The Pod: African Diaspora Edition

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. At least I hope you're coming back. But my name is Stephanie. I my culture is Hispanic. I work at the cross cultural center under the admin pod for newsletter and communication. And this is the last pod and we are going to be representing the African community for Black Family Day, which is this Saturday. But we'll talk about that later today. If you want to introduce yourself. Hi, my name is Candence. I am a name record studies major, as well as a history minor. I work with the Afro diaspora pod as a community coordinator. And yeah. Okay, cool. Alright, so again, two icebreakers, one's fun, one's more philosophical. But for the fun one is what is the best piece of advice that you've ever received? I think the best piece of advice I received was from my third grade teacher, Mrs. Calton. And basically, she said, if you don't learn history, we repeat it. And I feel like that's very true, especially right now. And we definitely haven't learned from a lot of history. So it's definitely important to repeat not to repeat it. Yeah. And that is a big lesson in history that you learn, or history repeats itself. Isn't that like a big, not motto, but like thing people say? Yeah, for sure. Especially but of course, in third grade, I was like, I don't know what that means. But especially as I get older, I understand it more and more. Nine year old you. Okay, philosophical question is, do you think humanity is progressing or declining? I think that is a very loaded question. Overall, I think in our minds that we're progressing, but we are declining, mostly because we aren't learning from our mistakes at all. You're kind of just again, like what Mrs. Calton said, we are going to repeat history if we don't learn it. And sadly, we are repeating over and over again, just with different individuals. And sadly, most of them aren't the same skin color as in the past. So we are definitely declining. But in many ideals, people think we're progressing just based on like, the growth of like AI and stuff like that. But for morality sake, we are definitely declining. Do you think the decline is short run or long run? Um, it's definitely long run. It will, I like will always decline if we just keep doing the same things over and over again and expect a different result, which is again, a part of the perfect example. And a sense of the stupidity is we just keep thinking that we're going to hopefully have a different answer. We'll do the exact same thing. Okay. I think I have a different twist on that. I do think humanity as itself has very down points. I think it's short run, hopefully. I mean, if it's long run, I don't know what's the point. Yeah. But I think like, actions are repeating themselves. But in terms of comparing today to decades ago, the way that people are responding to it today is more like they're not just following what somebody says versus decades ago, they were more compliant and more submissive. So I think our response to it has gotten slightly better, not completely better. But I do think slight improvement. But yeah, it shouldn't have repeated itself to the extent. Okay. So what and if you want to say your culture as well, did you mention that already? Oh, no. Um, I am African American, also native. Um, but yeah. Okay, cool. What's your favorite thing about your culture? You can do one about each culture or just one. I think my favorite thing about being African American and native is just the idea of our how much like our community tries to come together, especially with Black Family Day coming up. It first started as like a cookout and a barbecue. And it's crazy how it's like evolved over the years. And still, like, especially being black at UC Davis and native, there's not a lot of people that look like me. So it's just nice to see, actually, us come together and see that we are still here. In this fun, exciting space, instead of always having to like protest something or something, it being a negative reason to come together. Yeah, I will say, out of all of the signature events, I think that Black Family Day has the biggest following. And I was actually talking, so a couple points here. But first one is, um, this person emailed me and their teacher at Davis Senior High School. And we're just asking for like a updated flyer. And they attended the first ever Black Family Day as a kindergartner in 1970. So that was really cool. And then she's bringing her cousin along. And then she said that her late mother had, she signed something, I don't know what the actual form or declaration was. But like, she said, what are you like five? And yeah, all this time later, she's still coming and bringing people. So I think that's really cool. Yeah, for sure. When I came to Davis, I was very scared, especially. I saw the percentage of African American people at Davis. And sadly, it's very low. And if you definitely have to search for your people in your community. So it's just having this event is something like, yeah, they're, they're here. And you don't need to worry about being alone in that aspect. And it's always so nice to see like families and children enjoy their time. And know that like other generations will keep this event alive. Have you? Have you been to Black Family Day before? Before I was working