Guardians of the Flame
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
GUARDIANS OF THE FLAME is the product of some 17 years, begun on a visit to post-Katrina New Orleans in 2006 by Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme and writer Daniel Wolff. Their visits continued, 4-times-a-year, for the next six years. After Demme's death, in 2017, Wolff, Demme's son Brooklyn, and a film crew returned to New Orleans in 2019 to bring the project up to date. The desire to finish this project and the persistence to do so comes from the Harrison family's inspirational work in what Cherice Harrison-Nelson calls "self-emancipation." Long before Katrina and in the years since, the Harrisons have forged cultural weapons to resist racism and oppression both locally and on a national scale. As this film documents, their tools include music, beading, masking, literacy, and community building. Whether handing out books to pre-schoolers, being nominated for Grammys, making films, or sewing elaborate ceremonial clothing, the Harrisons have kept their eyes on the prize. GUARDIANS OF THE FLAME offers a decade-and-a-half overview of one family's trials and eventual triumph.
Matthew Seig | NY Foundation For the Arts
"The art and music highlighted in Guardians of the Flame is spectacular; even more so, the story being told. It's about the power of art and the role of artists in building communities that reflect the traditions and aspirations of those who live in them. Not only will it make you want to live in such a community, it will inspire you to help create one."
Tina Vasquez | Emerging Equity
“It is rare to be invited into the deeper layers that bind a community of people together. Guardians of the Flame allows us to sit in on one extraordinary family and - while we relish the most joyous and beautiful expressions of rhythm, color and artistry - to ponder what we safeguard and what legacy we are building. While no film may ever be able to encapsulate a whole people’s culture, Guardians conveys what can be with reverence and importance.”
Citation
Main credits
Demme, Jonathan (film producer)
Wolff, Daniel (film director)
Demme, Brooklyn (film producer)
Yassky, Bonnie Elder (film producer)
Other credits
Cinematography, Jonathan Demme; editor, Marta Renzi.
Distributor subjects
Mardi Gras; Jazz; African-American Self-Emancipation; Community Literacy; Power of Family; Beading as a Cultural ArtKeywords
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Ready?
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Mighty cooty fiyo!
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Indian Red
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Indian Red
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I’m Herreast Harrison
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wife of the late
Big Chief Donald Harrison, Sr.
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And I'm welcoming you
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to my new home.
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And if you're interested in how
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I came about having this new home,
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it is due mainly to Hurricane Katrina.
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To that storm
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I owe the fact that I no longer have
a permanent residence.
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It was
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destroyed
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after the storm, really by floodwaters.
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I don't even know of any of my friends.
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you know,
that lives were lost in the storm.
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So for me, the reality
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- and I guess
it's like a death too -
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were the cultural things,
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because most of these things were handmade.
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with love and care.
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Where my people were brought from,
they did it orally.
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You know,
maybe it wasn't written.
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But I was like, okay, I'm
gonna leave some things.
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I’m gonna leave these quilts
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I’m gonna leave these beaded pieces
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I’m gonna leave all this paper,
all these magazine articles...
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All of this. These are the contributions,
you know,. Lost all of that.
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But all I have left
now is the house, the frame.
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I'll put it back together
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because all my memories are here
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of a life with the Big Chief
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Donald Harrison, Sr.
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What a man.
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Quite a man.
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And I miss him so.
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My husband was involved
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in a tradition here in New Orleans
called the Masking Tradition.
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as Native Americans.
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The media
has dubbed it Mardi Gras Indians.
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I'm opposed to that term,
but sometimes it used just to be able
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to have people understand
that these men come out on Mardi Gras.
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But it's it really was a freedom movement
just to involve themselves
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in their African-ness.
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I started what’s called Guardians Institute
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And it will be
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to promote education
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about culture and to be of service,
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I hope, to the men that still practice
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keeping this tradition alive.
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I'm already committed to children.
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But in the aftermath of Katrina,
everything takes on a new sense of urgency
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and anything that you can do for children
to provide some sense of what the world
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was like and normalcy, you have to do
it if you don't is criminal.
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So, anyway,
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that's my little philosophy on kids.
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I think it's incumbent upon us as adults
to make sure we actively work
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to give our children more than this.
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This can't be our legacy to our children.
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If the elders are displaced
or the elders are traumatized,
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their bodies are physically traumatized
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and they can't carry on those traditions
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and the children are not here,
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our traditions will die out
in two generations or less.
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Because there's really no one to carry it on.
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By being in this black plastic bag.
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It was saved. My nephew
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Johnny Booker wore this
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and he was Donald’s Wild Man.
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When they masqueraded in the neighborhood,
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they brought beauty, eloquence,
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power to the people in the neighborhood.
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What these men really had done
was to retain all
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those African elements
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right in plain view
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of people who said,
“you cannot have anything African
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going on here.”
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They used that relationship
with an indigenous people,
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crossed it all up and did their thing.
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It survived
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in the top of a closet. That’s Donald Junior.
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Yeah, it works a little bit.
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You know to lose your home
or the home that you were raised in
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is a horrific thing.
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And I'm glad that my mother decided
to come home and put it back together.
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And I know she wants to
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put a museum here ,
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and do different things.
A community center to help people.
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You know, my parents have always been
those kind of people.
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Very, very helpful.
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Our house was like the library.
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Before Internet, before all of that
technology was available to us,
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we had
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at least three sets of encyclopedias,
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seven language
dictionaries, everything,
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all sorts of reference books.
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People would come over
to do their homework where we were.
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The house had a mood.
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It had a vibe.
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I can remember I asked my son,
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are you sad that we live in the Ninth Ward
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because all his friends have
these big fancy houses and stuff?
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And he said, “No, it's like because that's
why they like to come down here,
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because what's going on in
their houses is not what happens here.
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We talk.
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We have these rap sessions,
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listen to music.
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It was more cerebral than
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playing video games and watching MTV.
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They were there until they went off to
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New York,
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Kiel the Cooper Union
and for Christian
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Berklee College of Music in Boston.
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I just graduated from art school,
from Cooper Union.
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So I was doing
fine arts photography and video stuff,
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and now I'm looking into trying
to go to grad school for film. So
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that's the plan.
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We'll see how it works out.
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Play that tambourine, mate.
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Ooo nah nay
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Ooo nah nay
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Ooo nah nay
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Ooo nah nay
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Ooo nah nay
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Here comes the boy
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early in the morning
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Here come the Big Chief,
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go send the warning.
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Down by the bayou
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Shoot that fiyo
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Down by the river
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Stand and deliver
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There was a little bitty boy
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with a heart of steel
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Said he would not bow
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Said he would not kneel.
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He met everybody
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He’s a hundred and one
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Met everybody
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Let ‘em come now.
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Oo nah nay.
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Well, the first thing I did was buy a gun
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because
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we were
basically the only ones on the block.
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So it's like, protect yourself,
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you know?
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So, I mean, I seen it all.
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I drove around the whole city,
Lakeview and Chalmette, everywhere.
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I wanted to see the devastation,
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but just living in it,
driving in it every day
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is depressing
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because you just look at it
and it's like that’s somebody’s life.
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Look at that.
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Where are these people?
Are they coming back?
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These are the things that
you're thinking about.
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Before the hurricane I was going to build
a house here with a studio
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and an office, and then I lost my day job.
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But then when you lose your job, of
course, nobody wants to give you a loan.
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So the musician's village
is going to be two blocks up.
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And they accept people who are artists.
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They accept that as a valid form of income.
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So I'll be able to get a house there.
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Do you work for Habitat? No, okay.
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The heat, the humidity,
dirt under your feet.
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I feel like I'm in a village in West Africa.
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This is going to be my house.
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Wait, this is your house? Yeah. Awesome.
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I’m Gil.
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Thank you for working on my house.
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Thank you for letting us work on your house.
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So you’re an artist?
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I’m a Mardi Gras Indian.
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You’re ... I'm sorry?
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A Mardi Gras Indian.
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What does that mean?
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Oh, well here. If you come Sunday...
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Once you see it, you’ll be changed forever.
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I think there's a
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certain sadness that I hear
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after living through Katrina.
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I really can hear the difference
in what I'm living
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and the music that I play.
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A certain ...
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... melancholy.
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Before I experienced Katrina,
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I always said I would do my best to
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work hard and
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achieve whatever I was put here to do.
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But after Katrina, it's even deepened.
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it's depressing for me
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because I get calls, on an average maybe
ten a week, from Mardi Gras Indians,
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social and pleasure club members,
brass band musicians
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looking for affordable housing.
00:11:24.383 --> 00:11:27.086
And there's nothing I can do to help.
00:11:29.255 --> 00:11:31.957
I helped a lot of them
fill out applications for Habitat,
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Some of them have major credit issues.
