Throwback: We Can Create Our Own Holidays

care of you. There's power and peace and your divine no. I hope you all get some rest, whatever that may look like before the start of Infuse your days with a little audio, soul food, and catch up on any episode you missed of j dot Ill. We'll be back next week with a special episode to end out Welcome to j dot do a production of What's Up? Everybody? How are you? I hope that you're so good? Thank

you so much for checking in with us. Um. This is j do Ill the podcast, and I'm here with my sister friends, my strong powerful woman, Liah Sinclair, strong and Powerful, Damn Straight and Age of Graydon Danceler Booty, whoa I like when I say dance dance That's a nice name. I wish I had more syllables. I didn't get enough syllables. And I'm gonna tell you that my mother put an exclamation point on my birth certificate. You mention that to you, You told me, Yes, So my

name is really Jill Scott. That's amazing. It really is, though, Like it really is. I I enjoyed that choice. Your son King, that's a nice name. It is a nice name. Yeah. My nephew's name is King. It's short for Kingston, but we call him King. I saw you had a pretty baby on the Instagram. A that's your knee. She's so beautiful. First of all, my sister in law, my sister in love. Yeah, I really do believe that she was brought here to the earth to make pretty babies because she literally has

five little girls and they are all adorable. Like she's a little pretty black girl baby making machine. And she her latest one is ah, it's the icing on the cake, her latest one, her latest one. Listen, I'm like Jill, the dam women like them babies, honey is point. Okay, they take the socks off when they're handling them. They take the socks off. Yes, girl, Yeah, you have a

really really big family, huh, I do. But the teen my husband is the oldest of six children, and this is his sister who also now has six children, as we have six children. But yes, so they are a lot of cooking. Oh yeah, girl, you know I've cooked every day for bazilion years, but now I don't do it anymore. I'm gonna tell you what broke me, this here pandemic. I cooked every day for about three and finally I just was like, I can't do it anymore. So I implemented finn for yourself night. Oh and I

also I also look hashtag like the kids. Okay, give it to um fit for yourself. I'm just shaking my head, yes, sir. And then was also just my older children had to take a certain night to cook. So yeah, a lot a lot of cooking. Can you come from a big family like you? No, it's you know, it's just me up and here. But my mother and my father are both the youngest of their bruise Like, my mom's the youngest of five, my dad's youngest of nine. And yeah,

this is it for me. So I adopt people. I got a lot of god brothers and sisters and whatnot. So the holiday times is kind of uh, it's it's more relaxed for you because how many people are showing up friends and family or it depends. Last year we did the whole. A lot of New York folks from my dad's side came down and we had dinner at

my mom's house. So that was really nice. But to be honest, shoot, as far as the Christmas holidays and then only child, we cut that out about twenty five years ago after the presidents and we just decided to travel. We do our own things on the holiday. That's delicious. My mama likes so jealous. Yeah, that's nice, So let's go somewhere instead. So now that we started that little tradition, I'm trying to hopefully maybe this year and maybe well don't I don't win. When do you start preparing for

the travel? Well, Jill, as a daughter of a flight attendant, do right, I'm like that can vary from mommy, we're gonna we're going this year. We're we're going. Okay, so come three a week before, we're gonna start packing and then and then a couple of days for that, we're gonna pick the flight to see what the low look like. Oh, this fight attended life is real. Yeah yeah, so you Angel, you you gotta you know, cook for a lot of people. Let me tell you something. Thanksgiving was all I mean

for years and turkeys, isn't it? Well? No, not, well, it is if we go to family's house, if we go over, we went up. We've gone over to my mother in law's house many times. And then because also too, I have a mother, we have bounced from my husband's mother's house to my mom's house, until finally I had so many kids, I was like, listen, y'all, I don't feel like dressing all these kids, cart and all these kids to go over to somebody else's houses and eat,

