayed her in the 2016 hit movie Hidden Figures. Her calculations were critical to the success of the Apollo 11 moon landing. As one of a group of highly skilled mathematicians at NASA in the 1960s, Ms. Johnson and her cohorts were subjected to double segregation. As Black women, they were relegated to separate rooms and restrooms from their white female counterparts, who were in turn segregated from the male mathematicians and engineers.
A brilliant math student from youth, Johnson graduated summa cum laude with a double major in mathematics and French. In 1940, she became one of three black graduate students to integrate the all-white West Virginia University. She joined the NASA Flight Division in the early 1950’s and became part of the agency’s effort to put an astronaut into space.
In 1962, a few days before he was to orbit the Earth, John Glenn asked that Ms. Johnson, a flesh and blood human, double-check the orbital trajectory that had been calculated by a computer.
“If she says the numbers are good, I’m ready to go.”
Her first book, Blanche on the Lam, won the Agatha Award, Anthony Award, and the Macavity Award for best first novel, which are three of the top literary prizes for mysteries and the Go on Girl! Award from Black Women’s Reading Club. As a social activist, she was director of Women for Economic Justice, a welfare reform advocacy group. She also taught prison inmates and fought violence against women. Her most well-known literary character, Blanche White, was a black maid who solved murders under cover of her invisible social status. Last December, she was named the Mystery Writers of America’s 2020 Grand Master.
“For all the chatelaine fantasies of some of the women for whom she worked, she really was her own boss, and her clients knew it. She ordered her employers’ lives, not the other way around.”
Reverend Lowery was a figure in several pivotal events during the Civil Rights Movement. He helped coordinate the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, and led the delegation that delivered demands to segregationist Governor George Wallace in the 1965 voting rights march. He co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and stayed at the helm for two decades, restoring its financial health and pressuring businesses to boycott South Africa’s apartheid era regime. He was a staunch advocate for equal access to housing, employment, and healthcare. In his retirement, Lowery stayed at the forefront of social debates, being among the first old-guard civil rights figures to advocate for LGBTQ rights. Despite his life long fight for voting rights, he never imagined he would live to see a Black President of the United States.
In 2009, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama.
“I’ve never felt your ministry should be totally devoted to making a heavenly home. I thought it should also be devoted to making your home here heavenly.”
The three-time Grammy Award winner Bill Withers created gorgeous melodies, delivered with a voice that sounds like a sunny day and the promise of summer. His ability to convey complex emotions in a deceptively simple way has made him omnipresent in all things involving the range of human experience, from birthdays to weddings to heartbreak. His soulful songs such as “Lovely Day” and “Ain’t No Sunshine” are eternal, and the classic “Lean On Me” has been a source of solace and inspiration during the coronavirus pandemic, with health care workers, choirs, artists and more posting their own renditions of “Lean on Me” to help get through.
“Bill Withers is the closest thing black people have to a Bruce Springsteen.”
April 1, 2020, Age 85, Complications from Coronavirus
As the father of Wynton and Branford Marsalis, pianist Ellis Marsalis was the patriarch of a highly musical family. His music students included Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, Harry Connick Jr. and four of his sons: Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo and Jason Marsalis. He taught at the first full-time public arts high school in New Orleans, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. He also had a standing gig at Snug Harbor in New Orleans up until his retirement a few months before he died.
“Like many parents, he sacrificed for us and made so much possible. Not only material things, but things of substance and beauty like the ability to hear complicated music and to read books; to see and to contemplate art; to be philosophical and kind, but to also understand that a time and place may require a pugilistic-minded expression of ignorance.”
Source: The Granger Collection via Albuquerque Library
May 9, 2020, Age 87, Bone Cancer
Born Richard Wayne Penniman, the singer & piano player cut a number of hits that set the template for rock ‘n’ roll: “Tutti Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Lucille,” and “Good Golly Miss Molly.” LIttle Richard came up with the iconic “a wop bob alu bob a wop bam boom” chorus while washing dishes at a Greyhound bus station in Macon, GA. His influence reaches musicians from Elton John to the Beatles to the Rolling Stones to Prince. Fellow rock icon Jerry Lee Lewis said in a statement following the news of Richard’s death: “He will live on always in my heart with his amazing talent and his friendship! He was one of a kind and I will miss him dearly.”
Master of the blues guitar, mentored by Willie Dixon, he recorded his first record when he was only five years old and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson at the age of six. During his 50 year career as a professional musician, he toured and recorded such greats as Etta James, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and Little Milton.
Jimmy Cobb was the last surviving member of Miles Davis’ First Great Sextet. His playing on “Kind of Blue” contributed to its iconic status and undeniable bounce. He also played on canonical Davis albums like Sketches of Spain and In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk. Cobb accompanied high profile acts such as Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington before joining forces with Miles Davis in the late 1950s.
On Friday, July 17, 2020, we lost two civil rights icons: Rev. C.T. Vivian and Congressman John Lewis. The proximity of their passing brings to light the startling correlation and commonalities between these two leaders and activists.
Both men were inspired by hearing Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and were galvanized to join the nonviolent civil rights movement of the ‘60s. They attended American Baptist College in Nashville, and Rev. Vivian became a minister.
Vivian was a field general for King and later became the national director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Lewis founded and led the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
They were warriors in the fight for racial equality, getting arrested and suffering blows and wounds multiple times over the course of their lives. They were beaten and spit on during freedom rides and lunch counter sit-ins. Vivian was punched in the face by Sheriff Clark outside the Selma courthouse during a voting rights drive. Lewis’s skull was cracked when he was struck by an Alabama state trooper at the March on Selma. Vivian was almost killed in St. Augustine during a peaceful protest. Lewis was left unconscious in a pool of his own blood outside the Greyhound Bus Terminal in Montgomery after an attack by hundreds of white people.
Vivian helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, and Lewis was one of the speakers.
Vivian received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2013. Lewis was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2011.
“I am going to fight it and keep fighting for the Beloved Community. We still have many bridges to cross.”
July 25, 2020, Age 43, Complications from Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome
Though Lady Red was not chosen for Ru Paul’s Drag Race, her impact was unforgettable. She was selected to co-host the talk show “Hey Qween!” which rose in parallel with “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” A self-described transgender woman, other young drag performers looked up to her, earning her the nickname “Mother Hen.”
Charles Evers, Civil Rights Activist, Older Brother to Medgar Evers
Source: Wikimedia Commons
July 22, 2020, Age 97, Natural Causes
Charles Evers was very different from his brother Medgar. He was a small time numbers runner and bootlegger who got run out of Mississippi to continue operations in Chicago. It all changed when his civil rights activist brother was assassinated. Charles Evers quit the rackets and replaced Medgar as the Mississippi field director of the N.A.A.C.P. He went on to change the racial face of politics in the state by leading Mississippi’s first integrated delegation to the Democratic National Convention and becoming the state’s first Black mayor since Reconstruction.
“Had he been born another color or in a more rational age, Charles Evers might have become a celebrated tycoon. He has a star salesman’s glibness, a trailblazer’s tenacity and the chutzpah of a P.T. Barnum.”
