{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/862b854576/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Tunisia Morrison Oral History"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eClip 1:\u003c/strong\u003e  Tunisia Morrison discusses the influence her grandfather -- an advisor of Malcolm X -- had on her, her early introduction to black government, and how the Black Lives Matter movement has expanded during COVID.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary of Full Interview\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTunisia Morrison is a resident of Jamaica, Queens. She is Chief of Staff to New York State Assembly Member Alicia Hyndman and is also a business owner, a nonprofit business owner, curator, activist, and an organizer. In this interview Tunisia Morrison talks about her experience growing up as a middle class Black woman in Southeast Queens, her start in community activism from the early age of 12, her family legacy of activism, her first experiences organizing in high school, and her time as a lobbyist leading up to becoming a Chief of Staff.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMorrison also talks about the strength of the long time Black community in Southeast Queens, which has resisted gentrification and development that other Black neighborhoods in the city have succumbed to, and the importance of getting younger generations involved in local politics and understanding the political system. She describes how COVID has affected the 29th assembly district, where many seniors in the neighborhood have passed away, and many home owners and local business owners are in economic crisis because of the pandemic. She describes how the pandemic has sparked and changed the activism around racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement, and her work educating young people on how the political system works. She also talks about being a part of BLM movement in the spring, art as activism, organizing a Black Lives Matter mural on Jamaica Avenue, and being a part of creating Juneteenth as a state holiday.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTunisia Morrison: (20:11)\u003cbr\u003e“Southeast Queens is very unique to me because we are one of the last black bastions left in New York City. You look at Harlem, it has been gentrified. You look at Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights. It is gentrified. You look at some parts of the Bronx, they're trickling in, the developments are trickling in. These are places that black people migrated in large numbers and Southeast Queens, you know, just Jamaica, Addisleigh Park, Cambria Heights, Rosedale, Laurelton, Springfield Gardens, St, and Albans. We've been holding it down with our home ownership and keeping our communities black. So, with that being said, our elected officials are black. A lot of the people who work for them are black. I've seen how easy it is because of our community. Our community was based off of older folks. We've had people who've lived there, their entire lives which we like to call triple prime voters. They have really been holding it down and ensuring that we stay black, ensuring that we stay true to the culture that we've created here.”\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTunisia Morrison: (27:33)\u003cbr\u003e“Whatever the system is, wherever you are, it can be changed and COVID reminded me of that. It reminded me that no two days are alike. You don't have to be that way, whoever you were yesterday, you can totally be somebody else tomorrow, if that is what you choose and just radically pushing yourself to do that is the name of the game. Having the willpower to say, this is what I'm going to do, and this is how I'm going to do it. Also, just collaboration, I've always been a very collaborative person, but I find myself now getting more glory and my heart more full when I'm finding space for the people around me. That was always the case, but now just now more than ever, I think it's important that we continue to build villages around each other to support each other, because we don't know what the next virus is going to be. We're already dealing with three, you know, we're already dealing with racism, we're already dealing with an economic virus and we're also dealing with this COVID-19. Our communities are really getting hit hard by all three.”\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["http://digitalarchives.queenslibrary.org/search/browse/43191"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2020-08-05 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Audio"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Tunisia Morrison (Interviewee)","Syreeta Gates (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["Interview conducted as part of the Queens Memory COVID-19 Project."]}},{"label":{"en":["Coverage"]},"value":{"en":["1960s-2020 (temporal)","Jamaica, Rochdale Village, and Southeast Queens, Queens, NY; Brooklyn, NY (spatial)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eClip 1:\u003c/strong\u003e\u0026nbsp; Tunisia Morrison discusses the influence her grandfather -- an advisor of Malcolm X -- had on her, her early introduction to black government, and how the Black Lives Matter movement has expanded during COVID.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSummary of Full Interview\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTunisia Morrison is a resident of Jamaica, Queens. She is Chief of Staff to New York State Assembly Member Alicia Hyndman and is also a business owner, a nonprofit business owner, curator, activist, and an organizer. In this interview Tunisia Morrison talks about her experience growing up as a middle class Black woman in Southeast Queens, her start in community activism from the early age of 12, her family legacy of activism, her first experiences organizing in high school, and her time as a lobbyist leading up to becoming a Chief of Staff.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eMorrison also talks about the strength of the long time Black community in Southeast Queens, which has resisted gentrification and development that other Black neighborhoods in the city have succumbed to, and the importance of getting younger generations involved in local politics and understanding the political system. She describes how COVID has affected the 29th assembly district, where many seniors in the neighborhood have passed away, and many home owners and local business owners are in economic crisis because of the pandemic. She describes how the pandemic has sparked and changed the activism around racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement, and her work educating young people on how the political system works. She also talks about being a part of BLM movement in the spring, art as activism, organizing a Black Lives Matter mural on Jamaica Avenue, and being a part of creating Juneteenth as a state holiday.