And then like, what is the leftover situation gonna be? Like? By the time I pack up food from your house, I'd then packed up leftovers that looked like a whole like I cooked. So I was like, no, I'm gonna cook at home. I sit there and feed my children. I said, if y'all want to see these kids, I bring them over for a dessert or something like that. My mother with my mother and my family and my in laws are like a family. They're close to. So my my siblings and my mom are all close to

my husband's sibling and mother. So we have a bit of a really good mixture. So we tend to spend time together. And we also have two different religions in our family. That's how I was about because my mother we don't celebrate Christmas because we're Muslims. My mother and please don't get mad at me for cussing and carrying on in this show, like look, y'all can just save

the emails now, I cuss um so uh. And my mother's side is Christian, and so typically Thanksgiving over the years would be the time that we would end up altogether, but on on the on the Islamic side, on the Muslim side, we would do eat dinners and that would be that's the time. Add there's two eads a year and a calendar Islamic year, and so we would get together and cook and eat for eat, And then I just thought about that, Asia, you've got a lot of holidays in your bigs, like you got not a hot

but traditions. You got a lot of traditions. And that's a lot of traditions. But it's not that you know, it's actually I think really good for the kids because the kids get to just understand about diversity within family and that you know, blood of ties are stronger than cultural ties and that you can still really believe and do what you do and still be able to be

respectful of your family and things like that. So I've I've loved over the years that my kids have got an opportunity to do that, and the little extra work is just that, Hey, you know, you gotta have an extra conversation. You gotta keep family on point, make sure everybody is aware, you know, that kind of thing. And even with Christmas, though my children don't celebrate Christmas, they have family members who do so in the past they may have, like you know, sent the kids a couple

of dollars or this that of the dog. You're about to say, you the hold you hold Jehovah. So that's I mean, not not now, but you were raised that right. So the first off, first, sorry what I do. I'm sorry, sorry, I'm I'm They're called Jehovah's witness. I'm sorry, I shortened everything. I'm sorry to be called Jehovah and be like me calling aja Allah. Okay, and y'all not a five percent of witness. I got it. Jehovah Witnesshovah, Jehovah. That's a black thing, and it is it is what it is.

But they're Jehovah's witnesses, and um, yeah, I grew up as a Jehovah's witness, not because I was baptized as Tehovah's witness, but because that's the house I lived in. And as you know, you know, when you grow up in the house, that's what you do. You do whatever your parents are doing. So I grew up my my mom and my grandmam, and we definitely missed. I feel like I missed out on a lot of stuff like holidays and things until I got old enough to catch

the transportation by myself. Once. Once I got old enough to hop on that fifty four and catch the subway and then gone, and I forgot what other bus I cold I don't remember now to to get to Mount Airy where I would go to my aunt's house and she would have Christmas there. So that meant I got to eat the good Christmas food. I got to play oh No all night long and laugh out loud, and my aunt would always get me something God blessed. There was never anything that I wanted, but the fact that

she thought of me meant a lot to me. And until I got older and was like Hey, listen, I'm gonna just want you to keep that, like, keep that money in your pocket. You don't have to buy me anything, you know. Um, but the holidays were really, really fun. I thought from not celebrating them to celebrating I was like, this is cool. And then I got older and I was like, wait a minute, wait one minute talking work

conversation after the break. So Christmas is I don't know the exact numbers right now, but when I was reading about it, it was like Christmas was seventy of America's economy three and that was a long time ago. That was a long time I don't I don't know, you know what it was then, but that was enough to shake my world up and asked myself, like what am I exactly getting into and why am I doing this? Um, there's the stories, clearly, you know, we've all heard the

stories about uh Jesus and Christmas. Um how number one, Jesus wasn't born in December, So who made up December twenty five as his birthdate? And why do we give gifts and all of that? Jack and well it wasn't attempt Okay, So the historical implication of is that, um it was an attempt. I know she would. I was setting it up. We know this answer already, so I don't appreciate y'all set me up as almighty. It wasn't attempt for the king at the time. I want to say.

It's probably like Constantine or somebody who was trying to spread Christianity but knew that the cultural and uh, the cultural beliefs of the people where he was we're not right in line with Christianity at the time. They were celebrating winter Solstice and uh something else I want to say,

called christ Mass or something like that. And so what he decided to do was allow them to keep elements of their cultural celebrations and mesh it together with Christian tradition so that he could ease the people into celebrating or practicing Christianity. So, um, that's how you get Christmas in December. That's my understanding of it. Nick comes into the conversation. That's not how sat Nick comes into the conversation, but that is how stuff like uh you'le tie greetings

and things like that come into play. And um, the like I said, the time period and things of that nature. So yeah, and trees like a Christmas tree. That's when the that's how the Christmas tree comes into play, and garland and um mistletoe and things like that. So yeah, so that's where you have some Christians who over time have actually stopped doing those types of traditions because they understand it it's not necessarily a quote unquote Christian tradition.

