Host Sharon Hinton invites guest Antonia Edwards (Solidarity Community Engagement Group & United Sons and Daughters of American Freedmen) back to the show to discuss American Freedmen, reparations & the Reparations Task Force, the Juneteenth Flag, the importance of Juneteenth, Juneteenth celebrations, & more!
WBCA Podcasts
Black Teachers Matter
Host Sharon Hinton invites guest Antonia Edwards (Solidarity Community Engagement Group & United Sons and Daughters of American Freedmen) back to the show to discuss American Freedmen, reparations & the Reparations Task Force, the Juneteenth Flag, the importance of Juneteenth, Juneteenth celebrations, & more!
- Duration:
- 55m
- Broadcast on:
- 25 Jun 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
(upbeat music) - Welcome to another edition of Black Teachers Matter. (upbeat music) Here on WBCA LP 102.9 FM. I'm your host Sharon Eaton Hinton, here with my amazing guest, clean Antonia Edwards. Who are American Freedmen? Hmm. And what is Juneteenth all about? And what about this reparations thing? Show me the money, show me the money, y'all. We're gonna be here for an hour of live. Here on 102.9 FM, WBCA LP. Boston, Boston's Community Radio Station. I wanna say welcome to my guest. How are you doing? - Hi, I am Antonia Edwards. - Yeah, I am doing well, thank you for asking. - Hey, man, you know what I'm saying? Queens is supposed to elevate Queens. And I love doing that with you all the time. - Thank you. - We are going to be talking about what you, the amazing, what do I say, event that happened yesterday. And, you know, I have three flags, and we're gonna talk about the actual, the right flag. - Yes. - Which should be displayed when we're talking about Juneteenth. - Yes. - Juneteenth is actually tomorrow. It's the, actually a federal holiday. It was 2021. - Yes. - President Joe Biden actually made it official, even though black folks in this country have been celebrating. - Oh, yeah. - Free, being free, and freedom day, 'cause it used to be freedom day, then it's day, and then, you know, now it's Juneteenth, and so everybody, everybody and their mom are going to the barbecue, and we had barbecues that happened this weekend, and you went, and then the event that happened yesterday. So tell me about the Juneteenth. Why is Juneteenth important for black people, but then why is Juneteenth important for all Americans? - So, first of all, Juneteenth is the recognition of the final emancipation of the slaves in Gavin's, Texas, special field order 15 denoted that. It's really important because although the Emancipation Proclamation was originally written in 1862, there were people that were still enslaved up until 1865. So the enslaved at that time used the state to celebrate and honor the fact of their freedom, and it's just become something that's noteworthy throughout our community as being American Freedmen. American Freedmen are the full million emancipate, formerly emancipated slaves. We knew this because of Lincoln writing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1860. Three also the American Freedmen Act that was supposed to support these people who then became refugees, and also the Freedmen's Bureau and the Freedmen's Bank. So we take on the name of American Freedmen because that is the political status that was granted to us by the military and the federal government. And so this day is huge for our history, and it's been overlooked and whitewashed, and I plan to correct that narrative, and that's what I've been doing. And I wanna thank the Mayor Wu and also Lori Nelson for honoring my request to make sure that the celebration was all about American Freedmen with the city of Austin. - Now I'm gonna show a flag while you're talking about, and the flag that I'm showing now actually is red and black, and then there's a sword in between there. - That is a black heritage flag, and that was produced, so that was adopted later. The flag that's most important for Juneteenth is a red, black, and red, white, and blue with the Lone Star. - I'm showing that now. - I'm showing that now. - With the Lone Star, and that is the Texas Lone Star, and that flag denotes Juneteenth, and actually Ben Haeth, who was a resident of Boston, created that flag, and that's another thing that's historical that needs to be denoted to give him credit for it. So actually the Juneteenth flag was created here in Boston by Ben Haeth, but it represents the final emancipation of those who are enslaved in Texas. - Okay, now. And then we also have, I'm showing these different flyers, support a Boston office for American Freedmen Affairs. - Yes. - Talk about that. - So I reached out to my city council person, ask, will we talk about the Juneteenth acknowledgement with the flag, and also ask if it was possible for us to create our office of Freedmen Affairs here in Boston. We have a lot of conversation going around the recommendations, but they'll come out the task force. So let's just mention that the Boston Task Force is meeting every month, we're meeting again on the 24th. It's really important that people attend these meetings to find out what's going on. Because there's so much talk in the community, about $15 billion just being demanded from the mayor, and also another $50 million that's been demanded from white clergy. It's really important that we have an agency that oversees these funds, and it's not just given to any one grassroots organization, with no real detail or any conclusion as to what they plan to do with this money. And we don't want to be robbed again as American Freedmen. We were jilted back in 1865 with the American Freedmen Bureau, any American Freedmen Bank. And that was by white confederate and white supremacists. So we don't want to be jilted by our own people. And so we're asking my organization and people in the community, we have, I think, about 250 signatures for an office of Freedmen Affairs. This would be very much like the Office of New Americas, the Immigration Office. And I think more recently, the Latino and Caribbean Affairs Office, which is now called the Cultural Office of Affairs. - Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, back up. 