Congrats, grads! From Dr. Naya's Keynote at UCSC Black Grad

On Saturday, June 12, University of California Santa Cruz hosted its 30th annual Black Grad Celebration. The virtual space was intentional, vibrant, and crafted with care. I was invited to give a faculty keynote, and I can’t express how meaningful it was to both witness the graduation and be part of the ceremony. Congratulations again students, and onward! Shout out to students who nominated me for the keynote (gratitude) and to the African American Resource and Cultural Center for the work you to do and the spaces you continue to create on campus - and beyond.

**Here are the three pieces of advice/consejos from the keynote, drawn from the transcript:**

1) Keep your ancestors close:

My first offering is to keep your ancestors close. When I was a first-generation college and graduate student, as a Black and Blaxicana, and graduated in 2003 with my BA as an undergrad, I was still really beginning this journey with the ancestors. When I'm talking about ancestors, I don't just mean being able to trace a name, to certain kinfolk. Because let's be real. A lot of us can't do that. Right? A lot of us in the black diaspora can't do that. So, really paying attention to ancestors in other forms.

For example, are there cultural ancestors you're taking with you? When I think of cultural ancestors, I think of Audrey Lorde, George Washington Carver, other kinds of writers, scholars, activists whose works, writings, art have really inspired me. [Sometimes] I'll print their pictures out and have them around me when I'm teaching, or when I'm talking, or consulting, or doing whatever kind of work I may be doing. But no matter what, those ancestors are there . . .

What has inspired you and kind of grounded you during your journey? What did you keep coming back to? Was it your favorite house plant? Was it a certain part of a park or a place? Was it even a picture of somewhere you were before? These may not be considered ancestors in the way that you come in into the world and move in the world, but it might be helpful to think about them when you're thinking about keeping your ancestors close.

2) Honor the crossroads:

My second offering for you is to pay attention to those crossroads, and really allow yourself to navigate them and be with them. The crossroads, this transition moment is a crossroads. Right? You've had so many uncertainties and different moments that you've been navigating over the past year, no doubt, and even beyond during your undergraduate experience. Those are also crossroads. Crossroads are times when there may be decisions to made . . .

Sometimes, those moments of transition lead us to unexpected opportunities to grow in other ways. This is not to say that anxiety and fear, anger, that might come up during transition times are not something to pay attention to, or something to name. But it is to say that sometimes the unexpected can lead us to places that we didn't dream of, and can be healing and necessary for us too.

3) Reimagine success, and choose a symbol
My third guidance is about choosing a symbol for success that makes sense to you. One of the reasons I keep meditating with the crossroads as a symbol is because it is such an important ancestral symbol, in terms of the black diaspora, in terms of global indigenous earth based practice and spirituality. And at the same time, it also very much speaks to those transitions, but it does more than that . . .

One reason I suggest [choosing a symbol], is because we need to undo and dismantle certain ways in which success is talked about. Because it tends to be hierarchical, tends to be linear, like you do this, you do this, you rise up, you rise up the ranks, you do that.

Let's re-imagine that together, because life doesn't often happen that way, for one. And number two, because hierarchies have not served us globally, us black community, they have not served us in healing ways, in general…

You're kind of claiming a symbol, paying attention to what's calling to you, and at the same time saying, "You know what? This is what success is to me. No matter what happens, if I get that internship or not that I applied to, if I get that job or not that I applied to, if I'm able to move out and have my own place on the timeline that I wanted to or not, I know this is what is fulfilling to me. And I know that this symbolizes that for me." Drawing it, writing it down, putting it around you somehow, like literally covering yourself with this symbol, that is an invitation.

______

Resources + readings

For more about Black Grad and AARC visit the website.
On crossroads, here’s a related article by Naya: At a Planetary Crossroads: Contemplative Wisdom of Black Geographies.
For more on ancestor work, the writing and art of M. Jacqui Alexander, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and Omi Osun Jones come to mind. More on the bookshelf.

EventsNaya Jones, PhDJune 17, 2021graduation, black grads, keynote

Congrats, grads! From Dr. Naya's Keynote at UCSC Black Grad

Here are the three pieces of advice/consejos from the keynote, drawn from the transcript:

1) Keep your ancestors close:

2) Honor the crossroads:

One reason I suggest [choosing a symbol], is because we need to undo and dismantle certain ways in which success is talked about. Because it tends to be hierarchical, tends to be linear, like you do this, you do this, you rise up, you rise up the ranks, you do that.

Let's re-imagine that together, because life doesn't often happen that way, for one. And number two, because hierarchies have not served us globally, us black community, they have not served us in healing ways, in general…

Resources + readings

For more about Black Grad and AARC visit the website.

On crossroads, here’s a related article by Naya: At a Planetary Crossroads: Contemplative Wisdom of Black Geographies.

For more on ancestor work, the writing and art of M. Jacqui Alexander, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and Omi Osun Jones come to mind. More on the bookshelf.

**Here are the three pieces of advice/consejos from the keynote, drawn from the transcript:**