Ship it's an American at this point in American, but now it's very American because you do find people, like she says, like a part of part of the economy. So people come here from other places and part of their um embracing American culture is to celebrate Christmas. The music is nice, and I have always loved the lights, my children, my little Muslim children. I've always loved the lights.

I've always loved the lights, and I've I've always enjoyed the music and the getting together and the smells of it all. I always thought that was so nice. Um, But when I had my son, I think we had Christmas maybe twice, and I just felt wrong. I just I just didn't sit right for me, because you know, we have all of these things, all of these holidays that make money. Really, you know, think about it, I wrote, I wrote cards for Hallmark Father's Day, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day.

You know there's as the cards by the way, the you know, I'm just saying every Mother's Day, Father's Day. I was looking at something so Christmas didn't feel right one because I didn't grow up celebrating it. I got a chance to participate in it with my Aunt Shirley. Shout out to Aunt Shirley, who was so beautiful and kind and loving to me. Miss you so much, um um. So I got a chance to experience that. But when I had my own child, I was like, do I really am I really setting him up? You know? Do

I want to do? I want to tell him lies? Right? I always wonder how I handled this a parent. I'm sorry, go ahead, you yeah, like you know, it's it's not real, Like do you want to tell a lie? And and not for nothing? The thing that you know, I went around with my mom when she find decided not to do it. I started to think too about how I would have these amazing chris is this become the New Year. My mom was trying to figure out how to rob Rob Peter to pay Paul, and I was like, that's

not it's not fair. No. So when I was little, what my mom used to do is she would wait until Christmas was over and then we would go shopping because it was all of the Christmas holiday stuff. And I had gone back to school without doing the then going shopping part. And I came back to school, I had on the same clothes I had on the week, you know, a couple of weeks before that, and all

the kids had new clothes. Just was it messed with me? Like, oh, you know, I felt jealous and I felt like I was getting left out of something that I wanted to So I didn't want to do that to Jet. But I also did not want to lie to the kid about these holidays. So I invented it famists fam us fam yeah, faminess. You know. I was like, okay, Christmas, but I was like, faminist family is family is what are the things that I love about holidays or traditional

holidays in America? Um? Well, you know, you get together with your family, you you cook with your family, y'all, listen to music, your dance, you play games. You know somebody's gonna you know, play spades or something like we're going to enjoy each other. And I was like that's what this that's what people really are, you know, inclined, that's what they really love to do. It's it's it's the family portion. So it's like, okay, I'm going to create a holiday that is about family. Family. Is the

only difference between Christmas and Faminists is it is? Well, it's there's two differences. Instead of putting up uh garland, and we put up the colors of our of our culture. So there's a lot of African flags around the house, and we put up pictures of people we respect and admire all around the house during the during Faminists. Um, um, we we have a tree, but our tree is black.

What the hell do you get that from the home goods? Wow? Yeah, we have a black tree and um we put we put pretty much anything we want on the thing thing. Sometimes it's pictures of us, sometimes it's a cante cloth, or sometimes it's African flags depend you know, all over the continent. Um. So there's pictures of people we admire and respect and then there's this black ash tree and that we do do presents, but you have to earn them. And how you earn a gift on Faminists is you

have to write a one page essay. It can be longer, but it's a one page essay about whatever you want to talk about, whatever you want to talk about, and then we all sit after dinner. We all sit and listen to one another speak out loud and think out loud. So you know, one year, Jets was about raccoons because we had raccoons in our you know, trash sometimes, and what we found out from his essay was that raccoons have sensories in their hands. You know, they have five

digits like we do, so, but they have sensories. So when they touch a trash can, they're like, that is jelly? What else is that? Some onions? And yeah, right, and then he's he's okay. So the essays have to be handwritten, or I mean, they don't have to be handwritten, but it's nice. I prefer them to be handwritten. Once you read your essay, then you get your gift or gifts depending because everybody in Abody can give anybody a gift. But if you don't um, if you don't read your essay,