00:11:34.727 --> 00:11:39.131
Creative people live creatively
in the way they pay their bills also.
00:11:40.332 --> 00:11:42.501
It's a reality for many people.
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And you can't make qualitative judgments.
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“They go out there and they parade and
they spend 25 hundred dollars on a pair ...
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an outfit to wear for one day.”
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Basically that might be their Prozac.
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That might be what they
need to go and work at a ...
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basically ...
00:12:06.826 --> 00:12:11.430
... boring, unfulfilling job every day
00:12:11.797 --> 00:12:16.302
is to be in that community on that
one day in a parade or in an Indian suit.
00:12:16.302 --> 00:12:18.003
And people sometimes make that judgment:
00:12:18.003 --> 00:12:23.008
“Well, they spend thousands of dollars
on an Indian suit.”
00:12:23.008 --> 00:12:25.277
You don't understand
why they necessarily need to do that.
00:12:25.544 --> 00:12:27.213
You need to do it
for a number of reasons.
00:12:27.813 --> 00:12:30.583
It may be spiritual fulfillment
you're doing it for.
00:12:30.583 --> 00:12:33.385
But it also may serve
00:12:33.419 --> 00:12:35.521
other purposes
00:12:35.755 --> 00:12:37.256
for you.
00:12:38.758 --> 00:12:42.228
And I know for me it can be my Prozac.
00:12:42.228 --> 00:12:43.229
It really can.
00:12:43.229 --> 00:12:45.297
Making an Indian suit
can definitely be my Prozac.
00:12:46.165 --> 00:12:49.969
If it's very difficult living here now.
It's very, very difficult.
00:12:49.969 --> 00:12:52.204
You just start crying at the drop of a hat.
00:12:53.939 --> 00:12:56.175
It's overwhelming.
00:12:56.175 --> 00:13:01.046
You try to laugh it off,
but it's not really funny.
00:13:01.046 --> 00:13:02.181
It's not.
00:13:03.215 --> 00:13:04.717
It's not.
00:13:05.818 --> 00:13:07.920
Everything you try to do is like:
00:13:07.920 --> 00:13:11.223
bang, a wall.
Talk to FEMA, people hang up in your face.
00:13:12.925 --> 00:13:16.829
FEMA's like a governmental terrorist
00:13:16.829 --> 00:13:21.167
organization. Psychological terrorism.
00:13:22.501 --> 00:13:25.037
No matter what you do,
it's always a wall.
00:13:25.037 --> 00:13:25.704
Nothing is easy.
00:13:26.672 --> 00:13:27.373
Nothing.
00:13:27.773 --> 00:13:29.675
When I tell you nothing is easy. Nothing.
00:13:36.048 --> 00:13:37.383
I love this city, man.
00:13:37.383 --> 00:13:39.285
I live in New York now.
00:13:39.285 --> 00:13:40.853
I don't know that lady, you know,
00:13:40.853 --> 00:13:43.355
But she not going to pass me
and not speak.
00:13:43.489 --> 00:13:48.394
It really wasn't my experience
here that men weren't around.
00:13:48.394 --> 00:13:51.864
They were.
But just culturally were matriarchal.
00:13:51.864 --> 00:13:53.132
And it makes me happy to know
00:13:53.132 --> 00:13:56.969
that the grandmothers are coming back.
Because they're sweet women and
00:13:56.969 --> 00:14:01.440
you meet people from that age bracket
and they've seen a lot of ugly.
00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:04.276
And for them to still be able
to retain that type of hope
00:14:04.276 --> 00:14:08.581
and sincerity and love
for their neighbors is really cool, man.
00:14:09.381 --> 00:14:12.651
And my grandmother won't even duck.
Like people will be shooting and stuff
00:14:12.651 --> 00:14:16.088
and she'll just continue cooking, which,
to be honest with you
00:14:16.088 --> 00:14:18.557
has always
kind of scared the shit out of me.
00:14:19.124 --> 00:14:20.426
It's like, why is she not ...
00:14:20.426 --> 00:14:20.993
You know what I mean?
00:14:20.993 --> 00:14:23.562
It's not cool to be used
to that type of stuff, you know?
00:14:23.562 --> 00:14:26.765
But yeah, she would always just continue
what she was doing.
00:14:26.832 --> 00:14:30.536
She was always like the old lady
that would look out the window.
00:14:30.536 --> 00:14:33.005
We were like,
“Get down. Like, what are you doing?”
00:14:33.572 --> 00:14:35.407
I mean, if someone's shooting,
00:14:36.575 --> 00:14:40.079
you know, those bullets
00:14:40.312 --> 00:14:45.351
don't have any regard
for the right target.
00:14:45.784 --> 00:14:48.254
If they're flying through the air.
They'll get anybody:
00:14:49.255 --> 00:14:52.191
Me, an old lady sitting on my porch,
or standing out
00:14:52.191 --> 00:14:54.493
or coming out to get in my car.
Or even in bed.
00:14:55.261 --> 00:14:57.930
People have been killed in bed
in their own houses.
00:14:58.597 --> 00:15:01.901
Children have been killed in their homes
here in this city.
00:15:02.401 --> 00:15:03.736
It's just awful.
00:15:03.736 --> 00:15:08.340
And all Katrina did was to expose
some of the things that are happening here:
00:15:08.340 --> 00:15:12.511
the sharecropper type education
the children are getting
00:15:12.945 --> 00:15:14.313
just to
00:15:15.481 --> 00:15:18.417
guide them and herd them
into those low-paying
00:15:19.018 --> 00:15:21.487
tourist-oriented jobs, low-paying jobs
00:15:21.487 --> 00:15:24.790
that no one could take care of themselves.
00:15:24.790 --> 00:15:26.392
in this job market.
00:15:35.134 --> 00:15:40.773
So we're back at the Harrison house.
00:15:41.473 --> 00:15:43.709
And we have two trailers on site.
00:15:44.343 --> 00:15:46.745
Such posh living
00:15:48.347 --> 00:15:50.883
Such a posh existence.
00:15:53.285 --> 00:15:56.455
[voices from inside the house]
00:15:57.790 --> 00:15:59.692
This is my son.
00:15:59.692 --> 00:16:03.929
He went to tape the National Guard.
00:16:05.197 --> 00:16:08.467
Well, I mean, there is a presence.
00:16:08.801 --> 00:16:11.537
But every time I've seen them, they've had ...
00:16:12.504 --> 00:16:14.106
... African-American males ...
00:16:14.106 --> 00:16:15.674
... you know, um ....
00:16:19.111 --> 00:16:20.546
Had them?
00:16:20.546 --> 00:16:22.047
Yeah, had them ...
00:16:22.514 --> 00:16:24.016
Jacked up.
00:16:28.854 --> 00:16:31.256
That's the reality
of living in New Orleans right now, that ...
00:16:31.724 --> 00:16:33.826
That was my reality before.
00:16:33.859 --> 00:16:35.260
Before Katrina.
00:16:35.260 --> 00:16:37.096
It is true, and it's any urban area.
00:16:37.096 --> 00:16:38.230
But, you know, it’s like you can’t ...
00:16:38.230 --> 00:16:39.398
It’s elevated.
00:16:39.465 --> 00:16:41.600
It's like you don't even change a lane
without a blinker.
00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:44.770
You don't give them any reason at all.
00:16:44.770 --> 00:16:47.673
Not that that would stop them,
but don't give them any.
00:16:49.141 --> 00:16:50.275
It seems like New Orleans
00:16:50.275 --> 00:16:53.212
is going to hell in a hand-basket, huh?
00:16:54.113 --> 00:16:59.018
More jails, different kind of laws,
00:16:59.018 --> 00:17:02.187
to be able to make sure
that these people
00:17:02.187 --> 00:17:04.323
are sentenced to
00:17:05.190 --> 00:17:07.226
longer sentences and
00:17:08.627 --> 00:17:12.664
more policemen on the force, different
00:17:13.032 --> 00:17:16.935
policing techniques, everything to deal
with putting them in jail.
00:17:19.271 --> 00:17:22.307
Don’t you have any other innovative ideas
00:17:22.307 --> 00:17:27.579
about what to do for this
major national problem?
00:17:27.579 --> 00:17:31.183
I said: I don't have the whole answer.
I just have the answer for me.
00:17:31.583 --> 00:17:35.854
and that's to to do something
in the community that would engage
00:17:35.854 --> 00:17:38.157
a few kids in my community.
00:17:38.190 --> 00:17:39.358
And a woman -
00:17:39.691 --> 00:17:42.961
- she operated daycare centers,
nursery schools,
00:17:43.662 --> 00:17:46.031
She and I, back from the ‘60’s forward
00:17:46.932 --> 00:17:49.201
and she told the story about
00:17:49.334 --> 00:17:53.505
I think it’s the starfish?