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTunisia Morrison: (20:11)\u003cbr /\u003e\u0026ldquo;Southeast Queens is very unique to me because we are one of the last black bastions left in New York City. You look at Harlem, it has been gentrified. You look at Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights. It is gentrified. You look at some parts of the Bronx, they're trickling in, the developments are trickling in. These are places that black people migrated in large numbers and Southeast Queens, you know, just Jamaica, Addisleigh Park, Cambria Heights, Rosedale, Laurelton, Springfield Gardens, St, and Albans. We've been holding it down with our home ownership and keeping our communities black. So, with that being said, our elected officials are black. A lot of the people who work for them are black. I've seen how easy it is because of our community. Our community was based off of older folks. We've had people who've lived there, their entire lives which we like to call triple prime voters. They have really been holding it down and ensuring that we stay black, ensuring that we stay true to the culture that we've created here.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTunisia Morrison: (27:33)\u003cbr /\u003e\u0026ldquo;Whatever the system is, wherever you are, it can be changed and COVID reminded me of that. It reminded me that no two days are alike. You don't have to be that way, whoever you were yesterday, you can totally be somebody else tomorrow, if that is what you choose and just radically pushing yourself to do that is the name of the game. Having the willpower to say, this is what I'm going to do, and this is how I'm going to do it. Also, just collaboration, I've always been a very collaborative person, but I find myself now getting more glory and my heart more full when I'm finding space for the people around me. That was always the case, but now just now more than ever, I think it's important that we continue to build villages around each other to support each other, because we don't know what the next virus is going to be. We're already dealing with three, you know, we're already dealing with racism, we're already dealing with an economic virus and we're also dealing with this COVID-19. Our communities are really getting hit hard by all three.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA\u0026nbsp;Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123216","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 2 - Morrison-Tunisia-2020-clip1.mp3"]},"duration":153.2885,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123216/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123216/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-queenslibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/123/216/original/Morrison-Tunisia-2020-clip1.mp3?1631634674","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":153.2885,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123216","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[]},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 2 of 2 - QPL_TunisiaMorrisonAudio.Mp3"]},"duration":2986.05881,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/content/2/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-queenslibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/123/217/original/QPL_TunisiaMorrisonAudio.Mp3?1631634677","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":2986.05881,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Full Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: So we are now recording. So my first request is that you say, and then spell your name for me.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1.0,10.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Sure. My name is Tunisia Morrison and it is T U N I S I A M O R R I S O N.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=10.0,23.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: Perfect. If you can give us permission to use this audio. So if you can say I, Tunisia Morrison consent, the Queens Public Library's use of this content.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=23.0,38.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: I, Tunisia Morrison consent, the Queens Public Library's use of this content.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=38.0,44.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: Great. So we're going to start off. Who are you?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=44.0,53.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: I am all of the things. I am a young black woman, South Side, Jamaica, Queens resident. I am a business owner. I am a nonprofit business owner. I am a curator. I am a chief of staff to a New York state assembly woman. I am an activist, and I am an organizer.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=53.0,89.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: So, talk to us about how your family got to Queens.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=89.0,97.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: How did my family get to Queens? So, my grandmother and my grandfather moved to Queens, I believe in the sixties, ish. I know my mom, was born in the sixties. I'm from Brooklyn and before that I believe the Upper West Side. My grandmother moved all her children to Brooklyn and when my mother was grown and decided to get married, her and her husband moved back to Queens. My mother went to St. John's university, spends a lot of time in Queens. She had a lot of childhood in Queens and wanted to call it home again.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=97.0,149.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: Talk to me a little bit of, how, black woman in particular shaped your life and what, what was possible for your career?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=149.0,161.