{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/2b8v981h1x/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Oral history interview with Kenni Cummings"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/212/original/LOHI_aviarybanner2.jpg?1741032082","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["4/18/22"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eKenni Cummings is a community activist and organizer who moved to Charleston, South Carolina upon completions of their Master of Divinity in Ohio. First working with AmeriCorps, they worked with local groups such as the Charleston Area Justice Ministry, Fresh Future Farm, the Carolina Youth Action Project and the South Carolina Housing Justice Network.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCopyright © Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Access Note"]},"value":{"en":["For more information contact the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, 125 Bull Street, Charleston, SC 29424."]}},{"label":{"en":["Access Statement"]},"value":{"en":["All rights reserved."]}},{"label":{"en":["Interviewee"]},"value":{"en":["Cummings, Kenni, 1998-"]}},{"label":{"en":["Interviewer"]},"value":{"en":["Brown, Millicent E., 1948-"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Topical"]},"value":{"en":["COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023","Church","African Americans","Political activists","Black lives matter movement","Activism","Political participation","Community organization","Social movements"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Personal or Corporate"]},"value":{"en":["Charleston Action Justice Ministry (Charleston, S.C.)","South Carolina Youth Action Project (Charleston, S.C.)","Black Lives Matter Charleston (Charleston, S.C.)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Geographic"]},"value":{"en":["Charleston (S.C.)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject - Geographic County"]},"value":{"en":["Charleston County (S.C.)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Contributing Institution"]},"value":{"en":["Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston"]}},{"label":{"en":["Media Type"]},"value":{"en":["Oral Histories"]}},{"label":{"en":["Resource Locator"]},"value":{"en":["AMN 1168.001.023"]}},{"label":{"en":["Digitization Specifications"]},"value":{"en":["Mp4 derivative audio and video created using Davinci Resolve. Archival masters are all mp4 files."]}},{"label":{"en":["Date Digital"]},"value":{"en":["2022"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eKenni Cummings is a community activist and organizer who moved to Charleston, South Carolina upon completions of their Master of Divinity in Ohio. First working with AmeriCorps, they worked with local groups such as the Charleston Area Justice Ministry, Fresh Future Farm, the Carolina Youth Action Project and the South Carolina Housing Justice Network.\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCopyright \u0026copy; Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Lowcountry Digital Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Lowcountry Digital Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/212/original/LOHI_aviarybanner2.jpg?1741032082","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/298/969/small/open-uri20251217-4125201-ei41vd_1766000606.jpg?1766000607","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - open-uri20251217-4125201-ei41vd.mp4"]},"duration":2658.75,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/298/969/small/open-uri20251217-4125201-ei41vd_1766000606.jpg?1766000607","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-cofc.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/298/969/original/open-uri20251217-4125201-ei41vd.mp4?1766000606","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":2658.75,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["DTA Interview - Kenya Cummings - Edited Transcript.docx [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\n... phones. Thank you, sweetheart.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=0.0,7.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYou tell us when.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=7.0,8.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAll right, I'm ready. And so my name and the spelling as well?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=8.0,13.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=13.0,14.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAll right. My name is Kenya Cummings. Kenya spelled, K-E-N-Y-A, Cummings, C-U-M-M-I-N-G-S.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=14.0,25.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOkay. And you can answer this short or long, but we are asking people where are you from? And that could be where you were born, or it could mean where you consider to be the place that influenced your early life the most.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=25.0,45.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYeah, so my people are from Augusta Georgia, both sides. But the South is what I call home, and a formative space. So, having lived in South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and born in Tennessee, and I've spent the last five or six years here in the Charleston area, called here because of connections to the ancestor and deep, rich history.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=45.0,74.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOkay. Well, we'll certainly get to explore a little bit about that. And how do you label yourself or define yourself as far as a title, or what are you doing now?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=74.0,87.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYeah, I think my work is pretty vast, so I like to think of myself as an organizer and a healer. When talking about organizing, I think about community organizing as a big space there. But then healing, I also do healing work. So I'm a Reiki master and often have been what people would call a movement chaplain.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=87.0,114.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nA Reiki master. For the record, describe Reiki for those who might not know.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=114.0,122.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYeah. Reiki is a Japanese healing art. It's for – colloquial, or for folks that have been connected to church, think about the laying of hands as a healing practice. And so it's meant as a practice that helps to de-stress and help folks bring a deep awareness to their mind, their body, and their spirit, and that connection.