STEAM Spark - Think STEAM Careers, Podcast with Dr. Olufade
STEAM Spark: Think STEAM Careers Podcast with Dr. Olufade. Welcome to STEAM Sparks: The Think STEAM Career Podcast, hosted by Dr. Ayo Olufade. Our mission is to raise awareness about the importance of pursuing college and careers in STEAM fields and the positive impact they can have on BIPOC communities.
Dr. Ayo's journey, fueled by his passion for STEAM education, lies at the heart of this podcast. His experiences and meaningful conversations with guests from STEM and STEAM backgrounds inspire us to highlight the significance of STEM education and careers as sources of empowerment. We aim to better position the next generation for success.
By sharing personal stories and experiences, we hope to inspire and encourage our audience to consider STEAM careers. We are committed to promoting diversity and representation of BIPOC communities in the STEM field, breaking stereotypes, and fostering an inclusive environment where everyone's unique perspective is valued.
Join us as we explore the endless possibilities and opportunities in STEAM fields. With your participation and support, let's work together to shape a brighter future for all.
#ThinkSTEAMCareers #BeInspired #BeAnInspiration
It is time to innovate!
Dr. Ayo Olufade, Host STEAM Sparks: Think STEAM Careers Podcast with Dr. Olufade
STEAM Spark - Think STEAM Careers, Podcast with Dr. Olufade
Unearthing African Heritage: Cultural Memory, Empowering Women, and Rethinking Black Identity
What if the key to a more equitable future lies in understanding our past through cultural memory? This episode promises to transform your perspective on African history and identity, featuring insights from our esteemed guest, Dr. Nagos M. Hotep, a leading cultural memory specialist. We navigate the rich tapestry of the Yoruba heritage, the groundbreaking travels of Mansa Abubakari II, and the overlooked democratic practices of ancient African societies, showing how these elements weave into the broader fabric of global civilization.
As we journey through personal stories and historical contexts, the conversation reveals the persistent legacy of racial discrimination and the impact of Western education on our understanding of African roots. Dr. Hotep guides us through the complexities of African and African American achievements, particularly in STEM fields, underlining the essential role of mentorship and representation. From the origins of policing to the economic potential of Black communities, we explore the systemic challenges and opportunities that continue to shape lives today.
In our final discussion, we turn our focus to the empowerment of women and the need for equitable media coverage of global issues. With personal anecdotes and cultural traditions like the kola nut symbolizing goodwill, we emphasize the importance of advocacy and cultural narratives in community building. This episode challenges us to rethink our perceptions, recognize the genius within African diasporas, and appreciate the interconnectedness of our heritage as we strive for a more inclusive future.
you look royalty like I said, brother, we are royalty and my name is Ngoose. For a reason I changed my name. I lived 58 years of my life with a name that my father didn't know. I said it was time for me and my wife to change our names and we wanted something that would our African-ness. It was hard for me to go around with a Finnish Jewish name and be a pro-Black man. Many people don't understand that through the transatlantic I don't like to call it slave trade because of human trafficking which occurred there was a lot of people who were snatched from the west coast of Africa and brought here. But a lot of people weren't clear that there was a substantial amount of people from Africa that was here long before Bubaka II of Mali in 1311, he sent over 300 ships that came here and there's also documentation of the ancient Phoenicians, who are basically North Africans, who were here before the birth of Christ. So we are a unique people and we are royal people and we are the original people. So that's why I carry myself that way.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for sharing that. It appears to me that this history has been lost and it's not shared. How come May I ask?
Speaker 2:what nation are you originally from?
Speaker 1:I am from Nigeria, West Africa.
Speaker 2:What ethnic?
Speaker 1:group. I am from the Yoruba tribe, yoruba.
Speaker 2:Yoruba oh so wonderful. Yes, I remember from my research that the first Yoruba Yoruba oh so wonderful. Yes, I remember from my research that the first Yoruba king of ancient days came from ancient Egypt, from ancient Kemet, and I wouldn't hate to desecrate his name, but it starts with an O. Are you familiar? I know you must be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there are so many names, even I myself. I think I'm going to do an injustice to my ancestors here. Since I've been in the West, I have forgotten a little bit about my own personal history, for many different reasons.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's what happens with Westernized education, because everything is basically from the Frankfurt School of Thought and as long as the Greeks did it, it's wonderful. I was talking to a young brother who happened to have a terminal degree. He came out of Dartmouth and he's from South Sudan and I think he's I'm inclined to believe he's newer tribe from South Sudan and coming from Dartmouth. Oh, socrates did this and Plato did that, aristotle did this and Thales. I said, brother, they got you. He said what do you mean? I said they got you. I said how many pyramids in South Sudan? Oh, there's so many. I said how many pyramids did you see in Greece? Yeah, what kind of theorem did Pythagoras come up with that? He learned from Africa. Hmm, yeah, of did Pythagoras come up with that? He learned from.
Speaker 1:Africa. That is deep. That is deep. A lot of us have forgotten. A lot of us don't know about our history. But the original king it's something that was a long time ago was drilling to us growing up because once we became, we converted to Christianity, we left our traditional ways. But, to be honest with you, you're right, his name starts with an O. Now I'm going to redeem myself. His name is Oba Odudua. Oba Odudua Odudua right, very famous. There's a lot of history of endowment about him.