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: I feel like it, I don't know if this is unique to me, but I've had a very well balanced life of black men and black women mentors. I have an abundance, I've had an abundance of black women mentors or just like inspo. growing up. I mean, starting with my grandmother who, you know, founded her own school in the middle of the 1970s, teachers' strike when she believed that not only that the public school system wasn't giving her kids what they needed but saw a need for black culture and black history to be emphasized on levels that were just not happening in the school system at the time. Then, my mother and her siblings, woman siblings. Then my teachers, I've had all black teachers. My first teacher, actually, in kindergarten was a black woman. You know, growing up in that space of just black womanhood and an abundance of black feminism at all times. Throughout my journey from high school to college to now, I've realized that I've always been in space where a black woman has, allowed me in, and graciously, gave me tools and keys to be great. You know, never like this is what you need, you know, like this is what you gotta but more like, this, this is how I do it and have always, you know, reached as they climbed. It has been the most beneficial thing to my life because now I've worked for maybe four to five black women. Right now, my boss is a black woman, you know, prior to this, my boss was a black woman, and in multiple spaces and, you know, I have been blessed to not have to feel like, the stereotypical, the stereotypical way of feeling, you know, sometimes in space of older women. I've never had to experience that and on a mentorship and teaching level. So, there has been a blessing in that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=161.0,304.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: Amazing. Talk to me a little bit about your relationship with Queens and in particular, the neighborhood that you were from?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=304.0,314.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: My relationship to it....So, I always lived in Queens my whole life. I went to school in Brooklyn for a majority of my, elementary years and my middle school years. So from pre-K to eighth grade, I was based in Brooklyn. What was happening was that my mother had me in extracurricular activities all throughout Queens. So, I went to dance school in Rochdale Village. I played little league. I tap danced in Cambria Heights. I went to three or four different dance schools around Southeast Queens. Then my mother ended up owning her own dance school on Baisley Boulevard. So, everything that happened after school was based in Queens for me up until high school, when I decided to go to a high school in Manhattan. But you know, living in a two fare zone in Southeast Queens, taking the bus to the train, I ended up meeting, and connecting with a lot of people our age. I grew up a little differently than a lot of people in the sense that my family was a very well-educated, black, essentially upper echelon family, because of my grandmother and my grandfather. I didn't really understand the space then of this, this invisible line between the hood and what we like to call bougie blackness. So, I was, I was living in these two different worlds, right. I was going to a school where I was well-educated and was taught a certain way but then I was coming back to the hood where slang was mostly talked and my clothes were really funny to people, you know, cause they didn't match. Color blocking wasn't a thing back then.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=314.0,432.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: There was a time in my life where I didn't think I was connected to that space. I didn't feel like I was connected to Queens in a lot of ways. I felt like a little bit of an outsider sometimes, and then one day on a Q 40, a group of guys that lived around my community, walked me home and sat on my steps all night and then came back every day and didn't stop until I finally moved out. But, they showed me a whole different Queens and accepting Queens and accepting neighborhood and essentially took me on a tour of the community where, and this is in high school where, I was able to build and grow wonderful relationships that I have up until now.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=432.0,493.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: That sounds about right. That sounds about right. Talk to me about the organizations that you've started and why were you the one to start them?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=493.0,504.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: The first one I ever started was in high school. I was 12 years old and I was a part of an organization called the City National Leadership Project. I actually know we didn't really have a name, but I called it \"Come in Unity for Community\". I started a social justice project around trying to better our streets. When I, when I say better our streets, I mean, literally we had really bad streets. They were bumpy, the concrete was just horrible. You tried to ride your bike down the street, it was just trash. Then, on the flip side of that, safer streets and creating a space, to get what we really need from our government and stakeholders to create a space where we can really thrive as young people.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=504.0,561.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Young people has always been our focus. As a young person, I was talking for young people, for myself and then as I've built, it seems to stick in that space because I feel like it's a really unique generation that we can't take for granted. Come in Unity was the first. I got a stipend from Sadie Nash Leadership Project to put on this event, we did an Rochdale Village in the community center in the big auditorium where I just had like essentially a rally around these issues. Back then, as a 12-13 year old, follow-through, wasn't really a thing. So, it was cool, but I didn't follow up on it. I did the thing and that was the thing. Then, me and my two siblings later on decided to create an organization called V O Y C E, which stands for voice, which is the \"voice of youth changes, everything\" incorporated.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=561.0,617.