About the woman picking the starfish up
00:17:53.505 --> 00:17:56.542
on the shore and throwing them
back into the ocean.?
00:17:56.542 --> 00:17:58.277
And someone asked:
00:17:58.277 --> 00:18:01.747
“What good is that, to pick up one at a time
and throw it back into the ocean?”
00:18:02.247 --> 00:18:05.617
And she said: “Well,
it made a difference to that one!”
00:18:22.634 --> 00:18:24.803
Oh, that’s Cherice now.
00:18:30.809 --> 00:18:32.611
Oh, mom, that might be the people.
00:18:33.812 --> 00:18:38.717
[phone rings]
00:18:43.989 --> 00:18:46.125
Oh, that was somebody else.
00:18:47.259 --> 00:18:50.229
Shame on her, she didn't come.
00:18:57.503 --> 00:18:58.170
G’morning!
00:18:58.837 --> 00:19:00.706
Good morning. Hi, how are you?
00:19:05.210 --> 00:19:08.347
Well, we didn't know we were doing this
yesterday at this time.
00:19:09.148 --> 00:19:12.117
The NBA called at 9:15
00:19:12.618 --> 00:19:14.786
and asked to arrange
00:19:14.786 --> 00:19:17.055
something for two players from the Rockets
00:19:17.489 --> 00:19:21.059
to participate
in a reading activity at the school.
00:19:21.226 --> 00:19:25.998
I'm actually going to the school
- the principal who kind of mentored me,
00:19:26.265 --> 00:19:28.901
that was my principal
for 20 years - Rosalind Smith.
00:19:29.401 --> 00:19:33.772
And she embraced bringing indigenous
cultural traditions into the school.
00:19:33.772 --> 00:19:36.975
So, God,
00:19:37.409 --> 00:19:40.245
in her wisdom,
00:19:42.114 --> 00:19:43.382
Not his.
00:19:44.983 --> 00:19:47.052
Made it all fall together
00:19:47.052 --> 00:19:49.421
in less than 24 hours.
00:20:06.638 --> 00:20:08.807
I’m the Big Chief.
00:20:10.108 --> 00:20:12.811
right on that line.
00:20:15.948 --> 00:20:17.249
And a period.
00:20:18.217 --> 00:20:20.953
I'm supposed to be playing “What
a Wonderful World”,
00:20:20.953 --> 00:20:22.221
which should be cool.
00:20:23.455 --> 00:20:26.024
I haven't played the song
since I was probably
00:20:26.291 --> 00:20:27.960
a little bit older than them.
00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:30.829
Should be cool.
We’ll see how it goes.
00:20:31.430 --> 00:20:33.732
“I've seen Trees of green ...
00:20:33.732 --> 00:20:36.068
red roses too.
00:20:43.108 --> 00:20:45.310
I watched them grow.
00:20:45.811 --> 00:20:49.481
They learned so much more than I’ll ever know.
00:20:52.751 --> 00:20:55.287
And I think to myself,
00:20:55.287 --> 00:21:00.025
what a wonderful world.
00:21:02.394 --> 00:21:03.962
And then lastly
00:21:03.962 --> 00:21:06.198
The first family, that's what I call them.
00:21:06.598 --> 00:21:09.801
Mrs. Herreast Harrison
00:21:09.801 --> 00:21:12.871
Christian Scott ...
Cherice Nelson
00:21:12.871 --> 00:21:15.374
We're glad that Donald’s here because
00:21:15.374 --> 00:21:19.144
he travels all over the world.
Christian’s right there with him now,
00:21:19.144 --> 00:21:20.879
following those footsteps.
00:21:20.879 --> 00:21:25.651
We want to take advantage of what
this whole family is doing and give back.
00:21:25.951 --> 00:21:29.855
So please join me
in the last rousing warm applause
00:21:30.188 --> 00:21:33.225
for the whole family who has shown us
00:21:33.525 --> 00:21:34.793
how to give back.
00:21:34.793 --> 00:21:37.963
Thank you so much.
00:22:35.454 --> 00:22:36.822
Reading and
00:22:38.323 --> 00:22:40.659
literacy is is one of the
00:22:43.595 --> 00:22:46.264
most paramount challenges
00:22:46.264 --> 00:22:50.335
that our people have had to deal with
for a very long time.
00:22:50.969 --> 00:22:54.639
And it's something that for generations
we weren't allowed to do.
00:22:55.140 --> 00:22:57.242
So since you are allowed to do it now,
00:22:57.743 --> 00:23:00.545
it's up to your generation to fix some
00:23:00.545 --> 00:23:02.581
of these problems that we’ve had in the past.
00:23:02.581 --> 00:23:05.751
So I beg you guys to read.
00:23:06.284 --> 00:23:08.520
Just like the Big Chief said.
00:23:40.118 --> 00:23:44.089
I used to love to run in the wildflowers
00:23:44.456 --> 00:23:47.759
when I was young
and to suck the honeysuckles.
00:23:47.793 --> 00:23:50.796
You know, when you pull them apart
their little tips are sweet.
00:23:51.563 --> 00:23:54.366
I came from a one-horse town.
00:23:54.533 --> 00:23:56.401
If you blink, you know, you missed it.
00:23:56.401 --> 00:23:58.904
They would call you “Auntie”.
“Auntie.”
00:23:59.971 --> 00:24:02.874
Or “Susie.”
Out of your name.
00:24:03.508 --> 00:24:06.111
All little African-American children were “Auntie”.
00:24:06.378 --> 00:24:08.547
We knew that wasn't our name.
00:24:08.547 --> 00:24:10.015
So we would say that's not our name.
00:24:11.049 --> 00:24:13.919
But we would do a little cussing with it.
00:24:13.919 --> 00:24:15.487
“My name is not Auntie!”
00:24:18.523 --> 00:24:20.625
It’s a wonder we didn't get strung up.
00:24:20.625 --> 00:24:24.663
Two little kids. Like the pictures
in Jackson, at Jackson State.
00:24:24.729 --> 00:24:25.430
Where they had this woman,
00:24:25.430 --> 00:24:28.567
she was impeccably dressed,
hanging from that bridge - her and her son.
00:24:29.534 --> 00:24:30.869
Horrific-looking picture.
00:24:30.869 --> 00:24:32.904
She was so neatly attired.
00:24:32.904 --> 00:24:34.139
And I always thought about that.
00:24:34.139 --> 00:24:37.142
That could have been me.
00:24:37.142 --> 00:24:41.880
In the small town where I came from,
it was not uncommon to find
00:24:43.014 --> 00:24:44.749
young men hung.
00:24:44.749 --> 00:24:45.650
When I was a child,
00:24:45.650 --> 00:24:47.352
I remember that as a child.
00:24:47.352 --> 00:24:50.155
And I think I left there when I was seven.
00:24:50.155 --> 00:24:53.992
Probably when I was about 5,
there was a young man by the name of Roy,
00:24:54.426 --> 00:24:56.428
they had found hanged like that.
00:25:59.291 --> 00:26:02.093
You ain’t an Indian
until you put that needle in your hand.
00:26:02.761 --> 00:26:06.097
That's when you know you an Indian.
You put that needle in your hand.
00:26:07.699 --> 00:26:10.735
and you look at your fingers
and see your fingers all chewed up from that needle
00:26:10.735 --> 00:26:12.671
and you still decide you still want it.
00:26:13.872 --> 00:26:15.807
You’re an Indian then.
00:26:17.542 --> 00:26:18.877
But she's an expert at it.
00:26:18.877 --> 00:26:20.679
She's a master beader.
00:26:20.679 --> 00:26:23.748
This piece really goes
with the Guardians of the Flame
00:26:24.316 --> 00:26:29.788
because he's showing them
the tradition, and he's passing it down.
00:26:29.788 --> 00:26:32.958
And that's what we are about.
On his arm right here
00:26:32.958 --> 00:26:35.961
I did five lines
and it took me two and a half hours.
00:26:36.061 --> 00:26:37.696
Two and a half hours
just to do that one little part.
00:26:37.696 --> 00:26:42.133
Five lines!
It’s very tedious and time-consuming.
00:26:42.300 --> 00:26:46.938
This part right here, this yellow-gold
color, took me like five days to do.
00:26:50.342 --> 00:26:53.578
Ha!
00:26:53.578 --> 00:26:56.948
Because I showed you how to do it.
00:26:58.550 --> 00:27:00.619
They don't want to know
the Indians for that.
00:27:00.619 --> 00:27:03.388
They want to know them
for : “Oh, they fight,
00:27:03.421 --> 00:27:05.123
They do this and that.”
00:27:05.123 --> 00:27:06.658
Something negative.
00:27:06.658 --> 00:27:08.560
Instead of: This is art.
