Ep2 | Why Should I Care About Black History?

I'm always gonna try and do my bit regardless because as I said, I'm not always I'm not gonna know everything my grandkids and whoever else kind of are able to progress in life because of the things that I've done and They may not never may not ever know what I've done But at least I know in my heart that I've kind of served them It's about what I can then do for people moving forward What's going on everybody?

I hope you are doing well Welcome to talking to my thoughts where we have open honest and raw conversations about Well our thoughts The topics will range from anxiety life goals relationship kids money work Everything that runs through our head so, you know, the possibilities are going to be endless. So let's get straight into it My name is Craig Riviere. Hey, I'm not even gonna say aka Mr. Positive.

Yep, and He is joined by Mr. Simon aka SJ.

So today we're gonna be talking about black history Massive topic taking in different perspectives I'll probably just get into mine straight away while we're even recording this we are actually in black history month It is really great to me that we actually get to celebrate it in the month always recognizing the country, but as I know It is always something that is Enjoyed all the time It's never something that I I don't celebrate.

I'm always very proud to be black and solution and I'm always trying to promote that and I'm always going back to my country as well I guess that's my my little piece to it I guess that's my my little piece to it.

Oh, let Simon give his piece on black history though Yeah, so as craig said, obviously we are in black history month while we're recording this my my kind of standpoint obviously in terms of black history as a month obviously i'll go into a little bit more in depth in my recording but it's it's not something I believe is Is beneficial to kind of?

Segregate our history into a month and I think that history in general should be something that's educated Throughout the lifespan throughout the year And I definitely think that in terms of how I'm educated in terms of black history I definitely feel that and there's a lot more I need to learn but I try and consciously Study upon it as much as I can. I mean I watch documentaries.

I've read books Um, and I try and make sure that I'm insightful in my own history as much as possible Um, I kind of actually like the fact that you um talks about being insightful of your own history. Um It might not even give anything away.

I probably think we should just get into our recordings Um, as you know on this podcast, it is called talking to my thoughts where we are literally Listening to the thoughts that we've had so we will pre-record the thoughts of us speaking to ourselves We're not crazy be sane But um, we will listen to it and we will then comment and discuss it And it just gives us a very raw version of how we speak to ourselves.

So here's my recording and I hope you enjoy Currently is black history month, but sometimes i've never really understood the whole black history month Like we are black all the time Well, i'm black all the time I'm always proud to be black more importantly, i'm like more i'm proud to always be solution i'm sure a lot of people know that but I'm proud to i've already bought my whole life for christmas.

This was crazy but but If I was to really talk about I know that black history is more than just booking your whole day for christmas It's been interested in your culture. It's been interested in What your background is i'm really interested in st. Lucia and the stuff the the history behind it Like I was not too long ago. He was going to do the ancestry track Like are you really black?

Because what we're taught is that In st. Lucia, we're not really like african for example Um, so it's not what I was I wasn't checking if I was really black.

I was checking out Am I actually african because incident well when we're taught when we grew up it wasn't really like Yeah, we're african is more like this for caribbean, but i'm thinking well, where's the origin of black people are Only one place in the world, which is africa But honestly, it was interesting to kind of like figure out. Yep, definitely african.

I didn't do the ancestry check I just said no i'm african but where did it all come from like how does dominica have similar backgrounds to a similar creole to st. Lucia And how do all these other countries have different creoles?

These are all things that are so interesting to me I think it's funny because as I get to know more about my history and the culture behind it And how the different caribbean islands are linked you just have a bit more of a closing a bit of closure and feeling for it because You don't have to find there's any separation between the different countries You don't have to have a separation between african and caribbean.

You just accept people and you accept Yourself and I think the more you accept yourself you is the easier is to accept other people and that's what really matters Because really you shouldn't really have to feel attacked or have a problem with other people's culture when you Accepted your own culture per se I could say um But honestly like i'm proud to be a black person I'm proud.