Speaker 1:The Yoruba have a really rich history. As a matter of fact, the king of my present village, they're the descendant of Ileife, the original kingdom. So a lot of these kings in the Yoruba land, according to history, they have their roots connected to Ileife. They have their roots connected to Ileife. So, if I remember correctly, according to the story I don't know which king it was, but he had several children, but some of his children decided to leave the land and branched out, left Ileife and branched out to different lands in the Yoruba kingdom or Yoruba land and established their kingdoms there. And that's how my own village had its own identity and its own king. And, interesting enough, there are three families that, but they rotate. You know the roles throughout the year, but there are three families that actually talking about democracy, we hear a lot about democracy in the West but in reality, yoruba land, yoruba people, have been practicing democracy for a very long time and an example of that is it's in my own village. You have these three families that rotate the kingship, right? The last king was from my mother's side, because my mother is from a royal family and they called them the Olubos. Then now we have a different king from a different family. So after the king who is from Olubos family passed away, now the role now moved on to a different family. Now a different family now is sitting on the throne. So after they have done their part, then it moves to another family and they rotate.
Speaker 1:But going back to my initial point, it's all of this king, all of this dynasty, originate from Ileife. They're straight from Odudwa, right? So that tells you a lot. But that's not just one example of democracy taking place in the Yoruba land. But you are absolutely correct in your analysis.
Speaker 1:But the tragic part is a lot of us, especially in this generation, and that is also the concern for the next generation to come we don't know a lot or we don't even take the time to know a lot about our cultural root, our heritage. And I want to tie something to what you just said earlier. You said, kemet, according to the oral story also that I heard when I was growing up, the Yoruba were not original, were not indigenous to that land, were not original, were not indigenous to that land. In reality they came a long time ago, even before I know about Egypt. But growing up I didn't know anything about Egypt at all.
Speaker 1:But they say they came from the north. Right, but they came from the north, but precisely from the north I really don't know. But there is a horror story that says that they actually came down from the north and resided in that land and then made that land the Europa land. And there's also another story about Ududwa itself. But you have to go into the history. But you're absolutely correct when you say that we all come from royalty.
Speaker 1:Yes we do, but you do look royalty. You look fantastic. Thank you for doing that.
Speaker 2:Thank you, brother.
Speaker 1:So we're here, today. Go ahead, please go ahead go ahead.
Speaker 2:I enjoyed uh cranking that conversation up with you because uh quite often growing up in america as a young black, who they call a young black out we're africans just were colonized here in America. That's basically who Black people who call themselves African-Americans what we are we're Africans who were colonized here in comparison to our brothers and sisters who were colonized in the homeland.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right. That actually gives me an opportunity to introduce this podcast and to introduce you, because I'm pretty sure our audience are wondering what is this podcast and also, who am I, who is my guest, who am I talking with and what is today's topic? Welcome everyone to STEAMspot STEAM Career Podcast, where we today we're going to be exploring the intersection of education, equity, innovation and innovation. I am your host, dr Ayolo Fade, and today we are fortunate, we're blessed. We're going to be talking about cultural memory, civil rights, community advocacy in shaping more inclusive and equitable future for our community. Our guest today is Dr Nagos Radisson and the last name I'm having trouble pronouncing. Can you help me please with that? M Hotep, m Hotep, m Hotep, m Hotep Excellent, love that name.
Speaker 1:He's a PhD, he's a cultural memory specialist and the founder of Sankofa Memory Consultant LLC. With a deep commitment to civil rights and human rights. Dr Reddison and Huttip have spanned his career, championing initiatives and promote societal well-being, empowering marginalized community and advancing racial and gender equity. His work as a program manager at Urban Dreams and as chair of the city of Des Moines. By the way, des Moines I used to live there. That's when I first came to this country. That was my hometown.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God Civil and Human Rights Commission reflect its leadership in shaping programs that foster education, community development and justice. In this episode, we will discuss the challenging opportunity for African Americans and women in STEM and women in careers, and how cultural memory can inspire future generations and why mentorship and representation are crucial for advancing diversity in this field. We will also touch on the broader societal issues, including the complex political dynamics shaping minority representation and why some Black men and men in general are hesitant about supporting Vice President Kamala Harris. So it's a rich conversation about the power of competence, our cultural competency. As you can see, I myself he challenged me to dig a little deeper on one of our ancestors, the original king of the Yoruba land In shaping the power of cultural competency, advocacy, leadership in shaping the future of education, civil rights and technology. So, without further ado, let's welcome Dr M Hotep M Hotep, m Hotep M Hotep.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much Forgive me if I didn't do it justice.
Speaker 2:There's no problem. There's no problem whatsoever. I know cultural memory is a prominent thing to have functioning in your life. Too many today are trying to do things to erase information. Today are trying to do things to erase information, and cultural memory is important because I felt like I was born to remind people of their past, to know of their past because it shows you if you don't know where you've been, you don't know where you're going.
Speaker 2:First and foremost, we should know who we are, we should know our background, we should know our ancestry. But it was a difficult task for me coming up as a kid to a degree, because we didn't have real beautiful models, because we were taught that whatever we did was deficient when it wasn't. We do things different ways than other people and then they degrade the way you do it, but it might be proficient for you and it works. It might not look like what others want, but it's important to remind people I. I thank you for this particular opportunity and I'm willing and ready to go into this conversation because it's a very important conversation and thank you. I don't know if we might have to do this more than once. To tell the truth, I don't know if we might have to do this more than once, to talk about what all the things that were listed on the synopsis of the things that we wanted to talk about, because it's most important and it is for us to know who we are and that was against the law at one time here in this country. I know the history too well of this nation and we go back so far as back to the Papal Bull of 1455. And so way back when Nicholasolas the fifth, who was the pope, created that papal bull and caused his name was alphonse the fifth of portugal, gave him the rights to go into west africa and capture humans and transport them over here to the western hemisphere that they might become perpetual servants to build the roman empire and later on other nations jumped on the bandwagon as well. That's a different story for those who had went through those ports of West Africa, who came here incarcerated and forced into it, would it? It perturbs me, it hurts my feelings when they called my ancestors slaves. They were not slaves. They were artisans and historians and pharmacists and doctors and technicians, all different kinds of people who came and they were not slaves. They were human beings who were forced into slavery. On how the structure said.