00:27:08.560 --> 00:27:12.731
They'll put it in the category of folk art
because you're not trainer or...
00:27:12.764 --> 00:27:15.033
I went to Xavuer for art.
00:27:15.934 --> 00:27:18.303
I went to the Art Institute of Atlanta for art.
00:27:20.705 --> 00:27:24.275
What makes that better than this?
00:27:26.177 --> 00:27:27.646
They still were trained.
00:27:27.646 --> 00:27:31.683
You didn't just pick up a needle
and put a bead on. Someone trained you.
00:27:31.683 --> 00:27:34.152
It just wasn't in a school setting.
00:27:34.519 --> 00:27:37.389
That line is not center,
that line is off-center.
00:27:37.622 --> 00:27:39.457
You know what I'm saying?
00:27:39.457 --> 00:27:43.161
Like I was telling you with the piece,
with the beads - to use the beads a certain way.
00:27:43.161 --> 00:27:47.399
Most of the other guys ...
they call it a typewriter stitch.
00:27:47.399 --> 00:27:49.434
Everything is straight across like this.
00:27:49.434 --> 00:27:50.702
I never did bead that way.
00:27:50.702 --> 00:27:55.440
I always follow the contours.
And I do different things with the beads
00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:59.611
to create different tensions
or an atmosphere.
00:28:00.111 --> 00:28:01.579
But you stone very well though.
00:28:01.579 --> 00:28:02.647
I gotta give you credit for that.
00:28:02.647 --> 00:28:04.082
Thank you.
00:28:04.082 --> 00:28:05.583
You’re welcome.
00:28:09.421 --> 00:28:12.590
So we try to use these drums
as healing instruments with young people
00:28:13.158 --> 00:28:17.729
to help them get in touch with their gifts
and also to use the drums
00:28:18.329 --> 00:28:22.133
to go into their subconscious,
into the subconscious part of their soul.
00:28:22.267 --> 00:28:23.134
New Orleans Music -
00:28:23.134 --> 00:28:24.669
at this point, I really feel we’re at a crossroads
00:28:24.669 --> 00:28:28.473
and our music and our culture
has to reflect the change we want to see
00:28:28.473 --> 00:28:32.010
in this city, not the way it was before,
what we want it to be today.
00:28:32.177 --> 00:28:33.912
And that's what our music has to be about.
00:28:33.912 --> 00:28:36.781
And I think this is a great example
of what Cherice is doing
00:28:37.082 --> 00:28:39.284
with the Guardians Institute
and the Guardians of the Flame.
00:28:41.019 --> 00:28:42.887
I want it so quiet
00:28:43.021 --> 00:28:45.123
I wanna hear this pin drop.
00:29:03.441 --> 00:29:05.877
The tradition of the Mardi Gras Indians comes from ...
00:29:06.311 --> 00:29:08.046
It's a blend of,
00:29:08.813 --> 00:29:11.483
I’d say, three cultures:
African culture,
00:29:12.050 --> 00:29:14.819
a Native American culture
and a Caribbean culture.
00:29:15.520 --> 00:29:17.889
These djembe drums,
these are the drums of the Bambara.
00:29:18.289 --> 00:29:21.926
The people who played
these drums were brought to Louisiana
00:29:21.960 --> 00:29:23.128
in the 1700’s.
00:29:23.461 --> 00:29:26.865
In the swamps they met Native
American people in their villages.
00:29:27.866 --> 00:29:29.934
And so what happened was
00:29:29.934 --> 00:29:34.272
the enslaved Africans began
to spend more time in those villages.
00:29:34.272 --> 00:29:36.708
Enslaved Africans
would run away to the swamps,
00:29:36.708 --> 00:29:39.377
They would become what they call Maroon.
00:29:39.811 --> 00:29:42.347
Over time, all these rhythms
started to blend together.
00:29:42.981 --> 00:29:45.750
But one of the most popular rhythms
that came out of the Congo Square
00:29:45.750 --> 00:29:48.052
was the one called the Bamboula.
00:29:48.686 --> 00:29:52.090
And the Bamboula became
what we now know as the Second Line.
00:29:52.524 --> 00:29:55.660
Bamboula. Bamboula.
00:29:55.994 --> 00:29:57.462
This is the syncopation of New Orleans.
00:29:57.462 --> 00:29:59.931
This is the rhythm of New Orleans,
this beat right here.
00:30:01.499 --> 00:30:04.569
And the drum is saying: bam bou la.
00:30:04.569 --> 00:30:06.037
The bell part
00:30:06.037 --> 00:30:09.974
The Mardi Gras Indians started playing
the bell part on the tambourine.
00:30:09.974 --> 00:30:13.111
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
00:30:13.111 --> 00:30:17.015
Put the two parts together.
00:30:24.422 --> 00:30:27.125
So the Guardians of the Flame
were the first ones to come on the scene
00:30:27.125 --> 00:30:29.260
with the djembe drums
and the djun djun drums
00:30:29.761 --> 00:30:33.198
which come back to the first Africans
that were brought to Louisiana.
00:30:33.898 --> 00:30:36.467
And I said, the third influence
is the Caribbean tradition.
00:30:36.467 --> 00:30:42.006
You see the women over there sewing
00:30:42.006 --> 00:30:45.910
and they’re sewing beadwork, the same kind of
beadwork you see in Haiti,
00:30:47.979 --> 00:30:50.682
the kind of beadwork you see in Yorubaland.
00:30:50.682 --> 00:30:53.451
And so once again,
the third influence
00:30:53.451 --> 00:30:57.121
is the beadwork from the Caribbean abnd Africa,
the drumming from Africa.
00:30:57.322 --> 00:31:01.426
And the style of the suit which
came from Native American traditions.
00:31:01.693 --> 00:31:04.629
All three of those traditions together,
they were all about freedom.
00:31:04.796 --> 00:31:08.600
They were about people who refused
to submit to slavery.
00:31:08.600 --> 00:31:10.568
A parade?
00:31:21.980 --> 00:31:25.550
A parade!
00:31:36.861 --> 00:31:39.530
Yeah, that’s authentic.
That’s as real as it gets.
00:31:40.098 --> 00:31:41.966
That's really real.
00:31:42.066 --> 00:31:43.968
No police escorts.
00:31:43.968 --> 00:31:47.205
We taking our community, doing our own thing.
00:32:23.074 --> 00:32:25.543
I have an appointment to ...
00:32:27.045 --> 00:32:29.514
... see a man about a horse
00:32:30.148 --> 00:32:32.917
Trying to get some things going here
in New Orleans.
00:32:34.285 --> 00:32:36.821
I'm really done with corporate America
00:32:36.821 --> 00:32:39.090
but you gotta eat.
00:32:39.090 --> 00:32:41.392
Christian’s busy.
00:32:42.360 --> 00:32:44.462
You know, the Grammy nom.
00:32:44.462 --> 00:32:46.831
And so he's really excited about that.
00:32:46.831 --> 00:32:50.468
He's going to be in Ebony magazine
the February issue,
00:32:51.002 --> 00:32:53.972
and then People magazine,
I believe, the March issue.
00:32:54.038 --> 00:32:55.740
Hopefully he'll get even more busy
00:32:55.740 --> 00:32:59.243
then I won't have to deal with
seeing a man about horse.
00:33:06.751 --> 00:33:09.053
[smoke alarm goes off]
00:33:09.420 --> 00:33:10.788
What living! ... What living!
00:33:11.756 --> 00:33:12.523
I said it.
00:33:12.523 --> 00:33:14.859
I said it’s about to get smoky in here
in just a minute.
00:33:14.859 --> 00:33:17.228
[smoke alarm continues]
00:33:31.442 --> 00:33:33.811
Actually he has a booking agent.
00:33:34.412 --> 00:33:36.647
He has a personal manager.
00:33:36.647 --> 00:33:40.351
What he doesn't have is a person that ties
all those strings together for him.
00:33:40.485 --> 00:33:44.522
He had been doing a lot of this stuff
himself, and it's taxing on him
00:33:44.522 --> 00:33:49.027
to have to keep all of those balls
in the air and not drop any of them.
00:33:49.027 --> 00:33:51.662
I said, okay, you know, he's a man.
00:33:51.996 --> 00:33:52.864
Let him do his thing.
00:33:52.864 --> 00:33:58.069
When he realizes he has resources
at his disposal, then he'll come to me.
00:33:58.069 --> 00:34:00.204
And he did it, you know?
00:34:00.204 --> 00:34:03.241
It's a beautiful thing
because I was like doing a happy dance,
00:34:03.241 --> 00:34:07.178
When he called me and said:
“Mom,can you help me out with this?”
00:34:07.178 --> 00:34:09.447
I’m like: “Yeah, I can. ...
