WHAT WILL THE AUDIENCE LEARN?
Listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the importance of examining, confronting, and reconciling history in order to heal racial wounds and to dismantle racism.
EPISODE SUMMARY:
In Part 1 of Justice for Life, Mr. Butts shared how his organization, LifeGuardian Worldwide takes a deeper dive into the core of our humanity by abiding by the spiritual basis of justice and equity advocacy.
In Part 2, he will talk about the healing work of Diving With A Purpose, whose goal is to restore our oceans and preserve our heritage. Mr. Butts will share incredible stories such as what happened when the ledger of an enslaver was found and taken back to the village of the enslaved people.
Join the Rev. Dr. TLC and Mr. Butts as they discussed how his journey as a diver has helped heal and propel him forward in the work of justice, equity, inclusion, and more.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtlandt-butts-906a2595/
https://www.instagram.com/lifeguardianworldwide/
Tune in for this important conversation at TalkRadio.nyc
Rev. Dr. TLC invites her audience to join her in a guided meditation. She tells us the meaning and importance of the Ghana term Sankofa. A simple translation is going back and reflecting on our past in order to have a richer future and a better understanding of ourselves. Akan’s, a community in Ghana, believes that your past serves as a guide for your future. Rev. Dr. TLC explains why we must know our past so we can bring closure and open ourselves up for a life filled with promise. She welcomes back Courtlandt Butts, who works with the organization Diving With A Purpose.
Rev. Dr. TLC asks Courtlandt about his origins in diving. Instructors taught Courtlandt at DWP program. These instructors inspired him to take a closer look at scientific diving and coral restoration. Courtlandt found an interest in scuba diving when he was an Assistant aquatic director at Florida A&M University. Rev. Dr. TLC and Courtlandt discuss the myth that black people don’t swim. Rev. Dr. TLC explains that the black community was not always given the opportunity to learn how to swim and wasn’t always given access to pools. There are obstacles the black community had to overcome in order to have the privilege of having a pool and learning to swim. Cortlandt shares how he inspires a younger generation to engage in aquatic activities.
Courtlandt believes that if you pay close attention nature can teach us something. He explains how we are in sync with nature and how we help each other survive. He adds that humans have the power to create objects like plastic that goes against nature. We did not plan on how to use plastics beyond our need for them. We did not think about the environment and the effects plastics can have on it.
Courtlandt continues to share a story of a discovery that was made by one of the divers at DWP. Rev. Dr. TLC asks Courtlandt what were some of his memorable healing moments when he went back and learned about his history. Courtlandt shares his accolades and the progress he’s made in his aquatic career since being a professor at Spelman University. It is possible to see change in the environment if we come together and realize there is an interconnectedness with humans and nature. You can find more information on Courtlandt Butts at Linkedin. You can find more information on Rev. Dr. TLC at her website SacredIntelligence.com
00:00:36.760 --> 00:00:57.080 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Hello, and welcome to the dismantle racism show. I am your host, the Reverend Doctor Tlc. And our goal at the show is to uncover, dismantle, and eradicate racism. We really do want to create a world where racial equity is the norm.
00:00:57.090 --> 00:01:16.840 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: I want to invite us into our time of meditation, a time of centering ourselves, so that we will come into the space with combines and an openness and a willingness to receive whatever lands for us today during the show. So if you would,
00:01:17.110 --> 00:01:20.440 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: I invite you just to close your eyes,
00:01:20.850 --> 00:01:22.880 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and to find your breath
00:01:23.780 --> 00:01:27.760 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: breathing in and out,
00:01:28.410 --> 00:01:34.439 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: connecting your energy, your mind and your being
00:01:35.550 --> 00:01:37.369 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: with who you are,
00:01:38.100 --> 00:01:41.000 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: with your divine wisdom,
00:01:41.950 --> 00:01:50.029 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: with that part of you that helps you to make intelligent choices that will manifest your greatness,
00:01:50.710 --> 00:01:55.179 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and will manifest the greatness of others, at the same time
00:01:56.270 --> 00:02:01.589 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: breathe in and out, recognizing our interconnectedness,
00:02:02.440 --> 00:02:07.030 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: recognizing that there is enough in the world
00:02:07.510 --> 00:02:10.869 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: for all of us to be taken care of.
00:02:12.930 --> 00:02:15.959 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Breathe in and out,
00:02:16.510 --> 00:02:19.019 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: letting go of fear,
00:02:20.060 --> 00:02:23.459 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: letting go of a scarcity mentality,
00:02:24.110 --> 00:02:27.750 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: letting go of an us against them,
00:02:29.230 --> 00:02:31.840 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: but embracing the oneness,
00:02:32.320 --> 00:02:35.379 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: the completeness, the wholeness,
00:02:38.090 --> 00:02:40.930 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: breathe in and out,
00:02:42.720 --> 00:02:46.329 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: connecting with your sacred source,
00:02:48.510 --> 00:02:53.519 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: connecting with the essence of who you are.
00:02:58.310 --> 00:03:00.690 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Take a deep breath in
00:03:02.170 --> 00:03:04.100 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and let it out,
00:03:04.790 --> 00:03:07.989 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: receiving the power that is within you,
00:03:08.010 --> 00:03:12.030 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and then releasing that power out to the rest of the world
00:03:13.110 --> 00:03:15.340 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: power that is loving,
00:03:15.750 --> 00:03:19.080 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: kind, compassionate
00:03:19.250 --> 00:03:21.300 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: understanding,
00:03:23.910 --> 00:03:26.749 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and filled with a desire
00:03:26.760 --> 00:03:28.859 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: for harmony within the world,
00:03:32.470 --> 00:03:34.220 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: breathe in,
00:03:35.500 --> 00:03:37.170 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: release it out,
00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:42.420 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Recognizing that what you do matters,
00:03:43.910 --> 00:03:47.949 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: you are critical of changing the status quo,
00:03:47.980 --> 00:03:50.079 and with healing the world,
00:03:52.810 --> 00:03:56.109 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: breathe in and out,
00:03:56.630 --> 00:04:02.610 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: accepting the call that is, on your life, the purpose for your life,
00:04:03.950 --> 00:04:06.770 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: even accepting
00:04:07.730 --> 00:04:09.980 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: they in between parts
00:04:10.180 --> 00:04:15.640 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: where a discernment lies, where you're trying to figure out your role
00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:18.579 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: in changing the world
00:04:18.589 --> 00:04:21.730 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and creating the world that you want to see
00:04:23.710 --> 00:04:26.749 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: right in and out,
00:04:27.270 --> 00:04:31.950 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: acknowledging your gratitude for all there is,
00:04:32.130 --> 00:04:35.990 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and all the gifts that you have to offer.