Speaker 2:Like 1638, the Maryland created a compact that stated that it was never intended for Africans to achieve the dream to live in a society with whites not as equals never. Then we go to 1730, they created something called the Slave Patrol. That's how the police department started in this country. It was about terrorizing people who were trying to get away and become free, and that's the relationship that blacks in America have with police today. It's almost like a terrorist group coming into their communities. You see other things going on down the line.
Speaker 2:There was rebellions that occurred here in this country, especially with the Stono Rebellion in 1739 in South Carolina, where over 59 people Caucasians were killed. Africans rose up and got tired of what they were subjected to and took the lives of their oppressors. The following year, the British government sent to the colony of South Carolina. They created the 1740 Negro Act, which made it against the law for blacks to learn to read English. It was against the law for blacks to plant their own vegetables to eat. It was against the law for blacks to congregate in groups together. It was against the law for blacks to travel unless they had a permit.
Speaker 2:And if they got and it was against the law for black to talk or get too mouthy because you could get whooped and murder was legal. The lives of blacks were not, and still not, valued in the same manner, and that's everywhere on this planet. So looking at those conditions and seeing what we have to work with assimilating hasn't helped. I remember as a child growing up in the inner city of Houston, texas. I grew up in a segregated community. All the businesses we had a 35 block radius where there were Black businesses up and down the street and you could find everything in our community and it was wonderful, it was communal. My father killed a cow, the neighbors had meat man. Everybody, because it was the community, looked out for everybody. We were living like people in Africa lived.
Speaker 1:That's the way it is you just sharing that just brought back to memory. Growing up in Africa, that's exactly what we did.
Speaker 2:Man, my brother. I remember as a boy, me and my brother would ask our mother for a chicken neck. Okay, and it was about. Maybe about 200 yards away from our house was a bayou, a canal that ran through, and me and my brother would get the kite, strings and buckets and we would get chicken necks, man, and we would go and catch crawfish and bullfrogs or whatever we fish, and we would bring it back home and my father would say, hey, he's about. Look at my boys, they brought something home we gotta eat. Good, but that was, that's the way it was we were, we were cow. I grew up in texas to be a cowboy, basically, but my father, he had livestock, we had cattle, we had horses. So I, I that's what we had to do, man, I was a cowboy, I thought, thought I was going to be an original cowboy, which was black men anyhow.
Speaker 1:Have you thought about doing the ancestry thing to find out what I did?
Speaker 2:Okay, I did 23andMe, excellent 23andMe. And 23andMe said I'm 33% Nigerian Excellent, excellent.
Speaker 1:Excellent.
Speaker 2:Okay, 33% Nigerian, 15% Ghanaian. Then they said Sierra Leone, 10% or 12%. And I had another portion that was Angola and Congo.
Speaker 1:Wow, Pretty diverse yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, from the DNA. But what got me? My wife made fun of me because I have 22 or 23 percent Caucasian. She said I'm blacker than you.
Speaker 1:I'm more.
Speaker 2:African than you. That's funny. I know you, man. I'm more African than you. That's funny. Know you, bud? That's funny. She was like almost 90%, and I was what 70%? I was like, oh man, don't hurt my feelings by telling me that one the good news is your vote.
Speaker 1:Unless you can pinpoint, you can know exactly where you're from, which is a good thing, yeah, yeah, that's a good thing. Relieve that history of the African-American people from the moment they were on board at the slave ship to this very moment, through their experience. It brings about a lot of memories of what I have read along the way and even reflecting up till what is happening today. Reflecting up till what is happening today, it doesn't, even though it seems like some things have changed, but the same mentality that used to be there, I feel, in a certain segment of American population not all of a certain segment that same mentality still exists, to a point whereby I was even actually having a conversation with someone recently and they said remember the Civil War? America went to war, Civil War because of slavery. The same mentality has not changed.
Speaker 1:Whatever that is happening, the experience that we're having now, for example, what happened in January 6th they cite that as an example. That is a sign of the fact that a certain segment are still fighting the civil war and that is why we see what we see today. And then they say it in the see what happened to that black man on in florida recently walking through a neighborhood and he was being profiled. It's still here. It has not. Nothing has changed.
Speaker 2:Well, the thing is, it's systemic. It's systemic, it's not about changing. They never attempt for it to change. Everything's functioning just the way it was planned from the founding of this country. Everything that's happening, the mindset and everything was created this way for a certain group of people to prosper and the other groups of people to fight like hell to live. Okay, the late Derrick Bell, a professor who came up with the critical race theory, he said these words. They said it appears to me that my worst fear has been realized. We made progress in everything, yet nothing has changed. No, nothing's changed, nothing's changed.
Speaker 2:Brother, I'm a man of 64 years of age and I'm a storyteller because I'm a crt man. I'm a storyteller and I remember five, 1964, as a little boy playing in the park on a hot summer day downtown Houston, and I got off the swing and I ran over to get on the water fountain and my mother takes off running like Sha'Carri Richardson to come grab me before I got my mouth up on the water fountain, because it was a fountain for whites only. I remember in the 60s man, when my father was a well-to-do businessman. He had his furniture business, he had 10 employees, he had vehicles, he had people. He was a man's of means and we're going to a funeral in Alabama and the police are stopping us. It seemed like almost every 50, 100 miles we were getting stopped and police was constantly asking my dad what nigga what you doing in the Cadillac? Are you a pimp or something? That's your whores and they talk to them. That's the way they talk to them. I remember my father stopping to get some gas and my mother was pregnant with my baby brother and she's trying to go to use the restroom and the man who runs the gas station comes out with a pistol because my mom's trying to use the restroom. So this is the America, the land of the thief and the home of the slave. I remember that Some folks say that's way long time ago.