'Cause you don't wanna kinda fast. And I talk to you all the time. So I kind of know, slow up for a second. - Sure. - Because when we are talk, so there's the whole issue of reparations, which is a national, global, local issue right now. There's also, last week, oh, this gets so complicated. Last week, two of the three surviving survivors of the Tulsa Massacre, 'cause it was Tulsa Raceback Massacre, were denied by the Supreme Court any kind of reparations or any kind of redress or any kind of legal redress. And that just happened last week. And then there's also, you know, people are hearing California and certain municipalities are actually moving forward with either research or legislation. And so let's back up, because you guys actually have legislation that's coming up in September. Can you talk about that? - Sure, so we're finding across the nation that the person who created the strikedown from the Supreme Court, which is Edward Bloom for Race-Based Initiative, is just crossing the globe, well, you know, the nation striking down anything in this race space. Our political status and linear status as American Freedmen, and that's who we should be fighting for reparations for. When you say Black, African-American, that is basically a flatness of blackness, and anybody at this point could be black. And how do you denote who is eligible for these reparations? So it should be linear space. And so we keep it within the linear bounds when we're talking about reparations. So it's really unfortunate that the last standing survivors of Tulsa, Oklahoma were denied reparations. You can't say black people, you can't say American, African-American. Also with the Evanston reparations, let's just say it's a reparations program to them. It was a housing program. It was for any black American. It was a specific to the lineage. And so I think that what people get truly confused is racial injustices. So there's people who receive, who incur racial injustices like, I was disrespected or racially profiled in a store. I couldn't get a cab. I was discriminated against. Those are racial injustices. Those are not due for reparations. Let's talk about what that really means, because whenever there's money, whenever there's money, people come out of the woodwork and they think, "Well, that's me. That can apply to me." And we also have, oh God, I'm getting in trouble. We also have people that say, "Well, I'm black and I've been in this country for a while, but they are not descendants of chattel slavery." So what's the difference? If they're black and they've been discriminated against, which is segregation and racism and had a brother on my show on another level last night that talked about down-pression, not oppression, down-pression. - Oppression. - And so he said that, but the Ross is called down-pression. - Yes. - There's nothing up about it. But anyway, people that think that this applies to them and these offices, so I wanna get back to what we had previously talked about. These offices, Latinos, Asian, Asian-Pacific Islanders, Caribbean, does reparations for chattel slavery, descendants of chattel slavery apply to them? Should they be getting any money? - No, and so I'm gonna be pretty frank about it. So I have a flyer and it's clear as to the incidents, the badges and incidents that occurred to those who descended from chattel slavery, those American freedmen. And if you didn't go through 250 years of free slave labor, 99 years of lynching, 14 years of civil rights, then just the badges and incidents of slavery that created the stain of slavery prior to 1965. And then this is not reparations, this is slave reparations. This would be a black agenda. This would be residual from slavery that you're uncrewing. And that's what I mean by racial injustices. Racial injustices do not denote slave reparations. - So I'm showing the flyer now. - Yeah, and if you wanna read the Black Holocaust, it's a Black Holocaust, 246 years of slavery, 1619 to 1865, 99 years of Jim Crow laws, 1865 to 1964, 86 years of lynchings. Actually, it was more than that, but 1882 to 1986, they're still lynching people. And this is 14 years of fighting for civil rights, it's actually more than that too, right? 1954 to 1968, then 400 years of oppression, 1619 to 2019, but then it's more than 400 years because we're in 2004. - And now it is 400 plus, it's almost five. - And so Antonia Edwards, if you just tuned in, she is the Community Engagement Director for Solidarity, United Sons, and Daughters of Freedmen, American Freedmen. And can you give out a number, isn't case somebody wanted to get more information? - Sure. So Solidarity is our Community Engagement where we're on the ground, so we do events where engaging with the community on a daily basis, weekly basis. United Sons and Daughters of Freedmen is our national organization, and I'm the Community Engagement Director for both. Co-founder of Solidarity, my phone number, and anybody can call me, anybody can call me with any question, any need to do a group education about this heritage, and I'm available. So my phone number is seven, five, seven, five, eight, nine, six, two, three, nine, again, that's seven, five, seven, five, eight, nine, six, two, three, nine. - And that's at the bottom of the flyer that I'm showing. - And what we're trying to do is we're trying to get the community caught up on legislation. A lot of our people don't know the legislation process and don't know what's in it, don't know what that means, and so I personally take responsibility when I'm proposing legislation to educate the community on what I'm asking for. And then educate them along the way, the whole different bodies of government legislation, where it's at, how to look it up online. But also, once like the task force, the research consultants finish their research, what are we asking for? What is it that you want that will show the repair? Because the biggest piece that people keep overlooking is there is no reparations unless you're talking to the original harm party or their descendants and asking them how they like to be repaired. - And I'm gonna put up the flyer for the next meeting too, that the reparations task force meeting June 24th at 6 p.m. And that's at the bowling building. - Yes, it is the bowling building. - Right at the bowling building, New mean square. - Okay, go ahead, I'm sorry. - And so what I'd like to do is from beginning to end, educate our people on our status and what's going on with the proposed bills. We have a state bill, that's from four American Freedmen. Brandi Flukka Oakley has our bill. It's H3921, it's currently sitting in the judiciary committee. They were supposed to respond on in February, but they pushed it off into April 30th, asking for more information. And then they pushed it off again, which I mean extended again into June 30th. So that's good, if they're pushing it off, they just didn't die immediately. And they're asking some very good questions and my team and I have been very instrumental in providing that information. So not only do we have a reparations task