It's not to say that i'm trying to prove anything to other people. I'm just Living up and bigging up my own country bigging up how beautiful it is being bigging up my people how beautiful they are Um, I don't know Love my skin. I don't know even know how to explain it. It's weird I've never had the separation of like thinking oh and it'd be nice to be Not black.

I'm just always being black So it's just I guess just being proud and happy about yourself But as I get to learn more my culture it does give me more of a closing a closure feeling And where did we come from? Who are we? What is our history? Why is it that we had saltfish and breadfruit? Why is it that we Are even on this island? Um, why is it that these some of these islands share our culture?

Like these are all things that are very key questions and as I get to learn a bit more it just feels like a closure kind of feeling a feeling of Wholeness in a sense by discovering more of my history You can be whole as an individual but when you start to like think about yourself as Um a black person or a cultured person. What does that mean? What does it look like?

It's not to say like in england we can go to a place where it's going to help us Like feel that we're completely black because I don't know I don't know what area in england is there that we can just say yeah, that's that's where black people reside but regardless because i've been able to go back to cindersia so often I have felt that kind of proudness and um Like being patriotic about my country And I don't think everybody has that which is a bit unfortunate But I want to help people with that.

I'd love to help people know more about cindersia and the culture. I think it's like a priority.

I was i'm really proud to have the title of mr west indies Um where it's all about being unanimous and being in unity with everybody With all the different caribbean islands and i've gone to so many african pageants and still have the same kind of unity It's just nice to have that to be proud of your people and be proud of what we do and what we are able to do and I don't think everybody has that same kind of feeling so I guess it's my duty to kind of help people see that See what's inside of them and learn more about their culture and want to learn more about their culture Black history man.

We've got a lot behind it.

Just got to be proud and willing to go towards it Yeah Okay, um I think one thing That particularly Sorry that particularly kind of stood out for me and a word that used a couple of times in there was closure um And i'm interested to know from obviously you listening to your thoughts and thinking about black history and how proud you are of being black and and what you kind of do to contribute to that and How you feel when you're around your culture?

Where what? It almost feels like when you say the word closure That there was something before that there wasn't originally like there was something that was missing and how do you feel? What has kind of brought you that closure and how do you feel that's kind of helped you to move forward?

I guess um Like when we were younger As we know like our like our parents our first generation kind of caribbeans in The uk which means first generation mean that they were the first probably first caribbeans to really be born in the born into the uk And they were already caribbean um from caribbean parents and the reason why that was something that was quite important was because To know is because when we were growing up actually used to be like african versus caribbean back in school days And simon couldn't will know about this.

We literally had that kind of debate and also when we were taught We didn't even know that we didn't believe that we were at all african or of african origin And then as time goes on we know there's gentrification and we didn't necessarily know a particular area where they are black people And that's it like if today someone had to recommend I had to recommend where in london Should you go to be feel like you're at home?

I wouldn't know where to say but if you're maybe a chinese person jewish or indian Maybe there's loads of little spots where you can think so for me the whole thing of closure Was understanding How are we black Um, what is our history? How did how how did black people even end up on the island like st. Lucia so st. Lucia to give a bit of history about that Um, the first people in st.

Lucia were actually americans And trust me they were different looking to us But black people came from only one place which was africa, which is obviously from boats, etc And yeah st.

Lucians in particular have a mixture of like indian chinese And african and other cultures, but actually the main dominant part is africa so back to your question the reason why I felt there needs to be closure is because we had this this kind of Separation between our other black people as we grew up. There's a lot of crime.

There's a lot of um um people gangs against each other and black and black on black violence and um Again africa versus caribbean. It was a banter before but actually when you get older It starts to play a bit of a toll on you Like do you associate yourself with these people are they the same kind of culture as you can you can you relate?

And I think that that gap That is created is very subconscious but it means something because then you're like well where do I belong who do I belong to where am I supposed to actually be and gaining gaining your history and understanding the link between different caribbean countries and having a place to go and living in your culture Gives you that wholeness and you don't have to feel lost often.