Speaker 2:No, it wasn't Around the same time. Nigeria got their independence in 1960. Yeah, okay, I'm just thought I was born during that time. So that's why I remember and I still see it, because it's still here. To tell the truth, ancient Rome never failed, it just changed its name.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's deep. Yeah, you just sharing that story reminds me of what happened recently to Tariq Hill. Was it about? A few months ago when he was stopped. I believe Tariq Hill played for.
Speaker 2:Miami? What in North Carolina? Where was it at?
Speaker 1:Yeah, he played.
Speaker 2:Oh, Tariq Hill, the football player.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the football player yeah. He was stopped by the police, briefly detained. I don't know really exactly what he did, but he was caught on video. What took place, despite his achievement, the way he was treated, the way he was asked to step out of the car by the cop I think the cop could have been a little bit more restrained, I believe.
Speaker 2:So I don't know, but just sharing the story of your father just took me back to that experience tarik, the high paid gladiator, because we I was a student athlete at one time in high school and college but when you're in the professional ranks, you're a gladiator, like I said, because this is Rome 0.7. Whichever it is, it's still the same. If we look at the structure of the capital, buildings, everything looks just like Rome, everything. Look at the capital, it looks just like the Roman capital, roman Empire, and all the columns and all of the they're founded off that same principle and that's why we today got entangled, especially amongst the African people of Africa and African diaspora. We got twisted up with that Bible that they gave us that caused the major shift in our African psyche that distorted our mentally retarded, distorted our minds, our African psyche, by becoming Eurocentric.
Speaker 1:That is also another conversation we can have sometime, because I'm a christian full-fledged. So how do you become? How can you still continue to stay as a christian but at the same time, honor your ancestral way of life, right your cultural heritage, because there are a lot of good things in christianity, right, Especially the love for thy neighbor, for example. That is a good thing, that's nice if we do it.
Speaker 2:That's the thing A lot of good sounding words that people don't do. Brother, I was an ordained minister in the Church of God and Christ, ordained as a Brother. I was an ordained minister in the Church of God and Christ, nice, ordained as a pastor in the Missionary Baptist Church. 30 years of my life I've been in the pulpit preaching and teaching the gospel. Wow, okay, I know too well that what we have got through the Bible is a distortion of what what our ancestors were originally living. Didn't nobody have to come and tell us about who God is? Yeah, okay, yeah, we already knew, knew who God is, because we God was creative in our minds, man, man had the liberty to stop and think, and you?
Speaker 1:that's the way it comes from within, from inside our minds, and we created these yeah, can you go back a few seconds to the part when you were talking about man had the time to create? Can you go back to that? Because you yes, I love you fell off a little bit.
Speaker 2:I said, okay, it must have been my Wi-Fi or something around there. I'm in Iowa. I was saying, looking at the origins of mankind, what a lot of people talk about. But it was a man 100 years before the name, from Haiti, who was an anthropologist, egyptologist and a licensed attorney from Haiti and he wrote an essay called the Equality of the Human Species. I think it was 1878, 1880 that he wrote this particular essay, because 30 years prior to that, the father of racism academically his name was Count Joseph de Gobineau and de Gobineau wrote an essay on the inequality of the human species. De Gobineau was the one that created this pseudoscience called race. There's no such thing as race. You're either human or you're not. Okay, and we are the original. And people saw Furman. He wrote back then and stated from the writers that Furman did.
Speaker 2:Dop followed what Furman did and DOP came to find out that the origins of mankind was on the motherland right in Africa, the Odovor Gorge. Leakey saw that, but then they saw some older bones in Ethiopia, called in the Omo River Valley region of Ethiopia. They found bones that was like a million years older than the bones that they found in Kenya. So the origin of mankind was developed right there on the continent of Africa and after man evolved, man first formed and incubated there on the continent of Africa and then they went out and spread throughout the globe, circumnavigating the planet. But what I was saying in the time about when Africans were at peace and had their great civilizations, like Darth Tetchy over there in the Sahel you familiar with Darth Tetchy?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, okay, and they had done some grain work and domesticating grain, but in the 4th century, 5th century BC, okay, so mankind, you showed them that they had time to develop and do things, that man was at peace, he was relaxed, he had agriculture, plus he had pastoral, you had grain growing from the ground and you got cattle, goats, sheep. You got everything you need. So you're at peace and harmony in your own village and you get to looking at the stars and wondering about the creation. And we created something that the world calls religion and it first started there because man first started there and it first started there because man first started there. And then we can turn around, flip the script, go 1800 years in the flip. Here comes some other people, turn it around telling you about who god is and who you are and told you, yeah, and told you that the god that you worship in your homeland is the demon.
Speaker 2:the people that you your healers homeland is the demon. The people that you, your healers are demons. The medicine man is a witch doctor. That's showing how the Eurocentric mind works. They had to demonize everything that we did, that our ancestors did. I follow the role of one of your countrymen, dr Wole Sayenko. Oh yeah, yeah, wole Sayenko.
Speaker 2:he said I think everybody needs to follow the Yoruba religion because we didn't start no wars with nobody but, every other Christian and the Muslims and the Jews and all the Abrahamic faith folks, all about killing each other, but to live in harmony. I heard other professors make this comment too, dr Robert Smalls. Dr Smalls stated he said there's never been such thing as a European civilization, because everything that they call a civilization has been a war nation. They go in and they steal and take something and kill, and then they have to do that to maintain their power.