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: The reason that we started that was because we realized that we were very blessed to have a pipeline and a network of people that we were connected to, that we started realizing that the world and people, our age were actually really not connected to. It was nothing for us to be at our senators house. It was nothing for us, you to maybe be on the phone with a president. It was nothing for us to have a one-on-one with Al Sharpton or connect with the city agency seamlessly, go to Albany and talk with our uncle who was an elected official. We realized that that was a regular day for us, but at that time in the world our generation was not thinking about civic engagement in that way but also those like main pipelines that also existed that we were building industries in, which were education and specifically entrepreneurship and technology and the arts. It was budding specifically in Southeast Queens, all of these things and we saw that it was just time for us to increase the pipeline for positive impact. So, we started throwing events in different parts of the boroughs, not just Queens. We were in Crown Heights. We were in the Bronx. We were in Dumbo and we just started trying to find spaces that we saw needed that bridge and building it. So, this was art exhibits. These were spoken word events. These were town halls on police brutality. These were fashion shows. These were tech events. The impact that we saw come out of those things where a friend or somebody coming to those events like, \"Hey, I know that guy.\" That's my United States Senator. He lives across the street from me. You know what I mean? Or, \"Oh my gosh, like, I actually seen this guy before, that's my local City Councilman. We just had drinks together at this event.\" You know, things like that, which, was really what we were looking for. We were looking for people to realize that even our best heroes and our best leaders are human beings and not above approach, and you know, not above connecting, and connecting those worlds. I would say, I do think we've been pretty impactful because, we're watching what's happening around us with our own communities and that pipeline was not there before. I will pat us on the back for doing something a little, a little different. Then, my last business is called the Consignment Group. It is a for-profit business. I am consulting. The business itself essentially would be a government and community relations firm but because of my current role as a chief of staff and working in government, I will not relate to government through the business. So currently, I am just consulting candidates who are running for office and looking for some advice and counseling for me from this decade of experience plus, that I have and really just kind of creating this new way, an innovative way to build campaigns. We are not living in old times anymore and we need new and better ways to touch voters and more importantly, engage new ones.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=617.0,811.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: Wow. Yeah, you're definitely doing the most typical. I would like nothing else expect nothing else. Talk to me about how you got interested in politics and the role, the various roles that you've played thus far.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=811.0,826.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Yeah, sure. So, I feel like politics has been in my bones and my DNA. I can't tell you my first political experience because I feel like it was so young. I vividly remember reading for Al Sharpton or like opening up an event for Jesse Jackson. I remember just always being around black government in my life and not really realizing it was black government. My grandfather who was the chief aid to Malcolm X, was also very renowned, very known. And then he married this powerful black woman, that also kind of, gauge those spaces. And well, I say that they trained us and told us, you know, this is who you have to be, and this is what you're supposed to do. I can't tell you that I've ever had that conversation with either of them. But what I can say is that it was in the way that they moved, the way they carry themselves, the way that they executed that I think was just silently given to their children who then silently gave it to their children. There's no reason that in my 11 cousins, maybe the older ones, six of us who actually are old enough to graduate from college, all have degrees in political science. And if not, two of them in arts, but like social justice art, and art justice. I don't think that, that, that is a coincidence. That, we've all decided to be in public service in some way and that our parents have found ways to be in public service. So, I can't remember the actual day and the actual time where I said, that's what I'm gonna do. I feel like it's just been who I am. Also, just being young and starting high school at 12 and having to learn ways to advocate for myself the way that my mother would advocate for me. You know, maybe I can say that my first advocacy moment was when my high school wanted to get metal detectors and, you know, just having a mom who was so in tune and who wanted to know everything that was happening at school, who gave me a space to feel comfortable coming home and telling her things that happened with my teachers, who I didn't have to blink twice at to call my principal and, you know, let her have it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=826.0,973.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: I think that first moment when I told her that they were going to try to put metal detectors in our school and a fashion school that use knives and use scissors and use needles every day was then trying to police us. And, you know, my mom, like what you gonna do about it? And me telling her I'm going to stage a walkout and her being like, okay, when? Being so supportive, just behind the scenes, helping me navigate what it will look like to have an action of that level. And it was successful. We successfully had our entire school, which is a 10, 4 school over 5,000 kids walk out at the thought of metal detectors. I think that was one of those moments where I really realized my impact, even just being younger than everybody.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=973.0,1023.