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=122.0,149.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOkay. We're very interested in how Charleston was lucky enough to get you here. What brought you to Charleston or what brought Charleston to you?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=149.0,164.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYeah, I was in graduate school in Ohio, and I went there because I had a family connection there as well. And at that time, just the start of the height of what folks call the Black Lives Matter movement. And I was doing a lot of work, and that took me into work around folks that were incarcerated. And what is life like after what folks would say “paying your debt to society”? And I really loved that work and learned a lot from people who had had their lives upended by the system.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=164.0,196.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nBut what's hard about that work is that there wasn't a lot of funding. And in the same way, I grew up in lots of church spaces and volunteering spaces and people would get really excited about giving money to good causes, and people were not excited about giving money to that work. And so I found a way to learn how to fundraise, and that was through what they call the AmeriCorps Vista Program. There's a development intern position down here in Charleston, and I came and spent a year learning how successful nonprofits raise their money.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=196.0,234.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nOkay. When was that?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=234.0,235.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nThat was ... let me double check the date. I want to say 2017 is the year that I moved here.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=235.0,249.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWhen you say by being in Ohio and you got active with the Black Lives Matter movement, how big a stretch was that? Does that come out of a family experience with that kind of work? I mean, what drew you into that kind of activity?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=249.0,271.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nI'd say we're dealing with part family reality. I was raised by a minister - a Black pastor - and a Black social worker. And so growing up, service is a rent you pay for living. You better find a way to connect into your community and to give back. And so that's a big space, but I was also in Ohio as a graduate student in a theological program. So I, when I went into school, thought I was going to become someone's pastor, had deep intentions of that, and got into school and began to study the Bible, Church history.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=271.0,311.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd as the news reports around Michael Brown and others began to trickle in, and my student body processing, realizing that y'all, we're going to have to do another thing. I was like this, well, I might be set up to be a different person, to be doing some radically different work, and begin to at first, just be in relationship with folks that were doing a lot of organizing by practice of learning. And then doing things like aftercare for protests and things of that nature, which led into deeper relationship.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=311.0,353.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd my program required me to do a internship, or externship, kind of deal. And I did that with a faith-based space that was learning how to be in relationship with folks that were incarcerated. And that grew for me. I've since then have always been in some form of connection with people who've been incarcerated. And whether that be practically working on-staff at a place, doing some school to prison pipeline work, working with families of children whose family members have might have been incarcerated. But that started a path for me, being really clear that I just didn't want to study what white men had done in the Church historically, but wanted to make faith meaningful and important to people who ... what Howard Thurman would say, with “people living with their backs against the wall”.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=353.0,416.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nAnd so you bring these insights and this sort of curve in your career path, and you hook up with AmeriCorps and get to Charleston. Can you sort of give us a little bit more detail about that? First of all, just coming to Charleston. I mean, first impressions.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=416.0,442.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYeah. I have this interesting connection to Charleston in that my father would preach at Macedonia AME once a year for Palm Sunday. So had been doing that for several years and had come and visited and saw rich culture on display and also community. Because those folks didn't know my father very well. Their pastor had been in my father's class, and then we had become adopted there, and that adoption really extended for me. So what happened was, I decided to come and tried to have to figure out housing, and the pastor's sister just volunteered to house me. Not knowing me well, just decided that she would provide housing for me. And I got to town and got to stay with her for a couple ... almost a month, two months before I could find my own apartment and my own space. But was deeply like brought into a family. She was a single woman living by herself, but would travel with her to her family church and hear about the needs of her children. She had two daughters who were raising single children. And I just became an aunt. Like I just became another part of that family and space.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=442.0,522.