We are seeking everything outside in the world for answers But when you can just feel whole in yourself you there's a different kind of feeling in that Oh, okay I mean, it's obviously in terms of How because i've never really thought about in terms of how I would gain closure or if I need to even kind of gain any closure because for me it's like our history's Obviously been manipulated our history's been skewed.

It's been erased It's like obviously we won't even go into major details what we're talking about slavery and years ago what happened And it's difficult to really know The roots of a lot of our history Um, so I almost feel like for me it's difficult to get Any sense, I mean in certain certain respects when you pick up bits of information there is closure involved But I don't know if you fully get any closure in it in in terms of history because A lot of it is gone.

A lot of it is gone. And for me, it's like Me growing up obviously in the uk And obviously my my origins or my background is is caribbean as well, but I almost slightly feel Disconnected at times just because I don't have the information Which I need to to then have that closure And it's like where do I then look where do I where do I find that information?

And what obviously you're saying that you've you've obviously i'm guessing you've researched into and you've learned a little bit about Your history in terms of st. Lucia But how did you come about that information and what what made you even want to even start looking into that information? um For me, I've got I go to st. Lucia often Um, I go to st.

Lucia it was once a year then twice a year and sometimes it's even three times a year I go to st. Lucia. So as you know, like I love st. Lucia and people if they know me I'm there a lot of the time people asking me like when am I moving? And this isn't just because it's a holiday. I don't treat st. Lucia as a holiday.

So literally a second home to me Um, and that that kind of investment of energy again where your energy goes is where everything else is going to go So because I put energy into st. Lucia I've actually started taking it to another level in the sense of putting money into it putting Knowledge into it putting my time into it and not just taking it as a holiday It's not just a vacation.

It's a home and as we as Something that is built into me. I I want to see my community be built up So me doing that has actually connected me with more people now funny enough in st.

Lucia They don't have this whole same disconnection between like what we have of black history and like they only know black Um, but they don't really see like the disconnection of when is it that I don't ever feel black But obviously in the uk we have a different case now back in uk We have other st.

Lucians or other caribbeans trying to bring this kind of history and knowledge and culture into this country Because this is also our home and not everybody has the luxury of going back to st. Lucia So I start to connect with certain charities go to certain events, um, such as genie creole and Go to um kind of conventions, which is around black history and stuff like that.

So go into these places Have taught me more things like the whole I went to joanie creole last year Which is a cultural event for all of the countries that um are creole speaking and they wear madras.

It's a very cultural event And when I went today last year, they started to speak some of the stories and poems and songs in creole but funny enough this doctor who is Trying to always find a link between africa and the caribbean.

He said these stories are direct translation in congo in french which then means It's most likely when we had slave ships that came they came from congo and some of them were dropped into st.

Lucia now We have the whole point of the whole creole language was that actually it was a like a space broken If people don't know what creole creole is Um broken french or broken language basically so french base broken down into something a little bit different But it's kind of similar quite different um, and This was a way of caribbean people owning their culture saltfish and breadfruit.

He also taught us Well, he didn't even teach us. He said saltfish and breadfruit was actually slave food But that is a delicacy and a tradition in st. Lucia And this is because again st.

Lucians just took what they had and owned it and said this is now ours And then a bit more to not to go into far But a bit more of it is actually dominica has the same creole as us, which is actually a few islands away from us But their creole is two percent different to us, but there's also antiga and martinique like in between So how did this all all these things connect?

But when when this happens when we speak to other dominicans, we now call the dominicans and dominicans call us six a sister country Now you can't say that when you meet another caribbean person and the person says oh you are a sister country We can speak almost the same language This is completely different to everyone else is speaking that you don't feel a level a level of closure level of Bond that you have there and then now when you speak to congo congolese like again Some of my friends are from congo or I go to these pageants and they're speaking and they're having this kind of culture And I'm you make it interests me like how does your culture come to us?

So actually I can resonate with that That is where my closure is You're you're creating this kind of bond which only you guys have And that is what where my closure is to it to me and that's that's what that's what has brought me to it But yeah me pushing myself into these cultured events and putting myself into these black history conventions Or whichever one it is and speaking to these people having these conversations is where it starts But that's my my take on it.