here? Yeah. Um, actually, I wasn't, I didn't go to Black Family Day until I started working here, only because I didn't know about it. Okay. Do you think that we've done better in getting the word out there? I think for sure. Um, my I think my freshman year, I was, especially for freshmen in general, I remember it was just hard to just see the different events in general, because most of the events where you just like see a bunch of group of people in the quad, and you're like, I don't know what event this is, or I feel like I can be a part of it. I feel like this year, we've definitely tried to like, gain a lot of audiences and different audiences through like, TikToks, and different fun posters and stuff like that. And it just gave people like, a sense of like, oh, everyone can go to this event. So for sure. Just out of curiosity, because you mentioned your first year kind of struggling to find your community, how did you find the Cross Cultural Center? Um, I actually found the Cross Cultural Center, the first day was when I was touring Davis. And I never noticed it until I think, the middle of my freshman year, when I started looking into more resources, because I was starting to become a peer mentor in the beginning. And but at first, I remember like, because when you have your tour, you always stop by the Cross Cultural Center, because there's a bathroom right there. I saw it, I was like, oh, I wonder what this is. But at first, because I just decided, most people in my community do live on Black floor or second floor in Campbell. So I just decided against it. Because again, I wanted to like, kind of face the real world knowing that I will always be around my community. So I just had to find it myself. And I was glad I was able to see like, a couple Black people in some of my classes and some around campus. And it's just nice. But working at the Cross Cultural Center, it was nice to see us definitely come together as like, hardworking individuals. And seeing like, a bunch of Black people organize something great like Black Family Day. And I will say I've been to a couple of the events that your pod has hosted. And you do a really good job at bringing your community together. Thank you. All right. And then we've touched on this a couple times. But what signature event does African Diaspora pod host? Our signature event is Black Family Day, which is next Saturday from 12 to 8 in the quad. Unlike other signature events, we do have the full quad. So it's kind of more of a bigger event. We have performances, we have craft vendors, we have food vendors. Every age can come because we have a family fair, we have games, we have tug of war. And we have a big headline performer who is Bino. So we're really excited about that. And May 23rd, right? May 23rd? Yes. What time? It is 12 to 8. And then who can come? Anyone. And then price? Free. Always free. Oh, I see. Cool. And I will say that there are vendors and food vendors as well. Those ones you do have to pay if you want something from there. But events like there's Mechanical Bull to the War. There's also ACE, which is a part of the SRC, is also hosting games like Are You Smarter Than Gun Rock and Musical Chairs. Oh, really? Gun Rock's going to be there? Gun Rock will be there. And yeah, definitely just come, support, have fun. Again, it's fun. Any age can come and just enjoy. And we also have bounce houses, and you're never too old for a bounce house. So just come. No, definitely. I think I was in a bounce house last year. I was definitely every birthday party a bounce house kid. Yes, of course. Yes. Me too. Okay, what are you most excited about for this year's Black Friday? I think I'm most excited about is how many actually different craft vendors we had this year. Some of them are, I think one of them is like a custom press on nail booth. We have one. Even for like food vendors, we have a cotton candy food vendor this year. I don't know if any of you have seen the MU like hot dog cart man. Fire? Yeah, Firecraft. Oh, Firecraft. Yes, it is Firecraft. Yeah, he'll be there. So definitely, I'm just happy that everyone became more interested this year, and gave other people like African American people like an opportunity to like showcase their small businesses or bigger businesses. And they also have a lot of student performers coming out. And I'm really just happy everyone gave interest into our event for sure. Yeah. Okay, cool. And then what is the most interesting thing you've learned about African history? And then this doesn't have to be school related. So yeah. I think the most interesting thing I learned about African history was actually recently in one of my history classes. We started discussing more about slavery and how even when they were giving freedom, they found freedom in little things. So it's how interesting at the like around 1700, close to the end of slavery. They mostly started like getting more freedom when they started working in mines, which mines are obviously a terrible place to work, but it gave them freedom for when it came to money. And they were able to create brotherhoods, which is I saw again, connected to Black Family Day for sure. Like even when there are problems in the world, there's still a place where you can connect to be with your community. So I just thought that was really interesting. Okay, that's nice. And