Malik Abdul-Basit was best known as Malik B., an early member of The Roots. He joined Questlove and Black Thought in the early 1990s and worked on the first four albums. His final album as a member of The Roots, Things Fall Apart, was a high mark for the band, earning a Grammy for “You Got Me” and selling over 1 million in the U.S.
Randall Kenan’s award-winning fiction blended myth and magic, set in a small Southern town similar to the one he grew up in. He died just three weeks before his short story collection, “If I Had Two Wings,” was selected as one of 10 nominees for the National Book Award for fiction. He won the 1992 Lambda Literary Award for gay fiction. His other honors include a Guggenheim fellowship; a Whiting Award for emerging writers, in 1994; and, in 2002, the John Dos Passos Prize, given by Longwood University in Virginia.
The news came on a Friday night in August that Chadwick Boseman, iconic for his role as King T’Challa aka Black Panther, died after a four-year battle with cancer. The profound shock and sorrow that followed came not only from him being so young and in the peak of his career, but also because very few people knew he had cancer to begin with. His regal performance in Black Panther, a movie that had sold-out premieres and attendees showing up in theaters dressed in African garb, was filmed after his diagnosis. Boseman worked on several other films while privately undergoing severe health struggles, including two more Avengers movies and Spike Lee’s Da Five Bloods. He was lauded by many co-stars and industry colleagues for his down to earth generosity and impeccable work ethic. (Read our interview with a local Black entrepreneur who was so moved by Chadwick’s death, she created a jewelry line in his honor.)
“He was an artist. Someone who was willing to leave his vanity, his ego, everything at the door, and serve the character. He was absolutely one hundred percent a joy to work with,” said actress and co-star Viola Davis.
For his final on screen performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (just released on Netflix), he actually learned to play the trumpet.
“You can get a lot of actors working out to fit into a role. Yeah, they’re all into that. But to take the time to learn how to play the damn trumpet, get the fingerings right, that’s crazy.”
— Branford Marsalis on Chadwick Boseman’s dedication
John Thompson was the first Black coach to win an NCAA championship, and architect of the Georgetown Hoya’s men’s basketball team. Thompson recruited and mentored some of the most influential players of our time, including Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, Patrick Ewing, and Allen Iverson—all of whom were selected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He finished his career with 596 NCAA wins.
September 11, 2020, Age 77, Complications from Coronavirus
Frederick “Toots” Hibbert was the lead singer and songwriter of Toots and the Maytals and one of reggae’s foundational figures. His versions of “I Can’t Stand the Rain” by Ann Peebles and “Country Road” by John Denver are beloved. He won the 2005 Grammy for best reggae album for True Love. He was considered a national treasure in Jamaica and conferred with the country’s fifth highest honor in 2012. On Aug. 28, 2020, Hibbert released the final album of his career, Got To Be Tough. Two days after its release, he was admitted to the hospital in Kingston.
September 16, 2020, Age 74, Health complications including Coronavirus
Stanly Crouch was a sometimes controversial yet always passionate critic of and writer on jazz music. Wynton Marsalis studied the texts of Stanley Crouch the way he did the music of Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong. Crouch’s many honors included a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant and a NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship. He was one of the more prominent guest speakers on the definitive Ken Burns PBS series Jazz.
September 23, 2020, Age 77, Complications from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
Known as the “Kansas Comet,” Sayers was the youngest athlete to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977. He is described as one of the best running backs of all time and an extraordinary man who overcame great adversity in his career and in life. Sayers’s fame went outside the football field due to the Emmy Award-winning 1971 television movie “Brian’s Song,” which was based on his friendship with teammate Brian Piccolo, who died of cancer at 26.
“Sayers is the greatest halfback I ever saw.” —Ernie Accorsi, NFL Team Manager
Singer-songwriter and actor Johnny Nash was best known for his hit song “I Can See Clearly Now.” The song sold more than a million copies and reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972. It remained number one for four weeks.
Lucille Bridges, Mother of Civil Rights Activist Ruby Bridges
Source: Wikimedia Commons
November 10, 2020, Age 86, Cancer
Lucille Bridges walked with her then 6-year-old daughter past crowds of people screaming racial slurs as Ruby became the first Black student to integrate her all-white elementary school in 1960.
“Today our country lost a hero. Brave, progressive, a champion for change. She helped alter the course of so many lives by setting me out on my path as a six year old little girl. Our nation lost a Mother of the Civil Rights Movement today. And I lost my mom. I love you and am grateful for you. May you Rest In Peace.”
A barber’s son, David Dinkins became New York City’s first Black mayor in 1989. During a time when the city was racked with racial strife and violent crimes, Dinkins easily beat his incumbent in the primary and opponent Rudolph Giuliani in the November election. He lasted for one term. Due in part to his handling of the Crown Heights riots, voters favored Giuliani in the next election.
December 12, 2020, Age 86, Complications from Coronavirus
Though other Black country musicians preceded him, Charley Pride was country music’s first Black superstar. In 1971, just four years after releasing his first hit record “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin,” he won the Country Music Association’s entertainer of the year award — the genre’s highest honor.
He scored 52 Top 10 country hits, including 29 Number Ones, and was the first African-American performer to appear on the Grand Ole Opry stage since Deford Bailey made his debut in the 1920s. In 2000, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Just a month before his death, he was awarded the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the CMAs. On a sobering note, he contracted Coronavirus after performing at the CMAs. Unlike other recent awards shows, the CMAs contained an in person audience, most of whom were not wearing masks.
Jazz pianist Stanley Cowell worked with Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, and Roy Haynes. His first album, released in 1969, contains elements of black history and pride. His 2015 album, “Juneteenth” featured original pieces inspired by the African-American struggle for empowerment and freedom.
In the wake of the seemingly insurmountable challenges faced by the Black community in 2020, the New Mexico Black Leadership Council reviews major successes and looks ahead to the new year.
The mission of the New Mexico Black Leadership Council is to create a hub that fosters a viable and sustainable social profit sector designed to serve the Black community in the state of New Mexico. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the resurgence of violent racist attacks, and the fear and vitriol surrounding the election show that the work of our organization is more necessary than ever. The horrifying events of this year heightened the need for flexibility, ingenuity, determination, and collaboration to rise to the occasion and accomplish the goals towards our vision. In the face of so many obstacles, our community-based advocacy, focus on inter-connectivity, and ongoing development proved to be a strong and sustainable methodology.
Launching a hub organization to serve New Mexico’s Black/African American community
New Mexico Black Leadership Council Open House
The New Mexico Black Leadership Council kicked off 2020 with a January 16th inaugural launch party at the newly expanded southeast heights location. Despite the afternoon snow storm, the community showed up strong for the open house. The space was filled to capacity as everyone listened to music, enjoyed refreshments, and toured the office. Attendees packed the conference room and lined the halls to hear the NMBLC leadership announce an exciting initiative: to create a viable and sustainable social profit sector for the Black community.