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Then, I went on to work for a lobbying firm. I went to my uncle who was a former assemblyman and said, I want to work for Madison Square Garden. I think I have something to give. I feel like Madison Square Garden, you know, as a high school student, they're not doing enough. I'm on my way to college. I'm seeing that we packed out the garden on multiple occasions whether it was high school basketball games, or whether it was Laughlin against Dozo, whether it was Jay Z selling out the Garden. We've always, as black culture finds a way to make sure that this space has money and I'm not seeing the return on our urban areas. And I made this whole map, I fleshed out this whole plan. I told my uncle, I need to go talk to them because they need to implement this. He set up a meeting with their lobbying, their director of government relations for MSG, Madison Square Garden at the time. She was in awe and, you know, she said, well, come work for me. I'm an arm of MSG. I'm their lobbyists. I don't work for them internally, but I work externally, and still get to tell them what to do. And, you know, have you ever heard of a lobbyist? Have you ever heard of a black lobbyist? I said yes to the job and internship turned into an assistant position real quick. And then the assistant position turned into, R and D you know, research and data really quickly. Then research and data turned into being a junior lobbyist and strategy really quickly. in two years time, I was a senior lobbyist at the firm. From there, I went on to...As much as I loved lobbying because I was advocating for private companies, I always found myself more excited to go into a community, and help do essentially underground railroad, right, have these offline conversations about how to get my clients to do what they need and how to negotiate these things. And put me as, a black woman in a position to do both. I can advocate for my client, but I also can teach this community how to advocate for themselves and put pressure on me to then put pressure on them. That strategy in itself made me realize my love just for community and my love, for essentially what will be the underdog and finding ways to ensure that we've always had a seat at the table. So, then I said yes to this chief of staff position in government to be able to do that. I can't, I can't complain. I'm loving every bit of it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1023.0,1189.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: Amazing. And outside of your family members, how have you seen people from Queens engage in the political system and/or just activism as a whole in Queens?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1189.0,1202.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Yeah, what I would say about our community? There are a lot of people engaged in politics, especially black ones, right? Southeast Queens is very unique to me because we are one of the last black bastions left in New York City. You look at Harlem, it has been gentrified. You look at Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights. It is gentrified. You look at some parts of the Bronx, they're trickling in, the developments are trickling in. These are places that black people migrated in large numbers and Southeast Queens, you know, just Jamaica, Addisleigh Park, Cambria Heights, Rosedale, Laurelton, Springfield Gardens, St, Albans. We've been holding it down with our home ownership and keeping our communities black. So, with that being said, our elected officials are black. A lot of the people who work for them are black. I've seen how easy it is because of our community. Our community was based off of older folks. We've had people who've lived there, their entire lives which we like to call triple prime voters. They have really been holding it down and ensuring that we stay black, ensuring that we stay true to the culture that we've created here. Sometimes because of that, there's been a disconnect between just younger generations and our older generations that they feel, kind of helped move our political circuit here. But what I've seen from us, you know, as just young people is, there's a split. There's half of us who, and it's not a bad split, right. But there's this half of us who are ingrained in the political system here, who either work for elected officials or are adjacent to them. And that circle is very small. What I have seen very recently is the opening of that circle and realizing that information can't just stay in a silo. Because of events that VOYCE has done, because of events that these other organizations do that are pushing the civic engagement narrative, I do see the bridge between local politics and our people really coming together. Whether it be because it's of an issue that's happening, or whether it be because of a feel-good thing that's happening, our community now more than ever, I'm watching not take their foot off the next of advocacy, which is just so important to the civic engagement space. And maybe not even really be diving deep into what politics is, but it is the first step, right?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1202.0,1370.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Like you don't have to be somebody who understands the whole political system to know that something is an issue. But we're getting there, right? A lot of us now understand what the branches of government are. A lot of us now understand at least, you know, that there's levels to this. My hope is that we get to a space of everybody understanding the legislative process, which is being able to know how a bill becomes a law. So, that we are then equipped to take our advocacy and issues, right to a whole other level. We can then now know the process, which to fight for our communities through policy versus just through advocacy. It is happening. I mean, it's all over social media. People want to know and, you know. We're finally at a space of critically thinking and pushing the narrative.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1370.0,1421.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: Talk to me a little bit around, how has your life changed because of COVID?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1421.0,1428.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Oh, man. Listen. So COVID is insane. I don't know where it came from, but we know it came from China. I don't know who told it to come over here, just disrespectful. COVID has completely changed for me personally and professionally my mindset more than anything. I mean, I don't even want to get into not being able to physically touch people and how energy is important, because that is just like a whole other thing that I'm grappling with. Not being able to exchange energies, but mostly just on how I have made a decision through COVID to radically change all my systems. When I say that, I mean in a personal and professional way, whatever I was doing before, however, we did it before, there's a way to uplift it and upcycle it. And I am committed to that type of radical change. My life got really busy. You could only imagine as a chief of staff, my community was really hit hard in district 29.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1428.0,1513.