I really liked that because I know slavery is obviously a really bad thing and very negative and took way too long to abolish. But I like how they took that hope, the hope in the small things and like use it to keep going. And then next one would be what piece of literature or media do you feel that properly encapsulates your culture or both? I remember this book I read in second grade. It's called Sugar. And it was about this girl in slavery who ended up escaping. It was basically about slavery through a child's point of view. And the idea of like, it was just like based on confusion. And I kind of feel like that definitely encapsulates how our culture kind of reacts to certain things. As we do like kind of try to push out certain traumas just to get through the day. And I feel like, again, it's kind of like, because we're our inner child is again, still hiding from those inner like those traumas itself. So it was interesting to see like a child's point of view during that time. And then more recent I would say Sinners. Our pod actually had a recent like Sinners movie night. It was just, especially for the black community, it was just nice to see. It was kind of like a black superhero during that specific time period. And it was just something that you normally don't see for different cultures to come together and fight. What is Sinners about? So Sinners is basically with Beckleby Jordan. He is a twin. And it's basically they're creating a juke joint, which is like a jazz joint. And this is during the time after slavery, so like the reconstruction era. And this is when they started to become more free. But again, there's still like racist ideals and like sundown towns, which are when you have like a curfew itself. So during that time, they would not be able to basically come together. So the juke joint, they were able to come together and be free. But and then there's an Irish vampire, an Irish vampire that basically hears the song of Sammy, who is a preacher kid, and basically tries to take him because he wants to reach his ancestors too. Which connects to like, again, the Irish kind of went to something similar. But again, it's not like slavery, but it was something similar to like the colonization aspect. And especially, there's also native representation in it and the ideals of colonization. And again, I mean, against native issues. Yeah. But yeah, it's definitely a great movie for many different cultures. So you mentioned Sugar, which follows a child in slavery, right? There's a lot of articles, books, passages that you have to read in American history. So like Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Frederick Douglass, would you say there is anything either in the American curriculum or just anything that would like kind of mainstream popular, that does not properly encapsulate any history? Um, I think the way Uncle Tom's Cabin does encapsulate history in a different aspect. Does or doesn't? Does, in a different aspect. But in some ways, it still doesn't, because again, it's not a firsthand account, technically. It's still an outsider's perspective, but sadly, like a lot of mainstream American history is. Again, it was hard to find firsthand accounts during that time, especially how it was basically illegal for them to read or write. So finding firsthand accounts is hard. I think I feel like Frederick Douglass, that's like one of the couple accounts that we're like blessed to have, as it being a firsthand account. I know, especially when I was in school, teachers mainly used these books and stuff to kind of use, kind of as a free use to say a slur. I remember in school, they would say, basically the N word and just be like, oh, this is needed for to like encapsulate the curriculum. But honestly, it wasn't. But it was definitely something that I've noticed. I noticed a lot in school as I got older. And like being the only black kid, or like being one of two, we like always look at each other when that would happen. Or like the idealist, like everyone would look at you when you learn about slavery. They're just very different. But again, it was out there as perspective, and it's definitely like more of like, a guilt, like there's guilt there. But it's very confusing. Yeah, especially because your your mind is developing at this time. And you don't necessarily know the full history yourself. Like to have people kind of be like, this is what the history is. This is I know. So Frederick Douglass and Uncle Tom Kramen, that's my middle school, which for us is a long time ago. Yeah, I think one that's a little bit more recent. And I don't know if this is just my high school. I do know a couple other people from different high school who's done this. And I don't know if your high school did this. But did you read Born to Crime by Trevor Noah? We did it. Trevor. I really like that one. Because Trevor Noah is he's a comedian. Do you know who? Yes, I do. He's pretty. And I would say young. Yeah, he's pretty young. Yeah. And his book centers around his growing up in Africa and how apartheid, which I believe was abolished during his childhood. Like when he was born, he was born a crime because his father was Caucasian and his mother was African. And for them to be together, it was illegal. So he always had to kind of like, hide or like not necessarily. But like, take belonging with