Leaders from the business, educational, legislative, and social sectors learned about NMBLC’s focus areas and affiliate organizations, including the New Mexico Black Mental Health Coalition, the New Mexico Black History Organizing Committee, Community Mentor Network, Young Black Professionals of Albuquerque, and The Syndicate ABQ. The celebration clearly presented an empowering change in how the New Mexico Black community will operate and flourish from that moment forward. Since the launch, NMBLC has become the largest Black led, non-governmental social profit in New Mexico, generating $500,000 in annual revenue. In October, NMBLC engaged a Black owned firm to transition from fiscal sponsorship to independent management.
“We are moving from a deficit mentality to an assets based strategy.”
—Shawna Brown, NMBLC Deputy Director
Illuminating mental health issues faced by Black New Mexicans
NMBLC Mental Health Conference
The second annual New Mexico Black Mental Health Conference was held on January 31 and February 1, 2020 at the University of New Mexico. The conference was sponsored by the New Mexico Black Leadership Council with practitioners from the NM Black Mental Health Coalition. The conference educates mental health providers, policy makers, consumers and supporters about primary mental health issues affecting Black New Mexicans. It also serves as a network and resource for people seeking Black mental health care professionals.
150 participants attended the two day conference. The two targeted tracks offered CEUs to both practitioners and community members. Attendees also took advantage of workshops facilitated by NMBMHC providers and interactive breakout sessions, all free of charge.
Nationally renowned speakers highlighted the theme of stereotypical burdens placed on Black people and the detrimental fallout of those societal pressures. Keynote speaker Dr. Angela Neal Barnett’s presentation “I’m Not Your SuperWoman: DeBunking the Myth/Trope of the Angry Black Woman” showed how the relentless defensive mask worn by Black women covers up deep fractures in their physical and mental health. In “John Henryism in the New Millenium: Black Men in America,” Dr. Napoleon Wells warned that the celebrated drive towards and expectation of Black excellence is, quite literally, lethal.
“The punchline is, you must perform exceptionally until you DIE.”
—Dr. Napoleon Wells on John Henryism and the Black obligation to overachieve.
Celebrating Black culture and contributions in New Mexico
New Mexico Black History Month Festival
The theme of the 2020 New Mexico Black History Month Festival was “And Justice for All.” In addition to the NM Black Mental Health Conference, the festival lineup included the One New Mexico Gospel Concert with Kelontae Gavin; the Omega Psi Phi Talent Hunt Competition, the Asante Awards and Kumbuka Celebration, and The Syndicate’s Blk Future Skate Night.
At the Talent Hunt Competition, 11 students were mentored by professional performing and visual artists. $2,000 in scholarships were awarded for winning youth.
NM Black History Organizing Committee presented this year’s Asante Awards to honored storytellers Linda Piper and Juba Clayton. Linda Piper is the founder and artistic director of Tapestry Players, a multicultural theatre company in Albuquerque. Juba Clayton employs stories to educate, empower, advocate, inspire, affirm and celebrate our communities.
The evening culminated in a free event for the community with soul-stirring performances by vocalists Cathy McGill, Josef Scott, Gene Corbin, Toni Morgan, Rebecca Arscott, and Michael Herndon; dancers Gabi Rojas, Rujeko Dumbutshena, Karen Price and Trey Pickett; and narrators Angela Littleton, Linda Piper, and Juba Clayton.
“BLK FUTURE SK8 NIGHT was filled with so much joy, laughter, love, and light. Thank you to everyone who came thru ”
Compensating New Mexico musicians and spreading the word about the 2020 Census
Tiny Census Concerts
NMBLC teamed up with iCountNM to produce the Tiny Census Concert series. Inspired by NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, this series of online concerts highlighted New Mexico’s favorite creatives in support of participation in the Census.
Hosted by KNME’s Gene Grant, each concert featured up to 8 artists across multiple categories including musicians, dancers, spoken word artists, and visual artists. Between each performance, invited guests shared why a complete 2020 Census count truly matters. The series, sponsored by Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Complete Count Committee, was a big hit during the isolation of the early days of the pandemic, with over 17,000 views. It also provided much needed income for 37 New Mexican musicians and artists who abruptly found themselves out of work as gigs were cancelled at a 100% rate. For many of the artists who participated in the TCC, the $1000 compensation was some of the only money coming in and allowed them to pay rent and stock their refrigerators.
“This $1000 I’m getting paid by TCC means I get to keep my home and breathe a little easier for at least another month. I’ll use the money for rent and to get the books I need to study for my comprehensive exam and finish my doctorate.”
—Lazarus Letcher, Musician/Singer-songwriter
Building leadership and self-confidence in youth
Roots Summer Leadership Academy
As the pandemic swept the globe unabated, the NMBLC crew grappled with how or whether their signature summer camp could happen this year. During these unprecedented times, however, the power of collaboration and community made 2020 Roots Summer Leadership Academy unforgettable.
The format and logistics were modified to make the camp COVID-19 compliant, with a mix of socially-distanced outdoor activities and online offerings. For the kids and their parents, the camp was a critical panacea during the long, difficult summer of 2020. 100% of parents said that RSLA met their expectations and that they would recommend the program to others.
The fun-filled and engaging program of art, music, dance, and STEM projects proved that the spirit of teamwork and youth development is truly unstoppable.
“It felt like hope for three weeks. It shifted our whole household dynamic. It was amazing.”
— Kim Obregon, RSLA parent
Increasing voter participation and prioritizing voter protection
New Mexico Black Voters Collaborative
The New Mexico Black Voters Collaborative (NMBVC), a non-partisan collective of over 20 local Black-led organizations, debuted with the launch of NMBVC’s 2020 election initiative “Freedom Summer ‘20.” The goal: voter outreach, education, and mobilization.
NMBVC live streamed multiple nonpartisan roundtable discussions to amplify Black voices on election matters and collaborated with Comcast, 99.9 The Beat, and PBS to air PSAs consistently encouraging our community to Vote No Matter What and to share with the public why we vote.
“The more Black voters that the NMBVC gets to the ballot box, the more the Black community in New Mexico takes action toward representation and acting on the knowledge that our vote is our voice.” —Megan Bott, NMBVC
Through partnerships with Common Cause and the Secretary of State’s Office, the NMBVC prioritized voter safety messaging through the NMBVC and its partner’s social media platforms, and by recruitment of Election Protection volunteers to station at polling places. The NMBVC met with the City of Albuquerque’s Equity & Inclusion Department and Albuquerque Police Deputy Chief Mike Smathers to discuss what would be done at the polls to keep voters as well as any protesters safe the week of the election. NMBVC teamed up with Rude Boy Cookies to encourage the community to make the pledge to vote and in turn get a gift certificate for a free gourmet cookie.
The Collaborative distributed fact-checked information on both Republican and Democrat races. In partnership with Common Cause NM, the NMBVC placed Election Protection volunteers in zip codes with higher BIPOC populations. NMBVC created a one-stop voter resource with regularly distributed reliable voter information, educational resources, and information on get-out-the-vote events and campaigns tailored to the Black community.
Follow the NMBVC on social media for the most up to date information on Black civic engagement and voting in New Mexico:
NMBLC concluded the tumultuous year with the timely Racial Contract Lecture Series. Sponsored by Comcast, this three part, complimentary webinar series aims to help leaders of academic, government, and social profit (501c3) institutions who are invested in creating open, diverse workplaces.
