Tag Archives: coastal

S.A.L.T.-Saving a Lowcountry Treasure

Salt is not the only thing that adds flavor to the coast of the southeast.  Gullah/Geechee culture is also quite flavorful not only due to the way we enhance our cuisine, but because of the vibrance and tastefulness that folks find unforgettable about us when they encounter us.  One of the places that you will often find us is amidst the salt marsh casting nets or going after blue crabs or picking oysters to feed our families while breathing in the very air that feeds our souls.   Like the spartina grass or salt marsh that is a major part of our ecosystem, we’ve migrated up and down the waterways and held in place a cultural landscape for multiple generations as our roots go deeper into the soil and we stand tall bringing healing to this land.

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Build Back Better BIPOC Coastal Cultural Heritage Communities including the Gullah/Geechee Nation

I never thought that my house on St. Helena Island in South Carolina would host the United States Congress or the United Nations. However, due to the on-going global pandemic, I have been able sit in prestigious political places via my computer screen without traveling and contributing further carbon emissions. As I tune in, I am concerned about the omissions- the omissions of the cost of climate change impacts on cultural heritage communities like the Gullah/Geechee Nation on the southeastern coast.

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Hunnuh mus tek cyare de root fa heal de tree: Gullah/Geechee Resiliency

25 years ago in a vision my ancestors said to me, “Hunnuh mus tek cyare de root fa heal de tree.” That became not only the slogan for the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition which GOD directed me to be the founder of, this also became my daily mission. • Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation

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Coastal Flooding and Preparedness Certificated Training Workshop

The Coastal Flooding and Preparedness Certificated Training Workshop will be hosted and sponsored by the Gullah/Geechee Sea island Coalition and Climate Central. Tune in for this 1 1/2 hour interactive training and learn about the Climate Central tools that will help you with flood warnings and learn about the mosquito tool. The flooding and affordable housing mapping will also be presented along with the risk finder tool. This engaging session will help us work to keep the coastal cultural heritage communities that we love above water.

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Culture, Climate Change, Preparedness and Equity Amidst the Rising Sea @GullahGeechee

More oft than not, the dialogue and discussions about hurricanes and climate change have taken on the scope of devaluing locations financially in order to justify where funding and other resources will be directed during emergency responses and the restorations that follow. Given that many of us that live on the Sea Islands of the Gullah/Geechee Nation are part of a major tourists destination, we bear the burden of being capitalized on by many people of other cultures that see this area and any information that they can obtain about Gullah/Geechee traditions as tools to exploit the culture and the area for financial gain. The gated, suburbanized, resort, and gentrified properties are used to calculate the value of damage that would come after a storm hits or major flooding takes place. However, the value of the cultural heritage in these locations is not measurable via metrics and formulas. Therefore, the priceless nature of the Gullah/Geechee Nation is not something that de cumya comprehend.

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Zooming in on the Coast Through a Legal Lens

Tune in for the second episode of Zooming in on Gullah/Geechee Sustainability for a dialogue between Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) and Amy Armstrong of the South Carolina Environmental Law Project (SCELP) (www.SCELP.org) on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at 3 pm EST.

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Public Hearings and Public Health in the Gullah/Geechee Nation

The Gullah/Geechee Nation is participating in National Public Health Week along with others throughout the United States April 2-8, 2018.   “Changing Our Future Together” requires an understanding of the various ways that we can support improving public health.  Each day of #NPHW has a different focus ranging from behavioral health and communicable diseases to injury and violence prevention and access to ensuring the right to health care and environmental health.  The Gullah/Geechee Nation has placed emphasis on the latter of the categories for the week given that improving and maintaining environmental health especially of the waterways.  Water quality, seafood safety and human health are the central focus of the work of the Gullah/Geechee Sustainability Think Tank.  This is a priority because without a healthy Gullah/Geechee Nation environment, the citizens will not be healthy.

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Gullah/Geechee Po’ch Tak Bout Gullah/Geechee, De Sea & De Famlee

The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition and the St. Helena Branch Library on historic St. Helena Island, SC in the Gullah/Geechee Nation continue the “Gullah/Geechee Living Series” with an afternoon Gullah/Geechee healing circle which will be all about engagement and education centered on Gullah/Geechee interactions along the coastal waterways and human health.

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Living Black History-Celebrating the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Legacy on Gullah/Geechee Riddim Radio

      “Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.” “If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of …

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Gullah/Geechee Leaders Train the US Environmental Protection Agency on Community Engagement

The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition (www.gullahgeechee.net) has worked with the United States Environmental Protection Agency for over 16 years.  They have continued this partnership in order to gain more knowledge on how to protect and sustain the Sea Islands of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.   Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com), who is the …

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