his father, because then his father would end up in jail. But that's in Africa and very recent considering Trevor Noah is popular now as a comedian and young. So there's more recent things. And I think it's really important to be like, everything that happened is not necessarily old, and not necessarily fully gone. Yeah, for sure. I think one of the things when talking about slavery and segregation and aspects like that, people are always like, Oh, it was a long time ago, or like, you should forget it, or that wasn't a part of your generation. So why do you care? Because there's always lasting effects, even if you don't see those lasting effects, especially when it comes to policing. Now, police policing actually started as first like from slave catchers. So again, there's like past trauma from that. So in the jailing itself, instead, like they would jail slaves, like past slaves, because again, slavery was over, but there's still racism. So of course, even Yes, I wasn't there for slavery itself. But still, my ancestors were there. And I still have to deal with those issues. As I move past. Yeah. And there's also a very big thing of kind of like, if you have a parent who went to college, college tends to be a lot easier for you. You know, you have someone to talk to someone and then obviously, like going back from one generation to not being allowed to go to college or not even being allowed to learn how to read and write. So it's you're already starting at a point that is behind other people, which affects you directly, essentially, I know, especially for minorities, I think I was lucky and blessed that my parents were able to go to college. But again, being a minority, you type, you definitely have to work 10 times harder, especially when it gets to comes to colleges and going to college itself. So I especially respect people who are first generation that aspect. And even people who did like, have parents who went to college, I know it's always different, especially if you have older parents, on the college system has definitely changed. And especially the government has sadly affected a lot of the things and principles they had back then. So again, it's especially education is always a difficult challenge when it comes for different minorities, for sure. What would you because it's not necessarily a thing, you can just trust the source in terms of education, or like, what would you advise people if they want to learn about African history, what resources where to go? I think, um, events like Black Family Day are the best place to do it. I'm talking to people, building your community is where you actually learn the history. And like, the history is not always just do a story. It's like to last through music, through movies, you can watch. So just being around your community is how you basically combat that history. But at the same time, think about it while you are with these people. And you are blessed to be around those people without having to be scared. And think about the people who fought for that and that ideal. So there always will again, like you said, that sources are not always perfect. But the best thing and best ideas can always come from people. Yeah. Okay. And then I know there's a lot of intersectionality. And you've done a really good job dealing with that. And you did lavender lattes with Johanna earlier this year, right? Yes, I did. What intersectionality is that? Um, so I am also bisexual, and I'm part of the LGBT community, especially when it comes to being a minority and that there's a lot of, again, religious background in minorities. And there's also a lot of like, fear. Again, that also stems from fear from just being different, more different than you already are, of course. I definitely focus on doing lavender lattes with Johanna just to give people a space where they felt comfortable. I focus on mainly queer femmes of color, especially being a femme of color. A lot of families don't consider you. Even if they do accept you being gay, it's kind of confusing because you're not dressing what they think being gay looks like, or what they believe that you should be dressing like or look like in the ideal. So again, I know even with my family specifically, I had to deal with being interested in people who are like more masculine presenting and they would ask questions like, Oh, why? Why can't you just be with someone who's a male or something like that? So again, we want to focus on like, those ideals, because they aren't really considered as much, especially when they're discussing pride. It's more focused on people who look what they believe is gay. And then kind of tagging on top of that, but you've hosted a lot of events, actually. Which one would you say is your favorite or the favorite one that you've been to? I think the event I'm hosting in June right now is going to be my favorite event. It's basically called the Crown Experience. And students will basically be able from different diasporas, no matter if you're African American, Hispanic, or any diaspora, they basically focus on the love of curly hair. I know especially with minorities, there's a lot of people who are very interested in straight hair. I know like, even for my parents for graduation, they're like, Oh, you have to straighten your hair. So I just want people to feel comfortable in themselves. So