force on the city of Boston, we're working on a state level for reparations as well too. I just want to make this big note. This is really important to me personally and also to the team that I work with because Massachusetts is the first state colony that legalized slavery, but the body's liberty back in 1641. So it wasn't just that they participated in slavery, they sanctioned it legally in their constitution. And so I just don't want people to get this understanding that just pay us anything and we can get over it or just provide this one tangible and we'll get over it. I really want the research to come out so we will have a document or documented perspective as to what happened here and as far as slavery is concerned and also have the fact that we're representing the people who fled the South to come here from racial terror. There's a lot of people through the Great Migration that came to Boston thinking they were gonna have a better life and have been treated horribly since. - I know I talk about the difference between Mississippi and Massachusetts. - Exactly, I remember that all the time I said Mississippi, down South and up South, right? And there's also a reverse migration that's happening right now where people are going, back down South and I'm not the one. Only because I think as you get older, you have to look at the health outcomes in Boston as more colleges, universities and hospitals per square mile than any place else in the world. And down South does not have really good health outcomes to black people. - Yes, I've lived down South. I've lived both in Charlotte, North Carolina and I also lived in Virginia and it's a two-fold situation. I honestly feel as though people don't make the providers, the doctors do what they're supposed to do. They're not expecting people to ask questions and so they basically do what they wanna do whereas we're in Massachusetts, we sue here. And so you're gonna do your job and if you don't, you see this thing's in place to protect us here, that the people down South don't normally have and I've seen that. - This is Massachusetts. - Right exactly, Massachusetts. So there are things in place to protect us. I'm not saying there's any casualties but there's more protection in the North than there is the South and that's just my experience and living down South for years and going back and forth my whole life. My family's from South Carolina so I grew up with it. - I was gonna ask you about the story for some people that may have heard you before on this podcast or we're tuned in to the other program that I have on another level and we talked about your experiences. So you have familial experiences being down South that were not that far removed, no slavery. Can you talk about that? - Yes, so I grew up in Boston. I was born in Dorchester, grew up in Roxbury. I went to school in Needham. I was a part of the G. Maguire's medical program and from the second grade going forth. I spent all my summers down South in Barnwell, South Carolina. My family migrated to Columbia down there but the country country is where our extended family was at. So one of my cousins had purchased a small piece of property that actually was a part of the plantation that my family sharecropper. My mother was an illegal sharecropper at a teen. She didn't come here until she was like 14 years old so she was illegally working as a domestic and a sharecropper. Both grandparents on both sides are from South Carolina so they were a sharecroppers and then my great grandmother, her parents were slaves. And so that's how closely aligned we are with slavery. It's only been like 150 years since slavery ended and I'm third generation removed. And so I take this extremely serious because it's not like I read this on a book. It's not like what somebody told me although my grandmother did fill in a lot of gaps, I actually lived it and she wanted me to know where I came from. It was very important for me to be down South every summer so that I would slop the hogs, feed the pigs. I would pump my own water. I would pick crop, I would shell peas, I would ring the chicken's neck. We took baths and tin tubs and we had our houses and I thought it was crazy. I thought that it was cruel but I now know as an adult why was so important for me to have those experiences because again, it's firsthand experience. There's nothing that anybody can tell me. When we first started going down South, it was the tail end of Jim Crow so I seen the separate fountains, separate bathrooms, not being able to sit at the counter at Woolworths and eat lunch and stuff. - Oh, that happened in Boston. - Yeah, it happened in Boston. Yeah, my grandmother would take me to Woolworths all the time and just happen. And so I seen this, I experienced this. And so that's why I take this serious. My grandmother was a freedom fighter and believed in fighting for our rights and I just inherited it and I'm gonna continue to do so until I'm no longer here. - So I think, thank you for sharing that. I know that we think, when I say we, people who are alive now and you look at eyes on the prize and it's in black and white and you think, oh that was way back in the day, but you and I remember. - We remember. - My father was along with Ruth Batson and Ellen Jackson put together the blueprint, Operation Exodus, which was the blueprint for Metco. - Right. - And then my father was murdered and - That's sad. - I'm so sorry. - By the government. - I'm so, so sorry. - You know, well thank you. And so he's one of the civil rights, 65 civil rights icons that actually have a little plaque down there near the Embrace statue, but they don't have the narrative on the website correct about my father, Karnell Eaton. - Right. - And so we have these organizations that claim to represent us and represent our history. - And they don't. - This is Black Teachers Matter. If you've just tuned in and WBCA LP 102.9 FM in Boston. And I think it's so important for our narrative. So thank you for sharing this. - No problem. - And our kids need to hear that. - They do. - All my grandparents were from down south. - All of them. - To be Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, but they didn't really want to talk about the stuff that they, 'cause it was traumatic. - It was, right? - Yeah, it was. I think that for me, my grandmother told me everything because there had to be somebody that she would tell the story to. Now there's a lot of stuff that wasn't told because a child had to stay in a child's place. But when it came from watching out for white people and this is what you need to be aware of. And one of the two