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd I also started to spend a lot of time attending public and free events, and so MOJA and other spaces, just trying to figure out what the city was like. And I began to understand that there are in some ways two Charlestons, the Charleston of a tourist coming to visit and to see the highlights, and then a Charleston that's full of deep history that's continually unfolding and being rewritten. So being in relationship with Fresh Future Farm and their land and that start of that work and getting to go to different CAJM gatherings, I just begin to understand that although it was a beautiful city, the city was not without its issues or stress. And just learning the things that I thought, like, people thought about Charleston that locals and natives felt maybe a little bit deeper or had different or a nuanced opinion of. So that was like that first year for me, just learning, “tourists go here, locals go here”. What is the difference to ... of being, or coming, someone who's come to this space versus someone who's been in this space, and how to have deference for wisdom and knowledge that I just didn't have because of not living here.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=522.0,614.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nAnd that's quite an interesting vantage point for someone to have coming fairly new into a community. What differences did you then pick up on among the binyas?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=614.0,630.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYeah, for me there are deep values here in Charleston of family and community. So I spent a lot of time - ended up moving into an apartment in North Charleston - and starting to learn of historically Black neighborhoods in the North Charleston area, and how serious it was to maintain community in those spaces. So I moved into that apartment not knowing anyone, like maybe 10 minutes away from the woman who had housed me. Well, less than 10 minutes away from her. And so there were about four apartments in my building. My neighbors very quickly peeped that I was not from the area and began to let me know what were the rules, like rules of the community or engagement. And those rules were from, like, a vast cross-section.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=630.0,691.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nSo my neighbor, Ms. Cookie telling me things like, you don't let men drive your cars. You don't do certain things. You need to make sure you find a church home. Just laying out those things, but also reminding me when she would see me working a lot, because AmeriCorps has a really high expectation that you'll do these 40 hours and then community service on top of that, reminding me that you only have one life to live, reminding me the richness of the culture. Like, baby, there's no point in being here if you're not going to see the ocean. No point in being here if you're not going to eat good food, and things of that nature. And that deep rhythm of life, that you ... a certain level of work ethic, but also a certain level of enjoyment. And that family should be ... family and community have to be essential to that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=691.0,745.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nDefinitely different rhythm than folks who moved here a year ago or two years ago and came for the ocean, came for the aesthetic, or to be close to nightlife, or whatever that might be. I definitely could see that. And even in their commitment in organizing or community work, folks that have been here, bring some people to the table for you to listen first and then to engage. And folks that are newer to, I think, the Charleston area were often quick to demand a place at tables in spaces without necessarily thinking about what the history or the culture of that particular space might be.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=745.0,793.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWere you traversing this pretty much alone or were there others in AmeriCorps with you going through this adjustment at the same time?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=793.0,806.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nI think I was alone in a lot of ways. I built great friendships, but my peers had different motivations or space to be there. So I came to learn, so that I could take that skillset into other much-needed spaces. And I was one of the only folks working in an office setting. A lot of my peers were doing AmeriCorps work in local schools. And so, they just had different motivations. Some of them had families and things of that nature. But I, although, like, being brought in and deeply cared for and even having great relationships to this day, their orientation to what they were doing or the lives they were living were really different. I was single and deeply committed to giving back to the community who had now given me a new home. And so many of my friends in AmeriCorps were either from the area, or new to the area, but just a different motivation. It was a, for some people, like “I'm doing this before I go to graduate school. I'm doing this and I'm moving on.”","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=806.0,883.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd so I often, even in our meetings or debriefs, I would be like ... people would be talking about, well, “What could we, as an organization do better?” And I'd begin to talk about the difference in ... I worked for literacy program. So I was like, I was noticing that some of our tutors were trying to do away - or not encourage - students speaking in their dialects, so speaking Gullah Geechie or things of that nature. And so they were looking at me silly, because they were like, I'm just here to do the program. And I was there to do the program, but also honor the space that we were doing the program in, if that makes sense.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=883.0,928.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nNo, absolutely. You mentioned Fresh Future Farms, CAJM, and everything. How did those connections happen for you?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=928.0,942.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYeah, so Fresh Future Farm, I found because the AmeriCorps position I was in, I told my direct supervisor about my work with returning citizens, folks that were formerly incarcerated, and that one of the places that we were able to find employment for folks that were incarcerated were farms. Farmers were far more quickly to hire someone despite their background. And they said, \"Oh, do you know about Fresh Future Farms, a farm right here in north Charleston?\" So I went and sat and talked to Germaine, the director of Fresh Future Farm for probably about three hours.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=942.0,978.