- Most situations that we know that we see
with ridiculous killings by unarmed black people,
there's always a way to, for it not to have happened.
The fact that it was too familiar, it was too close.
And like I said,
it could have been anybody that I knew
and that hit me really, really hard.
And no one ever did anything, no one ever looked into it.
And no one ever said anything.
(piano playing)
- Talk to me a little bit, Gwen, about,
about when you first started to, you know,
you talked about, you know, not really understanding
a lot of the things
that your father and your grandfather
were talking to you about,
but certainly being exposed to that I'm sure was,
was helpful for you and set the foundation.
But when did you start to discover your own, you know,
journey, you know, to where you are now to being an activist
and to fighting for these, this social equity,
that, you know, we, that, that has alluded us for so long.
- It's crazy because I would say a little bit before Rio.
So I had moved to Mississippi, I was training there,
but my coach at the time
and my, actually my ex boyfriend of mine,
he was trying to get back into school.
You know, I was training all that good stuff.
So we had, he went back into school and he met our teacher
we call him our Baba.
His name is Oboke Sobukwe
and he teaches at freedom school in Oxford, Mississippi.
So they met through school.
And so he invited us to come to the school.
So they had sessions every Saturday, sometimes Sunday,
different events to where it was literally just
a hundred percent African culture,
African education, history,
just a hundred percent. So we started going
and I would say, you know, after Rio, you know,
as I got immersed, more into understanding
where I actually came from, you know,
because all we know in America is that we were slaves.
There were nothing, there were nobody
and that we're not elite, right?
That's all they teach us and then they get mad at us
when, you know, we feel oppressed or suppressed
when all we see is our heroes dying, right.
We never see our heroes accomplish anything,
it's beat into our head.
So once I went to my freedom school,
I realized that black people were much more than that.
You know, you go back to ancient Kemet and you learn all,
you know, more about ancient history
or ancient what black people did in ancient times.
You see that, you know, we were so powerful.
We are the Supreme and you know,
the reasons why people want to suppress us
is because of our powers, our melanin, and, you know, it,
it just goes back into that, to that.
I going to get deep into that because you know,
a lot of people ain't woke, but yeah.
So once I found out that, you know,
I wasn't just a slave and I wasn't a nobody, you know,
that empowered me. So then we learned about, you know, our,
our heroes, you know,
so many, its so many,
so many heroes that we have, our historians, our authors,
our teachers.
And my favorite is really,
I don't know if people know,
but his name is Shekar Athenian.
He was an author, a teacher or a writer.
He has a lot of books, you know,
he inspired people like Dr. Joy Degruy,
Amos Wilson, all of those people,
Nina Simone. So once I learned more about our heroes,
I real heroes, you know,
that just instilled something in me and it made me say,
okay, so this is really who I am.
And so now that I know that,
am I strong enough to speak out on the issues
that I still see affect black people today?
When you know, our heroes were speaking about it
and nothing has changed yet.
So that's where I got it from, just being inspired.
- I know the, the police shooting of Michael Brown
had a huge effect on you,
but, you know,
he was 18 walking home, right.
In your hometown and in shot by a white officer.
What did, how did that affect you in,
and just talk to me about, you know,
what you remember from that time,
how that made you feel and what you did after that.
- The Mike Brown situation, it was heartbreaking
only because, in that situation
in most situations that we know that we see
with ridiculous killings by unarmed black people.
There's always a way to, for it not to have happened,
you know, and here we are in this world
where literally a grown man who is trained
to resolve a situation are trained to protect people
can look at an 18 year old, a boy and be intimidated by him,
enough to where his life does not matter.
It was heartbreaking because I have a son
and my son does not look his age he does not look 17.
I walked the streets that Michael Brown walked,
we went to the same could trip
and it could have been anybody.
And it was heartbreaking and it touched me personally,
not only because we were from the same hood,
but also because my uncle, when I was younger,
he used to always say that the police used to harass him
and his friends and Ferguson florissant,
and then Ferguson so I thought that could have been him
or his friends.
I remember I was in a meet overseas and it happened.
And immediately I flew home
and we protested,
we walked the streets and it was so intense.
Like the energy walking, protesting, walking up the street,
down the street, it was, it made you want to cry
because everyone were so heartbroken
and everybody was like,
how could this have happened?
To where there was a thousand scenarios
to where this kid could have been saved,
and yet that officer did not take his life seriously.
After that, you know,
I feel like I still was quiet,
I still didn't find my voice yet,
that really, really was something
that stirred up a lot of my, you know,
activism for real, just it hitting too close to home.
It was too close to home for me.
- Was that, that, because it was, you know,
in your hometown, and as you said,
you went to the same quick trip, you know,
convenient store that Michael Brown had gone to
and you'd walk those same streets. Did that make it,
is that what made it different for you?
Because it wasn't, for me,
it wasn't the first time a white cop shot a black kid,
you know, a black man, which we've seen so many times,
but for you, was it just that, yeah, that,
that sort of connection that was,
that made it so much different for you.
- For sure, it was the fact that it was too familiar.
It was too close and like I said, it could have been anybody
that I knew, and that hit me really, really hard
because in any instance it was,
it was never in my city, my hood, my, you know,
where I lived
or where I thrived
or I was, you know, I was raised.
And then, you know, you reflect
and you say, okay, well, my uncle, thousands of times,
you know, came home and would share stories
about how they were harassed by police
and no one ever did anything, no one ever looked into it.
And no one ever said anything.
So it could have been him.