Tag Archives: human rights
20 Ways een 20 Days fa Support de @GullahGeechee
On July 2, 2020, de Gullah/Geechee Nation gwine tun 20. Tenk GAWD fa disya!
We are asking all of our supporters worldwide to participate in the 20 ways in 20 days to support the Gullah/Geechee Famlee! Fa all hunnuh wha support we, tenki tenki! GAWD bless hunnuh and hunnuh famlee!
Ending the Plantation, Mascotification, and Exploitation in the Gullah/Geechee Nation
Over the past two decades since the Gullah/Geechee people came together to stand on their human right to self-determination, leaders of the Gullah/Geechee Nation have stood up against the on-slaught of mechanisms designed to displace them from the Sea Islands and to degrade their culture. Being vocal about the displacement caused by and the use of the word “plantation” on gated areas has caused many of the leaders of the Gullah/Geechee Nation to be shunned and to even be targeted with threats. Yet, they have continued to speak out clearly against the denigrating effect of seeing the word “plantation” on gated areas, especially on Hilton Head Island, SC. Also, by the 20th Anniversary of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, the mascotification and economic exploitation by Revelry Brewing Company and Gullah Gourmet in Charleston, SC has to come to an end!
Rising Seas, Risings Temperatures and Rising Movement on the Sea Islands
The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition and the Gullah/Geechee Sustainability Think Tank has remained focused on accomplishing the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (UN SDGs) and continues to work with global partners to raise awareness via climate science in order to reverse the negative impacts of climate change on the Sea Islands of the Gullah/Geechee Nation. The risings seas and rising temperatures that are being witnessed have consistently been documented while the world’s scientists seek the answers to what human behaviors can be altered in order to bring these things back into alignment and cause the environment to be balanced and the earth to be healed.
Celebrating World Oceans and Environment Days @GullahGeechee: Reflecting Upon the Sea
I breathed in with the power of my ancestors who had no one protest the abuses that they suffered as they worked this land. I looked out over the water back toward the Motherland and I thought of how the ocean continues to link us back there and to others around the world. I paused and wondered how we’ll celebrate together “Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean” in the midst of all the other things going on. I thought of how we can simply find a way to sustain Gullah/Geechee life in an environment that seeks to stop Black folks from breathing at all much less breathing in the healing air of a clean environment.
Corona Chronicle 1 by Queen Quet
As everyone that has encountered me is well aware of, I greet people with “Peace.” In the midst of the global panic due to the pandemic, I have watched that word evolve in my existence and surround me and keep me within that peace. Yes, “Peace be still.” I continue to speak and live that statement unlike those that I see encroaching on the peace of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.
20 Years as Queen: Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition Reflects on Queen Quet
On April 1, 1999, Marquetta L. Goodwine whose roots stem from St. Helena, Polowana, and Dataw Islands in Beaufort County, SC sat down before the world in Genéva, Switzerland. She became the first Gullah/Geechee to speak before the United Nations Human Rights Commission. She had no idea that when the clock on the wall stopped at zero that a clock that would be ticking to alter the trajectory of her life would begin running. She has been running in syncopation with it ever since.
This Land is Our Land: The Struggle and Beauty of Gullah/Geechee
The Gullah/Geechee are a declared minority group with their own language and ethnicity that is discernible even within the African-American population. A nation within a nation. They are largely self sufficient, depending on much of the same farming and fishing techniques that have sustained them since the enslavement of their ancestors.
Queen’s Chronicle: Healin #GullahGeechee Land & Holdin pun de Culcha
Holdin pun de culcha happens pun de land. If we are taking a stand for land in order to keep Gullah/Geechee cultural heritage alive on it, it requires a significant intellectual, spiritual, and financial investment. So, as much as “Gullah/Geechee Famlee Day” is a fun raiser it is also a fundraiser. We call on all those celebrating “Gullah/Geechee Nation Appreciation Week” that truly appreciate the work that is on-going that allows us to still live on our coast and to keep our culture alive here to contribute to the “Gullah/Geechee Land & Legacy Fund”
Tenk GAWD fa de #GullahGeechee! De Gullah/Geechee Nation Celebrates E 19th Anniversary!
On July 2, 2000, the Gullah/Geechee people came together from the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida to stand united at Sullivan’s Island, SC. On that day, they confirmed a one year long election of their first official “head pun de bodee” of the Gullah/Geechee Nation. They not only presented their declaration as a nation to the world before United Nations observers and on land owned by the United States federal government, they also enstooled their own leader.
Sustaining a Nation by Queen Quet @GullahGeechee
When I started out doing this work over almost 4 decades ago, no one else used the term “Gullah/Geechee” and now it is a hashtag unto itself. I was led to put the two words together in order to unify my people who had been separated by those that truly sought to destroy our spirits and exploit our abilities in the process. The fortunate reality is that there are people around the world that now know of the existence of #GullahGeechee history, heritage, and culture. However, the unfortunate thing is that due to the saturation of the entertainment and tourist markets with storytelling and misleading representations via museums, replicated sites, non-Gullah/Geechee operated events, tourism agencies, and now even museums that seek to exploit grant money, the work that the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition and the leaders of the Gullah/Geechee Nation are doing has become that much more difficult.