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: The 29th assembly district, we've had a lot of our seniors, who have passed away. A lot of our homeowners really struggling economically. Our businesses have been hurt very badly. A lot of them didn't get a lot of that money coming down the pipeline the first time. Hopefully, some of our businesses got some of this, PPP, payment protection program money now but it really put this community in economic crisis because of that, we now have to look at and radically change the way that we even promote. The way that we spend, even in being more intentional about spending and on the personal level, I mean, my phone just don't stop ringing. Right now, while we're talking girl, it is buzzing. I realized that I had, I didn't know this, but because of COVID, I realized that I had something that the world needed.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1513.0,1571.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: I found myself on zoom call after zoom call, teaching people about this legislative process that we talked about, creating another organization, called the Nationhood to drop a liberation toolkit on civic engagement for free. So, anybody can just go look it up and download it and know every, way you want to want to help, there's probably a way in there that talks to you because there's more than one way to skin a cat. There's more than one way to push towards liberation. I never been the big speaker. I really never been the person who wants to be in front of the mic but COVID made that happen. I've been on face time group calls and house party calls all night, 5:00 AM, just really answering people's questions around these processes and really also being in space with people who do know and don't know. Because I know that I don't know everything and there's also more things to learn. So, COVID really ignited a fire under me to stand on who I am and whatever I'm going to do in a radical way and being okay with that. It's also helped me push for other people to create their new normals because I'm working in that intention and ensuring that other people walk in it, whatever it is, it can be changed. Whatever the system is, wherever you are, it can be changed and COVID reminded me of that. It reminded me that no two days are alike. You don't have to be that way, whoever you were yesterday, you can totally be somebody else tomorrow, if that is what you choose and just radically pushing yourself to do that is the name of the game. Having the willpower to say, this is what I'm going to do, and this is how I'm going to do it. Also, just collaboration, I've always been a very collaborative person, but I find myself now getting more glory and my heart more full when I'm finding space for the people around me. That was always the case, but now just now more than ever, I think it's important that we continue to build villages around each other to support each other, because we don't know what the next virus is going to be. We're already dealing with three, you know, we're already dealing with racism, we're already dealing with an economic virus and we're also dealing with this COVID-19. Our communities are really getting hit hard by all three. COVID is still trash. If you see it, tell it I'm mad, tell it, I got problems. But also thank you because, you know, when you put a strong person's back against the wall, there's only one thing to do and that's swing. I'm just hoping that everybody's swinging too.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1571.0,1735.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: Indeed. You mentioned the three problems that we're having economic, obviously international pandemic, but also racial. Talk to me about what you knew the concept of BLM to be prior to COVID and how the struggle for black liberation has literally changed now during COVID.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1735.0,1764.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Yeah. So, I always knew Black Lives Matter to be just that. I knew it to be a space and before there's the brand, an organization that works to change policy, towards liberation of black people. What those things are, I actually never knew all the time, because Black Lives Matter as a big, big organization, state by state, they have different mandates and different things, even down to borough to borough which also was just always really confusing to me, just around the organization. What I have seen, some of the mandates that had come out for pre-COVID, you know, it might've just been police reform. It might've been criminal justice work in that space. It might've been, healthcare issues, whatever that thing might have been, but all in the name of changing policy to aid in black people liberation and what I have now seen through during COVID, cause we're not out of it yet, is that, it is that, but then it's also just so much more. It is about policy change and creating a space advocate for those things on certain levels. But I think this now has become not just an overarching federal government conversation. We are now talking about systemic racism and institutional racism more with black lives matter. This is not just a state to state thing. This is everybody, everyday thing. This is a federal government thing. This is an education system thing. This is a healthcare system thing. This is a criminal justice system thing. This literally lives in work culture. Any institution that you can think of has nine times out of 10 benefited from state sanction violence and white supremacy and Black Lives Matter because of those eight minutes and 45 seconds on George Floyd' neck created a space to understand that this pipeline is where we've always should have been. Did I know that the pipeline was somewhere where we should have been?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1764.0,1901.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Of course - but it really can't be effective without people understanding local politics, and then radically going into those spaces that they work and that they inhabit to actually push for those things too. So, I do believe that the push to now be an individual in your workspace and being able to whistle-blow and speak up has changed because of COVID Black Lives Matter. I think that if you are somebody who never organized before, but you woke up today and said, I am going to March. I think COVID Black Lives Matter, created a space for you to go get up and even have a three person March without compromise. I think the unrest was real. I think the unrest is real and COVID Black Lives Matter created that space. It definitely wasn't that before.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1901.0,1960.