I quit!”
00:34:13.384 --> 00:34:15.353
It was a good thing.
00:34:16.621 --> 00:34:19.123
I was waiting for it to happen.
00:34:19.123 --> 00:34:21.659
[smoke alarm stops]
00:34:26.931 --> 00:34:28.766
Well, I’ve always said
if you listen to a Big Chief sing,
00:34:28.766 --> 00:34:31.602
you can hear the way a trumpeter...
00:34:31.602 --> 00:34:34.338
It's almost very similar
to what Louis Armstrong would be doing.
00:34:34.972 --> 00:34:36.274
Like if a.
00:34:37.241 --> 00:34:39.143
“Shallow waters, oh mama...”
00:34:39.410 --> 00:34:41.579
Early in the morning when the sun come up,
00:34:41.779 --> 00:34:44.682
[scats]
00:34:44.682 --> 00:34:48.052
You can hear the same ...
That was a revelation for me
00:34:48.619 --> 00:34:51.823
when I really started singing chants,
saying, okay, that's the same thing
00:34:52.590 --> 00:34:55.593
that a trumpet is doing in a traditional
big brass band.
00:34:56.094 --> 00:34:57.361
It's almost the same notes.
00:34:57.361 --> 00:34:59.597
And I told my nephew,
I said, Listen to the correlation.
00:35:00.331 --> 00:35:02.433
He's singing the same thing
that you would be playing
00:35:02.867 --> 00:35:05.870
if you were doing riffs as a trumpeter.
00:35:06.571 --> 00:35:09.941
So I could hear the correlation there
and I could hear the correlation
00:35:10.508 --> 00:35:11.309
and the rhythms
00:35:12.343 --> 00:35:14.912
of a traditional jazz band
00:35:15.513 --> 00:35:18.416
and what the Mardi Gras Indians do.
00:35:19.083 --> 00:35:21.586
And the accent
00:35:21.586 --> 00:35:22.820
is the same accent.
00:35:22.820 --> 00:35:24.388
You know, New Orleans music,
00:35:24.388 --> 00:35:27.091
Everything is like a tapestry of fabric.
00:35:27.091 --> 00:35:28.726
Everything is together.
00:35:28.726 --> 00:35:30.228
You listen to the Neville Brothers.
00:35:30.228 --> 00:35:32.797
Oh, that sounds like the Mardi Gras Indians.
00:35:33.297 --> 00:35:35.133
Listen to Professor Longhair.
00:35:35.133 --> 00:35:37.068
Oh, yeah, that
that part is the Mardi Gras Indians.
00:35:37.068 --> 00:35:39.537
You listen to Donald Harrison,
00:35:39.537 --> 00:35:40.805
Oh, yeah. That's where he got that from.
00:35:41.172 --> 00:35:43.541
You go to a funeral.
Of course there’s jazz funerals here.
00:35:44.208 --> 00:35:46.177
If you go to a wedding,
00:35:46.277 --> 00:35:47.812
there's going to be jazz.
00:35:47.812 --> 00:35:49.247
If you go
00:35:49.680 --> 00:35:52.183
to a parade, it's
going to be a jazz parade.
00:35:53.851 --> 00:35:57.088
It appears that they're about
to have a Social and Pleasure Club parade.
00:35:57.822 --> 00:36:01.859
They're called Neighborhood Productions.
00:36:01.859 --> 00:36:05.730
They’re organizations that come out
on Sundays and parade in the community.
00:36:06.030 --> 00:36:08.266
It's an African-American phenomenon.
00:36:08.266 --> 00:36:10.501
They bring beauty.
00:36:10.501 --> 00:36:13.871
And I think they’re pivotal,
just as the Mardi Gras Indians are,
00:36:13.871 --> 00:36:16.841
to rebuilding the neighborhood.
00:36:19.577 --> 00:36:22.046
Cultural traditions
are things that anchor communities.
00:36:22.680 --> 00:36:24.448
You've seen them before?
00:36:24.916 --> 00:36:27.351
You never seen ‘em?
Oh, well, you gotta see this.
00:36:28.052 --> 00:36:29.120
Don't leave.
00:36:29.120 --> 00:36:30.388
You about to see -
00:36:30.388 --> 00:36:31.722
You bouts to see somethin’.
00:36:46.037 --> 00:36:48.773
People come back from out of town
for these events.
00:36:49.040 --> 00:36:50.474
They come back
00:36:50.808 --> 00:36:53.644
for Indians practice
00:36:53.644 --> 00:36:56.380
on Sundays, and Mardi Gras day
to see the Indians.
00:36:57.481 --> 00:36:59.784
They come back because they provide
00:36:59.784 --> 00:37:04.655
a spiritual connection.
And it definitely builds community
00:37:04.655 --> 00:37:07.124
because you're part of something
that's very special and unique
00:37:07.625 --> 00:37:09.994
and you feel part of a community.
00:37:09.994 --> 00:37:11.028
You don't necessarily feel
00:37:11.028 --> 00:37:14.799
part of the community
of the people who gather at City Hall.
00:37:14.799 --> 00:37:17.168
You feel part of this community
00:37:17.168 --> 00:37:19.270
because you have a voice
and you know it's for you.
00:37:19.270 --> 00:37:21.138
It’s about you.
It is you.
00:38:00.544 --> 00:38:02.513
From the oldest
00:38:02.513 --> 00:38:04.582
to the youngest,
00:38:04.582 --> 00:38:06.917
From the richest to the poorest,
00:38:07.418 --> 00:38:10.288
everyone knows these songs when they hear them.
00:38:11.822 --> 00:38:13.391
And they all get up
00:38:13.391 --> 00:38:16.627
and Second Line, which is ... the people who
didn’t pay any money
00:38:16.627 --> 00:38:19.563
to come to the parades.
We call them the Second Line
00:38:20.665 --> 00:38:23.334
because they join in
and just have fun for free.
00:38:23.868 --> 00:38:26.370
Now everybody Second Lines
00:38:26.671 --> 00:38:30.274
to what we call traditional jazz
in New Orleans and has a good time.
00:38:30.441 --> 00:38:32.643
That’s our cultural music.
00:38:51.162 --> 00:38:54.031
The first day care center was opened a
in half of this house.
00:38:54.332 --> 00:38:57.601
and I operated day nurseries for 32 years.
00:38:59.437 --> 00:39:01.839
My oldest daughter was six, I think.
00:39:03.641 --> 00:39:05.409
And my children are stair steps.
00:39:05.409 --> 00:39:07.178
Really steps.
00:39:07.178 --> 00:39:13.451
Like the first two are 13 months apart.
And the next two are 15 months apart.
00:39:13.451 --> 00:39:16.787
It’s like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
00:39:16.987 --> 00:39:18.556
They were like little teachers.
00:39:18.556 --> 00:39:20.791
my children, when they weren't in school,
00:39:20.825 --> 00:39:22.927
they would come in
in the afternoon and help.
00:39:22.927 --> 00:39:25.629
Like the grunts - you start off as a grunt
00:39:26.130 --> 00:39:28.299
take the diaper pail out, change diapers
00:39:28.299 --> 00:39:29.300
and stuff like that.
00:39:30.501 --> 00:39:32.803
Because I had to actually
00:39:33.337 --> 00:39:36.941
let him know:
“You can not do this continuously,
00:39:36.941 --> 00:39:40.544
because we have four children
and they have to be educated.
00:39:41.412 --> 00:39:44.648
So you have to stop.
00:39:44.648 --> 00:39:45.616
He did.
00:39:45.616 --> 00:39:47.651
He knew the value of education.
00:39:47.651 --> 00:39:50.388
He wanted his children
to be knowledgeable.
00:39:50.588 --> 00:39:54.558
He said knowledge is something
that no one can take away from you.
00:39:55.393 --> 00:39:57.361
You could take away anything.
00:39:57.361 --> 00:40:00.831
But you can't take away
the knowledge that I’ve acquired.
00:40:00.931 --> 00:40:03.434
So for 20 years he did not mask.
00:40:04.402 --> 00:40:07.571
I don’t know if they told you the story
of how my father would quiet us down
00:40:08.406 --> 00:40:09.707
when we were little.
00:40:09.707 --> 00:40:12.109
He had this recording of
00:40:12.109 --> 00:40:14.879
Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker
doing Salt Peanuts
00:40:15.112 --> 00:40:18.649
Live from Massey Hall,
where Dizzy Gillespie actually goes:
00:40:18.649 --> 00:40:20.151
Salt Peanuts!
Salt Peanuts.!
00:40:20.484 --> 00:40:23.020
So he would put the record on
and get us to go:
00:40:23.020 --> 00:40:24.822
Salt Peanuts!
Salt Peanuts!