biggest things my grandmother told me was don't ever let anybody tell you where you can't go and don't ever let anybody make you feel like you can't speak up for yourself. And those are things that I've taken through life. And so I have some very valuable lessons. I have the family Bible. I have anti pictures. I have a, to me, a treasure chest full of things that I'm saying that represented our lineage. And plus I've done my ancestralism and I have everything in place, whatever. I just wish more people would be more interested in doing so. And that brings us back to who gets it, who qualifies for it. We want to office of freedom and affairs to be erected immediately so that we can get people registered if they're American Freeman. And what this means is that either one side of your family as a direct saying descendant of American Freeman or was one of your ancestors were an emancipated slave. And it's just really that simple and foundational. And a lot of other people who are very divisive are making it very complicated. We didn't see this problem with the Native Americans. You had to have a quantitative blood test and you get a tribal card. The Japanese didn't include all Asian people. And then definitely the Jewish people who faced the Holocaust. So it was very distinct and very understood as to who were harmed. And people know who were harmed. They know that it was us as being American Freeman or those who incurred shadow slavery in the US. And because of this constant blackness of flatness and changing our name, first we were Negroes, then we were colored. - First we were Africans. - Not America, they never called us Africans in America. - Well, it's sort of, there was a period during the '60s if you called somebody an African who was fighting time. - Oh yeah, yeah. I'm talking about as far as the governmental documents. The OMB, which is the Office of Management, and on paper, when they finally started doing the census, we were Negro, Milado, colored. And then we became Afro-American because the Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition thing was cool to be like I'm black and I'm proud thing. And then African-American and then black. And then now it's like there was minorities. And now it's people of color and it's bipark, you know. And it's just too much, you know what I'm saying? And that is to flatten the blackness to erase our history. And so those who descend from shadow slavery and have that history of their parents, whether it be North or South, being enslaved, they know who they are. And if it's really complicated for them to find out, those are the people who we'd like to assist with the Office of Freeman Affairs through genealogy to get them registered. And that's what we're asking for and fighting for now and asking people to sign the petition because it needs to be done. I mentioned that again, because there is an Office of New Americas, there is an Office of Immigration Affairs. And then more recently, the city of Boston had a proposal for a Latino and Caribbean Office of Affairs. And I think they changed the name to Cultural Affairs. And so everybody else delineates when it's convenient for them. But then when we as, you know, American Freeman, those who are enslaved want something different, we're being anti-immigrant, xenophobic, or we're being divisive. So what do you think the problem is when it comes to black people, as opposed to everybody else? I mean, there are people that are not even from this country who we see, as a matter of fact, people probably don't know that the slaveholders actually receive reparations. They did, they did. I got into a debate with a gentleman who had a podcast the other evening. And he said, you all want reparations, but the slave owners lost, too. He said, they lost their land, they lost their land. And he said, they never paid reparation. I'm like, that's a lie. They got money from Britain. They got money from America. They Pivitch, Pilvitch, the American Freeman Bank. The 40 acres in a mule that Lincoln had designated for us, then Andrew Johnson, then repealed, went to a homestead act for white slave owners. So they received reparations, they were corrected. And then the biggest thing is the insurance companies, our insurance companies are very old in this country. And so New York Life ensured the slaves. So they received the same payment off from insurance slaves. And Wall Street was built on slaveback. I mean, literally labor. The White Houses were built by slaves. Monticello, which is Jefferson's estate was built by slaves. There's so much that our people contributed to this America, the inventions, the patents that were stolen, so much that we built. And I hear and see a lot of white people push back. It was like, no, it was the Irish and Italian. I'm like, I'm not talking about Ellis Island, once white immigrants were able to come over. I'm talking about from 1619 to 1865, black people built this country. - And also when you think about, I tell you, I get triggered when I talk about this, but when also when you look at the fact that the critical race theory pulled back in this country and how it's illegal, in some states to even teach about black history in this country, not Native American history. Black history, Black history in this country. And then you look at all the pushback. And when it's, what's this, the fearless fund? And you had black women that got together to fund other black business women. And that Bloom, the attorney Bloom who actually has been fighting against affirmative action and emissions in colleges and universities. And so this is his latest salvo in terms of, and then you've got Orange Man trying to get back in office in his followers to the spray tan Orange Man. And so he's not as problematic as the 72 million people that voted for him. That's, to me, that's problematic. And so if you've just tuned in, you're listening to Black Teachers Matter here with Antonia Edwards. She's the Community Education Director for Solidarity. And we're gonna take a short, short break. - Sure. - Because we need to readjust for a minute. I basically, I need to breathe. - Oh, I'm sorry. - I need to breathe. - No, no, no, no, no. You don't have to apologize, I mean, yeah. So I have to breathe for a second. We are kind of, you know, take a short break to give people a chance to go get some of that red velvet cake from Juneteenth. And so people don't realize that part of the food for Juneteenth is all red. Like it's red velvet cake. It's watermelon, all sorts of red foods, which is supposed to represent the blood that was shed. - Exactly. - And as we liberated, as Black people liberated themselves. - Exactly. - So if you've just tuned in, WBCALP 102.9 FM in Boston, Boston's Community Radio Station. This is Black Teacher's Matter. And I'm the host and producer, Sharon Eaton Hinton, here with Antonia Edwards of Solidarity. We'll be right back in a moment. Don't go anywhere. 