Queen Quet Overcoming Gullah/Geechee Destructionment
15 years after becoming the first Gullah/Geechee to speak on behalf of her people before the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Genevé, Switzerland, Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) has again gained support for her lifetime efforts to keep Gullah/Geechee culture alive. The Highlander Education Center has awarded her the “We Shall Overcome Fund” grant to continue the“Gullah/Geechee SEA & ME Program” which she established two years ago with funding from Toyota Together Green with Audubon. SEA stands for “sustaining environmental actions” and ME stands for “marine environment.” Daily Queen Quet works on issues of climate change and cultural traditions sustainability throughout the Sea Islands from jacksonville, NC to Jacksonville, FL and this effort has been recognized and supported by numerous groups.
Queen Quet will continue to teach the community how to assist with environmental restoration issues along the Intercoastal Waterway at home between her many global stops with her histo-musical presentation troupe, “De Gullah Cunneckshun.” The troupe has been providing their unique genre of Gullah/Geechee presentations around the country since February and will continue on to other locations around the world during the “Gullah/Geechee Land & Legacy World Tour.” They embark on a world tour annually to raise awareness of the existence of Gullah/Geechee culture and to raise funds to assist with keeping Gullah/Geechees on their homeland in the Gullah/Geechee Nation. This year the tour focuses on this and on obtaining digitization devices for the Gullah/Geechee Alkebulan Archive based on historic St. Helena Island, SC which is the ONLY archive totally dedicated to Gullah/Geechee history, heritage, and culture. The archive was developed by Queen Quet and his part of the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition Hunnuh Home Gullah/Geechee Research & Retreat Center.
After stops throughout the Gullah/Geechee Nation for April which the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition (www.gullahgeechee.net) will celebrate as “Gullah/Geechee Land & Legacy Month,” Queen Quet will head to the United Nations Indigenous Peoples Forum where she will represent the Gullah/Geechee Nation, the International Human Rights Association for American Minorities (IHRAAM) which is an NGO in consultative status with the UN, and the International Women’s Think Tank. She serves on the directorate and the board of trustees for the latter two respectively. She will continue to journey to other conferences and international forums throughout the year to continue to build support for the sustainability of the Gullah/Geechee Nation in order to insure that the people are not displaced due to “destructionment” as she calls the elements of overbuilding that have displaced many of her people and are contributing to environmental imbalances.
Queen Quet’s motto is “Hunnuh mus tek cyare de root fa heal de tree.” She continues to travel the world providing tools for people to dig into understanding her native culture. She invites all those that support this to become an active part of the work of the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition and to support the “Gullah/Geechee Land & Legacy World Tour.” For information on either, go to www.gullahgeechee.net or email GullGeeCo@aol.com.
WEBE Gullah/Geechee Anointed Peepol!
Lun mo bout who webe
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- Tagged: Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, Geechee, Gullah, Gullah/Geechee Land & Legacy World Tour, Gullah/Geechee Nation, Gullah/Geechee SEA & ME, Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition, Highlander Education Center, human rights, IHRAAM, International Human Rights Association for American Minorities, International Women's Think Tank, IWTT, Queen Quet, SC, Sea Islands, St. Helena Island, United Nations, We Shall Overcome Fund
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I show your documentary to my eighth graders here in Los Angeles every spring. I love and admire your culture and the beauty of your land and beliefs. Ray Barbeau