00:40:25.923 --> 00:40:29.627
After a while, we would ... Salt Peanuts! Salt Peanuts!
Then he could go back to reading the newspaper.
00:40:30.261 --> 00:40:32.630
We were hearing all this,
but not really knowing that
00:40:32.630 --> 00:40:36.167
we were absorbing this wonderful music,
00:40:36.534 --> 00:40:39.270
because when you're that young,
it’s like it’s noise.
00:40:39.370 --> 00:40:40.371
I do a lot of clinics
00:40:41.505 --> 00:40:43.073
in elementary schools.
00:40:43.073 --> 00:40:45.009
I use Salt Peanuts.
00:40:45.009 --> 00:40:47.178
All the students would see me, and go:
Salt Peanuts! Salt Peanuts!
00:40:47.178 --> 00:40:50.414
So it still works - to this day,
00:40:50.414 --> 00:40:53.684
You can get elementary school students
to love jazz with Salt Peanuts.
00:40:54.652 --> 00:40:55.953
As you get older
00:40:55.953 --> 00:40:56.520
you recall it.
00:40:56.520 --> 00:40:57.988
When you hear it again, you recall it.
00:40:57.988 --> 00:41:00.691
Oh.
I know that.
00:41:01.459 --> 00:41:03.227
Did that happen to you guys?
00:41:03.227 --> 00:41:06.730
Did you guys ...
Did you and Chris ever sing Salt Peanuts?
00:41:06.730 --> 00:41:08.399
Sing Salt Peanuts?
Yeah.
00:41:08.399 --> 00:41:11.469
Oh, yeah. And one time he played ...
00:41:11.469 --> 00:41:12.870
Yes. Yes he did.
00:41:14.371 --> 00:41:16.607
Salt Peanuts! Salt Peanuts!
Okay, Pawpaw...
00:41:16.607 --> 00:41:20.277
By the time we were born
he didn't play the record anymore.
00:41:20.277 --> 00:41:21.345
He would just scat it.
00:41:21.345 --> 00:41:24.114
[scats]
00:41:24.114 --> 00:41:26.650
Chris and Kiel.
Salt Peanuts! Salt Peanuts!
00:41:28.118 --> 00:41:29.019
Kiel Chris!
Salt Peanuts! Salt Peanuts!
00:41:29.720 --> 00:41:31.555
Kiel Chris!
Kiel Chris!
00:41:32.356 --> 00:41:35.993
I use my father's tactics to this day.
00:41:37.127 --> 00:41:41.031
And in 1988, he decided
he wanted to do it again.
00:41:41.198 --> 00:41:43.501
He started sewing first,
and then he formed the group.
00:41:43.901 --> 00:41:46.403
And then he gave it
the name Guardians of the Flame.
00:41:47.137 --> 00:41:50.641
He knew he was getting on in years
00:41:51.575 --> 00:41:55.212
and he was attempting, really, to create
00:41:55.679 --> 00:41:58.349
something that would last
00:41:59.617 --> 00:42:01.619
past his time here.
00:42:02.319 --> 00:42:05.289
Long time ago after I be dead
00:42:06.023 --> 00:42:13.531
Guardians of Flame
going to keep me again - everybody be scared.
00:42:17.535 --> 00:42:19.336
my name is Brian Nelson,
00:42:19.336 --> 00:42:21.572
the Big Chief of the Guardians of the Flame
Mardi Gras Indians.
00:42:22.640 --> 00:42:24.508
I was basically born into it
00:42:24.508 --> 00:42:26.977
when I was a baby
00:42:26.977 --> 00:42:28.245
in my mother’s womb.
00:42:29.113 --> 00:42:30.915
My grandfather used to play
00:42:30.915 --> 00:42:32.783
Indian Red.
00:42:32.983 --> 00:42:35.719
And I've been doing it ever since.
00:42:35.719 --> 00:42:37.488
My grandfather passed away
00:42:37.488 --> 00:42:40.291
in 1998
00:42:41.725 --> 00:42:43.994
and he made me his Chief.
00:42:43.994 --> 00:42:45.429
He made me a Chief at that time -
00:42:46.096 --> 00:42:47.031
one month before he died
00:42:47.031 --> 00:42:53.137
he made me the Big Chief.
I was 16 years old at the time, okay?
00:42:53.938 --> 00:42:56.674
And here I was a Chief.
00:42:56.707 --> 00:42:59.877
You sit at the knees of the elders.
00:42:59.877 --> 00:43:00.711
You learn to sew.
00:43:00.711 --> 00:43:02.713
You learn to sing.
00:43:02.713 --> 00:43:05.583
You learn the social interaction of the tradition.
00:43:05.816 --> 00:43:08.185
It’s very formal.
00:43:08.852 --> 00:43:10.521
The transmission is
00:43:11.488 --> 00:43:12.556
in order.
00:43:12.556 --> 00:43:14.558
We're like African villages.
00:43:14.558 --> 00:43:16.093
We police ourselves.
00:43:16.093 --> 00:43:18.495
If there's an incident
at Indian practice,
00:43:18.495 --> 00:43:20.731
there's not an Indian in the city
that I know of. -
00:43:20.731 --> 00:43:23.601
unless he is scary -
that will call the police.
00:43:23.767 --> 00:43:24.668
We gonna handle it in the community.
00:43:24.668 --> 00:43:26.270
They handle their own stuff.
00:43:26.270 --> 00:43:27.871
It always was about being pretty.
00:43:27.871 --> 00:43:30.874
And of course,
they may have had some beefs
00:43:31.108 --> 00:43:34.712
and all of that stuff,
but they wanted to be pretty.
00:43:35.245 --> 00:43:40.551
Indians today, it’s not all that violence.
It’s like she said: it’s all about looking pretty.
00:43:40.618 --> 00:43:41.719
That's what it's all about.
00:43:42.653 --> 00:43:44.955
It’s all about looking pretty.
And how good you can play.
00:43:46.290 --> 00:43:48.993
How good you can sing.
it's all about this kind of stuff.
00:43:49.293 --> 00:43:51.362
You have to realize
there are fewer than 500
00:43:51.829 --> 00:43:55.299
active Mardi Gras participants in the world,
probably at any given time.
00:43:56.333 --> 00:43:58.636
All the people in the world ,
there are only 500 people
00:43:59.470 --> 00:44:02.306
actively doing this, and maybe
00:44:03.707 --> 00:44:06.210
1500 that can.
00:44:08.145 --> 00:44:09.613
That's a pretty elite group.
00:44:09.780 --> 00:44:12.783
The processions are going to happen right there
00:44:12.783 --> 00:44:13.951
in the street
00:44:14.518 --> 00:44:18.188
This where it's authentically practiced.
00:44:18.355 --> 00:44:21.992
And I can sit on my porch
and wait for you to come and follow you.
00:44:22.526 --> 00:44:25.763
If I can't get enough when you pass
in front of my house, I can follow you for
00:44:26.130 --> 00:44:28.265
three or four, six, seven, 8 hours.
00:44:29.199 --> 00:44:30.901
Why would I pay?
00:44:30.901 --> 00:44:33.037
I'm getting the real deal.
00:44:35.005 --> 00:44:36.907
And the spiritual aspect of it.
00:44:36.907 --> 00:44:38.809
Because they get so much more from it.
00:44:38.809 --> 00:44:42.179
Because it's not that barrier
between the audience
00:44:43.013 --> 00:44:44.281
and the participants.
00:44:45.182 --> 00:44:46.283
We’re all together.
00:45:25.489 --> 00:45:29.593
Tonight is the annual Mardi Gras Indian
00:45:29.593 --> 00:45:31.128
Crystal Feather reception.
00:45:31.128 --> 00:45:32.463
And it's a dinner party.
00:45:32.463 --> 00:45:35.299
Just to say thank you.
It's our way of saying:
00:45:35.332 --> 00:45:37.367
Hey, come have a good time with the Indians.
00:45:42.005 --> 00:45:43.974
And we have a brass band to come in at the end
00:45:43.974 --> 00:45:46.810
because everything in New Orleans
ends with a brass band.
00:45:46.977 --> 00:45:51.281
We give an Elder Award.
We kinda make a big deal over the elders.
00:45:51.281 --> 00:45:53.283
And so where an elder
00:45:53.417 --> 00:45:57.387
maybe wouldn’t come and dance and have fun,
00:45:57.688 --> 00:46:00.958
we create a safe space
and we herald them for that.
00:46:01.859 --> 00:46:02.960
We herald that.
00:46:03.293 --> 00:46:05.395
Then it’s like they get this energy.
00:46:05.796 --> 00:46:07.164
I don't even know where it comes from.
00:46:07.164 --> 00:46:10.033
And they .... really ...
00:46:10.033 --> 00:46:13.170
When they get the energy, then everybody -
- young and old
00:46:13.270 --> 00:46:15.439
have to applaud that.