00:04:38.900 --> 00:04:40.659 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Breathe in,
00:04:41.130 --> 00:04:42.880 Breathe out,
00:04:44.770 --> 00:04:47.199 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and i'll take a deep breath in
00:04:47.780 --> 00:04:49.479 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: sigh it out,
00:04:49.980 --> 00:04:51.559 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and less began
00:04:54.900 --> 00:04:56.030 It's
00:04:57.730 --> 00:05:04.799 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: today. I want to talk to you just for a few moments about the concept of San Cofa
00:05:04.960 --> 00:05:19.219 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: San Cofa comes from the Ecan people of Ghana, and it means to go back and retrieve. The literal translation means that there is nothing wrong with learning from hindsight.
00:05:19.770 --> 00:05:33.169 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Another translation is that we must go back and reclaim our past so that we can move forward. So we understand why and how we came to be who we are today.
00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:43.120 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Now the symbol for San Cofa is based on the mythical bird that flies forward with its head turned backwards.
00:05:43.130 --> 00:05:54.969 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: This reflects the Ecan's belief that the past serves as a guide for planning the future or the wisdom in learning from the past, in order to build a future.
00:05:55.610 --> 00:06:11.950 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: So if we're going to kill ourselves if we're going to heal the world, I believe that there can be nothing more powerful than gaining an understanding of our personal and our cultural heritage.
00:06:12.520 --> 00:06:20.259 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: We need to have this knowledge in order to move forward, especially for people who've been oppressed
00:06:20.610 --> 00:06:23.270 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and disenfranchised in some way,
00:06:23.940 --> 00:06:27.799 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: but I believe that it's equally important
00:06:28.210 --> 00:06:35.450 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: for folks who have been the oppressors or folks who have been privileged in this life
00:06:35.580 --> 00:06:41.520 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: to have knowledge, knowledge that will help heal this country.
00:06:41.710 --> 00:06:48.799 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: We cannot live in those places of denial, shame, or ignorance.
00:06:49.410 --> 00:06:53.850 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: We often work so hard to defend our beliefs.
00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:57.880 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: We work hard to defend, who we think we are,
00:06:58.380 --> 00:07:15.150 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: that we can't even see truth. And so, as a society, it's time to wake up to the truth individually, it's time to wake up to the truth, because in doing so we can heal the personal and collective ones, and
00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:29.460 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: it can help to bring closure while opening us up to live a life that's filled with promise. It's filled with equity and celebration, and we can learn to love all of humanity.
00:07:29.990 --> 00:07:34.590 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: We must not be afraid to go back and look at our history.
00:07:35.510 --> 00:07:38.130 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: I know that there's a lot of talk
00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:46.930 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: about critical race there, and truthfully, I don't think people really understand what that's about. But as a country, if we do not look back
00:07:47.130 --> 00:08:02.339 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: on the ills of this country, we can't even see the truths of this country. We can't even see the people who contributed to make this world a better place, so we must go back and look at our history,
00:08:02.590 --> 00:08:16.010 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: but as people of color in particular, I invite you to hold on to that word San Kova, and then go back and retrieve the rich heritage that we have to offer.
00:08:16.730 --> 00:08:20.389 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Retrieve information from your ancestors.
00:08:20.400 --> 00:08:27.939 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: You don't even have to go that far back, but learn the power that's in your own lineage.
00:08:28.350 --> 00:08:41.610 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: One of the things that we're going to be talking about today. I have my guests. Ah, Portland Butts, who has been with us before we're going to do a part, two of justice for life itself.
00:08:41.950 --> 00:09:08.209 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: This Courtland works with an organization called Diving with a purpose, and we are going to be talking about what they do in that particular organization. Their goal is to restore our oceans and to preserve our heritage. And I want to hear from Portland today some of the things that they've discovered while they've been diving, and some of the ways in which
00:09:08.430 --> 00:09:15.879 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: they found documentation that has helped to heal entire villages,
00:09:15.930 --> 00:09:40.039 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: just to give you a little bit of a refresher about who is Cortland Butts is a lifetime educator, an advocate for equity and social change. He is consulted, trained in educated c-suite, executive school systems, faith-based organization, and municipal entities domestically and internationally.
00:09:40.050 --> 00:09:51.519 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: We would say in our community he's the bomb deity that's who he is. He is intentionally a life guardian,
00:09:51.530 --> 00:10:05.599 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: worldwide. Intentionally, i'm Sorry Life Guardian Worldwide, which is his organization, takes a deeper dive into the core of our humanity by abiding by spiritual basis of this work
00:10:05.620 --> 00:10:18.659 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: of equity. And we talked a lot about that last time. But this time we really want to get into. Now that we understand the sacredness of this work we do.
00:10:18.930 --> 00:10:22.899 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: We really want to get into what happens
00:10:22.970 --> 00:10:41.880 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: in diving with the purpose? How children are transformed, our villages are transformed. How he himself has been transformed by this work. So, Cortland, I want to welcome you back with us today. Thank you so much, my brother, for joining us again.
00:10:43.760 --> 00:10:45.270 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: So, Courtlyn,
00:10:45.280 --> 00:11:04.659 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: We are going to take a break in just a few minutes, but before we take a break, and before we get into diving with a purpose, I know that the word Sant Kofa raised true for you, and you had an opportunity to visit the the sacred,
00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:10.170 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: you know, country of Ghana. So please
00:11:10.260 --> 00:11:15.260 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: share with me if you would, the meaning of Sam Cofa for you.