Speaker 1:You're really sharing a lot, deep history, very knowledgeable, you are well grounded. What will it take for our people here in the United States, african Americans I know some of them are as deeply rooted as you are but for this type of connection and history to be shared? Because even right now there is this, it seems to me like there is this divide between African Americans and their brothers and sisters or cousins from Africa. What will it take to bridge the divide? Because the history that you just shared, that's a rich history that tells me about great people, but I'm not sure that our people here know that Not all of them, but you know that, just like it here, there's brothers and sisters on the continent that don't know it either.
Speaker 1:You just challenged me a few minutes ago my history, my ancestors, even from my mother's side. My mother actually is a gene. Someone can argue that came directly from Odudwa, because if she's a princess and her family are the ruling family one of the ruling family in my village and they have their origin from a kingdom, not Bini, but Eliph.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you can see how.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:Is it spelled I-F-E?
Speaker 1:Yes, i-f-e. Yes, if I mean one can argue so even then. I have been taught this and I know this from from when I was young, but since I've become westernized. But I'm doing my best actually to try to recall, and try to, because I've written two children's books trying to recall the oral stories that were shared with us when I was growing up. But even then you had to challenge me because I have forgotten some of my own history. So imagine and that's a travesty, that's a shame and imagine how many of our people that have been westernized, that have been here for so long, that don't even share the stories about their people with their own children. I don't know, there's something about what you're saying that is so right, so profound, but let me let you continue talking, as you were saying.
Speaker 2:No, dr Ope, let me just tell you, like I said, I grew up in Houston, texas, in the 1960s, and my love for Africa was always there. My parents always told us that Africa was the place of our ancestry. Told us that Africa was the place of our ancestry. My mother used to say Ethiopia was the backbone of Africa because they were never colonized and my parents brought in exchange students from Africa who were going to school at Texas Southern University, a historical black college there in Houston, going to school at Texas Southern University, a historical black college there in Houston. And I remember one gentleman who was from Nigeria. His name was Omowale Royce da Vinci Jr Omowale Royce da Vinci Jr Omowale, I think Omowale Latule Omowale told me about Nigeria. He told me about the Great Wall of Benin when I was five, six years old and I always wondered about that.
Speaker 2:And then, I think it was one Sunday, he went to church with us and we came back home from church and my mother had a beautiful dinner. We ate dinner and all of us were sitting in the living room and the 60 minutes came on and it was showing the civil rights movement and dogs and water holes and people getting slammed up against the walls and people throwing in paddy wagons. And after the show went off and I saw my mother and father and I saw Mawale looking and I looked at my father and I walked over to my dad and I said, dad, it's not our fault that we're Negroes. And my dad grabbed me. He got up and grabbed me right in my chest and picked me up in the air and said boy, you'd be proud to be a Negro. I said, but why? And from what I saw on TV and what he saw, I saw a tear start coming out of my father's eyes and that was the first time I ever saw my father cry and him and my mother.
Speaker 2:The following week they went and purchased something called the Negro Encyclopedias. It was an encyclopedia about Africa, all different things about Africa A through Z, and Ebony Magazine publishers out of Chicago had it. And that was my venture, that was my journey. That's when I woke up. I had never been to the continent Africa, but I've been there physically, but I've been there mentally and spiritually. I've never been there physically and I'm 64 years old. I have to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have to go, I have to go and just to say I made it back home. I made it back home so I can kiss the ground and meet my ancestors.
Speaker 1:I think every African American should make their pilgrimage. It's like the Muslims make pilgrimage to Mecca.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Christians make pilgrimage to Jerusalem. I think every African in the diaspora needs to make that pilgrimage to Africa. So Africa should be Mecca. No one I think no one is saying you go and live there, it would be great. No one, I think no one is saying you go and live there, it would be great. But being the fact I'm in STEM education and I see so much potential among our people A lot of our people and part of what you and I do as PhDs, we do research, we pay attention Within our community. There's a lot of brilliance in the diaspora. Imagine if the people in the African American, the Black people in the diaspora can walk together with Africa. Imagine the benefit for everybody.
Speaker 2:For the whole entire planet. Absolutely yeah. That was my keynote speech two weeks ago at the Iowa Nigerian Association celebration of the 64th anniversary of I'm going to say, flag independence. But you got the independence in 1960. 60, yes, October 1st, October 1st 1960. I was born September 15th 1960. Wow, so I'm an independence baby, yeah.
Speaker 1:I can see that You're definitely now connected.
Speaker 2:But in my speech, the speech was about the need for members of the African diaspora to unite and connect with our brothers and sisters in Nigeria and elsewhere on the continent of Africa and to invest and support one another Absolutely. The United States, the blacks in the US, their net value or net spending worth, is probably the 12th largest economy on the planet and we don't own anything. We purchase, but we don't. We're consumers, but we don't own nothing.
Speaker 1:Have so much potential, but it doesn't make sense to me. There is so much fear, even among us Africans that are here, the blacks that have moved, immigrated from Africa to the West. There is the fear even among us going back to our motherland, our fatherland. The fear Because of the fear, and it shouldn't be that way whatsoever. I don't get it Go ahead, sir, go ahead. Forgive me, I'm done. I'm just.
Speaker 2:Oh that when, and somebody else from another person's perspective. We colonialism, the colonializers did an excellent job on messing our minds up to make us think that whatever they have is better than what we got. They did a dirty and dastardly trick on us. And they did a dirty and dastardly trick on us and they did it well for us as a people. When you got people just like I know people from the continent of Africa want to get to Europe or want to get to America Trees where money is just falling out everywhere you can just, oh, it's falling out everywhere, it's falling out of the sky. Just for the past three years, I've been working as a business coach over at Drake for the Washington Mandela Fellows. I know Drake University.
