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Hello. Today is May 18th. We are here at Africa on the Avenue. And to start, could you tell me your name? My name is Courtney Hester-Green. Courtney, it's nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Could you tell me a little bit about yourself? I was born at Providence Hospital in Northeast Washington, D.C.. I grew up in Prince George's County, Maryland, and I went to school in Montgomery County as a—as a commuter.

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And what brought you out to this event today? Interest in reconnecting with my roots, as well as with the community for its own value, as well as for the value of sharing the message about the Poor People's Campaign. And could you tell us a little bit about the Poor People's Campaign? The Poor People's Campaign is a nonprofit started in 1968, where the mission was to re-empower, re—enchant those who experience violations of their human rights because of unequal distribution of wealth.

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And how long have you been a part of that for? For about, uh, five and a half months. Okay. And what got you interested in working with the Poor People's Campaign? The connection through Hip Hop Congress? Uh, I volunteer for Hip Hop Congress, which is a national 501(c)(3) with various chapters around the country, and that—their mission is to advocate for human rights through the use of hip hop in, uh, education, in community activiti—general community activism through uh artists, uh aid, and through any other way that hip hop can be used, that that social activism can be used to promote human rights.

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Um, let's see. What are some ways that you foster a relationship with your community? I foster a relationship with my community through valuing conversation. Just casual conversation when, uh, when out in public, as well as my job, which is—my current job, which is a food justice coordinator for the Ward Six mutual aid chapter run by Serve Your City, which is a local nonprofit that, uh, mainly does tutoring for children, but also emergency, uh, means distribution, food and and other supply distribution, uh, to the community. Awesome. And you said that one of the reasons why you're out here today is kind of just to reconnect with the culture. Is there any specific part of the culture that you carry with you, no matter where it is that you go. The habits and, uh, mannerisms with which I was raised that I found out in academia were anthropologically traced back to Africa. So I grew up, for example, uh, with a tradition of of cleaning up our house and doing all our laundry before the, the new year, for example. It turns out that's, uh, that was a Caribbean tradition. That's that's currently a Caribbean tradition. And I believe that that, uh, influence came from a tradition from a particular culture in Africa. I don't know which one. For example, but that's, um, and having habits like that, rules like that for myself, with which I grew up, as well as, uh, having been raised on soul food and being taught the first recipes I was taught were soul food. And so that the history behind that, the methods of cooking, the kinds of of spices that we use, even with local vegetables, local fruit, vegetables, meats, um, that are substituted into those same recipes. Um, I understand from anthropologists that that's also connected to our, our diaspora, our African diasporic roots. Um, there are other ways that, uh, habits that I have in my everyday life that also come from that, that I may or may not be conscious of, either in the moment or in general. That. Stay with me no matter what.

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Is there a specific food that you would consider to be your favorite? Candied yams. That's a good one. Thank you. Thank you. I love to make them like my grandmother did. I'm still mastering that recipe.

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How did she make them? If I'm at liberty to tell. [laughs] She would—she made them in sort of a a sweet roux. Um, not with with flour, but with, uh, the sweet additions such as sugar, or honey or syrup. Um, along with, uh, spices, like, for example, pumpkin pie spices or example or something of the sort, as well as some fruit flavorings, which I may or may not be allowed to repeat, lest one of my family members sees this. All righty. Um, that's all the questions that I have. Is there anything that you would like to touch on that I didn't ask you? Yes, absolutely. There is a campaign that remains in order to maintain division of of classes, division of social, uh, groups and heritage groups that disenchants us, and that robs us collectively. It robs everybody of their power. Um, namely fascism. And the more we disenchant fascists and the more we debunk that belief system, the more power those of us of the entire diaspora will have.

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Awesome. Perfect. Well, thank you for taking the time to do this. Thank you so much for having me. And I do consent to the the recording. Oh I forgot. I'm sorry. It's okay.