'Cause this is information to build the nation and we're all Americans. - Ecology, social worker, drug expert, sex counselor, substitute parent and friend. Now those are some of the things teachers have to be before they even get down to teaching. Now the more you know what it takes to be a teacher these days, the more you realize that it's one of the toughest, most important jobs in the world. So what can you do to thank your teacher? It's simple. Learn. (bright music) (upbeat music) - This newspaper's got good news and bad news. The good news is that it's loaded with jobs for accountants and lawyers and nurses and carpenters and every other kind of skilled worker. The bad news is that there isn't a single ad for a school dropout, at least nothing you'd want. The more you know how tough things are for school dropouts, the more you'll see you have no choice. You have to stay in school. Think about it. (upbeat music) - I can't believe that some of you guys still think it's cool to drink and drive. Well, read my lips. Anybody that's going to drive me home has got to be in condition to get me there in one piece. The more you know how I feel about drinking and driving, the more you know that if you drink and drive, I'm not going anywhere with you. But if you happen to be the designated driver, well, you can take me home anytime. (upbeat music) - I don't know. Help me out here. It's a punching bag, right? I mean, it doesn't talk, it doesn't lie. It sure doesn't give you a hug when you need one. Yet some of you insist on mistaking your children for it. How's that possible? I mean, when you hit a punching bag, it doesn't cry. (gentle music) - Back in the fifth grade, I had a favorite school past the time. Teacher, torture, for Mrs. Schuldenfry. A left fake vomit on her desk, set off stick bombs at lunch. Handed the glass hamster light blue and the thing was, I liked Mrs. Schuldenfry and she liked me. And I learned a lot that year. So, told the teachers who helped kids learn in spite of themselves. Thanks. And Mrs. Schuldenfry, can you find those dead frog parts? - Some guys will try to tell you that hanging out on the street and messing with guns gets you respect. - Well, they're wrong. They're dead wrong. Because sooner or later, you're gonna kill someone and you're gonna do time for it. Well, someone's gonna blow you away because they know you're on. Don't kid yourself, man. You know what happens to guys who carry guns? Why is it not? It's your life we're talking about. Don't let a gun kill your future. (upbeat music) - And we are back. If you just tuned in, this is Black Teacher's Matter, another edition on WBCA LP 102.9 FM in Boston. We're Boston's community radio station. I'm your host Sharon Eaton Hinton and my guest here this evening is Queen Anthony Edwards of Solidarity talking about preparations and talking about Juneteenth, talking about liberation for Black people in this country who are the descendants of enslaved Africans who were chattel slavery in the United States of America, KKK, Omerka. If you are not registered to vote, you need to get registered and you need to vote. Don't just get registered, but register and vote because this is an election year. It seems like a Boston every year is an election year for something. Locally, every two years city councilors, every four years state reps, and you've got at large city councilors, district city councilors, then you also have a governor and you've got the mayor and you've got the governor's council. So there's the governor's council and then there's ward committees. There's so many things that people can, so many places people can participate. And most people don't realize that up until the 60s, the majority of Black people in this country were Republicans. They were not Democrats and the Ku Klux Klan and the white citizens council were Democrats. So no party has really ever really been loyal to Black people during the 60s when human Humphrey refused to support the voter rights act and the civil rights act. All Black people was like, whoop. Let's flip to the other party. Some people are registered as independents and there's green party. You go to some countries and they've got so many different parties. It seems a little kind of backwards that we don't have more than what we do. However, what's even more pitiful is when you have a small populace of people who decide if only 30% of people come out or 20% of low voter turnout, those people have decided how are you going to live your life if you're going to have streetlights. If you're going to get the trash picked up, you've got to know who is responsible for what particular level of government. And we are talking about legislation tonight that is being put forward in September. Is this to be moved forward out of committee? This is Anthony Edwards. She's the Community Engagement Director. - Hi, everybody. - Solidarity. Is this legislation that we are going to vote on in 2025? Or what's the process of that? - Are we talking about the state bill? - The state bill. - The state bill had a hearing in December. That's H3921. The bill was introduced by Randy Fluka Oakley, who was a state rep. And it's in a judiciary committee and they're trying to test the legality of it, which is really cool because I like it. And so as we know, Black African American, are not going to work as far as reparations and due to Mr. Ed Bloom going around the country, basically striking down anything that's race-based. And he's doing that because he initiated the striking down of affirmative action. And so the Chief Justice at the time said that anything race-based is unconstitutional. And that's how we know that it has to be lineage-based and it has to be American freedom, which is our political status. - Well, we're going to back up though. But the same legislation that is being used against the fearless fund, which is these Black women, was actually legislation in 1865 to protect slaves from being abused. I mean, that was the legislation back then. - They're going, they're going that far back. That's not what we're talking about now. But he's, that's what he's doing. That was originally designed to save the formerly enslaved people and he's trying not to flip it around the same. No, you can't use racist discriminatory. - But he also used that same 1865, the Civil