you ain't get nothing. And that's just the way it works. You don't get without giving, and that's just the way it is, so we go from listening to our elders to listening to the children and everybody in between. So we get to our family gets to hear us thinking about whatever we want to talk about. It could be anything, and that is the gist of families. It doesn't have

any religious implications. So my mother comes, she's a Jehovah's witness and she's like, you know, she doesn't celebrate holidays, um, but this doesn't have any religious implications. So it's more of a family gathering. It's family is families. So I think it works for any culture, whether you're uh Indian, whether you're Italian. You know, to have pictures of Italian people that you're respecting, to admire all around the house, to have your true red, white and green um. To

to sit and listen to your family, you know. Think. So that's pretty much what familis is, and that's what we've been celebrating for the last five years. So last thing is because it's the essays are on paper, I collect them and um keep them in a little famous box. What's not little anymore, but keep him in a famis box and it becomes a family treasure. So I can

look back and say okay. In you know, uh, two thousand and and you know twelve, you wrote an art, you wrote an essay about why you don't want to do homework or why you think homework is unfair. You know what I mean? And you get to also see your own hand right here, particularly you know, particularly for the kids that how long does it take to develop a holiday? Jill? Um, I guess overnight if that's what you wanna do. I mean you fai is, how how

long did it take you to figure all those elements out? Well? It didn't take long because I've been thinking about it for years, Like what is it that that bothers me? What is it that that doesn't sit well with me? That one? This is such a big economic holiday that bothers me? Um too, it doesn't have any basis in history? And why not praise the Lord all year round? Praise Lord's praise Lord all year round. Whomever you decided you call God based on information that you know, or based

on your family and how they've taught you. Praise the Lord all year round. Be grateful for for your creator and creation all year round. But at this time, celebrate family and celebrate family and ask of them to do something,

to get something. What I mean, I'm gonna tell you, I know that the being with family part, particularly for black folks, is the pool for all of these holidays, you know, because obviously even the question around whether or not black people should even be celebrating Thanksgiving has come up in my family in the past five years, as we talked about that should we even be celebrating this, especially since I have friends who are who are Indigenous,

and they just feel so deeply disrespected by that holiday. And so for us, you know, as we all should feel deeply disrespected by it. Um. But I think also to you know, the idea of being with family for us, that's what resonates it says, Okay, well, I just wanna I'm not even I'm not keyed into all of it. I just want to be able to play bid with and eat some good food and you know, and be around,

you know, my extended family. So I can really appreciate being intentional about that, because you know, these are things that keep us together, These are the things that keep us going, and you know, all over the diaspora, but particularly here in America, where it's like what is for us? But I love the fact that in some states and here in Pennsylvania, Juneteenth is now considered a holiday, an

official holiday here in the state of Pennsylvania. And for Tina and I rode in the Juneteenth Parade last year, and um, we were the Grand Marshall's dolling yes and c ys and it. And it got me to thinking, I known about Juneteenth a long time, but I had never really been really intentional about celebrating it. Um and uh and again, Um, Black History Month in my household is a very big deal. And I am the only person I know who decorates for Black History. More so,

I actually decorate for Black History Month. So when you were saying the thing about putting up the pictures and stuff, I was like, oh girl, this is me a Black History mouth, Like this is how I am. Man. I love the fact that, um, you kind of kind of

came with your own family traditions. I think that's super important that even though there's some things cross culturally that we that we should continue to honor, one of the real things that I feel like it's important to honor is those things that become important to your individual family and that um, those are the things you get to pass on from generation to generation, you know, which is why stuff like family reunions are such a big deal in our community and um, you know things like that.

Here's one thing I know I made up that my kids and I did UM on Juneteenth, I want to say, two years ago, was I decided that I bought a very large piece of um, handmade and hand printed UM mud cloth that has some cante woven into it as well. UM. And this was what I played over top of my

mother's casket, m Um. And this is you know how she was there when when during her service we I took that and out laid it out on the table it was and and what I was telling the kids was that, you know, during slavery, obviously we weren't allowed to learn how to read, but we used to do these things called pit schools where people would escape in the middle of the night and dig a ditch in the into the ground and get inside the ditch and cover it with leaves, and that they would learn how

to read at night in these pits schools and these ditches. And one of the ways they learned was by writing into stuff like flour and salt. M And so what I did was. I told the kids, I said, okay, here, we're gonna cover our table. This is a um something to honor our particular ancestors. And you know, my mother is an ancestor now. And I sat out a little tray and I said, okay, guys, I put the flower out.

