Street on 67' Ep. 3 (Edited Version)

This is a podcast episode discussing the importance of Black History Month and what it means to be Black. The hosts share their personal experiences of growing up Black, including facing stereotypes and racism. They also highlight the significance of Black culture and the need for unity within the Black community. The episode includes a guest speaker who talks about their Haitian-American background and the strength and resilience of Haitian culture. Overall, the conversation emphasizes the celebration of Black identity and the desire for positive change in America. Street on 67, hosted by India Heath and created by the Hornet Tribune, is in affiliation with Alabama State University. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Street on 67 podcast. Street on 67 is a podcast where we as young adults can talk about our experiences exploring this crazy world. I'm your host, India Heath. Now let's see what's the word on the street this week. By the time this podcast will be uploaded, it will officially be Black History Month. I love Black History Month as it gives me an opportunity to talk to people and hear their stories and experiences of what finding out being Black means to them. Yes, we should be interested in Black culture year-round. However, Black History Month gives us an opportunity to hear voices that might not be as heard as more prominent figures. It also gives us an opportunity to share our own stories. So today, we're going to talk about our experiences growing up Black and what being Black means to us. Being born not only Black but as a Black woman in America, I've definitely had my fair share of trials and tribulations. I've always heard the term, you have to work twice as hard only to get halfway or opportunities won't be handed to you. You have to make them. I've walked into the room only being the only Black person and being underestimated and having people be surprised because of how smart I am. I've had to act certain ways in certain settings because I know if I fit one stereotype, that would be my narrative. I was taught what to do in the presence of a cop so that I can come home safely, all because of how I was born and the color of my skin. But also, I was taught that my skin was beautiful and special. I was taught that even though others may hate my complexion, I should love it because it's me. It's who I am and that's something to be proud of. And that's why Black History Month is so important. This is a time to celebrate being Black, to embrace the beautiful parts that we share, and to delve into different cultures and lifestyles. It's also a time to bring awareness to the injustice we're facing, racism, prejudice, the cycles that we have to break through, that we're born in. It's hard to be born Black, but I will always be proud to be Black. Another important and honestly my favorite part about Black History Month is taking the time to talk to older generations and learn and see how being Black has changed over the past few decades. I can talk to my mom and talk about how her going to a predominantly white school was hard for her and the things that she had to face. I can talk to the elderly and talk about how they had to fight to earn their rights and how they see our generation today. Some are not very nice, but it is still nice and informational and eye-opening to see other generations and how they're thinking about things. And it's also nice to talk to my younger audiences like my little nieces and nephews and talk to them about some of the experiences that they might be having about growing being Black and teaching them how to love their skin color, how to love their melanin, even if some people might bring them down for it. And to also be strong and not be held back by people because they try to bring you down. I did promise you guys that I was going to have a guest speaker and I have kept up with my promise and today we have. Hey everyone, it's Ermesha. I'm super excited to be speaking to you guys today. So Mesha, tell me what does being Black mean to you? Being Black to me just means being unapologetically yourself, just loving your melanin, just embracing just our story because you know being Black and coming from where we came from, our story just to begin with is this. All right so being Black to me just means just being unapologetically you, loving your melanin, and just embracing the journey that you know we all had to go through and just understanding that we're beautiful people, we're strong people, and we're literally destined for greatness. So what are some events that have happened or things that you've experienced in your life that kind of highlight I'm Black, whether that be good or bad? I would say definitely some things I highlighted just me understanding like who I am as a person. I kind of grew up in like from when I was in elementary school up until like the ninth grade of high school, I was I wasn't really surrounded by people that really looked like me if I'm being totally honest. So I had a different demographic growing up so then when I finally did transition over that's when I started to realize like this is my culture like certain stuff that I just wasn't exposed to I was finally exposed to and it just felt good to just be in the presence of others who looked like me, who acted like me, and who still had the same type of mindset I had because even though I love the friends that I did have growing up and I still had those friendships, it's just something very special just knowing that you have your own community for yourself which is like exactly why I decided to come to HBCU as well because it's just something about being in the presence of others like you that just feels very welcoming. Yeah that's why I came to HBCU too. I always knew that I wanted to go to a HBCU so it just depends on which one I want to go to because I love my culture, I love Black culture and I love being around people where it's an environment where we've all experienced different things but kind of in the same category so we can all be like oh yeah I understand you with that, I understand with that. Like one thing that happened to me which is kind of a bad thing because no kid should ever have to do this but growing up I was taught like what to do if a cop came and pulled me over. Like you were a cop too? Yes I was taught that so my dad taught me like show your hands at all times, make sure that you're not making any sudden moves and stuff like that and hearing other people and stuff that they've been through luckily I've never had like a bad experience with a cop but hearing things like that and what other people have gone through is it's just really eye-opening but on a good note though I love hearing how people have