Heywood Jablowme
YEAH OKAY THANKS
Coli Family,
Two years ago, I attended an event at the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art (LACMA) that featured one of my favorite Black progressives and visionaries, Arthur Jafa. Jafa has been a leading voice for Black empowerment and a key contributor to Black visual culture. It was during this event that he recounted a conversation he'd had with Paul Coates- a former Black Panther, poet and father to famed writer, Ta-Nehisi Coates. The topic of discussion among the two enlightened minds was slavery. The question Jafa presented to Coates was whether or not he believed African slaves in America had the luxury of dreaming and if so, what did they dream about? Coates, practically without pause replied, "us."
I have pondered over that one-word response for two years. I had given it such thought it became embedded in my DNA. As African-Americans, to neglect our debt to those dreamers who sacrificed everything to pave the way for us is criminal. How could we be anything other than obligated, to regain all that was stripped from us while pursuing all that has been withheld. Shrouded within that sense of fidelity is where I discovered the building blocks for www.YEAHOKAYTHANKS.com.
I know that innovation accompanied with public discourse are intrinsic to a most progressive and well-lived existence. My desire is that YEAH OKAY THANKS function as a sanctuary for our minds. A digital round-table where the formulaic and banal are vehemently rejected.
YEAH OKAY THANKS
10/01/18
10:01 PM EST
https://www.yeahokaythanks.com/
email: ceo@yeahokaythanks.com
Two years ago, I attended an event at the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art (LACMA) that featured one of my favorite Black progressives and visionaries, Arthur Jafa. Jafa has been a leading voice for Black empowerment and a key contributor to Black visual culture. It was during this event that he recounted a conversation he'd had with Paul Coates- a former Black Panther, poet and father to famed writer, Ta-Nehisi Coates. The topic of discussion among the two enlightened minds was slavery. The question Jafa presented to Coates was whether or not he believed African slaves in America had the luxury of dreaming and if so, what did they dream about? Coates, practically without pause replied, "us."
I have pondered over that one-word response for two years. I had given it such thought it became embedded in my DNA. As African-Americans, to neglect our debt to those dreamers who sacrificed everything to pave the way for us is criminal. How could we be anything other than obligated, to regain all that was stripped from us while pursuing all that has been withheld. Shrouded within that sense of fidelity is where I discovered the building blocks for www.YEAHOKAYTHANKS.com.
I know that innovation accompanied with public discourse are intrinsic to a most progressive and well-lived existence. My desire is that YEAH OKAY THANKS function as a sanctuary for our minds. A digital round-table where the formulaic and banal are vehemently rejected.
YEAH OKAY THANKS
10/01/18
10:01 PM EST
https://www.yeahokaythanks.com/
email: ceo@yeahokaythanks.com
Thank you for the support!
I never thought about it we're literally living a dream so many of our ancestors dreamt of and died for. 
I have to be more appreciative.