I said, this is our way of honoring how our ancestors learned before they were free, to learn how to read and to learn how to have their own self determination. And so I was like, you can write anything in a flower that you want. You can write the name of an ancestor, you can write a shape my heart or whatever your own name, whatever. But this is our way that we honor the ways that they learned. And so my kids and I did that, and you know, and that was our That was part of our June

taking celebration. Yeah. Yeah, we're free. We're free in a lot, not every way, but we're not enslaved. Were not enslaved. So you have the capacity to come up with whatever it is that you want to come up and make that a thing for your family. Hey, listen, I think in this moment's funny jail, as you were talking about, I want to say, right that's about I was about

to say, that'stivist. I'm sorry, that's that's time field. Oh, that's and that we have festivals the day before, families, festives for the rest of this, festivals for the rest, so that you have that the day before. So y'all do festive that y'all do families. And it is interesting because I thought it was a nice tie into quanda too, because while you're celebrating your family for one, then you start celebrating your culture in your community in the next. Right. Yeah,

but I tapped out by then. I ain't gonna I'm not I'm not even gonna hold you up like comment. I will say, it's a lot to me. I tried. I didn't grow up selling it, celebrating holidays or birthdays for that matter. So I'm gonna apologize now. I'm probably not going to remember your birthday unless you tell me and I put it in my phone because I I I don't remember. I just already told you all. We got nine thousand people in our families, so I forget my own damn birthday. If the radio didn't tell me

or the Instagram, they're like, it's just guy's birthday. I'd be like, oh it is, I'm two under nine again. I hesitated to bring up Quansa because I was like, I don't you know, people feel different ways about Mr Karna Karina, but at the same time, at the fundamentals of what it asked of you, of what it really

boils down to is fucking amazing. And shouts out to m two May and all the rest of the elders who actually helped make that holiday happen as well, like, I mean, you can't deny it, right, yeah, actually don't have an issue with the actual principles of And I mean I know that people, you know, so many things have come out about about um you said about Karina.

But for me, for me, I do think people who continue to celebrate Kawanza, I know what their intentions are and I and I think it's actually a beautiful time for a lot of families and really gives, you know, African Americans in particular, an opportunity to connect in a way that speaks to who we are here but also honors our culture in Africa where we and what we brought with us. And I don't think there's anything wrong

with that. There's nothing wrong with saying Okay, yes that I am connected to an absolutely a product of the continent, but here we had a specific kind and not just here but in other places of the diaspora. Experience is you know, chattel slavery, which is you know, it's an experience. It's it's something that you can't forget. It's something that did happen and did affect our ability to be connected the ways that in the ways that we were before that.

So I think it's nothing wrong with you know, as a community saying hey, let's let's figure out a way to reconnect. But then also um acknowledge that we are a new thing, you know, And I so no problem at all with that. I love it. I wish we could have more holidays like that, Like we don't really have a lot of holidays African American culture wise, do or do we am I tripping? I'm like Kwanza Black History, Black History June Team, June Team Team. What happens in

New Orleans and Louisiana? What is it? Um Marti Gras Mardi Gras. Okay, it's funny. You know, some things are taken from us and built in the something else. So I totally forget about Mardi Grad that way, because you are so right? Uh ok, MRTI grad Junete Kwanza, all right, I could use it, just a couple other ones around in UM, in Chicago and the Midwest, they have Sweeter's Day. What's that Sweetest Day? Is um black people's version of

