[00:00:00] Ellington Brown: Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown!

[00:00:16] Rita Burke: As on SpeakUP! International, we hover, we crisscross the world to find people who we consider to be community builders. Today is no exception, but we have a home, homegrown community builder, and her name is Alannah Johnson. She's a writer, she's a black architect, and EDI professional.

Alannah grew up in Toronto's Little Jamaican neighbourhood, and her love for Black geographies and histories has greatly influenced her work. In 2019, she co founded the B. A., which she will explain later as we discuss her work today. Alannah 's latest project was serving as the national campaign manager for the CBC Gems Docuseries called Black Lives Untold Stories. Today, I introduce our listeners to Alannah Johnson. Welcome to SpeakUP! International! 

[00:01:27] Alannah Johnson: Thank you so much! Thank you for the invitation! I'm very excited to speak with you both today. Thank you! 

[00:01:33] Ellington Brown: I'm excited too. It's been a hop, skip, to get us three together. I'm just so glad that you are now well. I know people you can't see it, but she has a beautiful smile. My first question to you is what inspired you to become a writer? How did your upbringing in Little Jamaica influence your storytelling? 

[00:01:58] Alannah Johnson: To be honest, as a little girl, I loved reading. It was quite a, it was a great outlet and an escape. And I also say that, the public library was like aftercare. It was like childcare at certain points in my life. And so I was always immersed in books and different cultures, and I think storytelling is just such a powerful connector in this world. And there's so many great writers from my childhood that really inspired me to write.

And so I would say that it was definitely a childhood love. And then when I got older. And I went to university, and I felt again, you just want that outlet, and you want to connect with folks, and the written medium was my way of connecting with people and also exploring Black identities, and Black cultures, and communities, and also geographies so just, yeah, writing has always been something that has been a part of my life, and I've been really I'm blessed and grateful to have opportunities to write in public form, but also I write You know, in my journal and diary as well. That's what I'll say about writing. Yeah.

[00:03:09] Rita Burke: That sounds really amazing. And I'm glad that as a youngster, you liked writing and you embraced it. And today, you see the value in having been In having read books. Marvelous. I like that. I really like that. Because I, too, like books, as a matter of fact, I don't just like books. I love books. I embrace books, books are a part of my DNA. Tell me about some of those authors that influenced you.

[00:03:41] Alannah Johnson: With pleasure. There's one book that stands out in my childhood. I believe I was at the middle school age around 12 or 13 when I read The Skin I'm In by Sharon Blake. And that was that's one of those books that was like really defining in my childhood.

It talked about Black skin and Black womanhood and the journey moving forward as a young woman in a particular body. It also talked about, being a bigger black woman and the nuances there and the experiences there. And I hold that book in such high regard because I grew up in a black community and as much as there were black women everywhere and womanhood was definitely the backdrop to my childhood.

I think the, there's a particular intimacy that books give you where it's like you could dive into what the actual experience is. For better or for worse, and the hard parts that no one want to be vulnerable sometimes, or, the celebrations in your body. So The Skin I'm In was a great book, and I actually read the sequel recently.

It came out in 2017. I believe The Skin I'm In came out in 1999. And 18 years later, she actually wrote a sequel. And it talks about the character Malika, her journey into womanhood, and it was definitely trials and tribulations, it wasn't smooth sailing, but again it touches on womanhood, but also sisterhood, and how important Black sisterhood is.

To young woman and, the importance of pouring into those around you and reciprocity because we need each other.

[00:05:23] Ellington Brown: You mentioned the word journaling. I'm wondering, what are the benefits to journaling for you, and how do you contribute that to your mental health?

[00:05:36] Alannah Johnson: So when I first came on the call, I told you both that there's a lot happening in my life.

And there's a demand for me to rise to the occasion, and I think journaling allows me to process my emotions. It allows me to show up in a way where I'm not reactive. I'm not always perfect, of course. I'm not perfect at all. But I think, journaling definitely is an outlet where I can process my emotions.

And kind of check in with myself and reflect on, how I'm feeling. And that's really important. And that's something that shouldn't be overlooked. But literally processing and being honest about how you're feeling and, your desired outcomes or what the future your desired future in the, in a particular situation would look like.

And I think writing because it's such a natural thing for me, journaling is just one of those things that I like always hold true to my heart because it's my truest self and, writing and reading for is definitely my truest self. So words are very important to me. And yeah, I think it just allows me to be honest and to be vulnerable and to yeah, just checking with myself and my mental health, I've definitely mental health is something that's really dear to my heart and my family, mental illnesses in my family my loved ones have struggled with mental health throughout my entire life.