Let's um, let's get into your recording okay, so it's It's it's a bit of a weird topic because it's whether we're talking about Black history in general and how It's educated to the younger generation and The kind of information that we're given or are we talking about black history in terms of A month and black history being a month.

Obviously, this is something that's been debated for years And it's just something that I guess I just want to put my perspective on I don't really believe in having a black history month, although I do think it's important to have a time to raise awareness and To Take the time to educate people and get them to understand the roots or certain things because obviously we We all go to school and we all study history and a lot of the time is it's history That is about other cultures And other religions and it's not necessarily a focus on black history in particular So I do believe that it's important to make sure that there is an awareness of that.

It's just that I shouldn't I don't believe that It should only happen within one point in the year And it should be something that's put into our schools and put into our education system And it's something just like you have white history Throughout the schools and you're educated on it all the time black history should be involved in that as well And it shouldn't be okay. Now it's black history month.

Let's talk about black history I don't really agree with that so That's my standpoint on that I feel that I have Somewhat of A good understanding of black history. I mean I try and take the time when I can to to Watch documentaries and and encourage obviously My kids to read books on on black history and important figures within black history.

So that's something i've definitely been conscious of Making sure I understand Where we've come from where we've got to and where we should be going to in the future as As a culture as a people as a race just like any other culture and any other race they they understand their history and obviously ours has Has been removed in a lot of different ways and it's always good to kind of Find your roots again and find Your belonging I guess So I think it's definitely important and it's definitely a good thing that we are raising awareness I just don't agree that it should only be at one point in the year I think it needs to be consistent because we need to bring clarity to the younger generation about where Where we've evolved from where we've kept where we've come from so I definitely think that's important That's yeah, that's that's interesting to me.

Um Couple points to really pick up is yeah, it's just been a month Yeah is what it is it seems in it but I think what was happening when we were young is that we were always looking for gatekeepers as I call them gatekeepers as to education media ways that we can Inject more of our history and tell them this is what you should be playing this we should be showing to us, etc This is what you should be educating to us.

But actually I think we just have a responsibility as our own black people to Be the gatekeepers for ourselves put the media ourselves like we have social media these days we have internet We have so many different pieces as to where we can put more into it.

And as you said actually There is a way where you can actually just how you asked me How do I kind of gain more history like clarity about my history and stuff that I actually just put myself in the events Put the time and energy into it but the key part I actually wanted to ask you was um What power does it give you when you know where you came from and where you belong Um what me personally or you asking as general what would that power bring to people you For me to know where I come from In a way, I don't know what kind of power it would bring to me because I don't think i've had enough of that information yet There's still a lot for me to learn and as I said, there's a lot of things that are missing that we will never know so That's why I was going back to the thing point of closure is that for me I may not Ever find that total closure because I always know there's something that Your history and your culture Is something which is a part of you and when you know that you can't find All of that information you you almost feel like you're not complete so For me just going back to your question about what power does it give you to to know about your history?

It gives you a slight Confidence to know that okay This is this is who I am.

It's almost like a part of you These are the people that I belong to this it's a sense of belonging like who you are your culture your family The people that have come before you I mean most of us will only remember our grandparents or our great-grandparents at best before that You don't know anyone you don't live long enough to to learn from those people and understand what they've experienced and and their their part in in your life And for me being able to learn about them and learn about what they've experienced and what they did before you and why you're Where you are is it does empower you in a certain way to say?

Okay, this is this is this is where I belong.