Rights Act, against Byron Allen. But for race, how were you discriminated? - That's right. - That's what they're asking. So we can see the concerted effort across the nation, anything that says Black, African-American, is now being stricken down. But this is the thing, now they're doing it to Latinos because the Latinos had a internship with the Smithsonian Institute and he had them strike that down as well too. - Okay, but let's be clear. Latino being Latino is not a race. It's an ethnicity. And so people, and I'm saying that to be clear about the fact that Latinos and y'all don't hate me now. Latinos themselves have a colorism issue. - We do too. - With black and white, right? Yes, but it's not being addressed, but as a group, there's still a lot of Latinos are still being grouped together and the language of Spanish, which is different depending where they're coming from. And the fact that the Latino is allowing them to be a very powerful voting block. We're talking about voting, a voting block. And to the point of where President Biden, when he very disrespectably talked to the black legislative caucus and said, "Well, you guys are gonna have to get it together 'cause it's more than there are for you now." - Right, and that's our fault. So I'm gonna chastise us. I'm gonna keep it real. We have a real problem. We are not apolitical. We don't come to meetings. We don't unite. We have a crabs on the bottom of the barrel mentality. - You talk about Boston, right? - I'm talking about-- - The places they do. - No, I'm talking about across the nation. - I think that-- - And that's been that way since slavery with the Willie Lynch. - That's not true, because of that, the case in the voter rights act and civil rights act went up past this moment. - I'm not talking about the past. - No, no, no, no, no. - I'm saying how that we have come together. And we're the people-- - In the past. - Where the people, well, I mean, it's in my past. - Right. - We have come together and we're the only people in this country that have gotten bombed, dropped on them. - We have. - We have country. - We have. - In Tulsa. - Yeah. - And in Philadelphia. - Exactly. - Right. So we're the only people in this country other than, you know, group of communists that the federal government actually put all of the military, the first FBI agent, Black FBI agent, was recruited to destroy Marcus Garvey. - Exactly. - So we're the people in this country is not just, I mean, yes, we have a responsibility, but I think we need to balance that in terms of understanding the institutions that we're up against. - And that's what we do. We educate on the history because what seems to have happened is we haven't done anything significant since civil rights. And it just seems as though once Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were assassinated, we just went into a deep dive coma and we haven't woken up yet. So all these other groups of people do be in together. They do unite regardless of what language they speak if they're Hispanic, what country they come from. They do band together, the Jews, the Irish, the Italians. Everybody bands together, the Asians, except for us. - Well, when we do though, look what happens. - Okay, but this doesn't mean we should stop doing it, but I'm saying, we haven't done anything for 55 years. We don't speak up, we don't, we don't, tonight, we don't have a black infrastructure. Every other race of people has an infant structure for their culture and their race. We don't, so we're losing. So obviously what we're doing is not working. - So I think, I'm gonna push back on that for a second. And the reason why I'm pushing back is it is working and it was working and it worked to the point of where the blueprint that the Black Panther Party so percents actually was adopted by the Native Americans, by the Latino, by the Asian, by the LGBTQ, by. So but in we're the ones who, J. Edgar Hoover and the federal government and Intel, COINTELPRO with the CIA, actually infiltrated and killed, killed assassinated major leaders. So yes, so I'm gonna push back on that. I understand what you're saying, but I don't wanna use a deficit model. - So what I'm trying to say is that yes, all that happens and that's what we educate our people and that's what we educate other people who don't know our history. - And it's happening now because you guys are doing it. Okay, so. - And it is happening now and it happens to us. It happens to me, people are sabotaging. - I'm talking about the organizing because your organization is actually doing this. - Right, and so there are organizations that are actually doing this. - Right, exactly. - But the pushback is more severe because we were talking about after the Civil War and then there was Reconstruction, the federal government removed the protection and so then the white citizens counseled in KKK saw that there's a vulnerable population and you had all the race rights and you had the massacres and the lynchings against business owners and black codes that were spent in the black codes and everything, mass incarceration, segregation, the dime was GI Bill. - That's right. - All of that, but I'm trying to explain. - Another thing to give up. - Yeah. - But I'm also saying if we're gonna talk about the historical content of people, of our people, in this country, we gotta, and I understand the level of frustration, trust me, especially when it comes to being up in Massa Sippy. Massa Sippy. - Really? - Because when I go to other places in other cities, DC, Philadelphia, down south, this brother and I were talking yesterday about the, I think it was last year. - Yes. - When, on a dock, these Caucasian people-- - Yeah, sorry about that. - This brother was doing his job and he was just saying, "No, you can't park this boat here." It ended up being a whole big-- - Right, they tried to attack him. - They did attack him. - They did. - He threw his hat up and he said, "Who do you let's go." Right, so, and then the people came off the boats and so you have these moments of, you know, the George Floyd and all the mass, you have these moments where people are just, they're sick and tired of being sick and tired, like Fannie Lou Hamer. - Right. - And we do come together and the pushback and the, from the system of the-- - So this is what I have to say about that. We have died, castrated, lynched, bit by dogs, hosed down, whatever, to put things in place that we don't even benefit from. So, for instance, affirmative action was not benefiting black people. The number one person who benefited from affirmative action were white women. Then it was disabled, then