And because of our upbringing as, West Indian folks. It is taboo still to this day, and I think, again, having those moments to check in on myself and remind myself that I'm human, and I shouldn't be ashamed of going through something that is a human experience.

And also asking for help, which is something that I will say growing up wasn't something that I was, always comfortable doing because I saw strong black women everywhere, and I wouldn't know if they're actually going through something. It was a very mass experience to, need help and not be able to ask for it.

And journaling does that for me. It's hey, like this actually outlines that like I might need some help right now. I'm not doing okay right now. And I have to remind myself that's okay. 

[00:07:51] Rita Burke: You you're making a lot of sense. You've raised a lot of very critical issues of situations and themes that happen in our community.

And sometimes it's a tendency to want to sweep them under the rug and not do it. to allow our vulnerability to show, so yes, strong Black woman, quote unquote, who never experiences anything that's not positive. I hear you loud and clear. And I want to keep on talking about your writing and the books you've read.

And I know Sharon Flake's book, The Skin I'm In, because I've read it. I want to believe it's on my shelf. I want To shift a little bit now to your role as a DEI professional, talk to us about that, please. 

[00:08:40] Alannah Johnson: Yeah. So this, when I was in university, I went to Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, which is a very different context to which I grew up in Toronto.

Very, for the most part, it was very homogenous. It was very white. And it evoked a lot of, not only feelings, but like this notion that racism and anti Blackness was happening in everyday situations, and we should not be silenced about it. There's the structural thing that's happening here when it comes to racism.

There's a systemic way of excluding folks who look like me and communities that come here for an education for, brighter futures and are excluded from a holistic experience. And during my time as a university student, I would speak on panels. I became like the student activist. Because I really did care about our futures and the fact that, this was such a hard experience for us to navigate despite, despite the merit, merit, right?

We work to be in this program and yet we're being treated. So terribly by our peers and our instructors. And so that kind of birth my career in equity, diversity, inclusion. Some folks say D E I diversity, equity, inclusion but also anti racism. And when I finished school I started doing consulting work with particularly in education because my educational experience was really hard.

I will, I'll be very candid with that. It was very hard to navigate those systems. And so I knew that it, it became a calling for me that there were systems that I definitely want to work. Within and through to create better policies and spaces and just try to dismantle a lot of that exclusion and racism that was happening in, contemporary times.

And I've, more recently I was, I worked at I worked in post secondary education. I was doing anti racism policy. For a school and it's so heartbreaking because a decade later, it's like watching your younger self still navigate those still, those really hard moments of meeting a mental health counselor that looks like you that's responsive to your cultural and identity needs and not being able to access it.

Facing barriers and tuition and going through the OSAP process and then understanding the nuances of being a black, Caribbean family that has responsibilities to back home. And so the money that you see on paper. It's a communal amount. It's not just from, for one person or like your nuclear family, those nuances are really important, right?

And just also working with the hope that if a child wants education, if they want to go to school, they should be able to access it. But there are so many barriers still in place. That really deter black communities in Canada from pursuing higher education, or, there's so many barriers in place that push them out the system once they're in, and that was a lot of the work that I was trying to dismantle, and unfortunately, I did burn out.

That's another piece within that profession is that long term, it definitely wears out the body. There's a lot of stress. So you face a lot of opposition. And so it becomes, I once a black woman once told me is that when you get into these systems, you identify what your work is and you do it to your best ability.

But when you're done, move on, don't fight. To, hold on to something that is harming you. And that's one of the greatest 

[00:12:27] Rita Burke: In the process, seek some joy. In the process, it's possible to ensure that you're getting some kind of satisfaction and joy while you're doing it. 

[00:12:38] Alannah Johnson: Absolutely. I love working with the students. I think that was my joy. And that's what sustained me. I feel like I said a mouthful there. 

[00:12:48] Ellington Brown: Oh, no, that's fine. We want you to feel comfortable expressing yourself this whole concept of D. E. I. has become I don't want to say it's a topic of argument, but it definitely has come into play not only for our people who don't think that D.

E. I. is the best way to go. That in itself can cause your project, To be an uphill situation where you're trying to go up 45 degree angle, and they have poured oil on the ground. So it really makes it difficult for you to move forward. I want to jump to another topic that I came across and your passion for black geographies. and histories and how did that shape your career and creative process?

[00:13:51] Alannah Johnson: Black geographies is I definitely feel like I've always loved this notion of traveling and in my eighth grade classroom , I remember my teacher had flags from all over the world, and I would always ask him to tell me, which flag is this one?

Or which flag is that one? I wanted to memorize them. Because I was just so curious. And I guess being a child of the Black Black African Caribbean diaspora, home is this home is intriguing. And it's also not as Simple. Sometimes I would say, this notion of home. And I started to learn about scholars such as Catherine McKittrick, who was a professor at Queens University, who is a professor at Queens University, and that's her field of study.