Valentine's Day? Black Love Day? Or I'll take it all, I'll take or a single celebration whatever, Yeah, why not? And then of course in in in New York and Miami you got Carnival, you got mm hmmm yeah, yeah, you know, yeah, I forget weekend day parade single to Mayo. For other cultures is that who well, don't say this. This is this is where we get lost because we create, we create holidan. We didn't create holidays, but we celebrate holidays,

which is just fine. Um. And creating your own holiday for your family and making a tradition for your own for your family is beautiful. And I think so um as someone who participates in it. But here we are, here, we are what's up? So she's about to get it. It does frustrate the life. Oh it drains my my, my life when I see so many of us going into debt for Christmas, going into debt for Christmas for

people who do not deserve this amount of gifting. It's shocking to me that we still celebrate the holiday that we kind of know there's not really truthful of what it is, and we just definitely know that it's a big money making day. But we are so in the line of this tradition for generations and generations that we just couldnot let it go. It's amazing to me, very much like Jesus Listen already in Trouble Less about it. We said we were going to talk about things, and

we are here to spark conversation. I asked my grandmother about that. Listen. I had the same conversation with my mother and my grandmother. My question is always this, what exactly have um white people that were enslaving folks giving them for their benefit. They don't want you to read, they want you to speak your language. They didn't want you to pray to how you pray, so they've given you and the fact that we continue to hold on to this. Yes, you know I I do don't I don't.

I don't know what you're gonna do with this. I know this, I know that I love God. I do. I do. There's no there's no ifs, ands or buts about that. I am so appreciative. I am so grateful that I've learned my relationship with you, whope, God. And there are so many names, and that's that's your business,

how you want to deal. I have Uh John three on my neck and it is because, um, it says for those who don't know, for God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whomever shall um believe shall not perish but have everlasting life. I'm paraphrasing a little bit, um, but nonetheless, most of you know what that is. And I just think that we've gotten that confused. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whom

ever shall believe in him. Now, let me tell you like this, if I was if somebody asked me to save the world by giving my only begotten son, y'all will be some dead mother. She'd be dead, she could dead. We all be dead, and we're going together my only begotten son. I always think, man, that level of love, to to love human being so much to give your only child for them is massive, and that should be respected and appreciated and honored and cherished, if we're going

with the stories to be true. I really feel that way, and it bothers me when people don't give our creator the credit deserved. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whomever shall believe in him, the Creator himself, so whomever shall believe in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Well, I mean, I think it's about to unpack. Yeah, it's

a lot of time, it's plenty. There's a lot to unpack there on one of the things that I will say this about black folks and there and they're um forced or perceived forced because well, after slavery, they were forced to embrace Christianity, but a form of Christianity that was obviously um twisted and intended to keep them, intended

to keep them enslaved, you know. But obviously there it was that same Bible and that same teachings, those same teachings that also spoke to so many enslaved people that incited them to riot and rebel, you know, because Nat Turner actually believed that God had spoken to him. Harriet Tubman said God spoke to me, these are not people who read a book or were intellectuals. These were hardcore spiritual people. But they also came from very similar backgrounds

in their africanness. Oh yeah know that they did. They actually did so, I mean so, and they had certain spiritual beliefs that were passed out. So the reason why I say all this is because African Americans have successfully, in many ways, many many many ways, merged together what they brought on the ships with Christianity in such a way that empowers the spiritually that has been at the

core of their resistance. So if you start to peel back the layers of Black resistance over several years, you're gonna find a lot of that is what what changes it. And not just Christianity, but also with Islam, because when you look back at some of the other you know, leaders of different rebellions, they had some backgrounds and beliefs that were Islamic. And then also to the big Haitian Revolution was started with a religious ceremony based in Vodoon,

which is based in Yaruba. So it's like all of this is who we are. We take who we are everywhere that we go, we take who we are where we go. And so when you talk about just from our own background, right, sometimes we don't always know, we don't always know that that's what it is. But believe you me, that is what it is. And when you start talking about holidays, that is where we start to get into Okay, well what does this mean or what

is the mean behind this? So that I'm sure that it's not contradictory to what I believe, because you know, I hear your voice in the back of my head when it comes to these holidays, right, it's it's all because of white supremacy. That's not all of them, not all of most of the American ones that we celebrate. Well, yeah, I mean because it's about capitalism. It's like Jill said, this is about people making money and being able to

make money off of us as as individuals. It's not about making life better you know what I'm saying, or making you more spiritually connected. You know that whenever capitalism embraces a thing, but racial capitalism embrace Christianity from the gate, there's no way to separate the two. You've got to have the conversation, not be afraid to have that conversation. It doesn't it doesn't diminish any one person's belief because you can find Christianity and Ethiopia way before they ever

came here. So you can because is everywhere. That's what I'll be scared. That's that's why I was scared, always scared. That's scared because I did as my grandmother. But it was always an interesting point for me because I was like as black as my grandmother. What it was I always wondered, like the story of Christianity and what I knew of it and how it came to Black Americans.