00:11:15.920 --> 00:11:20.330 Courtlandt Butts: I think you mentioned one of the interpretations that I do have,
00:11:20.540 --> 00:11:33.550 Courtlandt Butts: which is to go back and reclaim that which was lost. Um! So we go back, and we get the knowledge that was lost, and we apply it to the now. And as you mentioned that
00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:47.469 Courtlandt Butts: much of my curriculum did just that, there's some ancient comedic principles that lay out in very fair terms, because they're written on the walls. Know thyself
00:11:47.520 --> 00:12:04.490 Courtlandt Butts: be obsessed with distinguishing knowledge from foolishness, and to build for eternity All right, so that is some knowledge that is six thousand years old or better. And I went back and got it, and applied it to the concepts that we see right now.
00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:06.089 Courtlandt Butts: So beautiful
00:12:06.100 --> 00:12:21.369 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: beautiful, Love it. Well, Carla, we we do have to take a quick break, and when we come back I want us to get a little bit more in the work that you do with diving with a purpose. This is the dismantle racism show. I'm your host. But remember, Dr. Taylor, we'll be right back.
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00:14:36.270 --> 00:14:54.949 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: we're back with my guest today, Cortland Butts and Portland. I want to just jump right in with the work that you do as a diver. First tell me how you got into diving. You mentioned it a little bit on our previous show. But can you just give us a reminder of that
00:14:55.690 --> 00:15:03.300 Courtlandt Butts: will, but I am obligated to name something upfront around diving with the purpose. Dwp.
00:15:03.310 --> 00:15:17.399 Courtlandt Butts: That was an is an organization that is co-founded by a gentleman named Ken Stewart um out of Nashville, and I was actually taught to have some great instructors in that program.
00:15:17.590 --> 00:15:28.320 Courtlandt Butts: Um, by J. Hegel. He's the one that got me into scientific diving. In the first place, I want to put that name out there. Kramer Weimberly is the person that
00:15:28.380 --> 00:15:42.699 Courtlandt Butts: um really inspired me to take a closer look at coral restoration and the impact that we could have on ocean conservancy. So even the quote that you mentioned a little bit earlier around,
00:15:42.970 --> 00:15:57.919 Courtlandt Butts: you know. Ah! Protecting our heritage and restoring our oceans. That's a dwp. Right? Peace, not life Guardian. And I just got to make that separate, because that's their thing within that
00:15:57.930 --> 00:16:14.560 Courtlandt Butts: I am. I'm an advocate. Um! I took the course, and then I keep taking the course one day it's my hope to be an instructor within that space. But i'm an instructor in some other spaces. Now what that said would that me into
00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:23.879 Courtlandt Butts: ah Scuba diving? Was I was the Assistant Aquatics director at Florida and M. University, which is an Hbcu
00:16:23.890 --> 00:16:42.349 Courtlandt Butts: um right there that interrupts this myth. That black people don't swell it's like black lifeguards. All right. I actually attended an Hbcu and I had to take swimming. So thank you for that, because it was required
00:16:42.360 --> 00:16:55.399 Courtlandt Butts: all right. And so the The thing that we were as the assistant aquatics director I had to do in scheduling most was short of one of the local dive shops.
00:16:55.410 --> 00:17:14.680 Courtlandt Butts: Ah! The owner was a Filipino gentleman, and he said, he said, I've heard this myth, this rumor, that black people don't swell, and we have to use Jaws pool to do some of our training exercises. And yet i'm seeing people not only swim with the train to save people's lives, and I want to make you a deal. If you let
00:17:14.690 --> 00:17:16.120 Courtlandt Butts: um
00:17:16.349 --> 00:17:38.479 Courtlandt Butts: um some of your guards sign up with me, i'll let you take the class for free. So what ended up happening was anytime they showed up. I wouldn't charge them for pull time, and in turn they would take me out on all of their diet, so I was always with the best of the best. I was always with the instructors. I was always getting trained by and with them, and different opportunities they had to go out.
00:17:39.130 --> 00:17:50.190 Courtlandt Butts: Um! It just went deeper into this connection that I've that I've always felt that I've had with nature, and especially something about exploring that underwater world,
00:17:50.200 --> 00:18:05.580 Courtlandt Butts: and I think I mentioned the last time that I used to have dreams that I could breathe underwater, and I knew how to do it, and I was going to tell my body hearts. You know my lungs, my throat, my nose, i'm going to tell it what to do when I woke up.
00:18:05.590 --> 00:18:10.520 Courtlandt Butts: But when I woke up I would always forget so scooby that and kind of fulfilled that dream for me.
00:18:10.530 --> 00:18:29.989 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Um, so, Portland, I want to um go a little bit deeper into ah again, just just diving in general, but diving with a purpose. Um, the organization. But I do, and and because I know you so well. I do think it's important for us to do a teach for a moment here,
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:37.790 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and because we said something, and we kind of brushed it off. But for those people who are listening to things.
00:18:37.820 --> 00:18:51.130 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: An Hbcu is a historically black college and university, because not everybody knows the acronym for that. So I want to share that. The second thing is with the myth around
00:18:51.220 --> 00:19:07.589 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: black people not swimming. There are a couple of things that go along with that there there is a time and a place in which we might engage in swimming, which I think is really important to know, because sometimes
00:19:07.600 --> 00:19:32.350 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: schools may not understand the complication, for instance, of why, for instance, a black woman may not want to get in the pool in the middle of a day right? That might have something to do with ah hair care, for instance. But it goes much deeper than that in terms of why we don't swim. Why, some black people don't swim. Let me be very clear about that.