These are the people that I'm with and blah blah, etc so It's important to know but in many respects for me, it's like I'm always going to try and do my bit regardless because as I said, I'm not always I'm not going to know everything So I can just do the best I can to kind of Serve my people and my family and make sure that for the next generation Those those kids and my grandkids and whoever else kind of are able to progress in life because of the things that I've done and they may not never may not ever know what i've done, but at least I know in my heart that i've kind of served them And that's what kind of gives me that power rather than looking so far back It's about what I can then do for people moving forward So it empowers me in a certain way, but then it's not necessarily going to change Me completely in a way that I drive myself forward And that's kind of how I see it One thing I wanted to kind of mention just thinking about what you were saying as well is that I do believe we all have a responsibility to at least know At some point where we came from and then help educate that to our kids Because obviously when we're talking about black history and black history month It's not I don't think it's enough Me personally, I don't think it's enough like the month goes by so quick and then it's like, okay Yeah, we've done our bit move on and as I said me I try and be quite conscious of Making sure that i'm doing my part but making sure that my kids are also educated in a certain respect So something as simple as when christmas came about last year and I was thinking okay, what can I get my kids?

It's like, okay, I can get them toys. I can get them this but I want to get them a book And I got my oldest daughter a book about Influential black figures and influential people that have like inventors. So who was the first?

Person that invented This and who was the the world's greatest literature and blah blah blah and black history and what black people have done to help evolve the culture that you're living in today because then they're not always getting taught that and as you said you're talking about the power and empowering people by Giving them that ability to know where they've come from and what they can achieve It's like these are the people these these are the people that you're from this is your culture This is your family and if they can do it you can do it and it empowers you to know that okay Yeah, it gives you that confidence as well So I think it's important that we we always I think to be honest We all have a responsibility to do that as black people.

We all have a responsibility. It's gonna be a shame to think that Everything that's happened within our history everything that's going on.

You're just gonna think okay, cool Whatever that happened in the past i'm gonna move on with my life My kids don't need to know anything about it and next week, you know The generation will pass and they'll just forget everything that would be that would be a major shame, bro I'm telling you we all have a responsibility to make sure we know where we came from At least in some part so that it can help us to drive our culture forward.

That's what I believe No, I I highly agree with that.

Um, and it kind of leads me on to a question Like obviously we went to the same school And i'm really like trying to wrack my brains right now as to when when do we learn about black history But all I remember is watching a roots video And that is literally all we had that's not what all the schools do I don't if they still if they still do that It's a mounting but that's do better if you're an educator shouldn't do better to be to be fair It's not enough.

But what I will say is that was probably my first introduction into Learning about those things because once They started playing stuff like roots. I was like Oh, okay, it opened up my eyes So then I didn't have to then take it on board myself then and start looking at more things but that almost opened the door up for me a little bit and that's only because of Whether it's my parents or grandparents.

They never kind of put that onto me So that was the thing that opened up my eyes and then said cool. I'm going to look into this a little bit more Same thing for me.

I didn't have I never had this whole black talk or anything like with my parents, but it kind of leads me on to my next question, which was the fact that we had in our upbringing a lack of So to be give us some context like simon is 30 years old and i'm basically 30 as well Basically basically like january big things anyway, so anyway, um to give us give you a bit of context.

Um We're 30 years old and if that is all we kind of had in our history of what we kind of saw in school how has the lack of Being taught that history affected you like obviously we a lot of the conversations in this day and age is talking about People need to like kids need to be able to see other black people that have achieved things and stuff like that And if they can't then they may not believe that they can Have you has did that have that same effect on you for me to inject in that straight away?

I haven't I i'd never ever felt that I couldn't achieve something on the basis that I wouldn't I didn't see another black person do it Yeah, I was always actually I was i'm quite different. I'm a quite introverted person I never really followed the crowd or anything like that So that also kind of I didn't really I didn't I couldn't even imagine any role models either I don't I didn't have any role models.

I just my parents just always used to tell me Do like do the but it doesn't matter what your class did do the best that you can do Keep doing the best you can do so I was quite isolated, but I don't know Maybe it might not be the same for you, but I mean I it's similar and it goes back to the point you made made about how Knowing your history how much power does it give you or how much does it empower you?

as you said you the lack of that information that you had didn't necessarily stop you from Where your ambitions were and what you was going to do in terms of thinking about yourself as a black person and And how you would move forward in your life.