Speaker 1:Very well yeah.
Speaker 2:I've seen you with Iowa State too. Yes, I went to Iowa State at the great state Okay, yo, cyclone, they're six and oh my, y'all undefeated.
Speaker 1:Seriously.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they are undefeated right now. Cyclones or the Bulldogs, cyclones have not lost a game. They're six and 0. Go Cyclones. Awesome yeah, but my Awesome yeah, my niece. She graduated there. She was an epidemiologist. She came out of Iowa State, nice. You was talking about that. You stated something about the genius, the African genius, in the minds of these young kids and young black children that you see, the smartest people in the world come from Africa, just like the dumbest people in the world come from Africa. The tallest people in the world come from Africa and the shortest people in the world. We are a brilliant group of people and that just needs to be tapped into into. I'm here to tell I'm a storyteller, rascal man, but my. You're familiar with the movie hidden figures oh, yeah, I watched that.
Speaker 1:Okay, yes, yeah, and the black woman, dorothy johnson.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, how can you forget what the mathematician, oh how can you forget that Brilliant mind was not embedded in a spherical surface? And what he did was to create a mathematical equation to show how, when you look at mirrors and you see a dimension, dimensions keep going, yeah, and you show mirrors that keep different levels. Like that he did a mathematical equation to prove that Brilliant and Dorothy Johnson took his thesis to help the projectiles come off this planet. And why did I know William Walden Schefflin Claytor? He was one of my mother's relatives who was a mathematician. He's known as one of the top black mathematicians here in the history of this country. And then that's on my mom's side of the family. On my dad's side of the family, my dad's the youngest brother is a retired toxicologist and a clinical pathologist and an astrogeneticist Wow, astrogeneticist, wow.
Speaker 2:He worked as a conduit for NASA and wrote a book four years ago, three years ago, entitled the Universe is in Us, and he showed basically a state that we are stardust, yes, and we're stardust, and we are basically laptop computers connected to the mainframe out of space. Okay, and he proves this in his book. And I know you deal with STEM, yes, and T-STEM. I'm inclined to believe you might want to grab that particular textbook. That's nice. Grab that particular textbook, because what, what it? What gets me is there's one particular photo in in the book. Uh, a macroscopic picture of outer space, yes, from the hubble telescope, yes. And then they did a microscopic photo of the brain through mri, yes, and took them, put the pictures together and they look the same.
Speaker 1:Seriously, I can't wait to I don't know I need to get it.
Speaker 2:They are the same brother. You can't Like. What's the difference? Wow, okay, so it just shows that all of those different elements that are in this earth is in us and that's why we attract and connect to each other the way we connect. It's more than just me and you talking to each other on linkedin. You saw my post, I saw your post. It's it's a magnetic connection, a spiritual connection that could hold you and I together so we could have this particular conversation.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, I like that. I've often also wondered but this is another topic for another time if we're made of a bunch of atoms and we're like we're sawdust out there we're like we're sawdust out there.
Speaker 1:So even after we die and when our bodies return back to where it comes from, because when you talk about atoms, when you talk about electrons and all of that energy, at the end of the day it never dies. We're a bunch of energy, right, right? We just get, just like the law, you know newtonian law that says, yeah, matter cannot be created or destroyed, right, no? Or energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can be transformed you're gonna make me start something talking to you like that.
Speaker 2:You made me think of what growing up in Texas and hearing them old people talk when I was a boy and back when an old person, somebody in the neighborhood, died, yes. And then here comes a baby being born, yeah. And you know what the old folks used to say where I grew up oh my God, no, don't tell me. You know what the old folks used to say. They said who that?
Speaker 1:Oh my God, Same thing in my culture.
Speaker 2:They said who that? Oh my gosh. Okay, I'm telling you about what I grew up in Texas. Wow, and my people. Okay, you hear what I'm saying, brother. Oh my God, that's what my folks would say.
Speaker 1:Who that? How many, you tell me? Since our people here have been brought up, taken out of Africa and their heritage have been stripped from them for hundreds of years, for at least maybe about, let's say, three to four hundred years of going through that tragedy, they still have not forgotten. There is this connection that is still there.
Speaker 2:It's called DNA. Oh my God, it's in our dna epigenetics, it's in our dna man. I said I did a. I did a documentary screening last year and it was about a documentary entitled they are we and that, and I think the documentary was made probably in 2010 or 2012. And there was a photojournalist went ahead and started photographing some people in Cuba called the Ganga Langoba people of Cuba and they would have their service and practice voodoo and play their music and sing some songs. And the guy recorded it and he took the film over to west africa to try to find out what they were saying or what language.
Speaker 2:And they was traveling and they finally went from nigeria to liberia and they got to Sierra Leone and they found a particular village where somebody knew what they were singing, because they weren't singing in Spanish. Okay, they over in Cuba and they're singing in the African dialect, and it was an old Mindi dialect that came out of Sierra Leone. And one woman heard the song that the people were singing and she hollered Because most of the people didn't understand it. She was the oldest woman in the village. She said that was an old Mindy dialect, wow. And she said my grandmother taught me that song. And she said I was trying to be bad and not listen to it, but she told me, she hit me and told me girl, you should still listen and learn the meaning of the song. She said, because one day my lost children are going to come home and you're going to have to tell them what it means.