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYou mean Germaine Jenkins? Yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=978.0,979.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYeah. Germaine Jenkins. And I earned my space at the farm as a trusted volunteer and then a consultant and then a staff person. So that was my showing that I could show up and do what you were asking me to do, so I could also show up and give what skills or knowledge I had. And from the farm and my work there, I was able to connect with Carolina Youth Action Project, which is also in the same office building as CAJM. All three of those organizations were in less than a mile radius. And so natural bumping up against ... and CAJM, also being introduced to that space several times by people in my first six months being here because I was a former divinity student. I have a Master of Divinity, and people were like, \"Oh, you care ... you have a heart for these things. So you should be connected to this space.\"","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=979.0,1046.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nBecause CAJM is primarily made up of houses of worship? KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1046.0,1052.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1052.0,1052.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYes. MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYeah. Let's talk about Fresh Future Farms just a little bit. I mean, what kind of stuff did you do there? You talked about the skills that you shared. What did you do working in North Charleston? And how do you describe just what meaning that had for you?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1052.0,1077.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYeah. So, there's a rule at Fresh Future Farm that in order to get involved, you have to do a volunteer workday, which means you have to go get your hands in the dirt. And I ... I would call myself not a city person, but I am not a farmer. [Laughter] Or a gardener. And so I went and I did that work. And I also, on that day, realized the workarounds, like, oh, I can help manage the volunteer sheet. I can make sure all the waivers get signed. I can make sure the water gets filled up. And so I did that kind of work. And in the midst of that, I would ask questions like, \"Hey, I'm noticing you're doing a summer camp. Are we doing grant funding for that? Or what are those connections?\" And I would go in to like build relationships in such a way that I can help build out the grants calendar. I went to a grant boot camp and was able to take some of that knowledge and learning back to staff.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1077.0,1134.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd because I was like a little busy body in the community, one of the young people that I was working with at Carolina Youth Action Project was getting ready to graduate from College of Charleston, and I set up a connect – a place for her to do her internship that she required to graduate at Fresh Future Farm. And so that relationship building there allowed for that person to come on and bring public health work into there. And so we did things like canvasing the community to first of all, let them know that we existed. Because I think a lot of times folks in that community weren't aware that we existed. And then when ... let folks know that we existed, and then also making sure that other needs that were close to food were also being figured out.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1134.0,1185.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nSo if you were shopping in that timeframe that we've been talking about, we were just a grocery store. And then we began to become a sliding scale grocery store, which meant that folks who fit what we called the “neighborhood discount” could receive anywhere from like 40 or 60 all the way down to 0% discount. So you could get some thing ... items for free. So I helped work on community ... Like, at one point, my role became the community engagement manager. So groups that were coming to visit the farm, helping them understand our work and our methodology around our work. So Fresh Future Farm is not ... it's a nonprofit, but it's not meant to be seen as a charity. It's about making sure folks have access to food, but also that folks have access to dignity, and that we're reminding folks of the inherent dignity that they have, but also in the way that we operate our services, that we're honoring folks' need for choice, their other needs. So utility supports and things of that nature are also things that we develop ... that may develop available for the community during my time at Fresh Future Farm.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1185.0,1274.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nTalk - tell us a little bit about the community response to this. I mean, yes, folks kind of know right away that you're not a Charlestonian, you know. But as you're working with the farm, you're working either with CAJM, the idea of ... what are you detecting as the response from the people you're working with?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1274.0,1305.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nIt was a cross-section. It was a cross-section. And I learned a lot in those spaces. So, I think about some regular shoppers at Fresh Future Farm who were just delighted and tickled that I wanted to be in the midst of that work. So just like, \"Oh, I don't know you. Where’d you come from?\" That space. And just who were excited to see a young person wanting to engage, like, wanted to honor the knowledge of the space and also have their young people be continually connected to the work. So that was a joy. Then there were people who were like, \"You don't know nothing. Because you're not from here. And also you don't ...\" I lived in North Charleston, but I did not live in that neighborhood. And I mean, we know that by a change of a ZIP code, that things can look radically different and communities can ... different neighborhoods have different needs.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1305.0,1367.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd so I often would have conversations with people who were not necessarily ... didn't dislike me as a person, but were like, \"What is your motivation and what are you doing? And who have you talked to?\" So that created a lot of relationships of like, \"Oh, you need to go down the street to this person and hear what they have to say.