So for me again, it's not necessarily about Knowing that information is going to change me in a major way or empower me in a certain way to see that boom but You need to you at some point you need to know at least where you've come from and I think that definitely that lack of It didn't necessarily change me but that that point in which I did See something it made me want to know more because as you again talking about closure It's like I never really even thought about that until someone pointed out to me This is where you've come from.

You know, is it? What else have what else don't I know seeing as I didn't know anything about that What else don't I know and then it just led me to just think and learn about other things But again, it's not necessarily about I had to learn that so that I could get closure or I had to learn that so that I could be empowered It's just that I feel for me.

We all have a responsibility to know where we've come from I can I I can interject with that I guess I was blessed with the ability to go to st. Lucia from since I was young quite often so my injection of Black history or black culture in general was actually A lot to do st.

Lucia and learning stuff like that and kind of appreciating where I am and in this country But also back there Um of from the stuff that they do the certain cultural events the food the people the way they speak Um, and then obviously down here and even there we get to enjoy carnival again That's another time we get to enjoy our culture This has been a I think like especially how much i'm involved in carnival now st.

Lucia I almost couldn't imagine myself not having that So imagine the people that don't have the same blessings of being able to go on holiday Maybe are not of age or maybe don't have an interest in going to carnival Like where do they even get their their knowledge or their experience of their own culture? And how does this make people feel?

I'm not sure this is probably an open question for you guys How does it make you feel when you don't?

Have that level of culture or that kind of bond or connection with your own background like you can say I don't know some people might be I don't know it could be guyanese or it could be um Antiguan and maybe you're part white as well, or maybe you're full antiguan or whichever other mix it can be But how does it make you feel when you actually have no knowledge of your culture of that side of you?

Is is do you feel a bit lost? Do you feel like it's okay and you just make up something else? What do you teach your children when you talk about your background if you teach them at all? Like you understand what i'm saying.

I think that some a lot of people don't really know What they're missing until it's pointed out to them true And as I said just going back on what I said, I didn't really know what I Didn't know until I found out something and then I was like, okay, so then what else don't know some people will live their lives as they do Being okay with not knowing because there's nothing that's that's that's enlighten them.

There's nothing that's kind of clicked with them or In their head they haven't fought You know what? I need to start looking back a little bit a lot of people are just forward thinkers And they may not even think okay What did my grand my great-grandparents do or my great-great-great-great-great-grandparents do? How did I get here? Like what happened like some people are just like well i'm here now.

This is my life I'm moving forward. This is what I need to do. And if and it's all about focus as well what your focus is on I'm here to raise my kids. I'm here to get a job. I'm not really Again with life things go by so fast. You're not even really thinking about what's happening behind you You're just thinking about these are my goals.

These are my ambitions This is what I need to get to and then it's only when that stopping point happens with it's like where are you from? What's your surname? Oh, are you from so-and-so? Do you speak this language? It's like no Why would I speak that language? Well, because your surnames this and that surname means blah blah blah and it's like, oh really?

So yeah, therefore you're my cousin's cousin and this is and then it's just you start linking things up and then it's like, okay So now there's a little bit more to who I am now it's interesting I really want it's like something you were saying like Like them asking that kind of question your surname, etc.

Now when we were growing up, we didn't really have we had msn so that's how that's our age but now we have like social media and in snapchat and facebook and Like instagram, there's so many different ways of people trying to be like somebody else or be somebody Everybody's trying to get noticed or be somebody when they are already somebody And I think maybe in our day We didn't really have that kind of conflict of trying to be somebody who was just in our school You know kind of it was a little bit isolated better msn, but that's just talking to people you already knew But in this day and age everyone's trying to find an identity where they already have that identity now This is where I I again believe That it's almost like black history and the awareness of it wanting to be raised has also come in in the same kind of correlation There's a bit of a correlation where people also have lost their self identity they're losing themselves by trying to be somebody else or be someone they see on tv who They don't even know or they don't even know if it's a good life for them.

But it's almost like because they don't have this belonging Maybe this is what it's causing them causing a lot of people to Like think that they're nobody when they are somebody so I don't know. I don't know the answers to this.