Speaker 1:Amen. On that note, I think I want us to stop because I've taken a lot of your time. I want us, if you're willing for us, to do another episode, because the plan went out the window. Yeah, but you can look at this as an introduction. At least people now the next episode, at least they will have a little bit more background on you and we can continue our conversation the next time.
Speaker 1:But before, we end though there is who say they're not going to vote. I understand that just because we're Black doesn't mean that we agree with another person's politics. I get it, we're non-monotonous people, definitely as a group of people, but what gets me is at least to me, and it's okay for you not to agree with somebody. We can agree to disagree, that's fine, but is the reason behind the decision and I feel that there is a double standard and I wonder how much of that is because she's a woman and I just want to hear your take on that. Why do you think some Black people, men and even some men, have an issue with Kamala, with the vice president, kamala Harris? Why do they have an issue with her? What is the issue?
Speaker 2:The issue is Eurocentric, heteronormative mindset of man in this society.
Speaker 2:Man by nature in this society is misogynistic, if you're familiar with some of the old shows back in the day. Just the masculinity of man supersedes everything. That's why Donald Trump could say the things that he said and get away with the things he said, because he's a man and he got money and he got power. Okay, and that particular mindset affects europeans different than the way we do in africa, because we know that the african mindset is that women play a role of power and authority in society, where on this society it's opposite. It's the dialectical opposite, and most black men who might think that way are falling right into what they have been taught. But to tell you some of this information I'm inclined to believe is premature to say that black men are not going to vote for it, which is basically not the truth. Most black families, where a man and a woman together, they usually vote the same. They usually vote for the same party nine times out of ten, okay, very often to where it splits the election. For even for the media to convey that particular message and state that black men are anti Kamala is bogus. That's the narrative that they want to spin. What does the other media say? What's some other global media saying about what's going on? In the data that they're collecting on what's going on? This media wants to show you what they want you to see. They're going to tell you what they want you to do, because I remember my professor at Texas Southern, dr Franklin Jones. When I took policy he said always remember, watch what they do on the movies, because whatever they do on the movies, they're going to do it to you in a minute, if they're not doing it already. And that's what's happening. I'm looking at Kamala winning. I hope she does, because I sure don't want the other to do it. It don't make no difference, both of them. And the thing is, I'm not down with America and their stance on what's going on in Sudan, in the Congo. I wouldn't give a hoot about Ukraine. I'm just sad that people are dying there, but they're on in Sudan, in the Congo. I wouldn't give a hoot about Ukraine. I was just sad that people died there, but they sent an awful lot of money to Ukraine and they sent a no aid to Sudan and no aid to Congo. But everybody's concerned first and foremost about Israel, because they labeled them as God's chosen people. When the Basque people who live in Nigeria and the Basque people who live in Cameroon say that they came from Israel, came out the north a long time ago, just like you were saying, your people said they came from north. So I can't support what they're doing to those people there in Israel and not them first. But I'm taking care of my home first. Home is Africa, and what's going on in the Congo is absolutely devastating and not getting the same media attention that they're showing about what's happening in Israel and Ukraine. They're not showing what's going on in Sudan, when people are in dire need of help and people are dying and starving and dying in a land where there should be plenty.
Speaker 2:Countries go out, like African countries will do their work looking at the agricultural products they want. They're usually planting products to sell to the West or to sell to the Russians or sell to China, but they're not planting food to feed their people because you can't make as much money off of it. That crop, that market crop, and then most of the people who do the work on the lower level don't see what the government gets. So it's sad. I just think that's a bunch of hogwash about black men not voting for Kamala. As a matter of fact, I got a picture I put out on LinkedIn of me and Kamala holding hands together Four years ago. My wife said where'd you get that picture? You holding her hand?
Speaker 1:My wife was ready to go yeah, where did you get that picture?
Speaker 2:She don't know. My wife was taking her rings off like she was ready to go that picture. My wife was taking her rings off like she was ready to. Don't let Secret Service jump out and do something.
Speaker 1:I like everything that you said, with the exception of I think this is just where I guess our thoughts are not different. We all have a different way of looking at things. I think what is happening in Ukraine and in Palestine and Israel is tragic on all sides. I guess my thought is any suffering anywhere. It's bad on all sides. The only thing I think where I really do agree with you regarding is regarding the issue in other part of Africa, where there's war and there's a lot of famine farming and there's a lot of people are suffering. There are places where there are ethnic cleansing, and even the United Nations have said something about that. It would be fair if the same emphasis on coverage is placed in those places too, not to say that the things. That is, the coverage of Ukraine and Israel is not valid. It is valid on both sides, whereby there are a lot of Palestinians that have died and also a lot of Israelis that have died.
Speaker 2:Not as many Israelis as Palestinians.
Speaker 1:It is true, not as many, but we cannot also not really argue that what was done to the Israelis was not an atrocity. It is an atrocity is an atrocity, but again, we can argue also that, just like the coverage in Israel and in Ukraine, what is happening between Ukrainians and Russians deserve to be covered, it is also important to cover what is happening, the atrocity that is happening to people of Africa. In certain parts of Africa, such as in Sudan and in Somalia or in Congo, there's a lot of atrocity that is taking place. I think it would be good if the world, especially the powerful countries in the world, also make a concerted effort on spending a lot of money there and making a lot of efforts to try to bring about end to the war and holding people. The government or groups of people that are committing all this atrocity are responsible for what they're all doing. So that's just my take on this whole issue.