Each lecture was presented by PhD professors from the University of New Mexico who have dedicated their work to addressing issues of systemic and institutional racism as well as providing strategies on how institutions can address and combat systems of oppression.
The series proved to be extremely popular. Initial registration capped out at 400 within a few days of the first announcement. The attendance rate for each lecture averaged 200 people, and around 80 people stayed on for the Q&A after each lecture. Institutions represented include UNM, APS, and various government and nonprofit organizations.
“I very much appreciate the effort to bring great sessions with great thinking to our communities and I hope for many more of these going forward.”
— Racial Contract Lecture Series Attendee
2021 Goals and Programs in the works
Chisholm Table
Named for Shirley Chisholm, the Chisholm Table initiative will convene leaders of Black organizations to change our community from the inside out.
“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
— Shirley Chisholm
In addition to bringing our own chairs, we are building a new table. The Black community has been invisible in the state of New Mexico for far too long. Help us build visibility in our state so that we can capture a full picture of the people and organizations that are doing the work to change our community from the inside out.
See Something, Do Something
The See Something, Do Something violence prevention and intervention program focuses on the International District.
The New Mexico Black Leadership Council is creating a spectrum of advocacy to engage landlords, residents, business owners, community benefit organizations, and neighborhood associations in addressing issues that are prevalent in the International District to promote community vibrancy and deal with root causes.
You Make it All Possible
The New Mexico Black Leadership Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and its work is made possible by sponsorships from forward-thinking organizations and by the generous support of community members like you. Thanks to you, the NMBLC officially launched and made huge strides in fulfilling its mission to serve the Black community in the areas of mental health, youth development, civic engagement, cultural vibrancy, and leadership development. Much work remains to be done, and you can help make that possible. Consider an end of year donation to the New Mexico Black Leadership, and join us on our continuing journey to create a space to thrive for all New Mexicans.
When Cathryn McGill assembled a volunteer coalition to create the annual New Mexico Black History Month Festival, the New Mexico Foundation became the fiscal sponsor for the Black nonprofit. Now, the New Mexico Black Leadership Council gives thanks to the Foundation that was there from the beginning.
As the year 2020 comes to a close, the New Mexico Black Leadership Council takes this opportunity to give a most sincere thank you to one of its most steadfast sponsors, the New Mexico Foundation (NMF). The New Mexico Foundation has been NMBLC’s fiscal sponsor since its inception as the New Mexico Black History Organizing Committee (NMBHOC) ten years ago. With the New Mexico Foundation’s support, NMBHOC had the ability to grow and flourish from a fledgling festival and summer camp vehicle into the hub organization it is today: hiring two additional full time staff members, assembling a Board of Directors, and providing fiscal and administrative support to other nascent organizations in the Black nonprofit sector.
What It Means to Be A Fiscal Sponsor
Fiscal sponsorship allows charitable organizations that do not have their own 501(c)(3) status to fulfill their mission. With fiscal sponsorship, the New Mexico Foundation (NMF) provided administrative services, oversight, and financial responsibility for NMBHOC, even though the Organizing Committee did not have a federal tax ID or official IRS status as a charitable organization. This relationship with NMF allowed NMBHOC to conduct fundraisers, apply for grants, receive private contributions, and pay vendors and contractors for services needed for events such as the Asante Awards ceremony, the Kumbuka celebration, and the Roots Summer Leadership Academy. For the past decade, the New Mexico Foundation has acted as the fiscal sponsor for not only NMBHOC, but also for the first year of the New Mexico Black Leadership Council.
NMBLC’s Black Nonprofit Goes to the Next Level
Achieving 501(c)(3) status is no small feat. The organization had to first set itself up as a corporation, with Articles of Incorporation and a Board of Directors. It then had to successfully complete the application process, an IRS form that is itself almost thirty pages long. That’s before the organizational docs that have to be included, such as the bylaws.
In August of 2019, The New Mexico Black Leadership Council received official 501(c)(3) status from the IRS.
NMBLC was then in a position to finally hire full time staff to effectively execute the organization’s robust new mission: serve as a hub to create a viable and sustainable Black nonprofit sector for the Black community in the state of New Mexico.
With growth comes change, and this is where the ten-year partnership with the New Mexico Foundation comes to a close. Because NMF does not offer the type of services required to administer payroll and reporting for W2 employees, NMBLC had to take the next step of sustainability. In October of 2020, NMBLC hired a local Black-owned CPA firm to handle the organization’s payroll and tax liability. While the New Mexico Foundation is no longer NMBLC’s fiscal sponsor, NMF has fulfilled its mission to help nonprofits achieve independence and self actualization.
A Statement of Gratitude from NMBLC’s Founder and Director
The New Mexico Foundation has been a huge part of our story for 10 years and we will always be connected to them. The Foundation has helped us through many rough patches and has been there to celebrate our success since inception 10 years ago. We know we have a long way to go, and we are grateful for all of the support that the Foundation has provided for us.
I am forever indebted to all of the people at the Foundation for believing in us and our mission. If you ever need me, as my grandmother used to say, “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise”, I’ll be there.
Asante! (“Thank You” in Swahili.)
–Cathryn McGill, NMBLC Founder and Director
The New Mexico Black Leadership Council extends deep gratitude and blessings to the New Mexico Foundation and all of its people.
A one-on-one with New Mexico Black Leadership Council’s Board President and agent of change Amy Whitfield!
For NMBLC Board President Amy Whitfield, a heart for social justice just comes naturally.
What initially drew Amy’s attention to the Black Leadership Council goes back to the day that she first witnessed Roots Summer Leadership Academy. “I got really excited… I kept saying, whatever I can do, I want to be a part of it.” A passion for change and community outreach goes back to Amy’s childhood in South Dakota where she grew up watching her parents be the change in their own community. Since coming to New Mexico from Portland, Maine in 2004, she has continued to carry her family’s legacy of community dedication.
Note: Answers have been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Megan Bott: So how did you get to be involved with the New Mexico Black Leadership Council?
Amy Whitfield: I got an invitation to the Roots Summer Leadership Program. And, you know, I was sitting there, and I was watching it. I was just amazed at how extensive it was, and how it really gave our young people a chance to learn and grow, you know, with their own culture in mind. I love how the parents were being brought into that process. So I think I forced my way in because I was watching all of that happen. [Cathryn McGill] was standing there and I kept saying, you know, I want to help, whatever I can do, I want to be a part of it. She said, you know, it’s larger, it’s all these different spokes and I got really excited about that. So she let me join the board and I’m really excited to be a part of it!
MB: Outside of being on our board, what else do you do?
AW: I recently took the position of the Executive Director for the Office of African American Affairs, and I’m very, very excited about being able to work in the community to drive forward how we improve the lives of African Americans, from a political standpoint, how to invest in our communities, and build empowerment and capacity in our communities.
“It’s hard to say here’s when I got involved [in the community], and here’s why I got involved. It’s just always been my life.”
– Amy Whitfield, NMBLC Board President
MB: So, aside from being Black, what set you in the direction of wanting to get involved in and contribute to improving our community?