shared their experiences and them trying to reach out and branch to other things to bring more Black culture since a lot of what is put out kind of has a negative connotation on that so thinking on Black culture what are some things that about your culture that you like? I would say for sure like hands down the creativity like whether it's like music, sports, like it don't matter what it is anytime we put our mind to something it's like we take over like we just have it in us to just be good at just being creative people so but definitely my favorite thing that highlights Black culture for sure would be music. I love how we could do rap, country, hip-hop. We could honestly do any genre. We could do anything, we could do hard rock, we could do pop, like we could do anything and it's like anything that we try to do we excel at it especially when it's like in the music category so that's definitely something I feel like we thrive in too. And a lot of Black people we are perfectionists so if we're going to put something out it's going to be good. It is, it never fails like it literally never fails. So another thing that I want to touch on we you are American born correct? Yes I was born here but my background I'm Haitian both my parents are born and raised in Haiti so I'm Haitian American. How is that having ties from Haiti because I don't have any ties back to where my family is from. Which is where? I don't know, I don't know so and that's another part of me where I've always like wanted to find out. I'm pretty sure if I asked my grandma she would tell me so that other part of your culture how do you incorporate that to your life now and also kind of make it your own? I feel like definitely one thing I will say is just growing up Haitian my parents always instilled in me structure but that's definitely something that we do have like we have to be very structured very organized and we're definitely overachievers like we love to just anything that we do we want to you know do well at. So I feel like definitely structured was something I definitely grew on that's something that was very important to my parents and it kind of like you know transcended onto me. Another thing is I will say definitely about my country too like where I'm from we're very strong people like we're very endearing like we could take a lot of stuff and still overcome a lot of things as well like we don't let anything that just like some stuff that we go through like for example like how Haiti had that terrible earthquake and what did you see like it was everything was ruined and I tell you these people they sat here and they literally built their country back up by themselves. They did have assistance but it's just like it's just something beautiful to know that there's like we're so strong so that's why that's definitely two things I really want to highlight that I learned growing up just you know having structure and just being a strong individual like that's something that definitely played a major role in my household and how I am as a person today. No that is strong because especially coming from something like that some people can't some countries can't recover from that and it was it was quick for Haiti they bounced back quickly and it was a lot of hard work too so they made it. One last question before we end this episode. From the recent things that you've seen that have happened to Black people what do you want to change here in America? I feel like honestly the one thing I really really really wish I could change or just be a change in is just more unity with us. Yeah like that's just always been my number one thing we already have so many people like so many outsiders that's already preying on our downfall and doing so many to just try to make us look bad and feel bad and just you know just put a negativity on us and it's just like I really want us to come together like we're it's so much power in numbers and I feel like everyone sees the power that we hold but it's like we don't fully understand how powerful we can be we just all come together and just unite with each other stop trying to like fight each other and just you know because like I support each other I see so many cultures and like no matter if you're in the same family just because y'all are part of the same race y'all are going to stick to each other you're going to hold down each other and I don't see that a lot in the Black community like I see a lot of opportunity I'm going to take the opportunity for myself gatekeeping I see a lot of gatekeeping is so like that's it right now like it's like why are we gatekeeping this let's put each other on right and I understand you want to have your opportunity especially since it's so hard for us to get on that come up but you can't do it alone and you also can't hold people back or be like selfish in helping others like that's another thing like honestly it's not all like that though like it's a good amount like we fight for each other we support each other but I feel like it's not enough like it can't be better and once we realize that we're gonna be unstoppable like it's no stopping us for real it only really happens unlike an extreme circumstance but in everyday life like it doesn't happen and we need to be unified especially since honestly we're one of the main targets we gotta we gotta stick together because if something happens we can't all disperse yes we're trying to find each other on it right look at each other as the enemies it don't need to be the hunger game so that is all the questions that I have for you today I really do appreciate you coming and being on our podcast I had even though it was a little short I actually had a great time no me too I had so much fun this was my first podcast I enjoyed myself I want to be back as a guest again but I had a lot of fun and the topics were amazing like this is one of the things that I really like the most that I want to put on this podcast because again I've expressed it multiple times I love talking to people and learning about them and what they've been through and you guys will definitely see more of this so one last time give it up for Misha and thank you so much for being on this episode for having me thank you well everyone that is all the time that we have for this week but again it is Black History Month and I highly do encourage all of you to find what being black means to you and also talk to other people and ask them what being black means to them I love you guys please stay safe drink plenty of water eat all of your meals and we will talk again next week bye Streetle 67 is hosted by Indy Heath is created by the Hornets Union and is in affiliation with Alabama State University and we thank everybody that has helped make this podcast possible