Beverly Mullings, who's a Caribbean geographer. She was actually my mentor at the time. And human geography is just so interesting to me because. It's such a continuum, like black communities moving, they're not fixed. Spatially, what does a black community look like, especially in the Canada setting, where folks are from there, elsewhere, folks are coming from everywhere.

And so black geographies to me is always the, it's exciting because it's complex. It's nuanced and it fuels my curiosity always, not only in place, but language. And we had a conversation where I tried to guess where Rita was from and I guessed wrong, but I was trying to place her because it's always, it's so interesting to know where folks are coming from, but also where they've been and where they're going.

Black Geographies is just one of those things that I really love and I've also in recent times been very fortunate to be able to travel to different places and explore Black communities in, North America, but also I've gone to Ghana, I've been to Columbia, and, it's just yeah, Black Geographies makes me very happy learning different histories and, communities. Yeah, 

[00:15:47] Rita Burke: I could feel your passion when you talk about that topic back black geographies. Amazing. You obviously are connected in a special way to that topic. But guess what, I want to go back to something you said about your university experience at Queens. And I'm not sure if I could say most of it was not positive, but you talked about the way you were treated and the way people interacted with you, both peers and instructors. Could you think of a particular example that you want to share with our audience? 

[00:16:28] Alannah Johnson: Oh to be honest, literally within the first week of moving there, something really jarring happened where I was placed in a dorm. With a white student who was from British Columbia, a smaller place of British Columbia, and she did not want to room with me.

She saw that I was black and all, it's one of those things that are intrinsic, when someone it's almost visceral. You feel it when this person hasn't even given me a chance, but they're not invested in anything about me because they've already come forward with their preconceived notions.

And their biases and. She actually told the supervisor of the floor that I was taking drugs to get out of the room with me. And that was very jarring. But I think the worst part was that there was no investigation the years later, the supervisor actually told me that he knew that she was lying and that she needed she just want to get out of the room, but there was no consequences.

She was they fulfilled her request. She was able to get a new dorm room. And I didn't even know about the situation. Nothing was told to me. And so I was mortified because, again. I had no champions, like racism and all these like horrible things, discriminatory things are normalized in these settings, but also, I think when I actually learned of what happened, it may be It was infuriating because she could have destroyed my future.

Those certain things plague you. And I was literally 18 years old, from Toronto, from a Black community, from the first generation, going to university. That could have ruined my life. And I don't think anyone really understood the severity of it. And I, yeah that's, that comes to mind off the bat because I literally was first weekend that happened to me. 

[00:18:17] Rita Burke: I hope to heavens that they've got it on their records at Queen's University, what transpired. I hope you wrote a letter to somebody there and it's not too late to let them know your experience. 

[00:18:28] Alannah Johnson: The thing about it is that when you're in the system, I just, I think one of the things that is really important with youth is like empowerment.

People say it as a buzzword or or, just take it as this thing where it's yeah inspiring people. But when a youth is like the opposite, when they don't feel empowerment, they shut down. They there's no forward movement. And at that time it just felt like there was no fight in me.

What was I fighting for? Because it's like the people that were responsible for our wellbeing knew that this was happening to me and no one showed up for me. So we're like, I think self preservation is also a very important thing when it comes to fights of injustice and for trying your best to dismantle systemic racism and discrimination and oppression.

I think self preservation is revolutionary. You can fall in love for the fight and this notion of being a martyr is one thing, but surviving and thriving is also revolutionary and graduating was something that was, that sparked that that within me is that I actually got through this.

I didn't have to go through this, but I graduated and I moved on. And that self preservation is something that I think about a lot. That I could have stayed and fight and burnt out, or I could have used it as fuel to get out of there and go towards better.

[00:19:48] Ellington Brown: I have to agree with you. I think there are many forms of fighting. And in your case, you decided to get the education that you need. So now you can go back and you can fight. You're fortified now. You have the tools to clearly be able to fight so that no one else has to endure what you did, when all you're trying to do is get an education.

That's it. Just. Let me just go to school. Let me get my piece of paper 

and, 

[00:20:19] Ellington Brown: And I'm out of here. You won't see me. You won't see me again. No. It's it's unfortunate. Can you share your way of using literary and fashion forms to remap your Grenadian and Jamaican ancestry? 

[00:20:38] Alannah Johnson: Yes. As Rita said within my bio five years ago, I co founded an archival project called Building a Black Archive.