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: Got It. Let's talk about this summer, we're talking about in the midst of an international pandemic, you have George Floyd, you have Breonna Taylor, which really changed the game. Talk about that a little bit and the work that you've been doing around organizing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1960.0,1979.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Yeah. March 12th, 2020, we all got a guidance in New York state that said, listen, y'all got to go home, y'all gotta stay there cause we gotta figure this out. While we were at home, figuring out how to work out zooms and our Hangouts and our WebEx's and while we're like, literally nobody knows what time is and nobody has boundaries cause they calling you at 1:00 AM about work. Now, we're running out of toilet paper and paper towels, and trying to figure that out, and while we're still trying to find ways to connect with our families on this other side of the earth; while we're trying to finish up school, and do it virtually now and work on a remote base everything, we opened up our phones and watched as this man called for his mother while he had a knee in his neck, while two officers just seamlessly did not care.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=1979.0,2042.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Then we also watched while all of this is happening, that I said a young black man running, jogging, trying to stay fit and stay healthy, be gunned down by three white men. Then, we also didn't watch it, but we heard that this woman was sleeping in her home after being one of those people who were called to still essentially work while we were all at home, trying to figure this stuff out, be gunned down while she was sleeping. I think that those three things, the unrest of it all comes from, so we don't matter. So, even though COVID is all our enemy, black people are even the bigger enemy. It didn't matter that, one touch, one handshake, one touch of a door knob after somebody, a touch of a car seat after somebody, a handshake, a pen, all of these little things could literally be the reason you die. It didn't matter and black people were still a public enemy, number one in the United States of America. I think that's really where the unrest comes from. Because when you talk about racism and you talk about policing, racist police are real. We were never able to hold the conversation that racist people and there are racist police and sometimes they are one in the same. That is I think where the unrest really comes from because these can be people that you work with. These can be people that are your public servants here to serve and protect you. These can be people that are the CEO of your company. These can be people who manage the Starbucks in your community. And I think knowing that you are still public enemy, number one to a disease that you cannot see until it literally kills you on both levels is the biggest threat to black people ever.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2042.0,2172.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: With that being said, I found myself, even though I've been out in these streets a long time, I found myself not like a lot of my colleagues who felt like I don't want to march no more. I felt like I'm going to March with them because I know that they need the support that I got when I first got out here. If some older person than me felt like they couldn't come out, when I wanted to March, then how would I have known how to organize? How did I know what support looked like? So, I started attending other people's rallies first and then one day, I attended a rally that ended but there was just so much unrest. The rally, the March wasn't long enough. The people didn't feel good enough, like their feet weren't hurting. They felt like they wanted to do more. I just started screaming like, let's go! Let's keep going and in that moment, I don't know what happened, but, I then became a person that people looked at to be helpful to them in organizing, and creating spaces to talk about blackness, talking about black liberation, talking about these systems, creating spaces, to talk about radically changing those systems, and holding every single one of any institution accountable, to that. But also, in that, realizing that in my work and what I do for a living and what I do outside of this, that there are just so many facets of how to be liberated and how to advocate, that I don't think that we as black people do a good enough job on for each other.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2172.0,2273.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Because, art is revolutionary and art can be a way of radical change and it can be advocacy space. Music is one of those other things. Writing is one of those other things. If you're in fashion, a shirt, maybe, a piece that you've done that advocates for something. The symbolism can be in it all. I found myself kind of placing myself between those pipelines to help ignite the people around me to realize that they didn't have to just March to be great. So, it started out with marching. It started out with organizing rallies and it actually still doing that whenever I can. I'm still supporting people. I'm not organizing them no more, I'm tired, but I am, creating space to ensure that when I do see people out here in these streets, that they aren't being harassed by police. That the precincts in our Southeastern Queens community are allowing them to use the streets; that they're not feeling like they're heckled and, their voices are being silenced and I'm doing everything in my power to kind of just be an overarching guiding light in that way.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2273.0,2341.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: I did curate the Black Lives Matter mural on Jamaica Avenue and using black artists from this community to uplift it and to give the vision for it so that they felt like art can also be revolutionary and that they had a place in this fight. That's really been it. It's really just been organizing rallies, organizing marches on the other end of it, radically having conversations with my local elected officials on how things need to change. Being a part of creating Juneteenth as a state holiday through my offices and really just continued to grow that space of everywhere you see a system that needs to be turned, you being a guide and help in turning it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2341.0,2387.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: Yeah. That's, that's beautiful. That's definitely it. Talk to me a little bit more around the granularities of curating a mural of that size. Why were you the one to take that on?