AW: Aside from being black, yeah, that’s a great way to say that. I think social justice was a thing in my house. It was what we do. So my parents believed that in everything you do you make space for the person who is less privileged than you and so I recently have been hearing everyone say the quote, I believe it’s a Shirley Chisholm quote, “if they don’t give you space at the table, bring your own chair.” That was how my parents lived their life, making space for other people, not bringing the chair. I don’t know, it’s hard to say here’s when I got involved, and here’s why I got involved. It’s just always been my life. I remember going to cheerleading camp and wondering why there weren’t any people with disabilities there and talking to my high school coach about how we could create [space] where people in wheelchairs could get involved. I remember having conversations in church. It wasn’t something you had to come to, it was just like a part of the Whitfield family thing that we do.
MB: Is there anyone in particular who is in the social justice field that you can say sort of guided you?
AW: I would say my dad, you know, again, it was the way of living. When you grew up in small towns in the Midwest…there’s not usually a lot of race conversations. When I went to college, I had this very feminist mindset. I took a course on the sociology of gender. I got introduced to all of these, like feminist women of color and Alice Walker. It was 20 years ago, I believe it was an article or maybe a short story on what it is to be a woman. So really thinking about feminists from a Black perspective changed the way that I think about it. Prior to that, I was like, Oh, I can deal with race over here with my friends who talk about race. I can deal with feminism over here with my friends who talk about gender. Her theory of womanism just really kind of opened up the door for me to be like I don’t live race sometimes and gender sometimes. Later on, I learned about Kimberly Crenshaw and intersectionality. I was kind of like, this is what Alice Walker was saying. Patricia Hill-Collins is someone that I really love to read as well. So I think all of those people have been really significant in my own understanding of social justice.
“We use the words community engagement when really we’re talking about ‘I had a town hall meeting’ or ‘I had a meeting for people to show up and for me to tell them what we’re doing’. That’s not community engagement.”
AW: I think one of the things that has really moved me forward in social justice work is the Tamarack Institute. I think we talk about community outreach as if it’s this natural thing, right? Like you just go walk the streets and you talk to the community, but historically, that’s been very damaging to communities in that it gives people in power the feeling, a sense, that they’ve done their job of talking with communities, but they haven’t actually. So, I’ve really been moved by the Tamarack Institute’s continuum of community engagement. There are times when you’re with a community, that you’re just informing the community, and you don’t get to pretend that that’s engagement, you don’t get to pretend that that’s empowering, you don’t get to pretend that that is real community-based organizing. That continuum goes all the way up to empower. That is when we’re really doing community work. That has been very, very important to me over the last maybe 10 years, but extremely important to me in the last two years that I’ve been in state government. Far too often in state government, we use the word[s] community engagement when really we’re talking about ‘I had a town hall meeting’ or ‘I had a meeting for people to show up and for me to tell them what we’re doing’. That’s not community engagement. So I’m really into their stuff right now.
MB: We’re seeing a lot of Black women being put into higher positions, especially with the Biden-Harris administration, and you kind of touched on feminism and to be a womanist and to be Black; seeing this increase, do you think that this is something that’s just happening at the moment because of what we’ve experienced over the summer? Or do you think that this is setting us up for long-term, seeing Black women in these powerful positions?
AW: I’m very, very proud of Kamala Harris, and you know what she means to all of us. But, this isn’t brand new. I think for some reason, we’re starting to say look at all of the Black women in high positions. That’s not, or at least I don’t believe, it is brand new to see Black women in these positions of power, and it’s definitely not brand new to see them doing really, really well, like exceeding our thoughts of what those positions are supposed to do. I don’t even think it’s new to see it in our own communities. I think about Diana Dorn Jones. I think about Jane Powdrell and the people who locally here have been in some very high-level positions and been very successful. I think we’re talking about it now, because they’re rising to a new level, like, nobody’s ever been vice president before. But there have been several people directly beneath the vice president. Of course, it’s going to continue, right, because it has been continuing. I think when I was young, Mae Jamison was the first Black female astronaut. So that is my whole reference. You know, I’m 40 years old. I reference ‘when did I start seeing black female leaders?’ in fourth grade, fifth grade, you know.
MB: Aside from working and making change in the community, what do you do in your free time?
AW: I love to hike. It’s one of the reasons why I have fallen in love with New Mexico because there are so many hiking opportunities in New Mexico, but it’s so close to everything else. It’s like a five-hour drive for me to get to the Utah Red Rocks. I always wanted to be a Black Nerd. I don’t know that I’ve actually gotten there by watching documentaries. But, you know, we’ll see. Maybe somebody will say that’s me. Then I am trying really, really hard to achieve the status of pitmaster. I am a barbecue junkie. I have four different smokers and grills and all of that. You gotta have your Traeger, which is your Pellet Grill. You need four. I know I still need to get a ceramic one. And I also need to get a big huge Weber one, like a Weber circle one. But one day I will be a pitmaster. I’m pretty sure of it. I think that’s going to be my next job. I don’t know how to do it. But I will. I am striving!
“ Very few people will remember my dad but everyone will remember what my dad did, and the impact that he had.”
-Amy Whitfield
MB: Who do you admire most?
AW: My Dad. I don’t know that anybody would ever remember my Dad. He’s very quiet, where my mom is like, everyone’s friend. Very few people will remember my dad but everyone will remember what my dad did, and the impact that he had. I can tell you all the things that he’s done, versus other folks who don’t live with him or didn’t live with him. They’ll say, oh you know, we ended up with a park at that school. And I don’t know why the park and the school were connected to each other. They have no idea. They just appreciate that the park and the school are right next to each other, which is something that my dad did in one of the towns that we grew up in. He highly advocated for the school and the parks to be right next to each other because he really believed that schools needed to be community spaces, just like parks are community spaces. Now when you go to schools of population health and schools of public health and stuff like that, they teach you that what you’re supposed to do is put schools as community spaces, and my dad was doing it like in the ‘80s. It’s fascinating to me to watch because he never [got the glory] not that glory is bad. I just admired [it] once I was older. As a child, I was just irritated like, come on, Dad, let’s do something else. I don’t want to go visit the city councilman. As an adult, I sit back and I’m like, that man played chess with our whole entire town! I think now, they would call him a political strategist but he’s just a pastor. You know, he’s like this is what my church members need so I’m going to do it. I’m going to make it happen. He shifted the community with nobody noticing.
MB: Do you have a personal mantra?
AW: I love having creative and exciting bosses and that has been a blessing in my life that so many of the bosses I’ve had in my life have really pushed me to be better, like, don’t get excited when somebody says good job, be excited to push past what people think is a good job and to do better. I also love that they’ve always given me work that was outside of my scope. I’m telling this story for a reason, I promise. So, the governor just gave me four months ago the opportunity to sit in as the Interim Executive Director at the Office of African American Affairs, never crossed my mind to do it, never was interested in it. It just wasn’t inside my scope. I’m a social worker, I never thought about working over at the Office of African American Affairs. I could have said, that’s not my skill set. That’s not what I want to do, like, I could have said a hundred different things but instead, I said, sure, let’s see what this adventure brings. It has unraveled into this amazing opportunity to do something in my community and to be connected with the staff that’s there that I probably never would have met on my own. It’s not like a mantra that I say but it’s an attitude, maybe, where I’m like, let’s see where this adventure takes me. I don’t say no, because it doesn’t feel right. I say no when it’s unethical and I say no when it crosses my boundaries or I say no when I can’t see value in it. But I don’t say no because I’m scared and I don’t say no because it doesn’t feel like it’s for me or something like that. I just want to see where it takes me.