00:19:32.360 --> 00:19:40.790 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: I think that it's important in Portland. If we're talking about going back and looking at our past to know that we didn't always have the advantages
00:19:40.800 --> 00:19:49.670 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: that other groups had for learning how to swim in terms of just thinking about access to polls
00:19:49.690 --> 00:19:55.079 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: here in my neck of the woods. Lots of people have pools in their backyards.
00:19:55.720 --> 00:20:13.390 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: That's not always the case in certain neighborhoods, and it's not always the case. It depends on your socioeconomic status, and it depends on funding, for instance, because yes, they will say, public schools, public schools,
00:20:13.400 --> 00:20:25.789 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: um are often different, depending on where those tools are. So I just think every moment is a teachable moment, and it is even more complicated than what i'm saying now. But I want to just
00:20:25.970 --> 00:20:37.190 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: help people to understand where those things came from. We don't always have the access that we need in order to learn swimming,
00:20:37.350 --> 00:20:49.269 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and also there may be issues with even getting us back and forth. If we have to travel to a place where there's a pool, so that's just a couple of things, having said that though
00:20:49.930 --> 00:20:56.680 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: there are opportunities for us like both Cortland and Mention and I mentioned we both had to take
00:20:56.710 --> 00:21:06.589 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: swimming in college. Well, he was a little bit ahead of the game for me. But then I am. But I just wanted to acknowledge that just for a second, and so,
00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:20.189 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and thinking about that, growing and thinking about the myths and thinking about um, even some of the limitations that have been placed on us. I know that the work that you do. You do some work with young people
00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:31.599 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: right in this area. So talk to me a bit, then, about how you encourage young people to begin this process of swimming and diving early on.
00:21:34.690 --> 00:21:37.520 Courtlandt Butts: So what i'll start with
00:21:43.550 --> 00:21:46.470 Courtlandt Butts: because I teach it to the young people as well.
00:21:47.460 --> 00:21:50.540 Courtlandt Butts: There is um
00:21:51.010 --> 00:21:52.480 Courtlandt Butts: they stroked.
00:21:53.180 --> 00:21:55.720 Courtlandt Butts: Call the chunk trungeon stroke,
00:21:55.730 --> 00:22:11.430 Courtlandt Butts: and they used to teach it to us in the Red Cross as instructors, but they, I don't think they teach that stroke anymore. But back in my day they used to teach it One of the things that this stroke was used for it was
00:22:11.660 --> 00:22:13.510 Courtlandt Butts: used by
00:22:13.530 --> 00:22:16.390 Courtlandt Butts: people of color in South America
00:22:16.530 --> 00:22:18.960 Courtlandt Butts: and on the African continent,
00:22:19.280 --> 00:22:26.250 Courtlandt Butts: and it looked like a combination between a side stroke and what they call the front crawl,
00:22:26.420 --> 00:22:31.460 Courtlandt Butts: wherein you would turn your body, your whole torso out one side
00:22:31.510 --> 00:22:36.900 Courtlandt Butts: grabbing the water. But you will always leave one hand underwater
00:22:38.540 --> 00:22:44.000 Courtlandt Butts: back in those days, before colonization of before the transatlantic slave trading.
00:22:44.070 --> 00:23:03.530 Courtlandt Butts: There were literally millions of Africans and South Americans swimming out into the ocean, and that's how they would fish didn't use a boat. The hand under the water was holding on to a net. That net would drop over a bunch of fish.
00:23:03.540 --> 00:23:18.490 Courtlandt Butts: It would bring it back up, and they would swim back with that one arm, using the scissors kick all right. So the point that i'm trying to make is there was a long time in our history where swimming
00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:20.689 Courtlandt Butts: was a part of life itself.
00:23:20.700 --> 00:23:22.860 Courtlandt Butts: Yeah, And
00:23:23.010 --> 00:23:37.740 Courtlandt Butts: it was taken away from us during the not just during the not just during the transatlantic slave trade. But when we got there there was this thing out there that said You better not go near that water,
00:23:37.840 --> 00:23:40.499 Courtlandt Butts: because they knew we could swim
00:23:40.510 --> 00:23:58.160 Courtlandt Butts: when those bills of cotton um didn't make it to shore because the boat crash! What do you say? Think they say it went down to get them um from out of i'm talking about forty and fifty pound bales that were being pulled off of the bottom of the harbor. That's who they sent down to get it.
00:23:58.170 --> 00:24:07.159 Courtlandt Butts: You talk about the pearl divers. Many of the pearl divers are people of color. They would dive down up to sixty feet or one breath
00:24:07.170 --> 00:24:27.700 Courtlandt Butts: come back. But I think he would say, Oh, yeah, those people don't know how to swim. No. That got trained out of us. The fear got put into us as a myth in the story, and got weaved in to the point where we started to perpetuate the myth ourselves. We didn't start off like that. So I said all of that to say,
00:24:28.730 --> 00:24:35.089 Courtlandt Butts: try to tell young people that it is in your blood to navigate these waters.
00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:46.299 Courtlandt Butts: I'm. Also going to share a resource for folks. I can't remember the author right now, but it's called the undercurrence of power,
00:24:46.760 --> 00:24:59.920 Courtlandt Butts: and they will show you all of the various ways that people of color globally had command of the seeds. There was No, we're afraid of the water.
00:25:00.370 --> 00:25:10.090 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: So, Corlin, thank you for that, because we do have to take a break. The author of the undercurrence of his Undercurrents of power is Kevin Dawson.
00:25:10.100 --> 00:25:21.139 Courtlandt Butts: Um. That's the name of the the author. But thank you. That was a great teachable moment for all of us. But we're going to be right back to talk a little bit more with Cortland butts after the break,
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00:27:21.940 --> 00:27:44.939 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: We're back with my guest today, Portland Butts, who's been talking with us today about diving and the power really of the African people that we have, and had as swimmers. And so, Cortland, I want to just have you invite you to continue with the conversation
00:27:44.950 --> 00:27:55.769 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: around, because we're you know we're looking back today and going forward. But to continue the conversation around the connection of
00:27:55.870 --> 00:28:10.639 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: our planet with our history, and with diving, and i'd like you also to get into a little bit. This is probably, I guess, the next question moving forward after that around. What are some of the things that you're finding
00:28:10.650 --> 00:28:17.039 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: when you go deep and into learning our heritage as a diver.
