NUBIAN KNIGHTS NETWORK: POST-Digital Diaspora Family Reunion Reflections: The RISBROOK Family ROD's Presentation For DDFR Sunday, Feb. 28th, 2010 (Bklyn, NY)

QUOTATIONS OF "BLACK"

"Whenever I use BLACK it relates to some history of Africans in that particular place. It’s the idea of the color BLACK as a metaphor, or as a representation of African-Americans. It’s the notion of BLACK- BLACKNESS - and all its other meanings in relation to the history of race..."

- Fred Wilson

"Most of my fortitude to continue doing the work comes from the moral outrage I feel about the injustices that Black people endure disproportionately daily."

- N. Abdul-Wakil

"In the end, what matters is not skin shade but pan-African consciousness. Loving your complexion, your nose, lips, hair length and texture, no matter what the politics or trends decide, and simply be. That's the problem with us (African folks). We're still learning how to love ourselves. So used to glorifying others and putting others first..."

- Dredlocks Tree

Sunday, February 28, 2010

POST-Digital Diaspora Family Reunion Reflections: The RISBROOK Family
ROD's Presentation For DDFR
Sunday, Feb. 28th, 2010 (Bklyn, NY)

Hey Black Family,

I had a blast at the Digital Diaspora Family Reunion (DDFR) engagement earlier this afternoon at the Grand Army Plaza library which is the main library for Brooklyn.

I was a guest speaker and like many other hundreds of other African folk, I was given an opportunity to submit pictures of my family and what it was like growing up for me. Coupled with that, I spoke about my closeness with my cousin Marva "Marvalous" Risbrook. I am truly blessed to have her in my life as we are really close. I get to see first hand how she is a big part of the family and interacts as a mother of two great and beautiful kids (who are as close as I'll ever get to having my own kids, I think), a recent grandmother, a nurturer and just an overall beautiful spirit beyond words.

Like me, she is same gender loving (SGL), and that is the other component I got to speak about this afternoon and how that nexus have crystallized our relationship as cousins and good friends. That kinship played a catalyst in bringing up our particular segment of the African Diaspora and our sexual diverseness from INVISIBILITY to VISIBILITY and that we are all a part of the Black Family in many capacities in spite of us being minimized and our fear of judgment!!

Finally, I'm truly humbled at having the experience and have to GIVE MUCHO THANKS to three specials people: DDFR consulting producer Don Perry (thanks for being a fan of Nubian Knights Network, Don), multimedia producer Ann Bennett (it was so qool meetin' you for the first time at Third World Newsreel for those two workshops and glad we had another fun ride) and writer/producer/director Thomas Allen Harris. (Brutha man, this is a historic project, and it nice to know you have genuine heart in the digital migration of photographic stories of the African Diaspora. This project is beyond words... just sheer imagery).

ALSO, A SPECIAL, SPECIAL THANKS TO MY GOOD FRIEND DELMAR for handling the camera and shooting the footage of me dialoging with with Thomas (see below).

Thomas Allen Harris is the founder and President of Chimpanzee Productions: a company dedicated to producing unique visual experiences that illuminate the Human Condition and the search for identity, family, and spirituality. Chimpanzee's innovative and award-winning films have received critical acclaim at international festivals such Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, FESPACO, Turin, Tribeca, Rio, Outfest, Flaherty and Cape Town; and have been broadcast on PBS, the Sundance Channel, ARTE, as well as CBC, Swedish Broadcasting Network and New Zealand Television. In addition, Mr. Harris' video and installations have been featured at prestigious museums and galleries, including the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Biennial, Corcoran Gallery, Reina Sophia and London Institute of the Arts. Mr. Harris is a recipient of numerous fellowships and awards including the United States Artist Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, Rockefeller Fellowship, as well as CPB/PBS, and Sundance Directors Fellowships. A graduate of Harvard College, Mr. Harris lectures widely on the use of media as a tool for social change.

Writer/Producer/Director Thomas Allen Harris

Ann Bennett (Multimedia Producer) and Thomas Allen Harris
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Nubian Knights Network Founder ROD PATRICK RISBROOK
Discussing With Thomas Allen Harris About Growing Up
With His Family And The Importance Of The
Black Same Gender Loving Community Being Affirmed
By The Larger Black Community And Not Being JUDGED

About DDFR and the Video...

Digital Diaspora Family Reunion (DDFR) is a community engagement initiative that maps African Diasporic Photography across time, place, and genre. Using the power of new and emerging interactive platforms, the exciting stories of Black photography will be made accessible technologically, geographically, and culturally to current and future generations.

In this particular video segment, I (ROD PATRICK RISBROOK) talk with DDFR creator and moderator Thomas Allen Harris about the images I submitted to the project . We also touched on the Black Same-Gender-Loving or SGL experience within the African Diaspora and what that means for me.

The term Same Gender Loving (homosexual, bisexual & transgender) emerged in the early 90s to offer Black women who love Black women and Black men who love Black men (and other people of color) a way of identifying that resonated with the uniqueness of Black life and culture. Before this, many African descended people, knowing little about their history regarding homosexuality and bi-sexuality had taken on European symbols and identifications as a means of embracing their sexuality(ies): Greek lambdas, German pink triangles, the White-gay-originated rainbow flag, in addition to the terms gay and lesbian.

SGL has served as a wake up call for African descended people to acknowledge diverse ways of loving and sexualities and has provided an opportunity for Blacks and other people of color to claim, nurture and honor their significance within their families and communities.

MY FAMILY And Growing Up...

ME On My "Horsie" When I Was A Little Shorty
(Notice The Pictures On The Wall Taken By
My Brother Reggie. He Was Quite The Photographer)

ME And MOM Smiling For The Camera

My Mom Giving ME A LOVE KISS (Christmas Time)

My Mom And Me At Christmas Chillin' Together

ME With My Yellow Corvette Racing Car Which Had Pedals
MAN! I LOVED THIS CAR!!

ME Playing With My Toys!

My Dad And My Mom With ME

ME On My Red Fire Engine Toy
With My Two Older Brothers

MY Two Brothers (Erine and Reggie) With
Reggie Holding ME At Kaiser Park In Coney Island

ME (left) With My Boyhood Friend Marvin (right).
His Family Was Close With My Family.
We Were Goo Friends Up Until Our Teenage Years

My Mom And ME!

ME (Early 1970s) Posing With A Camera
(Nah, It Wasn't My Camera)

ME (ROD) And My Cousin Marva.
We're Real Close And Being "Same Gender Loving"
Make Us Closer As Cousins!

Tonja & Marva (My Cousin)
[Lovers/Partners]

Marva & Tonja's Hands

Tonja & Marva

My Cousin Marva (Center)
With Her Two Kids Jason (left) and Jessica (right).
Beautiful Kids And Probably As Close As
I'll Ever Come To Having my Own Kids

Daughter Jessica And Momma Marva

BEAUTIFUL!

I Loved The Picture Of Me As Little Kid So Much
That I Re-created It By Self-Portrait In April of 2007
And Put The Two Images Together Side By Side.
I Thought It Was Pretty Damn Qool! LOL!