I was like, oh, that's interesting that we get it when we have a habit of taking things and making in our own and switching it from a negative to a positive. But man, this is a doozy. This is a real juzy. I always start. I mean, it would be a really good idea to say that Ethiopia was never called used. That's true, but the me came down, it everywhere, came everywhere, everywhere. Well, you know, the end of the day is that I don't know a lot of folks who when they hear the world holiday, they're

thinking a holy day. M hmmm. So and holy day can be two different things, and particularly People who are very religious are more likely to focus on a holy day than a tradition. Traditions for them can come and go because the tradition can be started by someone who, you know, whatever, but something that's tied into your actual belief system. You know, people I know. But then you're like, it's not his birthday. It's not a day. It's not

a birthday. He's not a day. That's different. And then you tell us a story about how we all came to this day, and it's like, okay, of things. We believe a lot of things just because they tell us to believe it. And it's a tradition of believing. It's not just telling but forcing people got their teeth pulled out, um with with pliers and such, people got their feet cut off, you know, forcing them to be Christians another reason which makes it hard, always made it hard for

a rebellious me to go. So we're just gonna roll with this is the truth, even though we was. What I would need though for me, UM, what I would need is for Christianity to actually do it's its job. I needed to do its work. I need UM churches to be smaller and black people to be more Um, affluent. I see a lot of a lot of big churches, and I cannot front with you like it. It bothers me. I know, people, Um, you know there's a I've visit a lot of different places, you know when it comes

to religion. So you know, I'll check out a Buddhist temple for a while, and I'll go to a Catholic church for a while, and you know, just pay attention and look around and listen and see what I'm getting. Um. And sometimes I say one place longer than others. Um, there's a church that I was going to here in Tennessee. And I have a friend who was going through some hard times, particularly with this COVID and she's worked for the church and she's benefited and been there to help

in so many areas and she needed some help. So UM, myself and some others we joined together to to help her. And then after that we were like, okay, so you know we're in a good a better space, a good space. Let's go to the church. And they told her they would pray for her, and I was like, wait, ha, I'm having a hard time with that. When the pastor has you know, a dumb ridiculous, big gass house. Like

I'm having a hard time. My mom used to call her counselment about it, Like that church, you bid, Yeah, I just I don't understand why there isn't more um like like similar to the Black Panthers where you're supplying supplying food and shelter for people, like I don't understand,

and somebody like, oh my church. I'm just talking about as a whole because this is such a part of UM, a part of Black people and what we pour ourselves into and were pouring ourselves into, not just our faith absolutely without question, but we're also pouring ourselves into these um these edifices, were pouring ourselves into these these places that don't seem to benefit the people as they should.

There should be more universities, you um, um HBCU should not be struggling with the amount of money that comes through you know, um churches. The churches are getting bigger, but and the the you know, the pool is getting bigger. They've got lights like you know, uh, like a show

like Vega shows that basket comes around. I don't know three phone times, you know, I just need it whatever it is to actually be a benefit or Yeah, it needs to be a benefit to the people and love to the churches that are because we know there's not everybody. I wanted shot out to the Alphad Street Baptists over there in Virginia that's trying to keep their church as small as possible with their thirty thousand members and still given to their hbc U s and all, but thank you.

They just added, they just added services throughout the day. I had a church once that with the pastor was actually a carpenter. That's what he worked. And I love that because he could understand it wasn't just a you know, an offering, you know that he was living off offerings

that he was actually working. I just don't think you should get without girls, please, Yeah, I think I think what happens is that, Um, obviously, you have had many conversations over the over the you know, several hundred years that we've been in this country in the West, where we've we've tackled this idea that black wealth and access to money helps us as a community and that's going to push us forward. And one of the main places where that wealth can be distributed, like you know, is

typically in church. And so it was especially for black folks, you know, and or in their religious institutions period, because we've seen this kind of thing happen, you know, across faiths, you know what I mean. And I think it's a good thing to a degree to have a church be a base for you know, social um supports and and and community supports. But the thing is that the community