it was LGBT. You know what I mean? So all these other groups were benefiting from our fight. So instead of us crawling into a ball and being going into a catat, cocoon or catatomic state, whatever, we're like 55 years behind because we lost the hump. We lost the fight. And I know our ancestors have lost so much and I know that they fought. And sometimes you get tired, I got that. But if you think about all the other things that all other races, especially that are black, you know what I'm saying, or that a considered minority, have benefited from off of our backs. - I don't disagree with that. - And the one thing that we want is reparations and we can't even get them to collaborate with us on that without them getting it because they feel as though they deserve it because they're of color, of their melanated skin. - So let me ask you something. You know, you and I could talk a dog talk a dog. - We can meet you. - We can dance. (laughing) - We're good at what we do. - We can talk a dog talk of me wagging. - And I'm just passionate about how I feel. So I'm not angry or anything like that. I just want people to know that I'm just seriously passionate about this. Well, I'm pissed. So, you know, when they say being angry black women, it's like, well, naturally, normally, I'm usually not, but stop pissing me off and maybe I won't be so angry. If you just do that, this is not the angry black women channel. This is WBCA LP 102.9 FM in Boston, and we're Boston's community radio station. And the beauty of us being Boston's community radio station is we are the community talking about the community from the community's perspective. And there are community producers here at WBCA LP 102.9 FM and at BNN Media. And so if you're interested in becoming a producer here, you can, we wanted to demystify and invite you to actually become a producer. If you'd like to or just find out what's going on and support the programming that is here, this is part of democracy, the freedom of the press. And so we do have the freedom to say what is happening in the community. - Exactly. - Because major media, if it does not find it profitable, and it's not amenable to corporate interest, sometimes you don't hear what's really going on in your own backyard. So let's talk about the next steps, this hearing that is coming up on the 24th. Because we talked about it, and we just wanted to give people information if they're interested. So if they have more questions, is there a number that you could call? - So just take a step back forward. I really would prefer for people to attend the next Boston Reparation Task Force Meeting, which is on the 24th. And get understanding of what's going on. And that's at the bowling building, and that's at 5.36 o'clock that evening. And if you call me, I'll give you more details and possibly send you the information through a flyer. The next huge thing, and it's really, how do you say it mystifies me as to how this is even a hearing. But from what I understand from the title of the docket, it says civil rights and immigrants. And in fine writing, it says the alignment with the task force reparations. And I've been trying to get clarification for that, and nobody has been able to answer me, like how are the immigrants, civil rights being violated? - Wait, wait, wait, when is this happening? - This is the 27th of June. - Of June? - At what time? - 2 p.m. in the afternoon, I was gonna get to that. - Okay, go for it. - Right, so when I look at the flyer or the notification, it says civil rights and immigrants. And in fine writing, it says the alignment with the reparations task force. And so this hearing is at the City Hall Plaza, I and Ella Armroom. It's at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. And I really would like for people to show themselves and speak up about their lived experience as being a descendant of Chaddal slave in the US. For some reason, they don't think a lot of us are here. They don't believe we exist because we don't really show ourselves, and we're not really showing up. - But this is also 2 o'clock in the afternoon in the weekday, right? - I know, but that's when all the hearings are. Anything business like in Boston is gonna happen during the day. That's just normal business practices. I would love to be able to accommodate people, but that's the city of Boston. And they have multiple hearings that day too. - And mostly all the other days too. - So tell this hearing is specifically like what? - I don't know. - That's why I'm mystified. If the task force is working, and the task force may have some kinks, the task force just pointed their research consultant with this, which is Tufts University in Northeastern, the mayor was there, everybody was happy. And now all of a sudden, there is a resolution to have a hearing about the task force. And in that, the bigger title of it is civil rights and immigrants. And like I said, I've been asking anybody who I can ask, and everybody keeps shaking their head. Like, I don't even, they don't get it. It's like, why fix was not hugely broken? And to me, right now, since the universities and the research consultants are doing their research, we should be meeting as a community to find out what we know about reparations, what we need to know, what we want with regards to any repair in our community. And there's not one organization that's meeting in the community about these things. So it's just- - I think I gotta, I was looking through, as I'm listening here, sitting here listening to you, I think I gotta response to be able to testify. - Yes. - I'm looking for that now. - Yes, but keep talking. - Yes, so you can attend in person and sign up when you get there. Like you have to show up like 15, 20 minutes early, or you can, does an email that you have to email the person, chain or whatever it is. And I have the link, if you call me, I can get it to you, where you can do it on Zoom. So it is accommodating to both Zoom and also in person, which I'm really grateful for, 'cause there's a lot of people who can't get down the city hall plaza, whether it be the disabled seniors or just no parking. And so I'm grateful for that. - I found it, I found it. - Yes, it's a docket 0591, order for a hearing to discuss the alignment of the reparations task force process. It's request for proposals in community inclusion efforts with civil rights. What? - Right, but read the title though, read the bull black. - Order for a hearing to discuss the alignment of the reparations task force process. It's request for proposals in community inclusion efforts with civil rights. - Okay, that's the title. - So