Dear Beloveds,
I greet you and those who came before you in the spirit of Love for Blackness, Black Consciousness, Revolution, Freedom, and Defiance! The melanin in me re-members the DNA of my AnceStarz; their agony, joy, struggle, and freedom. I re-member their memories, their forgotten cultures – their ways of Be-ing with the land and the Unseen yet revered spiritual worlds. I grieve, deeply what I have lost in my decades-long journey of living in foreign cultural, spiritual, and economic contexts as if I were exiled from the lands of my forebearers. And yet, it is with most sincere gratitude and deep care that write this message to you, and I say: behold, it is a new day, a new dawn, a new era, a time when I get to retrace the footsteps of my ancestors and reclaim the rich cultural heritage and identity that was brutally stolen and hidden from my awareness. This is a time when I get to reclaim my inheritance as a child of the Soil, a child of the Gods and I invite you to journey with me as we embark on this voyage of fearless defiance, insurgency, and reclamation.
In seeking to have a deep understanding of indigenous-Black identities, human and non-human, one cannot help but think about the ramifications and the intersections of anti-Black racism, slavery, gender inequality, colonialism, erasure, of history, fractured identities, sovereignty, land dispossession and violence. These issues are entangled with the spiritual, social, political and economic embodiments and structures of the lives of Black people on the African continent and in the African diaspora, and are connected to one’s sense of place and displacement, appropriation and recovery, othering and belonging. While indigeneity in Africa and the Americas may be contested in different ways, the historical patterns of settler colonialism, cultural assimilation, identification of ancestral homelands and intensifying globalisation add to the complexity of one’s indigenous status.
In this third episode of season 3 of the Conscious Conversations podcast with me, Mmabatho Montse, we speak to Greg McNeil about African Indigeneity and Sovereignty. We share our experiences and reflections about what being Black in Africa and America has meant, what we don’t know about our history and how we can capacitate ourselves to deal with the deception of colonisation and its handlers.
Episode 3 of Conscious Conversations Season 3 is here.
Greg McNeil, a Ph.D. candidate at Southwestern College, Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a business owner (Coaches Korner & Empowerment Center of New Mexico, LLC), regenerative leader, healer, visionary, transdisciplinary scholar, Life Coach, Co-Podcast Creator – Art of Self Change, Performance Fitness Coach, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (with diagnostic privileges), United States Air Force veteran, hunter, and adventurer.
Conscious Conversations features spiritual teachers, seers and thought leaders who, through their insights, help our listeners gather tools that can aid them in navigating life, enriching their lives – mind, body and spirit. Our intention is to share with our community a deeper perspective about spiritual awakening, the journey that follows, and how we can utilise these tools in our daily lives. Our listeners would like to hear more about our guests and how they embarked on their personal journeys of transcending challenges and breaking boundaries, walking with spirit and fulfilling their purpose.
Through Conscious Conversations, we aim to create a collective safe space that encourages honest human connections, helping listeners reframe the self-limiting ideas they hold about themselves and their life experiences. We hope these podcasts will inspire deep and meaningful conversations that lead to intentional changes designed to facilitate healing and expansion.
You can find this episode on your preferred podcast platform and our YouTube channel where you can subscribe and share.
We encourage you to subscribe to our Patreon page and support our work with your paid membership.
Here’s to healing, recovering, and expanding in Community!
A luta continua, vitória é certa.
Power to the People.
Amandla Awethu! Ilizwe, elethu.
May the spirits of our ancestors rise.
One Love -- Black
Please follow our social media pages for updates on the release of Season 3.
Comments