Being Black in Arizona

- So, when you say, I'm from Arizona and I'm Black, I think it really does mean something.

It makes you a unique individual, especially when you're in our relative age group and we are survivors.

When there was limited opportunities, we just went through and made our own opportunities.

(gentle music) - Being Black in Arizona to me means navigating, learning to navigate very well in their system but also loving my culture.

So, I guess I would say I learned to live in a white world, but love my culture, that I don't wanna give up my culture, but I also want to be able to work with everyone, you know, live in Arizona, live in this predominantly white state, but without losing myself.

- To be black in Arizona, I think after the insurrection that happened at the Capitol, I think that you kind of feel invisible because there's only a percentage of 7% or really 6% African Americans here.

And so, you'll go a week without even seeing a Black person sometimes in certain areas of town.

I think you feel a little lonely.

You know, if you go to a Black church, then of course you're with our people.

But other than that, you're basically kind of somewhat isolated, you're somewhat lonely.

I think Arizona provides a lot of opportunity and is much better of a community because of the sacrifices that my parents did to open things up.

- I think the bigger question is what is the experience of being Black in Arizona?

That's a little different.

'Cause we're a very diverse group of people and it varies from person to person, depending on where you grew up.

There's some wonderful things that Arizona has to offer for the Black community and there's some things that are not so wonderful.

And so, you have to take the good with the ugly and the indifferent and work your way through it.

Like, for me, I grew up here in this neighborhood, I grew up here in the '60s, I grew up doing segregation.

Went to a segregated school, we had our own pool, we had own corner stores, we had our own churches.

And just before my time, we had our own restaurants.

You know, when you travel someplace outside of Arizona and people talk to you and say you're from Arizona, they go, they have Black people in Arizona?

For some reason, they just feel like we don't exist here.

And so, I think it's important to let them know we have history here.

So, I want to tell those stories.

I think it's important people let know that we are here, we are vibrant, we have stories to tell, we have good stories to tell.

And if we don't tell them ourselves, they won't get told.

(gentle music) - It doesn't mean that we have to separate from anybody but we need to honor our ancestors.

We need to know about those people that came before us.

We need to know about the people that helped build this greater metropolitan Phoenix area.

They were in every facet of building this infrastructure.

So, I say now to indiscernibles, "We gone be alright".

(audience clapping) - To be Black in Arizona to me means to be a part of a rich legacy and to be a part of excellence and have a unique opportunity to continue to find ways to connect with one another, to build community and continue the work that our ancestors have done before us.

We've come a long way, but we do have quite a ways to go in terms of closing the achievement gap, lessening the educational disparities that our students face.

And overall, brightening the world for my children and my children's children.

(upbeat music) - To be Black in Arizona, I believe that Arizona gets a bad rep, you know, for being quote, unquote "a racist state", you know, in different things like that.

I'm sure, you know, wherever there's people, you're gonna have positive and negative.

I can say that my experience here and a lot of people that I've grown up with has been a great experience to be Black.

I have never felt like, there's some kind of hidden agenda from some organization or system that blocks me from being able to achieve what I want to achieve.

I feel like anything that I put my mind to, I can do it.

And there's nothing here that can stop me in Arizona at all.

- Well, it means that you have an opportunity not all the Black people in the world have.

You have an opportunity not other Black people in the world have.

I came from Haiti.

The opportunity that you have here as a Black person, I didn't have that in Haiti.

I didn't have school available that I could go to.

Really, truly, to be Black in Arizona right now, it's the best time to be Black is to be Black in this moment and this time in Arizona.

We can make an impact in political arena, we can make him pack in the economic area, we can make him pack into the medical area, scientists.

We have so many areas right now, things are flourishing.

Because if you are in another state right now and things are not working for you, come to Arizona, I guarantee you we're gonna help you.

- To be black in Arizona for me means to be a bit of a pioneer.

We recognize that there's so much opportunity for growth and development and creativity here in the valley that really makes this environment rich.

I also recognize that to be Black in Arizona in some ways can feel very isolating if you haven't been able to tap in to the community that is out here.

People have such varied experiences but certainly I feel hope for the various industries that have come to the valley, for the opportunities that surround us for health and wellness.

And so, I'm proud to be a native of Arizona and certainly would hope that people continue to value what we have to offer here.

- Well, that's a complicated answer.

So, there's two sides to it.

Or guess, maybe not two sides, there's just a lot of diversity within that, right?

So, one, I am absolutely proud to be Black, I'm proud to be from Flagstaff.

I'm proud to be fifth generation, my family's been here a total of six.

I will tell you that it's difficult at times because there's not a whole lot of Black people here.

So, I have to be conscious that sometimes I'm carrying the weight of the whole entire race.

Sometimes I might run across somebody who really hasn't had a whole lot of interactions with somebody who's Black.

And so, my interaction with them might be the first time that they have an interaction.

And what does that mean?

It also means that you're gonna get the phone calls because it's MLK Day, it's Black history month.

So, you gotta step up and do that.

But it also gives me opportunity to teach people, right?

To teach people that Black people are not so different from everybody else.

So, there's a lot of diversity within that answer and within that question.

But I wouldn't have any other way.

(upbeat music)