\" We did also did ... Fresh Future Farm at the ... before COVID, were always thinking about hurricanes and hurricane preparedness [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1367.0,1400.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"]. And so on those runs, it was interesting to have people ... they were like, \"How do you know we needed this? How you know?\" And it was like, well, I'm not from here, but I'm listening to the knowledge of people who've been here. And I'm also committed to ... Fresh Future Farm is committed to being a good neighbor. And so being a good neighbor means making sure you got what you need, whether you're evacuating, not evacuating, whether a storm comes or not. Do you have the things that you need?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1400.0,1427.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd so I think I would ... there was a cross-section of reactions. I also would say that I am not what folks expect when they meet. I am very tall. I have worn locs. My locs have had colors. I currently wear a mohawk. And so people also take a second to place me because I'm not from here, but I also look quite different. So, I think it was fun to build relationships with people who at first didn't know quite what to think about who I was. I mean, I worked at Fresh Future Farm, but at one point I was working at Fresh Future Farm and Carolina Youth Action Project, which is a queer youth abolitionist organization. So people were like, \"Who are you? Like you care about people's access to food. You care about young people's access to figuring out identity and understanding that there might be another way forward. And what does abolitionist even mean? This is not the antebellum era. So what does that mean?\" So I think people took their time to get to know me often.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1427.0,1503.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd I learned ... I tell people that the farm, my work at the farm and generally my work in Charleston has taught me what it means to actually build relationships. I think organizing and community change, people often think you can just get in there and get work done, and it's about the funding. You just need somebody ... you need to know how to do this. No, it requires a lot of deep relationship and a track record. Like people needed ... like my work with Germaine Jenkins gave me seats at other tables because if Germaine trusted me and I was able to show up and honor that relationship and honor her relationship, the relationship she had built in this poor Cherokee neighborhood, then that meant that I might be worthy to sit at other tables in those things.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1503.0,1556.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nBut I learned that to be ... as someone who's not from this community, solidarity means actually building relationships, not like your money or your skill sets. Because I've been in graduate school. I know how to write grants. I know how to public speak. I know how to do conflict de-escalation. None of that stuff mattered because nobody trusted me. Folks in this community wanted to know that they could build trust with me. And that took ... It took time, particularly for people who had been born and raised in Charleston their whole entire life. They wanted to know I wasn't going to leave when the next shiny thing came around.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1556.0,1608.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nDo you think Charleston is different in that way?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1608.0,1619.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYeah, I do. And it kind of makes me ... I love living in Charleston. But I've been here for the last five or six years and I've seen so many people leave, people that were born here, raised here, or people who came for college and got lots of skills and were deeply mentored and they leave, some would say because of the lack of opportunity. I don't think opportunity is the full fullness of it. I think that there is a sadness in Charleston, if I'm honest, because of deep history, but also I think because of current challenges. So even young people who find opportunity or find a great community and life here, the history is heavy of Charleston.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1619.0,1686.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd if you are a person committed to life-changing work or community transformation work, there are a lot of obstacles sometimes. Like for example, even Germaine Jenkins's work, I think she's been far more celebrated outside of the Charleston area than in the Charleston area. And that's a hard or a tough place to hold for people. And I think I've lived in other cities and have some great relationships with great friends in other places. I like to think a lot of my relationships are long distance in my life, like family and friends. And those spaces feel different because there's a mix of, like, a deep, unbridled hope and those challenges.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1686.0,1741.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd I don't think that we're without the hope, but I would say even if you think about our current legislature in places like Georgia, their legislature has similar legislation. So anti-abortion, anti-CRT, anti-trans- or LGBT- rights. Those things exist in Georgia, that kind of legislation creation, but there are also pro legislation, like pro-truth bills, great funding for schools. And in South Carolina right now, in the legislature, there aren't any of those pro-... bills. We're often in a defense, despite a deep history and legacy of overcoming and things of that nature.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1741.0,1790.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nSo I do think Charleston is a unique place. I would not characterize it to be a bad place, but I do think that there is a deep sadness that permeates the space. And that's why I think folks that have been here, folks that have a Gullah Geechie connection, or families who've been here for generations, that's why they spend a lot of time reminding you to find joy and to find a balance of a deep community. Because if you're only here or only connected to the struggles of this place, it can eat you alive.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1790.0,1829.