But once again as i'm telling you now If I was to think of myself in this day and age and I took away some like st Lucia took away all that culture took away carnival took away Black food black people food black people music and took away all that and I didn't have that in my life Honestly, I almost feel like I don't know what much is left of what I would tell what who I would be So imagining people actually live in that life or bringing children into that life and they are seeking identity and they can't even know They don't even know their history That's a piece of you or whole of you that you've lost and I really think there's a There is a level of importance to kind of educate them and give them this kind of self-identity again There's a lot of people that own this world of all different cultures who do know their culture and are being taught And are being are fully aware are in a community which is celebrating it But let's say in black people we don't like black culture other than carnival I don't really know many other places where we get to really celebrate this in this country So this is where we go link back to black history month is not enough Actually, it should be a lot more especially when we come into a crisis where people are losing their identity I think it's not just people might be thinking that's just kids on instagram But bro, there's people at 34 years old scrolling for instagram scrolling for snapchat day in day out for nine hours looking for something to Fill them up and it doesn't fill them because it's it's not there You understand?

so yeah, that's that's kind of my piece on the The whole black history and I kind of how it kind of correlates into this day and age And how it might be different for the need for it that we needed it back in the day But actually maybe we did need it because now we're here today feeling quite positive about who we are And our culture and what we celebrate, especially me and you who do live it up in carnival and do Enjoy black people food and stuff like that.

So I've got a question before we obviously wrap up and give our kind of final thought is that Obviously When you get to a certain age you start having kids and whatever else How important is it? Do you think for you that? Your kids would need to know How important is it that they would need to know about? Their history for them to kind of move forward. What do you think it would do for them?

extremely important like They're gonna get st. Lucia push upon them It's it's not just st.

Lucia Caribbean culture and black black culture in in general It is actually a very very important thing to me and the reason why I even get involved in charities that Bring the culture to the uk and celebrate these things is because I don't want the culture to be diluted into I don't know like imagine adding I don't know having a juice and you pour water into it How much how much of the juice is still going to have color in it by the time you?

Keep pouring water and just diluting it. I want the juice to be strong concentrate sugar, you know I want that a rush, but no, but honestly, it's very important to me and Do I know like their future or whatever? I don't know, but I want them to fully know themselves I think we are we are constantly like as human beings.

We are constantly waking up Into this world looking for answers and pieces to a puzzle that we think is missing pieces And we take it from different parts of the world. We take it from our job.

We take it from social media We take it from people giving us compliments if we take it from all these other things Trying to piece us together to make us feel a bit more fulfilled But actually a lot of the stuff like when once you're born you are full you are complete You have a history behind you already you have a struggle you have um success you have all these things behind you It is honestly a powerful thing to be given all of what you what where you came from And then go out into the world because I believe people would stop seeking so much.

Um Like puzzle pieces from the world and actually realize i'm walking into this world as a full person And i'm going to impose myself onto this world not have the world be imposed onto me and crush me So that is my that is what I believe it makes it so powerful to give them everything and this means The black history this means where I came from what did I struggle with?

This means everything to give it to them and they can decide what they want to do, but they will know exactly where they came from Know exactly where they came from Sounds like a good point to end to be fair. I think that's a good point to end I mean if there's anything else you want to say you but can wrap it up there if you want.

Yeah, just If you if you're interested as with anything if you're searching for a holiday searching for a best deal Searching for your best phone your next phone You're going to choose you put time into it you put research into it you go on the internet you do these things If you're interested in your history Go and search for it put the time put the money put the resources and you will find the answers That you're looking for or not looking for but you know what?

This you won't just give a shrug shoulders when people ask you about your history Simple as that so once again Thank you for listening to us We are not here for you to be a consumer.

We are here for you to also be a producer and tell us your story, too so if you are somebody who has a story to tell about your Your history your your background if you're also dominican solution But also all the other countries if you're african if you want to tell us about your history Let us know and also let us know how important it is for you to know your history What how has it affected you to have learned your background or not have learned your background as well?

Thank you for listening DM us email us and we here but we out right now. Peace. Bless it