00:28:19.350 --> 00:28:26.730 Courtlandt Butts: One of the things that I wanted to promote at life. Guardian. Is this connection that we have
00:28:27.020 --> 00:28:36.610 Courtlandt Butts: um throughout life like we're, we're not separate from each other. We are in one big old biosphere that we call Earth,
00:28:36.620 --> 00:28:48.040 Courtlandt Butts: and there's no escape in it. Anything that anybody does is going to offset something else and be influenced by something else, just like we're constantly being influenced.
00:28:48.370 --> 00:28:49.440 Courtlandt Butts: What
00:28:49.810 --> 00:29:09.279 Courtlandt Butts: there is I I I pull from a lot of different sources that i'm led to check into. So um my mom has guided me, like I mentioned before, to a lot of wisdom that comes from the Bible, and she and she'll be the first one to say, look that Scripture there it is right there there are.
00:29:09.930 --> 00:29:29.990 Courtlandt Butts: Um! Excuse me, um! But there are also some rabbis that had some pretty good knowledge that I was checking out Ah! Like in terms of their trains and thought in our relationship to the world There there are also some emails that I really like their train of thought on a couple of different things, and
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:49.350 Courtlandt Butts: one of them Ah, a man for him, Schwade. He talks about this. He was a student of Wd Muhammad, who talks about what they call creation-supported social logic and today's and some of the more common
00:29:49.540 --> 00:29:56.280 Courtlandt Butts: today's nomenclature. They They may call it biomimicry all right. And so the the of it is
00:29:56.290 --> 00:30:14.579 Courtlandt Butts: the ancient text. Before we start writing things down we would actually study what's going on right before us in nature, we would study right before us what's going on in the universe? I have a really good friend, Terry Mcconnell, who's really big on um
00:30:15.320 --> 00:30:25.740 Courtlandt Butts: um nature like she just so immersed in it. She was a tour guide and everything. But she learns a lot from that space as well. So I say all of that to say that
00:30:25.770 --> 00:30:36.640 Courtlandt Butts: I found that as I'm. Observing the processes and the relationships that are going on in nature, if we pay close attention, they're teaching us something.
00:30:36.650 --> 00:30:38.829 Courtlandt Butts: So it struck me
00:30:38.840 --> 00:30:39.940 Courtlandt Butts: there.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:48.740 Courtlandt Butts: If we're looking at a system that has been in place according to scientists, for about four point six billion years.
00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:52.120 Courtlandt Butts: They got some things figured out
00:30:52.490 --> 00:30:53.750 Courtlandt Butts: Exactly.
00:30:56.280 --> 00:30:57.390 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Yes, exactly.
00:31:00.150 --> 00:31:26.859 Courtlandt Butts: Let me take notes from there and then apply it to our social systems. And then, when I see something that's diverging from the laws that are to be followed that allowed us to be in existence or life to be in existence in this space for a billion years. Then that allows me to see what needs to be correct, to correct it right away. And I want to try to give two real quick examples that are related to the
00:31:26.870 --> 00:31:42.520 Courtlandt Butts: um work that we do in the space. Um, for example, everything that life has taught us is that wherever we use whatever organized organisms use certain things,
00:31:42.660 --> 00:31:49.190 Courtlandt Butts: and when we're done using that thing, and we give it all our waste is the life of something else.
00:31:49.200 --> 00:32:03.899 Courtlandt Butts: So, for example, um basic science. When I inhale the air, my body metabolizes the oxygen, and my waste product is carbon dioxide
00:32:03.910 --> 00:32:09.989 Courtlandt Butts: right trees and plants love carbon dioxide. We need that to go here. We grow.
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:22.900 Courtlandt Butts: Yeah, their waste product after metabolizing the carbon dioxide is oxygen. So it's given right back to us. So we have this, this really this symbiotic relationship.
00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:27.120 Courtlandt Butts: So everything in life, when it's in balance,
00:32:27.180 --> 00:32:32.960 Courtlandt Butts: feeding each other, it's giving off to each other and giving something back.
00:32:32.970 --> 00:32:33.900 Courtlandt Butts: Now.
00:32:34.030 --> 00:32:52.289 Courtlandt Butts: Um, humans have the power to create, you know, just like a lot of other creatures. The thing is, we have the power to create, and we can make a decision not to do it in unison with nature. So, for example, plastics
00:32:52.300 --> 00:32:53.280 Courtlandt Butts: all right,
00:32:53.420 --> 00:32:55.010 Courtlandt Butts: right now.
00:32:56.340 --> 00:33:03.959 Courtlandt Butts: Feel like if we had the mindset the oneness of the oneness of life itself,
00:33:03.970 --> 00:33:20.870 Courtlandt Butts: and operate it the same way Nature did. When we developed plastics, we would have turned around and said, Hey, this plastic is solving a lot of problems for us. It is actually going to launch us into a a whole new age of industry and productivity.
00:33:21.270 --> 00:33:25.359 Courtlandt Butts: But we need to figure out once it's no longer useful.
00:33:25.580 --> 00:33:39.579 Courtlandt Butts: Which part of our system will it feed once it's no longer useful? How do we integrate it back into the system to where it's going to continue to be of some use for something else that's on the planet.
00:33:39.590 --> 00:33:51.280 Courtlandt Butts: We didn't think that far. We just cut it off with. We're gonna make some money. It's gonna make things easier. It's gonna grow our industry, and we left it there. I say all of that to say right now,
00:33:51.290 --> 00:34:03.539 Courtlandt Butts: because right now one of the biggest problems that we have in our oceans in terms of ocean conservancy is the plastics are breaking down, and if they are breaking down they're breaking down to a microscopic level
00:34:03.550 --> 00:34:19.230 Courtlandt Butts: to where fish are eating down microorganisms that you know um birds are choking on on the plastics, thinking that there's something else we're interrupting the entire biosphere, because the plastics will not break down, and i'm convinced
00:34:24.830 --> 00:34:34.489 Courtlandt Butts: what is going to happen with these plastics when it breaks down. We just didn't have the heart or the connection to the oneness of life. To add that to our consideration.
