blackmattersus.com
Before we start, can you introduce yourself to our followers? You are an activist, can you tell us what your activism is about?
John J. Joyner Jr.
Well, I’m a housing and social activist. I started an organization called the Black Action United Global Organization, and it’s specifically to work with the Black race as a whole. It’s a unification organization and so we believe that with unification, we can achieve goals and think about the future together.
blackmattersus.com
Do you support the Black Lives Matter and other Black rights movements like the Black Panther Party?
John J. Joyner Jr.
Of course. I absolutely support Black lives matter. The Black Panther Party were one of the leading stones for our people. And so I believe in them and things that they do still to this day.
blackmattersus.com
Let’s talk about the Black Action United Global Organization Unification Celebration which is scheduled for this Saturday, October 29th.
John J. Joyner Jr.
Yes, it’s for designers, artists, entrepreneurs, creative designers, business owners. We come together to celebrate our accomplishments.
blackmattersus.com
Is this the first time that you are organizing this kind of event?
John J. Joyner Jr.
Yes, this is our first annual event.
blackmattersus.com
Great! And what is your inspiration for organizing this?
John J. Joyner Jr.
Well, me knowing that we as a Black race need to come together more to impact our futures and to bring forth growth and development within our people, in the things that we do and the things that we want to accomplish as a whole. But not individually, because we need to start to realize where we come from. And when we realize where we come from, we know our culture, we know what we have, then we can develop as a race.
blackmattersus.com
How many people are coming for the event?
John J. Joyner Jr.
Well, we have about twenty different designers, singers, authors, business owners, we’re going to be collaborating at the event on the 29th. Uriah Brown, author of the Black Bubble, Soyini Crenshaw, she is a monologist, and a creative arts professional. So we have a few pretty enthusiastic individuals that want to come and showcase what they’ve put forth throughout the years.
blackmattersus.com
And what are your expectations for the program? What results do you expect to see?
John J. Joyner Jr.
Well, we expect to see for our first annual event, that we unify as a race. Our plans are more or less about celebrating and not dictating.
blackmattersus.com
I’d like to know, do you personally participate in any rallies, protests and marches for Black rights or against police brutality?
John J. Joyner Jr.
Yes, the last event that I spoke at was Remembering Mike Brown in remembrance of him and that was in Manhattan by Union Square. I was invited to speak at the National Day of Protest, but I couldn’t go because of the weather.
blackmattersus.com
Is the Unification Celebration connected with the popular trend of LetsBuyBlack and BlackforBlacks which is currently gaining momentum in the country? We are being encouraged to spend our Black dollars on Black-owned businesses in order to circulate our money within the Black community and boost Black businesses.
John J. Joyner Jr.
Yes of course. It needs to happen but it needs to be structured. And we need to come together as a people to ensure that it remains. We need to come together more as a people to think about things and do things. And even our Black organizations and people have to start coming together to think as a whole. The LetsBuyBlack movement right now is great for lots of young people, and it should be, because every generation always has something that we need to fight for. And so this generation that’s coming up now, they have something to fight for.
blackmattersus.com
You have some events planned for the next couple of weeks. Can you tell us more about them?
John J. Joyner Jr.
Well, besides being a social housing and social rights activist, I’m also a candidate for city council member representing Bedford Stuyvesant in Northern Crown Heights in 2017. So I have a few events coming up pertaining to ensuring that development of a specific storage facility will not be built. Our community’s being overran with things that we don’t need as a people and so I started a petition in regards to not developing the storage facility here in Crown Heights. I have multiple petitions and I also have an organization called Say No, a responsible development organization. It’s a Brooklyn-based organization and we work as a housing activism organization to fight against developments that don’t build or develop growth for residents or the community that lives within. So we have a few events in the next few months.
blackmattersus.com
Is there anything special you would like to say to our readers?
John J. Joyner Jr.
Well, just like I said, we just have to make sure we stand together as a people, support each other as a people, good or bad, we stand for each other and we ensure that our next generation of Black, whether Caribbean, African-American, develop and grow financially and socially.
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