The Interview: Poet, and Renaissance Woman, Treasure Redmond
By: Bumpy J
Tags: African American, Migration, Black, Immigration, Africa

Treasure Shields Redmond, among many other things, is a poet, former hip-hop artist, and the author of chop, a collection of kwansabas that celebrate the life of the voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer.

A Mississippi native, Treasure also is a speaker, diversity and inclusion coach, and social justice educator. In 2016 she founded her company, Feminine Pronoun Consultants, LLC. Treasure is completing a PhD in English Literature and Criticism and has spoken on stages all over the U.S. and in Europe, She uses her humble beginnings in the federal housing projects in Meridian, Mississippi to fuel her passion for helping college-bound families navigate college admissions painlessly and profitably, and offering perceptive leaders creative diversity and inclusion facilitation.

Her latest passion is the idea that Black Americans should move to Africa as a means of survival and empowerment. While many Black Americans and Africans across the diaspora have immigrated back to Africa previously and historically, shifting politics have made the idea quite serious again in the age of globalism (see articles below for further info). I asked Redmond recently a few questions about her call:

99: You recently wrote on social media that ‘You Are Cordially Invited to Move to Africa With Me.” You even wrote that in some form many times. Explain what you meant by your post?

T.R.: In truth, I am astonished that I have arrived at this place. By this place, I mean a very clear realization that the United States is an abuser, and that my survival is dependent on leaving. I have grown up around old school black nationalists. I am familiar with Marcus Garvey. I also am familiar with Kwame Ture, especially since he was an organizer with Fannie Lou Hamer, whom I have studied and written about extensively. I never considered repatriating to the continent, however. Returning to the metaphor of the abusive relationship helps me to better explain how I came to this point. I count the murder of Trayvon Martin, and the subsequent acquittal of his killer, as the last time I expected justice. That was the moment I realized I was married to a monster. The murder of Michael Brown was another key moment. Then there was Sandra Bland. Then the U.S. went to the polls and elected a super villain for president. That broke my heart…I saw the future stretch out before me. I would not ask a woman to stay with a man who brutalized her the way the U.S. is brutalizing Black people. So, to answer your initial question. I would like to get all of us out of the abusers’ house.

99: There is a history amongst Black people in the U.S. of at least considering a move back to Africa and even doing it. Liberia is such an example and Frederick Douglass and Marcus Garvey each represent a different aspect of this question; how does your call relate to such traditions and history?

T.R.: Interestingly, just the other day, I gave a presentation with my father titled “from Black Power to Black Lives Matter: an inter-generational conversation and performance“. One of the things I pointed out was that the black power movement contained a call to Diasporans to look to Africa as a base and galvanizing ancestral land. Black Lives Matter on the other hand, had jettisoned this notion of the unified African Diaspora. Until recently, I too believed electoral politics and political organizing could create a more ‘liveable’ existence for Black people. I too saw the call to go to Africa as a “narrow nationalism“. But now I see that without a base of land, or a military of our own, the best we can hope for is what is happening now: we trade a few young black peoples deaths for uninterrupted Internet access and an illusion of “order“.

99: You note in another of your posts that Africa has 54 countries; which of these countries, and cities, for example are locations that Blacks can focus on if they consider a move to Africa?

T.R.: I am no expert on the continent, but the Gambia, Uganda, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, and the consistently welcoming Ghana are a few of the countries that I know of, that black folks from the U.S have moved to. I am visiting Dar es Salaam,Tanzania and the island off the coast, Zanzibar, in November. I am meeting contacts there about opening a library/literary conference and performance space. If the ancestors say the same, I will be relocating there in 2021.

99: Are Black people, in America, destined for an “exodus” like the Jewish people, or some search for their real homeland where they don’t have to worry of voter suppression, indiscriminate police violence, and a lack of control over their own lives?

T.R.: I hope so. I know that once you begin to look for information on the repatriation movement, you realize that since the 60s’ Black people have repatriated to Israel, and west and east Africa. Dar Es Salaam where I plan to relocate, there is a long history of you black revolutionaries being welcomed there. This is true all over the continent. For me, I am interested in using my energy and intellect to collaborate with Africans and further projects in Africa. I am no longer interested in being used by the white dominated U.S.

99: How are your plans coming on your planned move?

T.R. Right now, I am looking forward to an extended visit in Africa while the U.S. deals with whatever outcome results from the presidential election. I wanted to do my due diligence. I wanted to be able to tell loved ones that, yes, I have visited before I move there. After the visit, I will be game to complete the task that everyone does when they are getting ready to move. I am incredibly excited. I visualize being on the continent almost daily. I talk about it almost daily. I consume literature and digital content in order to build up my store of information. I am studying Swahili, and deepening my knowledge of African literature.

More information:

Visa African

Immigrate to South Africa

BBC

Ghana

Al Jazeera