the title that's on the website and the title that has been given. - The topic is civil rights, racial equity and immigrant advancement hearing. - Thank you. - Docket 0591, civil rights, racial equity and immigrant advancement hearing. - See, and this is my question. And this is the divisiveness. And I'm trying to be as politically correct as possible. What civil rights are being violated? Why are we talking about racial equity? And what immigrants are we talking about? Because everybody seems to be happy with whatever they have with regards to the immigration, New Americas, the immigration office, the office of Latino and Caribbean affairs, which is the cultural office of affairs. What is it about reparations that somebody feels like they've been violated? When there's been no conversations in the community, I go to every meeting or I know about them. And there's not one community meeting that talks about what the community wants. People go out of their way to make decisions on behalf of the community, whether it be the $15 billion man or the $50 million clergy man, nobody has sat down and talked to the community and said, listen, let's develop a plan as to what you think this reparation should be. But I thought this was what the task force, what the mayor was all about to talk to the community. They've had meetings and hearings and then there was that big hearing that was several hundred people down at the bowling building with, no, that is not the city. That is not the mayor. Kevin Peterson has NDC and also a new organization called People's Repair Commission, whatever. That is not mayor sanction. That is not mayor commission. That is him creating his own organization on the outside. Him having people meet at the bowling building was his own organization saying, I want people to come here to tell their story. He told them it was a hearing and that they will be testifying. By anybody who knows the legislation, there is no Saturday business as usual for the city hall that close. There is no hearings on Saturday. And in order for you to have a hearing, Ed Flynn, who's the chair, would have to be there. You have to have a sonographer. That means it has to be recorded. So you can meet with city council people, but to say it in the community that it was a hearing and that they're there to testify is completely misleading. That has nothing to do with the task force. The task force meets once a month and it's both basically updates at this point or to hear what the community has to say. What I'm asking is would all the grassroots organizations and all those who are vying to be headed to the community, whether it be the NAACP, Urban League, whether it be Embrace Boston, or whether it be the Boston Foundation or even Kevin's group, which is the NDC or the People's Reveration. Nobody is sitting down talking to the community. Nobody has any documentation or blueprint or plan as to how they want to see reparations pan out in the community. And then when you're asking for 15, demanding $15 billion or $50 million, where's this money going? What is the money coming from? Well, he requested, demanded the $15 billion from the mayor. That was the first pool of money. And then he said that that was a down payment. That's the last I heard. But then there's the white clergy who he met with and it's in the WBC article, GBH article, stating that he demands 50 million from them. He, Kevin Peterson. He, Kevin Peterson, same person. So my question is, nobody made him the spokesperson for the community. He speak on behalf of him and his organization. And so the community needs to get together to talk about what they want and how they see themselves being repaid. Those who descend from Chaddal Slavy, American Freedmen. And okay, and so that's what you're saying that the Office of Freedmen, American Freedmen would do if it's established in the city of Boston. Right, the Office of Freedmen Affairs, if you click on the QR code on our page, has a whole proposal that's been submitted. And it outlines everything that we think will be necessary to assist our people in repair. And the biggest piece is getting people registered. And that's why it's really important to activate it now. It's not in tangent with the reparations task force. The recommendations from the task force can definitely be beneficial to the Office of Freedmen Affairs. But we need it now to have a registry of who's American Freedmen. So we even know who we're servicing. Okay, so we are now down to the last two minutes. Like I said, will you and I can talk. Or we can talk. We can go, girl. We can go. Thank you. And we're coming back. We're coming down to the last few minutes of Black Teachers Matter. This edition has been, episode has been talking about reparations in Juneteenth and all sorts of black, black, black, black, black, black, stuff on Black Teachers Matter. The last few information that people, if they want more information, they could call if they like us, what? Yes. So we are solidarity on the ground. Solidarity Community Engagement Group. That's me and my co-founder Jonathan Bryant. My phone number is 757-589-6239. That's 757-589-6239. The national organization, which I'm a part of, is United Sons and Daughters of Freedmen. And we're in like maybe 30 states so far. And so we are nationally connected and collaborate with each state to make sure that we're representing American Freedmen any legislation that's put through. And again, if you need any information on that, you can call me, but their website is usadof.org. USA-D-O-F dot org. In any event, I answer my phone all the time. You've got any questions, any suggestions? I'm very much open. Okay, thank you so much. Nope. Into the Edwards. You've been listening to Black Teachers Matter here at WBCA LP 102.9 FM. I'm your host Sharon Eaton Hinton. It has been an amazing show, but it always is, right? Whenever we have people in our studio who are bringing information that you need to make better decisions. So today it's really hot. Make a decision to be cool, drink a lot of water, and come back next time here at WBCA LP 102.9 FM in Boston, Boston's Community Radio Station. Good night. - Thank you. - The preceding commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff and management of WBCA or the Boston Neighborhood Network. If you would like to express another opinion, you can address your comments to Boston Neighborhood Network, 302-5 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02119. To arrange a time for your own commentary, you can call WBCA at 617-708-3215 or email radio@bnnmedia.org. or email radio at bnnmedia.org. [BLANK_AUDIO]