It's called BABA for short. And basically the project seeks to work with young people in Ontario and teach them skills of archiving, preservation also unearthing a lot of histories that have been erased within our communities. And written form is one of the things that we started with, and so we had a cohort of young people that were looking at hip hop and the Black experience in Ontario in contemporary and history, that golden age of the 1980s, 1990s, and the early 2000s.

Of Hip Hop, and they were yeah, they were writing essays and narratives that remapped this history. And, to be honest, a lot of the young people didn't even know these histories. They went and asked their parents. Or they were looking online, but I am a nineties kid. So I was there, I was very young.

And so I would also share we'd share stories about what it was like growing up, watching Much Music and Rap City and having that kind of, that whole industry in Canada and how exciting it was. And also we looked at fashion so what were folks wearing? What was their expression?

A lot of the cultural wear of street fashion also sent so many messages of resistance. and black expression and black pride. So we also remapped that. And so I, I really love this project. I'm really glad that we were able to sustain for five years and work with young people and we got funding, which is, we don't take for granted.

But yeah, like archiving has been such a exciting journey because a lot of the don't get preserved and generations to come before us don't always get the narratives or the stories that need to be passed on to them. 

[00:22:46] Rita Burke: It's interesting that you use the word archiving. And when people ask me about SpeakUP! International, I explained that our goal, our purpose is to archive the stories of people who have contributed to our communities.

Because if we don't do that, these stories get lost somewhere. And lots of people don't like that. to take the forefront. So they don't go writing books and telling their own stories. So we're hoping to archive these stories. So that ultimately when young people who are going to universities want to write and to talk about these people, like Alannah Johnson, the stories are there somewhere. as told by Alannah Johnson. She tells her story herself. And so that's one of the reasons why we do SpeakUP! International to inspire, to educate and to inform about people like Alannah Johnson. So I really thank you for what you're doing here with us today. Thank you . 

[00:23:43] Alannah Johnson: I will say to your podcast is a very strong archive. I was telling Elton that Valerie Steeles was on your platform, and that was one of the community leaders that I looked up to in childhood. She was a really strong presence in the Little Jamaica community, and I was so excited to see that you interviewed her, because, again, like, where would those, where would that be captured her story?

Her resilience of being a strong black woman doing work in communities and having such a strong position as well, right? She was a leader. And yeah, this is a great archive. And so I was very excited to see, the work that you're doing.

[00:24:24] Rita Burke: Valerie Steele is fearless. 

[00:24:27] Alannah Johnson: Absolutely. She's always been since I was a little girl. I just I remember walking around the community and people had such a great appreciation for her, little Jamaica. I will say in recent times. A lot of the stories have been about the men entrepreneurship or what have you, but the mothers of Little Jamaica, that story is often untold.

And I think it's because it's that, silent force, they don't, they take up space in a way where they help other people, but they don't necessarily show up for the mic or the glory, right? It's just the work they're invested in the work. But the women of Little Jamaica is such a powerful story, and I was so grateful to have that, that those examples growing up.

It was really important to me as a young black girl. And so yeah, Valerie definitely is one of those people in my childhood where I'm like, WOW!, I was just in awe of the work that she was doing. 

[00:25:28] Ellington Brown: I wonder what challenges did you encounter when growing BABA and what milestones Are you most proud of? 

[00:25:41] Alannah Johnson: Great question! That's a look. How much time do you have ? I think, I'll be very honest. Trying to get a project off the ground, especially a Black archival project, one that delves in history and remembrance of Black contemporary history. We work with, our particular mandate is that we're archiving contemporary Black history.

So the 1900s forward. A lot of the history projects that we will encounter are narratives of slavery and, particularly I think it was really important for us to also recognize that contemporary history, things that we're living through, need to be preserved and archived for future generations.

I think, slavery and learning that history, of course, is foundational. But history is in the making right now, and I think the buy in, is also was, it's very challenging, not only in just systems and getting funding everyday life, I think, I don't want to say that people don't see the value in it, but it's a commitment.

It's a responsibility. So one of the examples is that we would ask people to come and work with our youth, like they want to interview them for the archive, a lot of Hip Hop artists or, community leaders, and we wouldn't get responses, and it was only until year three where folks actually started to respond to us.

And and actually oblige our request, which is very exciting, but at the beginning, it was very disheartening because it's young people want to speak with you, about this amazing career that you had in the 1990s and the early 2000s. And yes, you moved on, but, they want to learn more about your journey.

And. We weren't the biggest project, but, the impact was there, so we were hoping that the impact would, really inspire folks to respond to us, but they didn't. Until, we had to work a little bit longer to get there. But I think, it would have been it actually would have been so much easier to just give up.