they're able to basically have workshops and like, learn how to do your curly hair and have photo booths, and just take pictures and be proud of yourself and how you look. Yeah, which I will say, I think personally, what makes somebody most beautiful is when they're genuinely smiling and being their natural self. Yeah. Okay, I had a question that I forgot what I was gonna say. So, oh, yeah. Do you want to plug that event? Oh, yeah. What day, what time? My event is June 4th on a Thursday. It is in the Student Community Center, meeting room D, and it's 530 to 830. So definitely come out. And you don't have to be there the whole time, of course, but just come, you can get free hair products, and there'll be a raffle later on. Oh, cool. You always do raffles at the event. So cool. I feel like that's definitely something as a college student, you're like, yes. For sure. And then what's your favorite food from your culture? And is this food going to be there at Black Family? My favorite food is gumbo, which is basically a seafood stew. And it started as basically, so like during slavery and segregation, slaves were mostly given scraps, and they would have to basically make something out of it. So the stew was just full of like chicken, like chicken, random chicken scraps and shrimp and stuff like that, and like sausages. So it's basically a mix of different things. And it stems from being part of like the Creole aspect. So a mix of being native French and Black. So it's just like a big seafood stew, and it's really good. But at Black Family Day, I doubt it because it will be very hot. So I don't know if you want a stew itself. But instead, we have some more cooler foods like barbecue and more soul food, I would say. Okay. Since the Black Family Day, it's once a year, what other places, and it doesn't have to necessarily be on campus, but like restaurants that you would say like, this is some good food from my culture? I would say one of the best ones that our closest one is Fix's. It's in Sacramento. And it's very home-like, the food. They have like big jugs of Kool-Aid you can get, and there's fried chicken with waffles, and then you get mac and cheese, and you actually can get gumbo there. It's very affordable also for students. I know, especially me, it's very hard for minorities to find like good like home-cooked meals, especially if you're far from home. So I would think it's pretty similar to that. And if you are in like Southern California, there's also Roscoe's, which is really good. It's been around for I think almost like 70 years or something like that. And it's really good. They have actually an Obama plate, because Obama went there, and it has like fried chicken and waffles with it. But it's really good if you're close to LA. Obama plate, as in they made a food that he can't touch him, or his physical plate that he touched? No. It's basically like what he ordered that time, and they named it after him. Oh, that's cool. And then what other places on campus, where are other places on campus where students can find Black community? For sure, you can always find them in CADS, which is by the silo under the, on top of the craft center, or where the craft center is. It's close to the food trucks, so you can always get food and then stop by there. It's nice. It has a lot of resources. Anyone can go always, and they have couches if you want to take naps, so I definitely recommend. Also board games if you want to have fun with your friends. You also can find them at ACE, which is Coastal Arts Center, the cross-cultural center, and it's in the SRC, downstairs of the student community center. And you can always find Black community at the cross-cultural center. What does CADS and ACE stand for? CADS, well, I'll start with ACE. Well, ACE is like African Center of Retention, I think, Extension, or something like that. I forget what it's called. Something like that. But it's basically about, it's a retention center of just like, it's a part of the retention center, so both of the SRCs split up into different pods itself. So, I think it's nice. And then CADS is like Center of African American Diasporas. Yeah, something like that. And, yeah, it's another one. It's close to like, the Nest or like, El Centro, just for the Black community. But, of course, like every other center, they're always open to everyone else, and they also have free food there, so definitely go. Cool. And then, any other thought, comments, concerns? I don't think so. Cool. Okay, well, thank you so much for coming. I really appreciate it. And then, again, plug Black Family Day and your, you said Crown Experience, the Crown Experience? Yes. Okay, everyone come to Black Family Day this Saturday, May 23rd at 12 to 8 in the quad, the whole quad itself. And then the Crown Experience, June 4th, Thursday, 530 to 830 in the SRC meeting room D. Okay, yes, we hope to see you all there. Again, everybody and anybody is welcome. Both events are free. They have performers, or the Black Family Day has performers and vendors, food vendors, games. Bring your kids, bring your grandparents, May 23rd, Saturday, 12 to 8 p.m. at the quad, both quads. Very special as well. But, yeah, thank you so much to Candance for coming. I really appreciate your insight on the culture and your responses. Thank you for having me. Okay, so, bye-bye, everybody.