MB: Is there anything else that you would like to share?
AW: I want to say that being Board President of the Black Leadership Council, I’m so excited about all the places that it can take us. The model for the Black Leadership Council is exciting! It’s exciting hitting these multiple topics and these multiple levels. It’s exciting to see where this organization is going to go. And I’m really happy and proud to be a part of that.
While Thanksgiving is usually an occasion of joy and bonding for the Black community, the holiday bears a re-examination during the turmoil of 2020.
The year 2020 is a time in our country where many people are questioning what they thought they knew about America’s history, values, and traditions. Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that many in the Black community have mixed feelings about. For those who celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s a time for family reunion, gratitude and signature dishes. The original focus of this post was the NMBLC staff’s favorite T-Day dish. Most of us, however, will not be spending the holiday as we usually do, because of the Coronavirus. That makes re-examining this holiday all the more timely.
The Thanksgiving Myth
Americans were generally taught that the first Thanksgiving holiday was about a peaceful breaking of bread between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans in 1621. In reality, it was more like an unexpected meeting between New England colonists who were out hunting, and members of the Wampanoag tribe who showed up to investigate the ruckus. A shared feast followed over the next few days, and a treaty was sealed between the two groups. What’s often left out of the story, however, is that for the next fifty years, the alliance was tested by colonial land expansion, the spread of disease, and the exploitation of the Wampanoag tribe’s resources. When the treaty ended with King Phillips’ war in 1675, hundreds of colonists and thousands of Native Americans were killed.
About the same time the Native Americans were being massacred by the colonists, kidnapped slaves were being brought over to the colonies from Africa.
The Black community has a complicated relationship with Thanksgiving
In a 2015 article in Ebony magazine, Vann Newkirk of The Atlantic wrote “The love that Black people have for the Thanksgiving holiday would seem to fly in the face of our shared history with American Indians, which is defined greatly by oppression at the hands of the White majority.”
Kymone Freeman added, “How can we honor a day that celebrates the White man’s Manifest Destiny, a legacy of slavery, land robbery, culture wrecking and the outright extermination of both wild beasts and tame men?”
The love that Black people have for the Thanksgiving holiday would seem to fly in the face of our shared history with American Indians
— Vann Newkirk, The Atlantic
Some of our NMBLC members do not celebrate Thanksgiving for similar reasons. (Scroll to the end of this post to see more.)
During slavery, Thanksgiving was one of the holidays that offered enslaved Black community respite from their days of forced labor and violent subjugation. Families members who had been separated by auction could go visit each other on neighboring plantations.
In modern times, Thanksgiving can still provide relief from day to day oppression to Black and marginalized people. It’s often the one time a year that family can reunite with those who are far away. It can be a place of safety from the often hostile interactions with the white world, and a break from cultural acceptability performance. Thanksgiving celebrations fortify the bonds of communion sorely needed among humans, especially marginalized communities. Black people can share and enjoy dishes that reflect the African-American culture, such as sweet potato pie or mac and cheese.
Harvest celebrations exist outside the American Thanksgiving
The original 1621 Thanksgiving was a routine harvest celebration that had been celebrated by the colonists and indigenous peoples before and since. It wasn’t until 1863 that Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. Ironically enough, his motivation was to “heal the wounds of the nation” caused by the Civil War.
Harvest and gratitude celebrations have been going on across the globe for centuries. Native Americans celebrate blessings several times a year. In an article published by Indian Country Today, Ramona Peters, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Tribal Historic Preservation Officer,says, “We give thanks more than once a year in formal ceremony for different season, for the green corn thanksgiving, for the arrival of certain fish species, whales, the first snow, our new year in May—there are so many ceremonies and I think most cultures have similar traditions.”
“We give thanks more than once a year in formal ceremony.”
— Ramona Peters, of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
In New Mexico alone, over a dozen different feast celebrations are held among the various Pueblos September through November. Globally, there are the Moon Festival in China, Taiwan, and Vietnam; Sukkot, an autumn Jewish festival celebrated in Israel; and the Yam Festival in Ghana, Papua New Guinea and Nigeria.
Thanksgiving and the Black community in 2020
Now, as we head into a second lockdown in New Mexico and an alarming spike in COVID cases across the nation, many will be forced to spend the Thanksgiving holiday alone. As mentioned earlier, the original focus of this post was favorite Thanksgiving dishes in the Black community and fond memories about them. How quickly things changed. The responses reveal a bittersweet appreciation of times past. Now we can only hope that next year, however we celebrate the autumn season, we can gather again in person and enjoy each other‘s signature dishes.
Those who don’t celebrate Thanksgiving take this time to reflect and educate on the complicated history surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday.
Read memories and musings by the NMBLC staff about Thanksgiving this sobering holiday season.
NMBLC Memories of Thanksgivings Past
Cathryn McGill, Founder/CEO
Cathy McGill’s mother, Rubye Carter
In Cathy’s Words: Cornbread dressing was perfected by my beloved mother
My favorite Thanksgiving dish is CORNBREAD. DRESSING. Cornbread dressing is everything. And it needs to be stuffed inside a perfectly cooked juicy turkey (I only like dark meat). My most poignant memory of Thanksgiving was in November 2008—the last Thanksgiving I spent with my beloved mother, Rubye Carter. Albeit ill and lacking energy, she got herself to that kitchen table I remember so well and made up the cornbread, cut up the celery and onions with the perfect blend of spices and made her signature dressing just as expertly as she always had. My only contribution was to put it in the oven for her. She made her transition less than two weeks later – too soon and way before any of us were ready but that moment and Rubye’s cornbread dressing are indelibly etched on my brain, in my heart and most assuredly on my thighs forever.
Megan Bott, Marketing and Communications Manager
Megan Bott loves her mother’s sweet potato pie.
In Megan’s Words: Sweet potato pie is one of the reasons I love Thanksgiving
My mom’s sweet potato pie is my most favorite Thanksgiving dish. It is actually one of the reasons why I love Thanksgiving. No one can replicate this sweet potato pie that my mom makes. Every year she makes one just for my husband and I because we will eat the entire thing ourselves (not all in one day, more like 3 tops). I always have some the night of Thanksgiving and sometimes I top it with marshmallows and pop it in the microwave to melt the marshmallow. The following day I always eat it for breakfast too. My in-laws request a pie of their own from my mom every year now! The pie-fame is well deserved!
Shawna Brown, Deputy Director
In Shawna’s Words: The American holiday of Thanksgiving is an opportunity to acknowledge our painful past.