Speaker 1:But I am a little bit bothered with because I right now I advocate for women, especially in STEAM and STEM, and the reason why I do that, to be honest with you, for the sake of transparency. I have three daughters. I have three daughters. I want a world whereby they also can feel empowered not to be marginalized. And I also know what my mother, who birthed me, went through as a child having me when she was 13. And my father is my father and he's a great guy right Made me who I am. But there are other people that have also contributed to my upbringing for who I am. But he had a major influence on me and I love him. But he's a traditional, a custom guy, a traditional man fully in the culture. But I think there is a way in which a culture or tradition can also cause us, as men, to behave. So I want a world whereby my girls, and every girl right there, feel empowered to be who they can be. And that is, and I think that is important, and that is important for our community right, as African Americans or Blacks or people of African heritage, with African heritage, it is important to support our women because it is through this that we all, our community, can be healed, our community can be part of the innovation.
Speaker 1:But when we continue to suppress women and girls and we see it, and it's so obvious in this election you've seen someone like the vice president of the United States, who she has done everything they talk about. She didn't talk about policy. She talked about policy. Right, she doesn't do the media thing. She did about the media thing and the other guy is running away from the media. No one is holding him accountable. The other guy is spewing a lot of hate, a lot of things that divide the country, but she's not doing that.
Speaker 1:And then guys basically feel because she's a woman or whatever reasons that they have for not even giving her the opportunity. I find that very disingenuous and as an educator, I see this quite often and this is why a lot of our girls and a lot of our women that may be interested and they may do well in STEM and STEAM don't, because from the beginning, from when the moment they were young, they have been marginalized, they have been discouraged from pursuing that field. Those girls that now become women don't see themselves contributing and in the same stem and even in leadership right, and we see this so plainly in this election. It's really so clear and it bothers me to see that men, and even men like you and I deciding that, okay, we're not voting for her, even despite the fact that she has come up with her agenda on how she's going to address the issue that affects African American community, the issue that affects African-American community. They still are not backing her.
Speaker 2:So that is disingenuous and that is just. And then there's the question, always, as doctors of sociology, that we must always question the validity of the information that we receive, because the narrative that the media is throwing doesn't necessarily have to be valid, but the media is telling you that over and over again you black men, y'all don't like her. You black men, y'all don't like her. Who told you that you can't make an opinion for me? And when you say you black men, how for me? And when you say you black men, how, you just gonna say you black men, who? Which black men? Just like anybody else. Oh, are we monolithic? No, no, I'm saying in essence, the media tell you any damn thing yeah, I think they say 20 percent.
Speaker 1:They're saying someone is predicting up to 20% of African-American men.
Speaker 2:From the latest data, I heard that it was only seven.
Speaker 1:Seven, wow, okay, that's good.
Speaker 2:At least the number has gone down From the latest data that I picked up, but still, that's good, that's the truth, man. Man, it's so nice to talk to you.
Speaker 1:It is a pleasure talking to you.
Speaker 2:If I could hand this off to you. You see what I got here. No share please. It is a buck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know about cola. Yeah, I do yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got cola right here.
Speaker 1:Oh nice, oh my God, you are indeed royal. So cola has a significance in our culture.
Speaker 2:When I was at the event, I was handing cola nut out to the brothers and they were like yeah, man, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:That is very good. That is a way to win people's heart. That is is a way to win people's heart.
Speaker 2:That is definitely a way to win people's heart I know, but when my wife and I got married six years ago, yes, I had a brother who happened to be your ruba. He officiated our wedding congratulations and I contacted a friend of mine.
Speaker 2:He's from Kano region of Nigeria and he has a shop in Houston Texas and I told him. I said hey, come here. I said, man, I need an Abada for my wife. He said, man, send me the measurements. And I gave him the measurements. He said send them three, $400,. Man Boom, it was clean, everything was perfect. Perfect, you have to share.
Speaker 1:you have to share his information with me. Maybe I'll do that. Yeah, Maybe he can hook me up someday too. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, thank you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your insight, your wisdom, your expertise for sharing all these stories with us, relieving and helping us go through the history of African American history here in the United States. I think that builds the context and puts everything in perspective. It is very important that we never forget our history and our lived history or the story that is very impactful in our community. That way, we can be well-informed to make better decisions as we're moving on and forward as African, of people of African descent. I just want to thank you so much again, sir, for taking the time. Yeah, you took. You look royalty. I love your traditional attire. That was good. So you see, I'm wearing something too right now, but yours was indeed inspirational inspirational. So let's do this again. There's a lot that I want us to cover because because I want to touch on steam how we can use um, the story, the cultural what do you call it?
Speaker 1:competence right to be able guide, especially in guide our people, looking at cultural memory, history, cultural competency, to help guide our people to make informed decision, because what you said is target is really very important. We are from great people, right, and our history is deep, and the innovation that we all enjoy today, worldwide, throughout the world, is founded on the foundation of what our ancestors have done. It's good for us to remember our roots, because by knowing our root, then we can define our future and we can also know where we stand right at this moment in time, and that is why people like you are very important. I am honored to be talking with you today and definitely we have to follow up. We have to do another episode based on the plan that we have. I would like to thank all of our audience and, by the way, let me give you the last talk before I close. Is there anything that you would like to share today before we leave, so especially how people can get in touch with you if they need to?
Speaker 2:Okay, working to get my website up and going here. I've just recently started LLC, but the name of my LLC is Sankofa S-A-B-Y-L-O-N-E-G-U-S 2010. At gmailcom, you can reach out to me. Email me If you have questions. I can provide information about the services that I provide historical services I do, cultural competency training and numerous other services. Lecture series on the African diaspora that's my forte. Excellent.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. I appreciate you and thank you everyone for tuning in to STEAM Spark Think STEAM Career Podcast. If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe, leave a review and share it with others who are passionate about advancing STEAM, education, careers, equity and innovation. Until next time, I am Dr Ayo Olufade. Have a good night everyone.
Speaker 2:Power to the people.
