00:00Welcome, class, to this history of carnival.
00:17It's a store of no return because immediately you were taken through the store.
00:24You were taken to Bermuda, Jamaica, Barbados, North America.
00:29Do you know what a colonizer means when you speak about that?
00:32I just mean like a six-year-old man.
00:34No.
00:35Right.
00:41First carnival, I remember I was in a basket. We've never missed carnival.
00:46It's about our identity, where we came from and what made us the people we are.
00:52You know, it's more than just a party, you know, it's a ritual.
00:54Don't hate me for history. Call it the greatest show. Tragedy turned party.
00:59The moment that the slaves were freed, because prior to that, they could not participate so fully in the carnival.
01:05400 years of repression and hate and destruction and all that. And what we do, we make carnival.
01:10Carnival is the longest-running march for racial justice.
01:13It was bitterly fought and people died.
01:15If you're constantly getting pushed, at some point you're going to push back.
01:19And carnival is the place where we get to push with a smile.
01:25This day is ours. We're going to be seen. We're going to be loud. We're going to be bright and bold and beautiful.
01:38And you're going to love us for who we are.
01:40We free up that day more than any other day because we were oppressed for so long.
01:45Why not live it up when we can take over the streets?
01:48A rag, you wave it. You're going to get up, put your hand on your head and say,
01:52Oh God, you hear that tune? Like, right song hit at the right time. That's the way that we express ourselves.
01:58Every man alive without question, come from a woman midsection. So the place of God is holy, yes I know.
02:05So when you see we're sliding rotation, understand this part of creation, and don't judge them when you see them move.
02:13So you know how they say about how black women move, and we have this rhythm and this thing.
02:18He said that Negro women could not walk without moving their hips.
02:22You can't tell me what to do with my body. You could try. You could beat my body, you could do everything, but it's still my body.
02:28And I'm going to do with it what I want to.
02:30Whining has that particular intent. Again, that level of resistance.
02:36Whining to me is revolutionary.
02:39If you look at anybody on the road, their hands are probably up, their waist is probably moving, and they probably have a smile.
02:46That is liberation.
02:54Again.
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