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nVery, very, very well put. And I am a native, and so I'm really listening very intently to what you're saying. Were you involved in what might be termed as more political? I mean, I think what you've described, your activities, are all political, but the kinds of efforts that are being made to change actual electoral structures and whatever, were you involved with people who were doing that kind of activism?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1829.0,1874.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nMy relationship with folk like that were far more care-based relationships. So I was not going to that protest or going to that meeting at the legislature or that meeting with the representative. But those who were offering critique, or like the young lady who runs the Charleston Activist Network, when she first got to town and was doing a lot of like getting the Black folk out and all of those things, I made it my business to find them and to feed them. Like let us break bread and to eat and to know that you have someone in your corner. And I did a lot more of that care strategic work.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1874.0,1917.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd part of that is, my work in Ohio reminded me that, yes, legislative, electoral, even local city council ordinances are really important. They are important. And if we don't have the cultural shift behind it, if there are not people who understand the things that are being put forth and are offering care, then those things don't matter as much because we can't be sustained. And so I feel like a lot of my ... even working for an organization, like working for a youth org, I was the operations organizer. So I didn't have the fun job, the fun job of doing the political education or helping young people write a campaign. I was doing things that were nuts and bolts, like let's pay this vendor, let's make sure this thing's done. And I did that work partly because like I said, I came to learn fundraising. So I was okay with what it meant to be an administrator and my work with like my Master of Divinity made me understand that people needed a place to share their thoughts and to kind of unburden themselves. And so I think a lot of my work during that time period was ... that specific political juncture was more care, or that kind of work.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=1917.0,2017.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYeah. To what extent do you think you were able - or have been able, it's ongoing, I'm sure - to help people understand that need for balance?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2017.0,2038.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nIt's just a struggle. So this was not about that time period, but I took a sabbatical last year. And I'm in my mid-thirties and it was a public one. I did a public fundraiser. I talked very public about that I'm not going to be in the street or don't come to me for community work because I'm going to be turning inward and taking care of me and my family. And I had a lot of really great, rich conversations with people telling me that this is a continued legacy that will be mine, that I've tried to teach people the balance of that space, like of what it means to do the capital D ... excuse me, W work, versus that smaller internal work or care space.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2038.0,2090.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd the spaces I worked in, so Fresh Future Farm and Carolina Youth Action Project and talking to folks about CAJM and how they structure their house meetings and things, I did a lot of pushing around what does care look like in these spaces? And so, I know that Carolina Youth Action Project's model around how they do their meetings and thinking about accessibility and needs are that, is still there. And I know that at Fresh Future Farm, they've worked really hard to make sure staff and volunteers and folks that come into the community space also take time off and care for themselves. And I can't in any way take credit for all of that. But I know that that has been an ongoing space.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2090.0,2131.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd then the people that I've organized with or people that I've been planning a rally with, done a particular project with, I'm really grateful to say that so many of us are still in community and that we don't do anything that's just business, like that's just, let's accomplish this goal. We do everything with a sense of ... that we're whole people. So what does it mean to eat food together and also shift culture? To things like even simple things, like having conversations. I was having conversation with a friend not too long ago and someone mentioned a “pow-wow” and they pushed back on the language and was like, \"Hey, do I have permission to talk about what that means to another culture and what it might not mean to you in different language space?\" So I think those things are ongoing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2131.0,2183.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nAnd I do think that there ... not me individually, but there has been some collective energy, because even leadership shifts that I saw, people stepping back and stepping away, to move away, pursuing, or to let other people lead. I've seen a dance of that within organizations and in less formal groups of people. So I think that that's a space that people have been learning and growing and a growing egg, if you will. Like still trying to figure out that delicate dance.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2183.0,2229.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYou have such an upbeat kind of presence about yourself. Are you optimistic about the future, especially of Charleston, given those challenges that still exist here?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2229.0,2248.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYes. Yes, I am. There is a deep beauty in presence here. When I'm in Charleston, I can feel the beats of the ancestor. And I don't mean my enslaved ancestors or folks ... my family that came through this space. I mean, like Septima Clark and Mary Moultrie and other folks who have laid it out, laid out what they given. And the things that they gave, what I love particularly about those two women, they gave things that were practical and political. And I think that that still exists in this moment. And I think with things like I was able to recently visit what was formally the Jenkins Orphanage and Institute and is now transforming into the Jenkins Youth and Children Village, like that that space still exists and [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2248.0,2316.