00:47:06.657 --> 00:47:10.294
I got in the circle once,
00:47:11.261 --> 00:47:14.531
since they have all that hype
about how violent it is ...
00:47:15.499 --> 00:47:19.536
And I know my husband is a tough cookie,
so he' can take care of himself.
00:47:19.536 --> 00:47:22.005
But my son was in that circle. So I ....
00:47:23.040 --> 00:47:26.577
about ten people deep,
I got to the middle of that circle,
00:47:27.811 --> 00:47:28.846
he’s dancing with another Chief
00:47:28.846 --> 00:47:32.749
It’s an out of body experience.
It’s a transformation for them.
00:47:36.854 --> 00:47:40.390
I would say to any child that have the experience
00:47:41.024 --> 00:47:44.528
of masking Mardi Gras Indian
00:47:45.462 --> 00:47:48.332
I think they would come into
a real revelation of what it is
00:47:48.332 --> 00:47:51.001
for the soul and spirit to meet.
00:48:18.695 --> 00:48:20.831
Carnival morning, 2006
00:48:20.831 --> 00:48:25.335
when my son came out of St Augustine's
church dressed
00:48:25.335 --> 00:48:27.537
in full Mardi Gras Indian regalia,
00:48:27.537 --> 00:48:30.674
looking like a prince or something.
00:48:30.674 --> 00:48:32.509
He was so regal looking.
00:48:33.543 --> 00:48:37.347
And I looked at my son and I thought, Wow,
00:48:37.981 --> 00:48:42.352
his father's spirit is still here
because he's doing what his father loved.
00:48:42.886 --> 00:48:45.555
I was realizing how close I am to Mardi Gras
00:48:47.024 --> 00:48:50.761
I’m getting to those patches.
00:48:50.761 --> 00:48:53.897
But I’m going to need your assistance.
00:48:54.932 --> 00:48:57.434
He’s asking early.
00:48:57.434 --> 00:48:58.835
Some patches.
00:48:58.835 --> 00:49:01.171
Oh, I know. I already know.
00:49:01.171 --> 00:49:02.739
I know that.
00:49:06.176 --> 00:49:08.078
If you keep it stagnant,
00:49:08.078 --> 00:49:12.783
If I did exactly what my father did -
Big Chief Donald Harrison, Sr. -
00:49:13.917 --> 00:49:15.919
then it wouldn’t be alive.
00:49:16.653 --> 00:49:20.057
I want to take it,
for me, to the roots
00:49:20.657 --> 00:49:22.960
and say I’m not even a Mardis Gras Indian anymore.
00:49:24.161 --> 00:49:28.498
I’m branching off
in another direction.
00:49:28.498 --> 00:49:30.634
And I have the utmost respect for everyone
who’re still part of that tradition
00:49:31.568 --> 00:49:34.171
But I'm not part of it anymore.
00:49:34.871 --> 00:49:36.873
I just have a group in New Orleans
00:49:36.873 --> 00:49:39.209
that perpetuates African culture.
00:49:39.476 --> 00:49:43.180
I love it. You've gone home
00:49:43.613 --> 00:49:44.247
Full circle.
00:49:44.514 --> 00:49:47.985
You've gone home and I really love that.
00:49:54.558 --> 00:49:56.893
It’s called Tipitina’s Intern Program
00:49:57.260 --> 00:49:59.696
where I teach
00:49:59.696 --> 00:50:02.866
young high school students
who are very talented
00:50:03.767 --> 00:50:07.637
get them to be at a professional level
when they're leaving high school
00:50:08.405 --> 00:50:11.408
so they can actually work and make money.
00:50:17.047 --> 00:50:18.315
1 - 2 - 3 - 4
00:50:22.586 --> 00:50:23.987
One more time.
Wake up, y’all.
00:50:24.588 --> 00:50:26.823
It’s night time.
You’re supposed to be awake
00:50:27.657 --> 00:50:30.527
So we're just going to do
4-bar sections.
00:50:30.527 --> 00:50:32.529
The first ... Hu Tah Nay?
00:50:40.537 --> 00:50:42.706
Really concentrate on the rhythm and read it.
00:50:42.706 --> 00:50:44.341
I know it’s a tricky rhythm
00:50:44.341 --> 00:50:46.410
because it's not giving
you anything to hold on to.
00:50:47.477 --> 00:50:49.880
You ready?
No, but try it anyway.
00:50:50.647 --> 00:50:53.450
You look like this.
00:50:53.450 --> 00:50:54.484
I want you to look like this.
00:50:54.484 --> 00:50:56.953
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
00:50:57.487 --> 00:50:58.922
Like you really mean it, OK?
00:50:58.922 --> 00:51:02.192
1 -2 - 3 - 4
00:51:14.971 --> 00:51:18.041
1 - 2 - 3 - 4
00:51:51.608 --> 00:52:05.522
I say, Mighty cootie fiyo,
Indian Red, Indian Red.
00:52:05.522 --> 00:52:09.493
Why should I say the word slave
when no one is born a slave?
00:52:09.593 --> 00:52:11.661
People are born human beings.
00:52:11.661 --> 00:52:15.765
So if it takes me 20 words to call it
on any particular day,
00:52:15.765 --> 00:52:19.002
depending upon the situation,
that's what it needs to be called.
00:52:19.002 --> 00:52:23.073
It needs to be called
a stolen human being.
00:52:23.073 --> 00:52:25.041
That's what it needs to be called.
00:52:25.041 --> 00:52:30.547
If it needs to be said
said that this child,
00:52:30.547 --> 00:52:33.750
whose mother was most likely raped
00:52:35.218 --> 00:52:36.887
so that
00:52:37.254 --> 00:52:42.492
this plantation owner
could have free labor,
00:52:42.492 --> 00:52:46.663
then that's what I need to say to say that.
Because it needs to be contextualized.
00:52:47.164 --> 00:52:51.635
Human beings are oppressed
systemically, intentionally
00:52:52.669 --> 00:52:55.438
systems are set up so that people function
00:52:55.438 --> 00:52:58.975
at what our society deems as successful.
00:53:00.143 --> 00:53:04.080
And yeah, I may be happy
because of the inherited
00:53:04.080 --> 00:53:06.716
generational trauma
that we have found a way
00:53:07.517 --> 00:53:10.620
to manifest as something joyful.
00:53:10.620 --> 00:53:14.191
But at the same time, why must our joy
00:53:14.858 --> 00:53:17.160
come from feeling
00:53:17.627 --> 00:53:21.298
when we have to live through this reality
00:53:21.598 --> 00:53:25.869
of systemic, institutionalized
00:53:27.404 --> 00:53:29.706
ways of keeping certain
00:53:29.706 --> 00:53:32.008
segments of society disenfranchised.
00:53:36.313 --> 00:53:38.281
Sankofa means to look back
00:53:38.281 --> 00:53:41.918
and this is actually
what Guardians Institute is all about.
00:53:41.918 --> 00:53:46.356
What we started
11 years ago
00:53:46.890 --> 00:53:49.025
and what we are continuing today
00:53:49.392 --> 00:53:54.364
is to try to encourage you
to look to your future
00:53:54.631 --> 00:54:00.170
and to try to build a healthy community
through art.
00:54:00.670 --> 00:54:05.542
And we're desirous of building a facility
just for this Institute
00:54:05.742 --> 00:54:08.845
because we don't actually have a facility
for the Institute,
00:54:09.312 --> 00:54:11.915
even though we had
a groundbreaking in February.
00:54:12.382 --> 00:54:15.318
And since this is the first site
of the Institute,
00:54:15.619 --> 00:54:18.555
we want to plant a tree there
in memory of the Chief.
00:54:19.189 --> 00:54:24.361
He said that children
should carry this tradition on.
00:54:24.894 --> 00:54:27.063
So - you are the children.
00:54:31.701 --> 00:54:34.104
So that's where I've been -
00:54:35.639 --> 00:54:38.308
- trying to get the house together
and try to do this.
00:54:38.441 --> 00:54:40.710
But still doing the programs that we do,
00:54:41.311 --> 00:54:42.979
still doing that.
00:54:49.653 --> 00:54:52.822
When they get ready to export the culture
of Louisiana for tourists to come,
00:54:53.156 --> 00:54:55.191
they export what we do in the communities.
00:54:55.692 --> 00:54:58.228
So what happens? The culture is pimped.
00:54:58.561 --> 00:55:04.301
So now you have this wide array of people
pimping the culture to get money to serve
00:55:04.301 --> 00:55:08.838
a underserved audience so that they can
maintain their middle class existence.
00:55:09.039 --> 00:55:10.440
Mostly white.