Lose hope in the middle almost, because also keeping the interest of young people. History is not always the most exciting thing, I'm a history nerd, but not everyone is like me. And so really convincing Black youth hey this is actually really important that and it might not be the most exciting to you, but it's foundational to your future, learning about what the Black what the Yonge Street uprising was in the 1990s and why that aligns with the work of a Black Lives Matter, right?

Like it's all cyclical, these things are not new, it's just evolving, and you need to know your history to know what direction you're going to. And buying is a challenge people, to be honest, Black history isn't, it's almost like you have to convince people to care about it, because, you Life is so hard, right?

Like contemporary, like present day, folks are just trying to get by, so I don't blame them, but I, the one thing that I will say is that what we're going through in present day is because of our past, we need to understand that so we can, our direction is more geared and there's guidance to where we're, what we're working towards, and yeah, that's what I'll say is that it's no easy feat to do a Black history project.

[00:29:00] Rita Burke: Something you said. As a matter of fact, everything that you've said so far, I believe, should be written in a book. And I'm sure the book is. is coming. But you said you couldn't just give up. Let me tell you a very short story about not giving up. I'm a planter. I'm a gardener. I'm a wannabe farmer. And so I plant all kinds of vegetables.

I used to plant okras, but they didn't do well in my garden, so I gave up planting okras. But this year, some little bird inside of me, some little voice said to plant okras. And that was the best thing ever. I have harvested okras. Okros. I don't know what happened to the plants. I didn't talk to them.

I didn't sing to them. I just treated them like I treat all of my other plants and my okros this year. I'll have you know that I'm so proud of them. I've been taking pictures every time I go to, every time I go to harvest, I'm surprised because I've got about six okros on that plant ready to be picked. Now, I haven't been out since Friday, but I guarantee you, if I go today, there'll be a few okros. To me, that is my lesson. Never give up on anything, much more on Okros. 

[00:30:21] Alannah Johnson: Congratulations. That's exciting! 

[00:30:26] Rita Burke: And so my next question to you, aside from Okros, is that you did a special project with the CBC. We're all ears because we want our listeners to hear about that project. 

[00:30:45] Alannah Johnson: Absolutely. So my DEI career was at a, it was at a stand still I was at a crossroads, I would say.

I was burning out. I had to respond to my body. I was in the hospital and I just kept on saying to anyone that was listening that I wanna evolve this career. I felt like it was too high level. And I didn't get to see the impact in everyday life on campus, or, what it meant, like these policies that we're fighting for, it wasn't really being captured the impact and how, the largest stakeholder, the students were experiencing them, and so I just felt like there was a disconnect between, that policy work in everyday life, and I just wanted to evolve this.

And so it's really important to, to speak things into fruition. I've come to notice this year is a testament to that. I got the opportunity to lean into a career that I actually wasn't very aware of. Impact producing is my current field. I'm an impact producer and I was given the opportunity to manage a national campaign, impact campaign for a docuseries that is on CBC Gem called Black Lives Untold Stories.

It's an eight part docuseries that documents Black Canadian history, in such a beautiful way, in such a nuanced way. I've never seen Black history documented so in depth, and the narratives that it captures is mind blowing. The archival research just from working with the folks behind the scenes it took so much out of them, but it's so amazing to see such responsive media on screen.

And it talks about, topics such as black communities such as Africville and Halifax, it talks about sports and black athletes. It talks about migration. So recent histories of, black diasporic groups that have migrated to Canada and its experience, but also the history of migration to certain regions of Canada.

It's a very expansive series, and I'm so proud of it. And it was such a great opportunity for my first my first experience in impact producing. I couldn't have asked for a better series. And people ask me, what is impact producing? And the responsibility is to amplify the media beyond the screen, is what I would say.

The national campaign was that I created, I worked with. The CBC in creating a screening tour. So we would have screenings of different episodes. In communities across Canada. We started off at TIFF, which was last year, I wasn't a part of, but at the beginning of the year, we went to Vancouver and the Black community came out in Vancouver, and we got such great feedback because One of the things that we were told is that there are very few meeting places for Black folks to congregate in a Vancouver, and it was so wonderful for folks to reconnect with folks they've already known, or meet new people in that space.

And we had David Sherry Andy talk on a panel the author and professor. And then we moved on to Winnipeg, which I think that was my favorite stop, if I have to be honest. I had no conceptualization of what Black community would look like in Winnipeg, Manitoba. But again, that's my intrigue of loving Black geographies.

It's I was so excited to see what that would look like. And to be honest, it felt like a family reunion. There were very few degrees of separation between Black folks in that room, whether they, you knew someone's aunt or you went to school with someone's son. It was really interesting to see how folks connected and remapped their lives in Winnipeg.

And the episode that we screened was it was episode four and it's called Migrations. And there was a woman from Jamaica who spoke about her experience as a domestic worker. She came to Canada in the 1960s as a domestic worker for a white family in Winnipeg. And that's, it's captured in the episode.

