Win With Black Women Wildfires

essencemagazine

Watch Win With Black Women Wildfires - essencemagazine on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00The guests who were impacted by the wildfires

00:03that devastated the city of Los Angeles,

00:05including the historically black Altadena.

00:10To show their support for relief efforts

00:11tied to the wildfires,

00:12Essence and the WOMEN WITH BLACK WOMEN organization

00:15have teamed up with GoFundMe

00:17to do their part in giving back.

00:19Here to share more about those efforts,

00:20please welcome to the stage an absolute powerhouse,

00:25the founder of WOMEN WITH BLACK WOMEN.

00:27Her name is Joteka Eadie.

00:30WOMEN WITH BLACK WOMEN

00:34Joteka Eadie

00:39Well, good afternoon,

00:42and thank you, Aldis, for that very warm introduction.

00:46You know, it's always good to be in the room with the 92%.

00:50Y'all look good.

00:52As I look around this room, I am inspired.

00:55I'm inspired by all of the beautiful,

00:58bold, black women in Hollywood.

01:01Give yourselves a round of applause.

01:04I'm inspired by the power, but most importantly,

01:08the resilience in this room.

01:10And as I speak, we find ourselves in a tumultuous times.

01:16Our rights threaten, myths and disinformation runs rampant,

01:22our voices silence,

01:25and our communities have literally been destroyed.

01:28But as always, we know what we must do.

01:36And in this moment, like the rich legacy

01:40upon which we all stand,

01:43we will do what black women have always done,

01:47and that is be our sister's keeper,

01:50preserving our families, our children, our communities,

01:54and standing in the gap for each other,

01:57for what we know is that resilience is not just surviving,

02:02it's rebuilding, and it will take all of us.

02:06That is why Win With Black Women

02:09is proud to collaborate with Essence

02:11on the Win With Black Women Essence Wildfire Relief Fund

02:16to directly, yes, to directly benefit and support families,

02:21including those that have been deeply, deeply impacted,

02:27and the deep Hollywood community

02:29that resides in the Altadena community.

02:32The fund, it will directly support three nonprofits,

02:36the Front Ridge Center, Neighborhood Servants, and our own,

02:41all whom are working tirelessly to put the money

02:45and the dollars directly into the hands

02:48of those who need it most,

02:50the families who have lost so much,

02:53and we encourage you to give today.

02:56But far greater than any dollar amount

03:00is our long-term commitment, day after day,

03:05week after week, and month after month,

03:08to stand with our brothers and sisters,

03:10and might I say, we cannot fly in today, fly out tomorrow.

03:14This has to be a long-term commitment,

03:17and in doing so, we make a commitment

03:20to those like Ms. Juanita West-Tillman, my good soror,

03:25a beloved grandmother who has been recognized

03:28for more than 25 years of service to her community,

03:32who served as secretary of the Pasadena branch

03:35of the NAACP, who lost her home in the fire.

03:39Yet she stands a steadfast, unbroken pillar

03:43of her community.

03:45It is a commitment to Ms. Nikki High,

03:48an Altadena resident of 47 years,

03:52and the owner of Octavia's Bookshelf,

03:55the only black-owned bookstore in the local community,

03:58who packed up all that she had and donated her books

04:02to people who had lost so much,

04:04and turned her store into a place to gather,

04:07collect donations, and now a healing place from trauma.

04:13It is a commitment to brothers like Zaire Calvin,

04:18a high school football coach whose family has lived

04:21in Altadena for three decades of generations,

04:25a family that was shattered by the loss

04:28of his sister, Evelyn McClendon,

04:31and yet he continues to call on his community

04:34to stand together.

04:36All of them have joined us today.

04:39I hope you would stand.

04:41They, yes, they are the face of resilience.

04:49That is the face of resilience.

04:52And together, we will put forth a commitment,

04:57a commitment not only to rebuild the structures

05:01of Altadena, but also to rebuild the rich wealth

05:05and the rich culture that resided there.

05:08Because a commitment that we will have today

05:11to make sure that they come back stronger,

05:14richer, and better than ever before.

05:18And this is what I'll say as I close.

05:20We will not allow our communities, our culture,

05:26and our generational wealth to simply disappear.

05:31And we will not allow it to be extinguished.

05:34Erasure in our long lineage has never been an option,

05:40and it will and can never be an option.

05:43And I've said this before,

05:45and I will say this to all of you in this room.

05:48Coretta Scott King said that freedom is won and lost

05:51in every generation.

05:53And in this moment, we are called upon

05:57to stand in the gap, in freedom, in this moment.

06:02And I hope that when you wake up every day

06:04that you will look in the mirror and ask yourself,

06:06who am I, what am I willing to do?

06:08And when you look in that mirror,

06:10what you will see is that from our hope,

06:13our resilience will carry us forward.

06:15And as always, from unseen struggles

06:19to the scene of triumph, black women,

06:22we remain the architects of hope.

Category

Transcript

Recommended