Quess, local New Orleans poet, Interview with Nora Maria Fuller

17 minutes

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia... all thirteen states participate in "The Confederate Flag, A Belated Burial 2015" an art and education based effort by John C Sims to create a conversation around the harmful effects of ongoing psychological terrorism in Black communities, especially in the South, and to turn that conversation to action to combat these effects. Symbols like the confederate flag, statues to racist "heros" and other such traumatic imagery can be found all over the American South reminding us of America's continued legacy of state sanctioned violence and psychological terrorism in Black communities. In a time wrought with issues of state sanctioned physical violence leading to the #blacklivesmatter and #BlackSpring movements, this project aims to show how the racist legacy of the United States is maintained in part through the normalization of racist systems that sustain conditions for white supremacy to flourish.

In this peace Nora Maria Fuller interviews Quess, local New Orleans poet and member of the New Orleans Chapter of Black Youth Project 100, who talks about organizing this event in Louisiana. Quess will perform his poetry, accompanied also with music by Mario Abney and Troy Sawyer band at 12pm: Burial at Lee Circle, followed by a second line to Ashe Cultural Center on O C Haley Blvd. Then at 2pm by a Panel Discussion with Malcolm Suber and Leon Waters, activist and historian who offer tours of New Orleans that uncover the hidden history around New Orleans and who acted and organized to change school names and road names that had been named after confederate generals. Discussion also about the organization of the event to physically center the #BlackLivesMatter movement: New Orleans BYP100 [See the main event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/633852266714457/] ask that white allies stand in solidarity with people of color as we denounce white supremacy together. During the flag burial, white folks are invited to circle the outside of the gathering, to physically center Black people and people of color (the leaders of this event and this movement), and to provide a physical barrier between people of color and any police presence. This is a non-violent and lawful event, and no arrests are expected. That said, given the state sanctioned physical violence targeting Black communities, white folks are asked to make the statement of putting our bodies between the police and the people of color who will be present to demonstrate.