00:34:34.500 --> 00:34:37.289 Courtlandt Butts: So we're doing a lot of back peddling
00:34:37.300 --> 00:34:45.719 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: you in the work that you're doing. You're doing Well, You're saying overall You're doing the backpack, peddling, or in the work that you're doing.
00:34:45.730 --> 00:35:05.240 Courtlandt Butts: What i'm saying by back peddling is now we have um cleanups, right and restoration cleanups We have Oh, we need to take care of this Now we have. Let's put some filters on those things right there, whereas that should've been the thinking from the beginning. So I said all of that to say
00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:14.789 Courtlandt Butts: that when I look at that symbiotic relationship compared to our social systems that are causing disenfranchisement,
00:35:14.800 --> 00:35:19.509 Courtlandt Butts: all right, we Haven't turned around and figured out
00:35:19.800 --> 00:35:24.320 Courtlandt Butts: If we um want to integrate
00:35:24.510 --> 00:35:39.389 Courtlandt Butts: this group of humans, and with whatever we got going on in a healthy way to where we all thrive. Then this is what that could look like. But instead, we're treating humans the same way that we would treat in adamant objects like plastic.
00:35:39.400 --> 00:35:42.549 Courtlandt Butts: Yeah, once they get worn out into the end,
00:35:42.940 --> 00:35:51.889 Courtlandt Butts: we don't know what to do with it, so we toss it away. We throw it away, or we put it in some sort of space that's actually going to cause more toxicity in the first place.
00:35:51.900 --> 00:36:07.229 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Mhm Now, Portland, I know that we could go down this road for a really long time, and the work that you do. Ah, really, with explaining and teaching about oceanography, and how in the ways in which we are hurting the planet. Um,
00:36:07.670 --> 00:36:18.029 Courtlandt Butts: I know that we could talk about that longer because it's It's it's deep, but yet not deep right. You know it's because the concept is a concept of oneness.
00:36:18.040 --> 00:36:40.880 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: But I think it's something that requires extensive conversation to help people to understand. So I want to encourage our listeners to do more research on what Portland is talking about. Um, as it relates to this whole symbiotic relationship that we have with one another. But I do want to get into Portland
00:36:41.470 --> 00:36:54.709 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: what you've discovered in your diving, because you and I have talked about some fascinating stories of discovery and healing in particular
00:36:54.720 --> 00:37:02.320 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: um African villages, so could you talk a little bit about what have been some of your discoveries?
00:37:02.350 --> 00:37:20.340 Courtlandt Butts: Um, for for me I do have to name that my discovery was again another space that I can make the observation of nature, and open up that world to young people where it wasn't necessarily accessible to them before you talked about accessibility before,
00:37:20.350 --> 00:37:36.360 Courtlandt Butts: but being involved in the process with those leaders at diver, with diving, with the purpose, and they're connected to like so many other projects, like the slave, wrecks the world, slave Rex projects and things of that nature.
00:37:36.910 --> 00:37:45.990 Courtlandt Butts: The thing that I discover is that it turns on the lights of young people, and gives them a different trajectory of going off into
00:37:46.110 --> 00:38:03.380 Courtlandt Butts: the world as as as a different being. If you all right, one of the inspiring stories. That is not my story, but one of my brothers come out, Sadiqi. So Kamal Sabiki is one of the diving with the purpose instructors
00:38:03.700 --> 00:38:05.779 Courtlandt Butts: and um,
00:38:06.080 --> 00:38:10.000 Courtlandt Butts: if you look this up on Youtube, i'm sure he's got a piece out there,
00:38:10.010 --> 00:38:28.770 Courtlandt Butts: but and I won't. Do his story any justice, playing every time he tells it it it put chills um through me. But the short of it is we were trying to, You know we had a meeting and let it out for folks the importance of the work that we were doing, and
00:38:29.330 --> 00:38:37.260 Courtlandt Butts: I was on a mission where there was a specific slave wreck and Mozambique I believe
00:38:37.290 --> 00:38:39.170 Courtlandt Butts: that he found,
00:38:39.620 --> 00:38:41.130 Courtlandt Butts: and the
00:38:42.660 --> 00:38:44.289 Courtlandt Butts: the insurance riders
00:38:44.300 --> 00:39:11.990 Courtlandt Butts: of that day were very meticulous in their records, all right, and and many of them are still around to this day, so just to let you know um that they literally made money off of ensuring the cargo which were actually human beings from specific tribes, from specific parts of the African-american continent and alumni information was recorded in documents.
00:39:12.490 --> 00:39:23.319 Courtlandt Butts: And so, when Kamal found this particular wreck, they knew exactly where the people on that boat came from.
00:39:24.100 --> 00:39:43.490 Courtlandt Butts: They travel and found that village in the continent, and told the chief and the people we found your people. We found this wreck who was stolen from you years ago. The chief put together this huge ceremony, and put the earth from that village into that pot
00:39:43.500 --> 00:39:54.070 Courtlandt Butts: um, and it was surrounded by Carol and Kelly Shells, and everything was a beautiful piece. Hands it to come out, and then tells, Come out. Now your mission is to go back,
00:39:54.120 --> 00:39:59.629 Courtlandt Butts: spread this earth amongst our people, and let them know that they found their way home.
00:39:59.640 --> 00:40:07.699 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Hmm. Now i'm going to stop you just for a second court one, because we have to take a break, and I want us when we come back from that break
00:40:07.720 --> 00:40:20.950 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: to finish telling the rest of this story, because, indeed, it is touching what you've talked about so far. So we're going to be right back in just a few seconds. This is the dismantle racism. Show
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00:42:04.660 --> 00:42:05.799 Blah! Blah blah!