The idea of Thanksgiving has evolved for me over time. Like most youth in America, I was taught that Thanksgiving represented a coming together of different cultures, and visually represented peace between Indigenous Wampanoag people and Pilgrims. However, that story and its imagery creates a false narrative and continues the erasure of Indigenous people’s experiences pre and post colonization. It visually marks the “blending of cultures” but negates to address the wars, stolen lands, and genocide caused by European settlers and perpetuated by the United States government. So, it is safe to say that I don’t “celebrate Thanksgiving” but many people do, honoring this day as a moment to pause and give thanks for what we have. So when invited to their Thanksgiving dinners, I use them as a reflective opportunity. I share the importance of acknowledging the stolen land that we gather on (the unceded lands of the Tiwa speaking peoples of the Sandia and Isleta Pueblos). This moment of acknowledgement recognizes our painful past, honors those whose blood was violently shed, and lends us an opportunity to reimagine a new future based in truth. And for that opportunity, I give thanks.
Shannon Moreau, Operations
Shannon Moreau and her mother on their last Thanksgiving
In Shannon’s Words: Thanksgiving’s just not the same since Mom died
When I was younger, Thanksgiving was about going to the farmhouse of my grandparents and eating all of the delicious home-cooked dishes that my grandmother made. As I got older and my mom drifted away from her parents, Thanksgiving became about perfecting my own dishes and spending time with my mother. After my mother passed away, Thanksgiving became about being thankful for my friends and the love that I do have in my life. Now that my mom is gone, I don’t enjoy cooking for Thanksgiving at all. In addition, during the last few months of lockdown, I converted entirely to a vegan diet. Something about the current crisis spurred me to think about ways to support my health as well as the health of the planet. So this year I’m putting in an order at the La Montanita Co-op for a vegan pumpkin pie. It’s my new favorite way to imbibe on Thanksgiving. Besides mimosas before noon, that is.
Thanksgiving Resources
If you need assistance this holiday season, contact one of the following organizations for help:
For comprehensive resources in the city of Albuquerque, check out the ACRG: https://abqcrg.org/
Steelbridge will be distributing pre-packaged food from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at four different locations in Albuquerque: Coors and Central, Los Altos park, Caravan parking lot (7605 Central NE, east of Louisiana) and their building at 2021 2nd St. For more information, call 505-346-4673.
Joy Junction will hand out individual boxed meals from their Lifeline of Hope mobile food trucks on Wednesday, Nov. 25.
Former WizKid and Roots Academy graduate Z The Author Just Released a New Hip Hop EP
New Mexico musician Zavier Thompson first entered New Mexico Black Leadership Council’s radar as a WizKid in the Roots productions. Throughout his teen and early college years he developed his skills as a spoken word writer and hip-hop artist, adopting the professional name Z The Author. He just released his latest EP titled “Look How They Treat Us.” Now, he’s getting attention on the national music scene. He was recently interviewed by Ella Marie, a YouTube vlogger out of Chicago.
In the 30 minute interview, Z The Author talks about his writing inspiration
“Especially in hip-hop, with rappers, people call us fake, like we don’t live the life we talk about. But there’s a difference between being fake and speaking something into existence. Wanting something or being hungry for something.”
The Author describes the music scene in New Mexico
“We’re a bunch of people who love to create and we have no creative bounds.”
—Z The Author on the music scene in New Mexico
The backstory behind Z The Author’s recent video, “Khali’s Interlude”
“We wanted to tell the story of young people, young African-Americans that are just living their lives, but for some reason living your life is a crime in the eyes of some people.”
Z The Author’s message as an African American musician.
“I only want people to believe in themselves and believe in us as a community.”
—Z The Author
“That we can eventually get through all of the stuff that happens, through all of the things that go on in our society. I want us to know that ultimately we can reconcile. Through all of the hate and all of the stuff that happens I feel like there’s always love deep rooted in there. It’s just a matter of pulling it out, acknowledging it, and recognizing it.
“It’s almost like writing an essay. You want to state what the current status is, and by the end of it you want to say this is what I want to be in the future.”
Z The Author gives ashout out to the New Mexico Black Voters Collaborative
Be the change that you wish to see.
—Z the Author on voting
Z The Author worked on a video encouraging Black youth to vote.
How an urbanite discovered her love for jewelry-making and launched a small Black owned business in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
The Coronavirus pandemic is a global crisis, impacting people physically and psychically. Many businesses have shut down while others had to quickly change their business model in order to survive. With more time spent alone and indoors, many people have re-evaluated how they want to live their lives. Albuquerque actress and filmmaker Diana Gaitirira is no exception. She lost her beloved uncle in New York City to the virus. During this dark time, a friend of Diana‘s invited her to come up to her unused workspace in Santa Fe and just be. That’s how Diana discovered her passion and talent for making jewelry. She launched her small, Black owned business, Rough Love Jewelry, featuring hand crafted items that showcase her Haitian roots, her experience as a sign language interpreter, and her belief that Black is beautiful. Recently her company made Mastercard’s list of five favorite small businesses in 2020.
In my interview with Diana, she talks about how a city girl found herself enjoying time alone in the wilderness, the challenges and joys of being a small and black owned business owner, and the story behind her “Yibambe” line honoring King T’Challa aka Black Panther.
Scroll down to read the interview!
Interview with Diana Gaitirira, Owner of Rough Love Jewelry
Note: Answers have been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Shannon Moreau: You’re a filmmaker and a sign language interpreter. The pandemic hits, and the first thing you think is to start making jewelry?
Diana Gaitirira: This is the most unexpected roller coaster ride that I have been enjoying in a good way. And you know me, I am a city girl, I like to be with humans. I find myself in Santa Fe in the mountains making jewelry. I never guessed I would find so much peace of mind, so much relaxation—I feel like my soul is so full and fed by being in the wilderness. I would have never volunteered to do that, and that is where I found myself.
Every year I challenge myself to do something off of my bucket list and something out of my comfort zone. This was one of those years I’m gonna do five things, just to keep my sanity. I have a really awesome friend who lives out there [in Santa Fe], and she’s an artist, and she was like “Hey. It’s just me up here. You are welcome to come, and enjoy the space, do whatever you want.” So at first I would go and just be in the silence. Just being out there had me being creative and doing things with my hands and the next thing you know – boom! I have a jewelry business. Now I’m preaching, “Go into the wilderness, go find yourself on top of the mountains!” [Laughs.]
Get out of your comfort zone. Do the things you wouldn’t normally do.
—Diana Gaitirira, owner of Rough Love Jewelry
SM: How do you get your supplies?
DG: That’s a tricky one because in the beginning it was just for fun. Then when I said OK this is legit now, I would hit up my suppliers and they said we can’t keep up with that kind of an order. Or some of them closed. It’s hard to do anything in COVID, especially business. And then the postal service, God bless them, they’re dealing with a lot. You know, people sitting at home, shopping—I’m one of them. The poor post office is trying to get those packages out. I have put on my website, “I apologize in advance, it’s going to take me 10 days to get things to you.” Because I have to wait for my suppliers to get things to me, and then when I ship it out, sometimes the post office is behind. It’s not anybody’s fault. I blame the ‘Rona. ‘Rona is to blame. For everything. [Laughs.] We live in this culture where people are like [finger snaps] instant gratification. In every package I try to give people a free gift of some sort just to say, “I see you. Sorry this might be late, but, I love you.”