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"].","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2316.0,2319.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nYou would've loved Reverend Jenkins, by the way.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2319.0,2322.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYeah. I mean, like, I know that there are people here, that there are people here that are still deeply committed to a different reality. I think Ms. Henrietta, who's been with a lot of different organizations and who's done work with housing in South Carolina, she's still working. She's in her 70s and still doing this work. And not just still doing the work, but at different points in my work here in the area, has invited me to her table as a young person to care for and to love on, but also for my ideas and my skillset.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2322.0,2359.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/66","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nSo, I think that Charleston has a future. I think there is hope. I know there is a lot to overcome. And I think if people continue to tell the truth and live into that balance, there will be an incredible Charleston that young people will inherit. I think that even the popularization of Gullah Geechie culture as something to claim and a wisdom to hear from is a part of that. And I think there being more intergenerational spaces are also a hope for me. But I do have a lot of hope for Charleston. I hope, even, so much so that I'm living in Augusta, but trying to get back to Charleston, and figuring out what that means and looks like with the rising housing costs.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2359.0,2422.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/67","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWe are conducting this project, getting insights from folks like yourself who have made commitments to this community. And everything that you've shared with us today may be heard 10, 15, 20 years from now. What is it that you would have someone of the future really think about if they were hearing you to speak sometime down the road? What is that life wisdom that you would like to be remembered for, if you will?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2422.0,2474.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/68","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nYeah. That I think often, and this is out of my own playbook, but like, I thought I'm the first to do it. I'm like, oh, can't nobody do it like me. Like I am the gift, y'all. And I think the reminder is that it's already been done. They're already doing it. And that's with everything, from housing, to racial justice, to environmental justice -, like folks have been doing the work. It would do you well to find who's been doing the work and to speak their names. So yeah, and to speak their names. And just to tarry in the spaces that they tarried in, like to be in the spaces they've been in. And that will help center you and help guide you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2474.0,2540.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/69","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nPart of the reason we haven't gotten as far as I'd like for us to be in Charleston is because we don't know our history. And I mean that for all of us, like, intergenerationally folks don't know who has been holding work and pushing things forward. And that if you would take that time to learn who's been doing the work, you'll also learn, how they survived it. Because part of this game is survival, which should lead to thriving, but you have to survive first.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2540.0,2580.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nWe really thank you for sharing your thoughts with us today. You're going to be an important part of this documentation of what young people were going through in the 21st century.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2580.0,2595.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nOh, well, I'm really grateful for your work, the Avery Center, like you all's existence in general, but also this particular project. I, in the last little bit, have been fortunate to be listening to interviews of Septima Clark and some others. And just to be able to hear their voice, like not the soundbite, but to hear their voice and to hear their wisdom has been really life-shaping for me. I'm like, okay, I can march on a little bit more or I can be reminded that it's not all sunshine in this work and it's not all rain. So I'm deeply grateful and I'm glad that we were able to make it happen.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2595.0,2643.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nThank you so much here. Hope to cross paths with you soon.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2643.0,2646.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nOkay. Sure. MILLICENT BROWN\n\nBye bye. SPEAKER 3\n\nAll right. Thank you so much. KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nBye.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2646.0,2650.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nBye bye. SPEAKER 3\n\nAll right. Thank you so much. KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nBye.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2650.0,2650.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nBye bye. SPEAKER 3\n\nAll right. Thank you so much. KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nBye.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2650.0,2650.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nBye bye. SPEAKER 3\n\nAll right. Thank you so much. KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nBye.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2650.0,2650.0"},{"id":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969/transcript/87847/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"MILLICENT BROWN\n\nBye bye. SPEAKER 3\n\nAll right. Thank you so much. KENYA CUMMINGS\n\nBye. SPEAKER 3\n\nAll right.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://lcdl.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3440/collection_resources/164251/file/298969#t=2650.0,2659.5"}]}]}]}