00:42:20.630 --> 00:42:38.020 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: We're back with my guest today, Cortland butts and before the break, Portland, you were telling us about a discovery that one of the divers, with diving with a purpose made in his assignment, Could you pick up where you left off with that story first place.
00:42:38.030 --> 00:42:49.529 Courtlandt Butts: Sure it was Kamal Sadiqi, and that was his mission with which he was charged by the chief of this particular tribe to go back and
00:42:49.540 --> 00:43:07.830 Courtlandt Butts: spread the earth from the village over over the wreck, so that people would know that you know they finally, you know, they found their way home, and hopefully, i'll find it on Youtube somewhere, because when he tells it it it shows me every time, but it really digs into this idea of
00:43:08.230 --> 00:43:10.799 Courtlandt Butts: why we were diving all right.
00:43:10.890 --> 00:43:20.779 Courtlandt Butts: It was on purpose. It was for us to um rediscover who we are. It is the entire San Kfa thing. We went back
00:43:21.040 --> 00:43:39.790 Courtlandt Butts: and retrieved it there. Um, like I said, I do still aspire to be an instructor, but like more recently. Some of the folks that I work with are Ernie Franklin, Gabrielle Miller. They They got pieces on National Geographic right now,
00:43:39.800 --> 00:43:53.660 Courtlandt Butts: right uh Justin done by uh Aiana dweller. Um! A lot of folks um that have come through to really keep giving back, and they keep showing the young people because somebody turned around and said,
00:43:53.670 --> 00:44:01.719 Courtlandt Butts: Let's teach these young people a skill, and about who they are and their heritage at the same time. When you do any type of archaeology.
00:44:01.730 --> 00:44:16.720 Courtlandt Butts: Um! The more tedious task, whether it's terrestrial or maritime, is to do the survey to map things, to measure things. So he said, Let's teach these young people at scale. Take them underwater. Knock this out
00:44:16.730 --> 00:44:31.489 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: so, Carl and I have to ask you, though. Do you know what happened, or do you want people to look it up on Youtube when he took Ah, the this parts of the earth and and and all of that to take it back to the wreckage.
00:44:31.500 --> 00:44:44.669 Courtlandt Butts: And what's the remainder of that? Did he go back and do that? He lived back? They had a ceremony. He's he dressed in traditional African guard like they they did the
00:44:44.890 --> 00:44:56.109 Courtlandt Butts: entire piece, and it's It's out there like It's very search. It's social searchable. I'll try to find it if I can send you a link to the viewers. But
00:44:56.120 --> 00:45:03.349 Courtlandt Butts: yeah, I saw it. And then, when I saw him do it again, I was like, Oh, my goodness! But you know what
00:45:03.400 --> 00:45:13.430 Courtlandt Butts: you know. This actually speaks to so many things. It speaks to that spiritual healing. That village was then healed by that.
00:45:13.440 --> 00:45:24.970 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: But it speaks to our connectedness with the greater oneness, right whether it be in this world the world beyond, you know, when we think about,
00:45:25.660 --> 00:45:30.789 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: I don't know about you, but when I think about my ancestors on the middle Passage,
00:45:30.800 --> 00:45:44.669 Courtlandt Butts: I am horrified by the conditions I ah, but I think about what they endured, and people in our community. Often, when they are trying to give us strength
00:45:44.680 --> 00:46:02.389 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: when they're trying to give us power, they will say things like we're survivors. We survive the middle passage, and while all of that is good, I also embrace those people who were on the those ships, and decided, i'm not doing this.
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:19.189 Courtlandt Butts: I'm going to be ah free or die right? And they made a decision to jump into the ocean. And I was thinking today, when you were talking, that maybe some of them, because they were good swimmers, even thought, Well, I can. I can do this. So
00:46:19.200 --> 00:46:22.959 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: uh, what else can you tell us in terms of
00:46:23.460 --> 00:46:24.700 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: um
00:46:25.050 --> 00:46:37.229 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: what you found to be some of your greatest healing, even for yourself, with going back and retrieving your heritage and understanding our connectedness.
00:46:37.750 --> 00:46:48.230 Courtlandt Butts: One of the things that you pointed out was you not work together for a long time at a company that's focused on racial equity.
00:46:48.290 --> 00:46:49.379 Courtlandt Butts: And
00:46:49.650 --> 00:47:07.699 Courtlandt Butts: now and my own company focused on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. I've always kept one wing dipped in the water, so to speak, throughout my academic career. You know I was a professor at Spelman College, but I still worked the morning shift as a lifeguard at the Ymca.
00:47:07.710 --> 00:47:10.189 Courtlandt Butts: But between tanks,
00:47:10.200 --> 00:47:28.630 Courtlandt Butts: and so I literally developed an entire career aquatic career going off into that space, and I was always looking for a way to merge those two passions that I had together. So they all came together in this space, and when I say it in the space there is a constellation
00:47:28.780 --> 00:47:39.639 Courtlandt Butts: organizations with whom i'm connected. One of them is called Jason's Junior Scientist Embassy, and this was founded by a gentleman named Les Berg.
00:47:39.650 --> 00:47:59.170 Courtlandt Butts: The other one, like I said, is a diving with a purpose. I mentioned those I've mentioned them several times co-founded by Ken Stewart. I'm. Also part of the National Association of Black Scuba divers all right. So this was founded more than thirty years ago. Now, within that organization,
00:47:59.180 --> 00:48:07.599 Courtlandt Butts: I'm. The safety officer, which means that i'm the chairperson of all the dive leaders in the organization.
00:48:07.610 --> 00:48:22.920 Courtlandt Butts: We have a local club here. Ah Ssq. So the Southern Sequestrans um where i'm the President of the Southern Sea question, which is an offshoot of the National Association of black scuba. Divers all of us have
00:48:23.090 --> 00:48:31.880 Courtlandt Butts: within our mission somewhere to take the young people of color and introduce them to the world of marine science.