SM: Your business name is a unique one. What’s the story behind the title of your business?
DG: To make these things and be creative, it’s very relaxing and therapeutic for me. Every time I make something, I feel encouraged. And I want my customers to feel the same way. And this is for people who feel down, because I started doing this in a place that was low. I didn’t feel so good, you know. I lost a beautiful uncle to COVID. So this is for myself and for people who’ve been mistreated, who have been oppressed, who have been discriminated against. This is for people who are crushed in all capacities but then you say, I’m gonna stand up, I’m gonna get back up. My logo is fashioned after a cactus. There are some heart-shaped cactuses. So I am a cactus and I am growing out of this. There’s nothing around me to give me sustenance, but I’m still growing. If there’s a little bit of rain, I’m going to hold onto it. I’m going to do whatever it takes to survive. So it’s a company about perseverance, being an underdog. A lot of my pieces are very inspirational. I have Hope bracelets, Black Lives Matter, a new Pride bracelet. So it’s kind of a cactus-meets-survival-meets-“this world is [crap], but you’re not.” You’re amazing. You’re beautiful.
Rough Love Jewelry Owner Models Rough Rider Hat with Black Lives Matter Patch
SM: How did you come up with the idea for the King T’Challa Tribute?
DG: Well, I have to rewind back to before Black Panther even came out. I saw a trailer for it and I went into full nerd, stalker mode. I was stalking the director, I was stalking who was acting in it. I literally had a countdown: what are you doing in two years?? Let’s go see this movie!!
Growing up as a minority, you don’t get to see people of color, or dark skinned people, or people with natural hair. But as a kid it would’ve been so uplifting to see a role model, especially me, because I love sci-fi things. I love things that traditionally Black people aren’t allowed to be cast in, or not considered worthy to even audition for. So here’s a superhero movie with super powers, a hero from Africa and it was like [mimics angelic visitation]. To a regular Joe this might be like, “It’s just a superhero movie.” No, it’s not. It’s not just a superhero movie.
It is about not just the actors. I’ve done some acting and a little bit of modeling, back in the day when I was a young’un’, and it was so disappointing to go on set and these professional, licensed, certified hairstylists and make up artists say “I don’t have your makeup” or “I don’t know how to do Black skin” or “I don’t know how to do Black hair.” They’re like, “You figure it out.” While your co-stars who are not minorities get the full treatment. So to see [on the Black Panther crew] the wardrobe stylist is of color and the people doing hair are of color, so there’s nobody going, “You have to do your own hair, sorry, but I’m gonna still collect the paycheck.” So it went on so many levels.
We are here, we are real, people want to see us.
—Diana Gaitirira on the Black Panther impact
As a filmmaker, we made a trip to LA a few years ago to pitch shows that featured Black people. At first they would tell us that they love the concept but then we would go to marketing and they’d be like “Nobody’s going to watch that.” Then Black Panther comes out and it is one of the highest grossing movies of all time. It made $650 million. So we can be leads, we can command the box office. We are here, we are real, people want to see us.
I don’t want to tell people how many times I’ve seen this movie. That movie’s a part of me. I’m T’Challa. I’m Wakanda. That movie’s in my blood. And then to see him pass away at such a young age. So I just had to do it, I had to make that for him. Because I love him so much, I love the characters he’s played, I love him as a human being. I saw a lot of the stunts people say that he was such a beautiful and hard-working person. He meant so much to me.
SM: What is your model for collaborating with and supporting other businesses and communities?
DG: The other day I promoted a fellow jewelry maker who is here in New Mexico. There’s enough for all of us to make it. There’s no need to step on somebody’s head or push somebody down to the ground. I either buy from them myself or I will buy from them sometime in the future. I feel like more people need to do that. There’s no shame in uplifting someone else. You should support each other. Why not? Especially small businesses everywhere. It doesn’t matter what race or color you are or what your ability is. If you have something dope, I’m going to give you a shout out on my page. Last Sunday I highlighted Julie Mason, she happens to be deaf, and she makes beautiful jewelry and her style is different from mine but it’s amazing.
Everyone has a different style. That’s what makes people great. We’re all different and we add a little bit of flavor. That’s what makes America great.
—Diana Gaitirira on supporting fellow small businesses
Another reason why I have to support other people, I have to pay it forward. I’ve been privileged to get some great people in my life who help me for no reason. I’m going to do the same.
SM: You made it on the Mastercard top five small business of 2020 list. What was that process like?
DG: It was an anonymous call to small businesses to tell their story. So I submitted myself like I do for all kinds of things. I’m just gonna give it a go. They were like, we like you, send us a picture. We like you, tell us more about you. And more and more and more. And then later they were like this is Mastercard you’re talking to. Surprise!
Rough Love Jewelry is one of Mastercard’s Top 5 Favorite Small Businesses of 2020
SM: And then you wound up in the New York Times?
DG: Yeah. They sent me the print ad portion in the mail. I was shocked to see how big it was. I actually subscribe to the daily briefings so I’m just used to reading my news digitally. But to see it [in print] and be like wow. My face is huge!
SM: You’re a filmmaker, actress, sign language interpreter, jewelry maker, and small business owner. How do you balance it all?
You need to replenish your spirit and your mind.
—Diana Gaitirira on work/life balance
DG: It’s hard. What is that line— Mo’ money, mo’ problems? The more business you do, the busier you get. Because it’s just me, I have to do my social media by myself, I have to do my business money things. I actually hired a bookkeeper to help me keep it straight. That’s one of the places where I don’t regret spending money.
There are some days I hit the bed and [mimics face plant]. Or some days I don’t get to hit the bed until ridiculously late. Some days I’m like I have to take a break. Or else I can’t function, I can’t think right. But it’s tough. Especially when you’re by yourself. You have to be very organized, or else you might just spend all of your day doing one little thing. But you can’t, you have to divide yourself up into pieces. And then some days I try to say, “This whole day is for me. I’m off.” I try. Because you need that, too. You need to replenish your spirit and your mind.
SM: What’s in the future for you? Any upcoming projects you’re excited about?
DG: I have an interview with an international publication* that’s going to be launched soon. I have this new earring line. I’m also venturing into a gift basket line. There’s going to be some spa type items, there’s also going to be some edible items. These gift baskets will be for any occasion: holidays, I love you, I’m thinking of you. Especially in times like this, people need that connection. We are not getting the physical touching, which I need. I’m a physical person. I need to hug people, I need to sit on their lap. I need to squeeze them, but if you can’t do that, send them a gift basket. I’m going to have something for kosher, for gluten-free, for keto people, I’m going to have something for my vegans. In the future-future, I would like to move into some big ticket items. Working with furniture: making coffee tables, making lamps, going to the junkyard and getting some scraps, making some recyclable goods. Right now I am working with Italian leather. Obsidian beads, wood beads, dove feathers. I have some wood earrings coming out. I just want to create, create, create.
The latest from the Rough Love Jewelry earring (zanno) line.
Good things are coming.
*Editor’s Note: A few hours after publication of this post, Rough Love Jewelry was featured in Forbes magazine.
Learn more about Black owned business Rough Love Jewelry:
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