itself isn't just Christian people. So until we have a situation where as a community we can have like diverse spaces for everybody to come together, you know, and under the guise of strengthening the community and giving resources, uh um, we'll just be empowering these entities to just get into the race of who can raise the most money, who can bring in the most membership, who can do X, y and z. Until we start really working into coalitions

and stuff like that. And not that we don't have them, because every idea that we could come up with during this this podcast, it's been tried. So the thing is that I think re re shifting our focus back into coalitions is important. I mean, I hate to pull out my little history lesson on this one, but we love

this part. But you know, Denmark VC, who's really famous revolutionary and man who planned a revolt, uh slave revolt that actually was not successful, but it was used as a way to I mean, it sparked a lot of change in America moving toward emancipation. So the idea here is that when he planned this revolt, he was a very devout Christian, but one of his main conspirators was a man named Golla Jack and he he um practiced

African spiritual traditions. And hey, you had a man who was a devout Christian who planned a slavery vote with a man who was strictly in the practice of African spirituality. And I think that this is really really profound because what it says is that Black people, no matter what we believe, no matter how we celebrate, no matter what we how we worship, that we have a combined and a unified struggle, and that struggle is against the oppressor.

And so I think that's really important when we think about these kinds of things, that if churches, we can't put all the way on just the one church or just the churches, the churches have to be not be afraid to work with the moss. The moss has to

not be afraid to work with the church. The church had the Moss, can't be afraid to work with the with the African spiritualists, you can all of this is all this has to come together so that we can serve one another, so that we can celebrate family and and and and building up community, you know what I mean. And that's just my personal little two sense belief. Right, if we don't toss, if we don't toss these things,

we'll always have some sort of critique. We will have a critique, and that that will that will maintain that there will be a hierarchy and a and ah, you know, monopoly within each of these spaces. Somebody will come up on it. It just is what it is. I am looking to see us bloom and prosper and grow from our efforts. And anything that you're pouring into that does not blossom is futile. It's dead Earth word word. I'd like you to check out how to make a Negro Christian.

Oh shit, yes, ma'am. Don't get me wrong. You're and I'm pretty sure that you know some of you are offended, and you're probably going to get me wrong. Well that happens. I can't do anything about somebody getting me wrong. But I do know this that God has been in every single instant of my life, every single bit of it. He knows me better then I know myself and has been a beautiful, beautiful guide and even my foolishness, and

I am grateful for all of it. How do you eat an elephant one by it kind it's produced, or eaves back with another resource? Today, Jill brought up the book How to Make a Negro Christian by Kamal mckazy to Hootie. In eighteen forty two, Thomas Purse published the book The Religious Instruction of the Negroes in the United States, written by Charles Colclock Jones. Jones owned plantations in Liberty County, Georgia,

and wasn't enslavor and a Presbyterian minister. He encouraged other ministers and enslavers to provide religious instruction to black people. In this book, Jones advocated for evangelizing enslaved people, which he thought would make them more obedient, intellectual, morally upstanding and pliable, Leaving them without Christianity and in ignorance he

believed would make them susceptible to rebellion. Mcazy to Hootie's book How to Make a Negro Christian contains a reprint of Jones's works, along with commentary and context around how and why Black Americans have come to embrace Christianity on such a large scale. The history of black folks in Christianity is deep and intricate, but you can start with How to Make a Negro Christian. I'll drop a link in the episode description and that my children, my sisters,

my brothers, my friends. That is that. Thank you for listening to Jay dot Il, always hoping to spark conversation peace. Thank you for listening to Jill Scott Presents j dot Il the Podcast. This podcast is hosted by Jill Scotty st Clair and Age Graden Danceler. It's executive producers are Jill Scott, Seawan g and Brian Calhoun. It's produced by Las Think Claire and me Eve Steph Coke. The editing and sound design for this episode we're done by Taylor Tacoma.

Hey y'all, y'all, can we pause for one second? One second? Hold a couple of years. Hey, hey y'all, you're walking too hard on the floor. Sorry, I thought something mouth is about to go down I enjoy it every time. Now and listen, you know, agea Um. She gott to yell at the people that live in there, the people she made, and the one she didn't, yelling at them every now and then. They told him to shut up. They're walking too hard. I don't know what it's like,

cubment in the heel of their foot. When you figured out, let me know what I can tell my upstairs neighbor, God Damn. J dot Ill is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. M