Event
Kinara-Side Chat
Fee:
Free.Location:
290 Broadway, NY, NY 10007Dates & Times
Date:
Time:
Duration:
Type of Event
Description
12 noon- 1 pm- Park's Theater
The African Burial Ground National Monument is hosting a weeklong Kwanzaa celebration in December 2023. Kwanzaa’s third day principle is Ujima, which represents the principle of collective work and responsibility needed to build, maintain, and solve our community problems collectively together. The fourth day principle is Ujamaa, cooperative economics. Chevelle Dixon of Pan-African Solutions Consulting will lead a Kinara-side Chat with Samantha Bernardine, President of Flatbush African Burial Ground Coalition (FABG) on the erasure of the legacy of the contributions and physical burial grounds of enslaved Africans in New York City.
Samantha will share her efforts involved in the reclamation of the stories and FABG physical space. The event will include an activity and conclude with a call to action for individuals and organizations to take collective responsibility and cooperative stewardship of New York City historical storytelling, reclaiming the African American legacy, and reconciling the past through the arts, physical spaces, and monuments.
The event will also feature celebratory lighting of the fourth candle of the Kwanzaa kinara, performance artists, networking, and the African Burial Ground National Monument exhibit.
Samantha A. Bernardine is a born Brooklynite, whose parents are from the island of Grenada, known as Spice Island. She received her bachelor degree in Marketing from Franklin Pierce College in 1998, and a masters degree in Information Technology Management from Polytechnic University in 2008. For over 16 years, she has held multi-faced leadership positions in the non-for-profit industry, ranging from directing supportive housing programs for individuals and families with health challenges, to directing programs to inspire historically underrepresented youth to become health professionals in underserved communities to address health care disparities. Nine years ago, Ms. Bernardine made a career change from social service to education, becoming a high school special education and history teacher at the High School for Youth and Community Development in the historic Erasmus Campus, in Brooklyn New York. She is currently working on obtaining another degree in Educational Leadership from Northcentral University.
Outside of her professional career, Ms. Bernardine has held a number of leadership roles, and volunteers for a number of causes. She believes in the power of standing up for justice and addressing injustices wherever she can. Her current passion has been working with the African Descendent community of Flatbush Brooklyn in stewarding the sacred African burial ground that was slated by the City of New York to be housing. With the drive and determination from her and numerous members of the community, they were able to stop the city from further desecration. For three years, the advocacy of Ms. Bernardine and others gave birth to the Flatbush African Burial Ground Coalition (FABGC). Through their leadership the history and contributions of African and Indigenous people are being recognized and told by the descents.
Chevelle Dixon is the Founder and Managing Director of Pan-African Solutions Consulting LLC, a strategic planning consulting services firm that assists Black Diaspora-focused nonprofit organizations, philanthropic donors, and government agencies with cooperative economic development in Africa, the Caribbean, and urban communities in the United States. Established in 2013, the firm gained Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) certification with New York City in 2020 and with New York State in 2023. Chevelle hails from Brooklyn, New York and firmly believes in the power of Black Diaspora partnerships to uplift marginalized communities through special events, education, and collaborative economic development. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority Inc., and graduate of NYU with a Master of Urban Planning and International Development and Harvard University with a joint A.B. in Economics and African Studies.
Reservation or Registration: No
Image Gallery
Samantha Bernardine
Chevelle Dixon