Sakinah S.

Sakinah S.

AFROPUNK Festival

Commodore Barry Park

Brooklyn, NY | August 23, 2014

Audio File

 

Transcribed Audio File

  • Do you live in New York City? If no, where do you live? What neighborhood?

    No, I'm from Jersey. Um, its called Williams Town, its like really far out. It's like 45 minutes away form Atlantic City.

 

  • To what racial or ethnic group(s) do you identify yourself as?

African American 

  • Do you believe your race or cultural identity influence how you are perceived in public space?If yes, please share an example? (WHY)

yes, 100 percent

  • Do you believe your race or cultural influences how you navigate public space?

yes, 100 percent 

  • Do you change your appearance, actions or where you go to be perceived differently in certain spaces?

yes

  • As a person of color what would be your top 3 survival guide tips for other people of color navigating public space?

As person of color tipping another person of color? Um, It's more or less about like, I believe the actual literal term is called code switching. Learning how to be the right black at the right time to not get yourself caught up, because there's implications to being the wrong black. I mean people are being shot, young boys are being killed. Like, its...my top three skills would be to hone the first skill. Learn to code break, learn to speak, each like a different language, learn to switch it up and not be afraid of the titles that come along with that. Because there is backlash, but at the same time its a means of survival. Like, language, knowledge, those would be my main tips. Learn as much as possible, as many languages as possible. Put yourselves in positions you would never ever be in, but learn to thrive in them and that makes you a well rounded person in my opinion.