Monthly Archives: November, 2016
Queen Quet of the Gullah/Geechee Nation Keynotes at the International Hill Rice Symposium
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation will be the keynote speaker for the Inaugural Trinidad and Tobago International Hill Rice Symposium and Festival which is being hosted in commemoration of the bicentenary of the arrival of the Merikins to Trinidad. Following the War of 1812 between the United States of America, and Great Britain the arrival of this group of men and women, who are sometimes described as Black Loyalists, marked the beginning of rice cultivation in Trinidad. That tradition has continued unbroken through the past two centuries.
Queen Quet of the Gullah/Geechee Nation Interviewed by Climate Home
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) was one of the world leaders that participated in the United Nations’ COP22 event in Marrakech, Morocco. Prior to her departure, Climate Home covered the journey and they followed up during the event.
Continuing Gullah/Geechee African Reconnections
As we traversed the roads through the valleys and then up into the mountains, I gave thanks for the strength of the women here that I saw hauling items on their backs on the dirt roads and herding the animals. They reminded me of my mother and the elder mothers of my island and all the hard labor that they had gone through while hauling babies on their backs and baskets on their heads as some of these women were also still doing. I thought about the many early mornings that I awoke and traveled fo dayclean ta de field. I could feel myself balancing my neck as I saw other women with the baskets on their heads the way I carried mine in the fields and how I still carry them on stages now around the world and bring out our continuing African traditions from them for groups of people that still want to learn how we thrived and survived.
Water is Life: Climate Change and Cultural Strife
Prince Goodlove provided an overview of the fighting and civil strife that was taking place in his country and how this has replaced the harmony in Nigeria because the water is gone in several places. The people of the north that no longer have water are now going south and doing hostile takeovers of lands where the water is still flowing. When he used these geographic terminologies, I again could only nod and agree because the Gullah/Geechee Nation’s onslaught that has led to people attempting to occupy the waterfronts and that has contributed to many of the extreme negative impacts on the water quality of our area has come via those from the north coming south as well. As Prince Goodlove said, “Those from the north now come south to take the land that the people of the south need to sustain themselves.” I could barely remain calm.
Gullah/Geechee Action Call from COP22: Wha Hunnuh Gwine Do?
Living literally on the shores of the frontline of climate change impacts makes the immediately implementation of CULTURE IN ACTION absolutely necessary because as my mama always taught me “Time and tide wait for no man or woman!” The changes are already flowing. So, now it is a choice in which way we will be going. Disya a Gullah/Geechee Call ta Action frum COP22! Wha hunnuh chillun gwine do? The quality of life in the world is truly up to you!
Gullah/Geechee Connections with the Global Climate Change Community @COP22
As the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon stated:
“Today’s global challenges demand concerted global action and joint solutions.”
It is because of this reality that the Gullah/Geechee Nation’s citizens wanted to insure my ability to make this journey. Our Sea Islands and our cultural heritage of the Gullah/Geechee Nation can only be protected when the global community recognizes how we all connect to one another.
Toasting de Gullah/Geechee wid Moroccan Tea
Arrival in Marrakesh, Morocco was truly a long journey. Given that I flew on multiple flights and had a six hour layover in the Netherlands, the effects on my body made me appreciate all the more what my ancestors had been through on their journey by sea going in the opposite direction. Just reflecting on this took me right back to the place and space of giving thanks for the blessing of being able to go to the Motherland to represent the Gullah/Geechee Nation especially for such a historic event.
Gwine ta de Motherland fa tek a Stand! Gullah/Geechee @COP22
“The land is our family and the waterways are our bloodline.”
• Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com)
“Hunnuh mus tek cyare de tree.”
• Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com)
I have heard these words come from my mouth thousands of times over the years because they are rooted in my heart. They are rooted as deeply as Gullah/Geechee culture is into the soil and the souls of the Sea Islands. These islands are from whence the blood comes that runs through my veins like the waters that flow to and from our shores each day perfectly syncopated in polyrhythmic rhythm to the motions of Gullah/Geechees as we move about and walk the sacred ground that holds the blood, sweat, and tears of our ancestors-our family.
Queen Quet at Lowcountry Montessori School
Tune in to Gullah/Geechee TV as Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) delivers a keynote address at the Lowcountry Montessori School. She brings to life this quote by the founder of Montessori education, Maria Montessori.
Gullah/Geechee Nation Joins in Contacting President Obama about Banning Offshore Drilling
“There is a Gullah/Geechee proverb that says, ‘De wata bring we and de wata gwine tek we bak.’ We know that coastal resources are inextricably tied to the sustainability of Gullah/Geechee cultural heritage because we live in and from the sea.”