00:55:11.141 --> 00:55:13.209
You come with your cameras
00:55:13.209 --> 00:55:15.879
you come and you shoot us.
00:55:15.879 --> 00:55:17.881
You get your best shot,
00:55:17.881 --> 00:55:20.317
and then you put brown bodies on the wall
00:55:21.151 --> 00:55:23.553
and sell them.
00:55:23.553 --> 00:55:27.123
You don't give them a name just like
they did in the logs, the manifests.
00:55:28.058 --> 00:55:29.225
You don't identify
00:55:30.593 --> 00:55:32.595
the group affiliation.
00:55:32.595 --> 00:55:35.365
If you do this,
you're very proud of the group you’re in.
00:55:36.066 --> 00:55:38.835
I will be a Guardian of the Flame
until the day I die.
00:55:39.402 --> 00:55:43.573
So if you put my picture up
and you say Sapphire Queen
00:55:43.940 --> 00:55:46.976
and not Cherice Harrison-Nelson
Guardians of the Flame,
00:55:47.210 --> 00:55:48.878
you are taking.
00:55:49.145 --> 00:55:51.881
If you put my picture up
00:55:51.881 --> 00:55:52.916
and you sell it for $500
00:55:53.350 --> 00:55:56.953
and you keep all of the money,
you are taking my labor.
00:55:57.354 --> 00:56:01.091
They’ll take the logo of people second-lining
00:56:01.758 --> 00:56:04.761
incorporate it, and they can’t even use it.
00:56:06.062 --> 00:56:07.964
You do it,
but we own it
00:56:11.167 --> 00:56:13.370
This is the Guardians Institute
00:56:13.770 --> 00:56:16.272
Here, it is.
It’s even bigger.
00:56:16.272 --> 00:56:18.842
This is the house and this is the lot.
00:56:18.842 --> 00:56:20.877
All right. Isn’t that wonderful?
00:56:21.644 --> 00:56:23.580
Okay.
00:56:25.148 --> 00:56:28.618
Now all I got to do is go out
and a raise million dollars
00:56:28.952 --> 00:56:29.686
Think I can do it?
00:56:31.254 --> 00:56:33.223
Can I?
00:56:34.991 --> 00:56:37.961
Hey, the real Big Chief.
00:56:38.628 --> 00:56:40.864
Boom, boom, early that morning.
Hey, the real Big Chief.
00:56:40.864 --> 00:56:42.665
Who the real Big Chief?
00:56:42.665 --> 00:56:46.035
I mean, it's just a challenge,
but it's a mock challenge.
00:56:46.503 --> 00:56:48.805
I ain’t seen you.
I been to Congo Square.
00:56:48.938 --> 00:56:50.273
I been down by the bayou.
00:56:50.273 --> 00:56:52.175
I've been uptown,
I been downtown.
00:56:52.175 --> 00:56:53.877
I put the oil in the ground.
00:56:54.277 --> 00:56:55.478
I’m the one got the heart of steel.
00:56:55.478 --> 00:56:57.447
I was a little bitty boy.
Look at me.
00:56:57.447 --> 00:56:59.649
I’m a Big Chief with old-time ways.
00:57:04.654 --> 00:57:08.491
I remember when I was a small child,
like maybe 3 or 4,
00:57:09.259 --> 00:57:12.695
getting dressed as a Mardi Gras Indian
00:57:12.695 --> 00:57:13.830
Someone would hold me
00:57:13.830 --> 00:57:16.166
or I'd be standing on the side.
00:57:16.166 --> 00:57:19.903
I just remember feathers
going really fast everywhere
00:57:21.004 --> 00:57:23.940
and drums being played and people singing.
00:57:28.511 --> 00:57:31.981
[Music : Two-Way Pockey Way]
00:57:45.428 --> 00:57:47.564
Brother!
You looking good, man!
00:57:47.564 --> 00:57:49.132
You looking good.
00:57:53.236 --> 00:57:54.537
Yeah! New Orleans!
00:57:59.976 --> 00:58:01.244
I ain't know no Indians come
in the Ninth Ward.
00:58:02.846 --> 00:58:04.514
We from uptown.
We been living here over 30 years.
00:58:04.514 --> 00:58:06.950
And I ain’t know they come this way.
00:58:06.950 --> 00:58:08.818
It's a historical house here, man.
00:58:11.921 --> 00:58:16.159
Young Guardians, here they come!
Young Guardians of the Flame!
00:58:24.801 --> 00:58:30.139
Big Chief, Donald Harrison, Sr!
I’m the Big Chief, Brian Nelson!
00:58:47.657 --> 00:58:50.860
We changed to a Maroon Society in 2012
00:58:52.095 --> 00:58:54.964
to embrace maroonism.
00:58:55.164 --> 00:58:56.833
Maroons by definition are
00:58:57.667 --> 00:59:01.037
Africans who self-emancipate themselves.
And we consider ourselves
00:59:01.037 --> 00:59:03.206
emancipated.
00:59:29.666 --> 00:59:31.968
This is the Legacy Stage.
00:59:31.968 --> 00:59:34.170
We have had events
00:59:34.170 --> 00:59:36.472
where people
who lived in this neighborhood
00:59:37.140 --> 00:59:40.043
before Hurricane Katrina came back
00:59:40.877 --> 00:59:43.446
who tried to revitalize this neighborhood.
00:59:43.846 --> 00:59:46.516
So we would have books for the kids
00:59:46.716 --> 00:59:50.186
barbecuing, grilling, all kinds of food.
00:59:50.320 --> 00:59:52.322
Just to say:
you came back,
00:59:52.522 --> 00:59:56.259
you tried to make a neighborhood again.
00:59:56.259 --> 00:59:57.760
Are we all ready?
01:00:23.653 --> 01:00:25.989
All I know is
if somebody wants to learn it,
01:00:25.989 --> 01:00:27.824
I want to pass it on.
01:00:27.824 --> 01:00:31.461
Because if those great musicians
hadn't taken the time to teach me
01:00:31.461 --> 01:00:33.963
and they didn't have the faith in me,
01:00:33.963 --> 01:00:36.299
I wouldn't be able to pass it on.
01:00:36.733 --> 01:00:37.467
They did it for me,
01:00:37.467 --> 01:00:39.702
so I'm doing it for everybody I can.
01:00:40.036 --> 01:00:42.105
It’s like the African proverb:
01:00:42.105 --> 01:00:44.107
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.
01:00:44.107 --> 01:00:45.208
How do you teach children?
01:00:45.208 --> 01:00:46.743
One little bit at a time
01:00:46.743 --> 01:00:48.411
that they can build something else on.
01:00:50.279 --> 01:00:51.481
I tell these guys:
01:00:51.481 --> 01:00:54.450
You guys have to know New Orleans music
back and forward
01:00:54.951 --> 01:00:57.120
Because that’s your heritage.
01:00:58.054 --> 01:00:59.689
When people of African descent
01:01:00.323 --> 01:01:02.392
came to America
01:01:02.859 --> 01:01:05.161
in the bowels of those ships,
01:01:05.428 --> 01:01:10.800
they were socialized in a manner
where they should forget their past.
01:01:11.868 --> 01:01:14.771
But in this tradition that did not happen.
01:01:15.872 --> 01:01:19.308
Every element about that masking tradition
01:01:19.709 --> 01:01:22.111
is about memory.
01:01:22.111 --> 01:01:25.381
Remembering that past.
01:01:26.749 --> 01:01:27.550
For children
01:01:27.550 --> 01:01:30.520
whose ancestors were
uprooted from their country
01:01:31.754 --> 01:01:33.056
and brought here
01:01:33.690 --> 01:01:36.959
and their names taken away from them.
01:01:37.660 --> 01:01:41.264
if you've had your names taken,
you've been taken from your land ...
01:01:41.631 --> 01:01:44.500
...but not to be bitter,
01:01:45.768 --> 01:01:49.472
but just to try to ...
01:01:49.472 --> 01:01:53.976
gain some pride
and some dignity for yourself,
01:01:53.976 --> 01:01:57.213
where you could stand up tall as a person
01:01:57.780 --> 01:02:00.817
and no matter what you didn't have,
01:02:01.784 --> 01:02:04.053
you found a way to do some things
01:02:04.053 --> 01:02:05.822
to bring honor and glory.
01:02:11.227 --> 01:02:13.262
And I have been blessed.
01:02:14.964 --> 01:02:17.800
And this is just my little space
in the world
01:02:17.800 --> 01:02:21.904
that I thought
that I could try to help create.
01:02:22.205 --> 01:02:24.207
I call it my footprint.
01:02:24.540 --> 01:02:27.143
I did something. I made a footprint.
01:02:28.411 --> 01:02:31.314
Guard your tradition.
01:02:31.314 --> 01:02:35.885
Guard your legacy.