And she, she was actually there at the event and she spoke about her experiences of not only being a domestic worker, but then going on to raise a family in Winnipeg, and it was so powerful. And yeah, I was, I just, I couldn't believe that, I couldn't believe that I had that opportunity. I feel like I just, I spoke it into fruition, because again, impact producing wasn't on my radar, and it's very small in Canada.

But we then went on to Montreal, we went on to Ottawa. And we finished off in Halifax, where it was focused on the history of Africville, but also the afterlife of Africville. So there's a lot of descendants of of folks who lived in Africville and built it to be what it was as a community.

A lot of their grandchildren were in attendance and there was also some folks who were new to Halifax from the United States and not even considered what Black Canadian history would look like. They didn't know about, that there was Black Canadians that have been here for over 300 years in a particular part of that country, yeah it's yeah it's a, I'm very excited about the future of me now being in this career and my work is set. I have a lot more media to amplify out there.

[00:36:29] Ellington Brown: It's so amazing how you mentioned Afro, Afroville, I can't even say it now, Africanville because we, I should say Rita has a book club. We read books that are for kids or they're written for kids. . But we see the importance of these books and how they are applicable to adults.

And I remember, I think there was a book that Rita's roommate read , and it was about AfricaVille, and it actually talked about this in a way, so that kids could understand. It's history. So yes, I do see how it is really important to take history and develop it in different formats so that it's able to reach more individuals than maybe just one perception, which is very narrow and only so many people will get it. So I do appreciate this series that you produced and I definitely am going to grab hold of it and see a couple of those episodes because I am. Now intrigued. Earlier we talked about D. E. I. Now I want to have you talk a little bit about E. D. I. And maybe tell us what the differences are between the two. 

[00:38:09] Alannah Johnson: Be honest, there's no, there is no difference. I guess some folks sometimes put equity. So diversity, equity and inclusion. Are the those are the three main topics that folks there's streams rather not topics, but they stream you into.

Diversity, equity and inclusion, they're all, they're all interconnected, they're interlocking, but some folks depending on institution will say EDI, so equity, diversity and inclusion, or some will say DEI, but diversity first. What's most important and the most nuanced part of all of it is anti racism.

I think that's left out. A lot, even within titles, but it's very important along with diversity, equity and inclusion to add anti racism. That should not be forgotten. I also will add that in my conceptualization and experience, DEI was like the evolution of, multiculturalism in Canada, those policies.

With the ways of immigration and, how it was spoke about in politics and in media, I feel like it's almost the evolution of that and so with that in mind multiculturalism. As a framework asserted that, folks would come and there'll be, there's this acceptance and there's this beautiful mosaic of people that would live amongst each other and be well and, there was equality and there was efforts of dismantling oppression.

And we knew that not to be the case. A lot of it was tolerance, A lot of it was not. A lot of it became annexation. I think Little Jamaica as a community is a product of that annex annexation. Meaning that folks came from, the Caribbean, the part of the world, and congregated together as survival and birthed a lot of entrepreneurialship.

It birthed communities, it birthed so many things, but I think in a larger context of the city it was a lot of annexation, right? There's still barriers that folks were facing, and they needed community to survive. And moving past multiculturalism now to DEI, there's a demand to really integrate what has come before us, and the failures of multiculturalism as a policy, as, what that looks like systemically and structurally, and there's, and that's why it's so important to name anti racism as well, because a lot of it then becomes just buzzwords, right?

This is a DEI effort. But I feel like naming, this is DEI and anti racism, it actually has a demand attached to it, that we are working towards anti racist features. 

[00:40:56] Rita Burke: One thing you did not include in your bio as you speak. It's coming to my mind and I need to say is that you are a politician or you want to be one, which is it? 

[00:41:06] Alannah Johnson: Absolutely not!

That was I studied politics, actually. But, when you study something, you come to realize whether like you have a passion for it or you absolutely hate it. And I think I'm on the right track. The latter end, where I will critique it to the very end, but I want no parts in upholding those systems, 

[00:41:27] Rita Burke: Alannah , then, who or what would you say is responsible for the person that you are today? Should I say, bordering politician, bordering entertainment, bordering historian, bordering archivist? Who is responsible for this woman that we're talking about?

[00:41:48] Alannah Johnson: I love this question. I thought about it a lot and it always landed at my mother and my sister.

Those are my pillars of literally every aspect of my life. My mother immigrated to Canada from Grenada in the 1970s. And she came as a domestic worker under one of those schemes of the British Caribbean. And I, she's a vessel is what I always say. She. She never let go of her dreams till this day.