00:48:32.760 --> 00:48:52.179 Courtlandt Butts: Ah! When I say marine science specifically. I'm. Also referring to, for example, another organization called the American Academy of Underwater Sciences. When you become a scientific diver, some of the thoughts are the scientists first. So that means we're not diving for recreation.
00:48:52.190 --> 00:49:10.450 Courtlandt Butts: There is a research question that needs to be answered, and we need your scuba skills to go ahead and collect the data. So once that question goes out there, then we use our skills. We train people to use those skills to find out what that information is. Now I say, all of that is saying that.
00:49:10.460 --> 00:49:27.490 Courtlandt Butts: Ah, we're interrupting some of the institutional myths and norms of racism by creating a different pipeline for folks to go from schools into the marine sciences, where you don't see a lot of people of color, especially of black children.
00:49:27.500 --> 00:49:41.229 Courtlandt Butts: Um another skill that interrupts this myth around what we don't like about water or um it didn't start off like that, but it kept being taught to us for for so long that it started to be a reality,
00:49:41.240 --> 00:49:56.359 Courtlandt Butts: which is one of the things that i'll point to. So I get a chance to merge all of those things together. And what I'm finding is as we introduce the young people to newer and different things. There's a different mindset of different thinking a different
00:49:56.370 --> 00:50:03.490 Courtlandt Butts: that just wasn't available to the pool of people that were there before. Because the thinking is different.
00:50:03.500 --> 00:50:12.170 Courtlandt Butts: Because of that, we're able to solve problems in ways that we could not imagine before. So I applied all of that
00:50:12.180 --> 00:50:35.089 Courtlandt Butts: to me, doing my training around equity justice. What will it take for us in this space for you to have a different mind than you walked into into this space with the first time around. So, as I look at the patterns in that space. I apply them to the justice in the equity, diversity, and inclusion space.
00:50:35.100 --> 00:50:44.590 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: You know what I love about what you're just saying, because courtly, you are not only opening the minds of people of color, black people in terms of their
00:50:44.720 --> 00:50:54.539 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: for our history. With all of this, and showing the power in that. But you know, in your teaching of justice, equity, and inclusion, you're opening up
00:50:54.550 --> 00:51:02.290 Courtlandt Butts: everyone's minds and in understanding, not just our interconnectedness. But you're getting rid of the mess
00:51:02.300 --> 00:51:07.630 Courtlandt Butts: right, and you're applying those teachings for how you can.
00:51:07.710 --> 00:51:09.009 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Um!
00:51:09.380 --> 00:51:27.930 Courtlandt Butts: How? There's an intersectionality in everything that we do, because often as a facilitator, one of the issues that will come up for me, particularly when i'm inviting people to participate in things they'll say. Oh, my focus is over here, or my focus is over here. They might even say, Maybe my focus is science.
00:51:28.420 --> 00:51:35.810 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: You are showing that there is a clear connectedness in everything we do you
00:51:35.820 --> 00:51:36.689 Courtlandt Butts: with race.
00:51:36.700 --> 00:51:44.199 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: There's an intersectionality, and knowing our history is a big part of it. Well, Cortland, we are coming to
00:51:44.480 --> 00:51:57.159 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: the close of our show, and I want to just invite you, if you have any closing words to offer to please, offer those ah, your your final words to our audience. Now
00:51:58.280 --> 00:52:06.240 Courtlandt Butts: I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I will say, based off of what you just laid out in terms of the interconnectedness
00:52:06.500 --> 00:52:13.159 Courtlandt Butts: which is this work that we do is never about for me anyway us against them.
00:52:13.670 --> 00:52:21.930 Courtlandt Butts: It's really about all of us coming together to interrupt institutional norms that do not serve our collective humanity. Well,
00:52:22.740 --> 00:52:27.200 Courtlandt Butts: if we don't think about the work like that,
00:52:27.360 --> 00:52:30.829 Courtlandt Butts: then our true enemy will never be revealed to us,
00:52:30.960 --> 00:52:41.550 Courtlandt Butts: and we'll keep fighting this fight in the way that says, Oh, you're the enemy right there. But really the the true enemy is looking at us, laughing at us like, Yeah, keep that up
00:52:42.070 --> 00:52:42.990 so.
00:52:43.000 --> 00:53:02.890 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: Yes, beautifully said beautifully said, Ah, Cortland, I am so grateful that you have joined me again today. There's always much more that we can talk about, as as Cortland said when he was here before you could get in touch with him by looking him up on Linkedin,
00:53:02.990 --> 00:53:10.469 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and hopefully, Cortland will give us that. Find that information for us around the
00:53:10.480 --> 00:53:33.340 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: the diving with a purpose and and going back and having that healing ceremony. I really do want to hear more about that. I want to thank you, my listeners, for being with me today, and I want to invite you to please go to sacred Intelligence, dot com where you can learn more about the work that I do, and some of the offerings that I have coming up.
00:53:33.350 --> 00:53:44.269 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: I want to just invite you to consider what is one thing that you can do today to help dismantle. Racism is something that you can do in your daily life,
00:53:44.480 --> 00:53:57.200 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: because I know that you know, if you go within, you'll find that you have a gift to offer to the world, so that we can make this world a better place for each and every one of us.
00:53:57.210 --> 00:54:05.860 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: I want to invite you to stay tuned for the conscious consultant hour with the Sam Liguits, where he helps you to walk through life with the greatest of ease and joy,
00:54:05.920 --> 00:54:12.890 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: may today you tap into that sacred part of you that allows you to make choices that manifest your good
00:54:13.380 --> 00:54:27.660 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: and the good of other people at the same time know that we are all one, and exist because of one another, make it a priority to share love, hope, compassion, and peace. Today
00:54:28.020 --> 00:54:34.610 Rev. Dr. Terrlyn Curry Avery: be well. Be safe. Be encouraged until next time, Bye, for now
00:54:55.500 --> 00:54:59.520 you are listening to talk radio and my scene
00:54:59.690 --> 00:55:00.790 up left.
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