She's very passionate about the arts and she wanted to be an actress. She worked in healthcare eventually, but she one thing that I, I really feel fortunate is that she, that my mom and my sister always encouraged me to go after my dreams. There's no stifling of my dreams. And I know that in Caribbean yeah.

In Caribbean households and communities, there's this like demand of you being a doctor, a lawyer, or, a particular respectable profession, quote unquote, that is acceptable and everything else is just a hobby. And I've been one of those folks that have been very fortunate, I'll say, to have the passion and purpose meet.

And propel me forward. I was very passionate about anti racism policy in education based off my experiences, and I will say I was very fortunate to do that work. Not everyone gets to, gets to actually as hard as it is, not everyone gets the chance to be at those tables. And so when I was at the table, I was really, I didn't take that responsibility lightly.

And, whether I was wrapped from reprimanded or not, I knew that I had a responsibility of being a black woman sitting at that table to speak up on now, working in media. I see. I see the same responsibility of, amplifying these stories and also holding true to the fact that we need to connect with community.

We need to honor black community. The events that we did. Amazing. It was amazing how there was budget put towards it. And it wasn't just a screening, it was a panel, it was a reception. We drank and ate and rejoiced in Black community. And that's a really important part of the work, is honoring Black community.

When you invite Black people out of their house, you have to feed them. And you have to make them feel welcome, right? And just telling folks that listen, we can have a budget for tech, we have the most beautiful screening, but if you don't feed Black community, it's a disservice. It's a dishonor of, telling them to come out of their house.

And that was received. So I was very happy. But yeah, I would say that my mom and my sister in so many ways have I'm the baby of the family. And so I feel like I've had those examples throughout my life of, very passionate women that never gave up and also encouraged.

Me and other folks around me to never give up and they lived the it was the embodiment of it. And yeah, I would say my mom and my sister.

[00:45:00] Ellington Brown: You have worked and been involved and the other word is exposed to many cultures because of your interest in geographies. I want to know, do you cook? Can you cook? What type of food do you enjoy? And heavy on the joy part! What really makes you go, that's so good!

[00:45:28] Alannah Johnson: I'm a better baker than cooker. I'll be very honest with you. I do try, but I think I'm, I think that I do best with baking because, you follow instruction and, it's just a happy journey of just A, B and C. But I will say that I do enjoy cooking and a lot of like exploration through flavors.

So when I went to Ghana I was having, I was eating jollof rice. I was eating one of my favorite was called Red, which was bean stew and plantain. And so recently, actually this year I made jollof rice and it actually turned out really well. But I would say that as, a Grenadian Jamaican influence, I would say that It's more of a Jamaican Jollof.

There's a different, it was a different flavoring than what I tasted on the continent. But it was still special and the effort was still there. I have a lot of friends who are from the African continent. I was invited to Ghana because one of my friends, her father is a chief in Kumasi, and I was, I was invited to go and greet the king.

That's a huge honor! I have a friend who's from Freetown Sierra Leone, and she is remapping her family lineage because Freetown the Creole people from Freetown are descendants of the Black loyalists that went through Halifax, and then were promised land in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and so she's mapping that project right now in her Ph. D. Research. 

I have a friend who's from Cameroon, and she talks a lot about linguistic differences on the continent. Currently in Cameroon there's a linguistic war about English speakers and French speakers. And, she talks a lot about the effects of colonization, right? And how that divide and conquer was done through language.

And through those experiences, I get to taste. From different cultures and learn the histories of it, and I will say that was the most beautiful part that going to university brought me and I learned, in the classroom, but it was really the connections that I made outside the classroom and the sisterhood that I've been very fortunate to be a part of and we're literally all from all over the world and we learn from one another and we uphold each other.

We show up for each other. And yeah, I'm just very grateful to explore black geographies through my friendships and also through food. 

[00:47:59] Rita Burke: You talk about the Jollof rice. I have a friend, much like you, I know a lot of women that are from different African countries. This one woman is from Nigeria and she made one pot of Jollof rice once.

My word was it good. My word was it tasty. I tried to do it at home myself. I tried to do it all myself. You know what? It doesn't matter, but I'm going to keep trying. I'm going to keep trying! Now, it... 

[00:48:31] Alannah Johnson: Requires a lot of patience. I feel like Joel Croft requires a lot of patience because the flavors are just stewing for so long. And I feel I feel like it's not before it's time, I've tried it and it just requires a lot of patience and it's almost like ancestors tell you how to season it, yeah, it's very intuitive. 

[00:48:52] Rita Burke: I hear you loud and clear. So my last question to you, Alannah , is Share with us three words that best describe your best self. I think you've included some of them as we had this con, we had this conversation today, but pick three words that describe your best self.

[00:49:15] Alannah Johnson: Right off the top of my head, I would say expansive is that word I use a lot in my work and it to me it signifies limitless possibilities. But also as evolution, I want something to be expansive in the sense that I'm always working on it or expanding on it, or it's just always, it's always forward movement.

So I like expansive a lot. I think I'm going to say resilient because I want to I want to. Reclaim the world, right? I don't want it to be. I don't want it to be like I don't want to be resilient to the sense that I'm, enduring limitless suffering. I want to be resilient because I want experience better and greater.

And as I continue on my journey and I reach certain, perhaps barriers. I want to persevere because I want to achieve greater. And it's not about suffering or, depleting myself. It's about showing up better every time. Lastly, I would say kind, I aspire to be a kind person.

I want to bring kindness and compassion to everything that I do. I spoke a lot about sisterhood and I feel like the love of sisterhood teaches you kindness and grace. And constantly demands reciprocity and also it demands that you work on yourself to show up for other people.

And so when I think of kindness, I think of like boundaries, I think of self care, I think of self respect, because I need to be my best self to show up and be kind to others, and bitterness is such a looming thing in this life because life is hard, but when you come from kindness and compassion and empathy.

I think that is a form of your better self.

[00:51:11] Ellington Brown: This afternoon, we have covered a lot of ground. I've really enjoyed our conversation, Alannah! It has been rewarding! That's the word that I really want to use. We talked a little bit about , what influences you and a lot of that's based on your background and you being an archivist, how you use that skill to collect information about black culture.

And experiences in Canada, I thought was extremely important. And then on top of it, right when we thought you couldn't do any more, you impact was the thing and producing this black life untold stories and situations throughout Canada that I'm sure a lot of people, not even black Canadians even knew about.

Especially, mid Canada would think no. So I thought that was interesting. The intersection of EDI work and back to the black archiving, you're using fashion and storytelling to help you get your story across. And working with black young professionals, but that was really important. So I just wanted to thank you.

Thank you so much for joining SpeakUP! International this afternoon

[00:52:56] Alannah Johnson: Thank you! 

[00:52:57] Ellington Brown: I'm sure that you are going to meet additional challenges with style and grace. And we want to know what they are. So we are definitely leaving an open invitation to you to return to us. And looking forward to having you again on SpeakUP! International.

Rita, is there anything you want to say?

[00:53:26] Rita Burke: I just want to say thank you to Alannah for nourishing our I Feel Enriched. I felt I feel fed. I feel excited by what you said and how you said it. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

[00:53:49] Alannah Johnson: Thank you both again. This is a really important work and Yeah, this is very inspirational, actually.

This form of archiving the oral narratives and capturing stories is so powerful, and you're doing a great job! I am very inspired by the work that you both are doing, and it was a great honor to be invited here to speak with you. So thank you so much for having me on your platform and also for doing this work, this important work!

Thank you so much!

[00:54:20] Ellington Brown: Thank you for listening to SpeakUP! International! If you wish to contact Ms. Alannah 

Johnson, please be prepared to submit your name, your email address and the reason why you wish to contact Ms. Johnson at linkedin.com/in/alannah-johnson-32894b263. 

Ms. Johnson has other social media accounts you can use to connect to her that will be listed in the description section on Spotify and other social media platforms. 

Are you interested in the opportunity to be interviewed and have your cause promoted by SpeakUP! International? We invite you to connect to us by sending a message that includes your name, company, or organization name, the valuable service you offer to your community and your email address to info@speakuppodcast.ca. 

Worried about your confidence as an interviewee? Don't fret! SpeakUP! International can provide you with the necessary training so you shine during an interview! To receive training information and a 10% discount about the SpeakUP! International's Podcast, Interviewee Trainee Program, email us at info@speakuppodcast.ca. 

You can also reach us using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. To connect to our podcasts, use Spotify or your favorite podcast platform and search for SpeakUP! International. You can also find our podcasts using our web address www.speakuppodcast.ca. Our logo has the woman with her finger pointing up mouth open speaking UP! 

By joining Patreon, we can offer you an exclusive opportunity to become an integral part of the continued success of our podcast. Your financial support will enable us to cover the costs associated with producing high quality content. Such as equipment upgrades, hosting fees, and professional editing services. 

As a member of our Patreon group, you will gain access to a wide range of exciting benefits! We are working on providing you early access to new episodes and the opportunity to suggest topics, or guests for future episodes. Your contribution will not only help sustain the continuity of the podcast, but also allow us to enhance the overall listening experience for all of our dedicated followers. Help us help you! https://www.patreon.com/speakupinternational. 

At SpeakUP! International, we aim to inspire, to inform and to educate!