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2387.0,2405.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Oh my gosh. First of all, I don't know. Let me just start there. I'll give the breakdown for the people how I got there. So, I have curated our exhibits now. I officially have curated maybe around six or seven art exhibits, gallery spaces all throughout the New York City area. I actually had the opportunity to also curate an art exhibit out in Amsterdam when I went to go visit, ran into an artist who was doing something and he let me curate his space. I do find love in art. I do also just find love in creating those types of spaces for people to express their art. I now in the capacity of a Chief of Staff got an email, usually, because of COVID, we've been getting daily blasts from the city and state, and this thing's going on and I don't know about everybody else, it's so much information all the time but I'm adamant in making sure that I scroll through those because I don't ever want to miss something that my community should know about. So, I always take a moment out of my day to sit down, and scroll through the updates that come from the city agencies, City Hall, which is the mayor's office and in the state, which is the governor's office. At the bottom of the City one, I saw that these murals were going to be coming to each borough and I replied and just said, Hey, we'd love to see this in Southeast Queens. The response was, we didn't find a place yet, but thanks for letting me know that and let me loop you into who's actually making these decisions.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2405.0,2516.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Then, that person, I don't think responded yet; maybe it's been like two days, I got another email blast, and I saw that there was actually a location and the location then was in Southeast Queens. And the space that it was, I just was like, well, why is it there? The original space that they picked out for the mural, not even getting into that, I kind of just replied and said, and I also hope that the people who are curating this mural, who are painting this mural, who are giving design for it are all black and from my community. I think that one hit something, which then ended up this big spark of all the elected officials in our community, the department of transportation, the mayor's office, the scenic painters union, nonprofit organizations in our community, all just kind of being a part of this bigger thing that, I just want to say my battle, cause I didn't know, sending that email was going to get us here.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2516.0,2582.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: But, it was a lot of back and forth, a lot of push-back, a lot of pullback, a lot of maybes and we finally just said, let's do it. Rightly so, some of our elected officials didn't want to be a part of it because it was with the mayor and things that the mayor have done to Southeast Queens right now. Some other people just felt like, whatever, like what is it? What is it going to change? Then, some other people felt like I do think that this is a statement and our community deserves a statement. Our community deserves some glory right now and this can be a part of it. Then, I was walking with some of our elected officials on a completely different manner, on a business walk and we were walking down the block and I was looking towards Rufus King and I'm like, I think we should do this block. I think this should just be it. The family court is on one side of the street. Rufus King Park, which is a former plantation turned farmland, turned underground railroad of sorts in this abolitionist space. It just seemed like the adjacentness of it all was the perfect place for it to be not to mention that the NYPD forensic lab is also on that block. I think because of that, it got a lot of pushback, but I was adamant on making it happen. I found an artist who I've worked with on many different curations to lend his time and then, we found other people who were willing to lend their time as well. Everybody was not happy that they was helpful, but everybody helped and I think that mattered the most to me. Ensuring that this thing was for Queens. So, this week has been a bunch of programming. This Friday coming up, which is the seventh, was like a millennial day with some testing going on. There's an art party going on. There's businesses coming out. There's a DJ out there. My only thing and I promise you, this is the only thing I've ever thought since the idea of the mural is that I want mad black people on the Black Lives Matter mural doing the electric slide. I need a Wo-ah woah in the background and I want it amazing. That was my vision, just to have celebratory space with black people on the mural.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2582.0,2736.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: What does life look like after COVID?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2736.0,2742.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: I wish I could see that far. I wish I knew when COVID will end? Does anybody have the date? 'Cause that's what I want to know. Give me the date and then I could tell you but without a date, I will say, life looks like hugs. Life looks like laying down with my mom. Life looks like being able to kiss up on my nephew. Life looks like being able to travel the world and not take it for granted ever again. Just take me to Africa and give me three months. I'll see the whole thing. That's just kind of where I'm at. Life, also just looks like radical change everyday, everyday, I wake up, everyday using the day to do something differently and push back on something that was supposed to be normal, period. And, hopefully, inspiring people to do the same. That's life after COVID cause I don't know if I'm ever going to not wear a mask. I don't know if I'm ever gonna dine in doors again. I thought I would miss the club, but I don't. So, I'm pretty sure the club miss us though. But yeah, life looks like grace and humility and blessings.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2742.0,2845.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Syreeta Gates: Got it. Last question, what are your wishes for your beloved Jamaica, Queens?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2845.0,2854.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Tunisia Morrison: Oh, my wish is, I have a few wishes. First wish is that we continue to create our own culture inside black culture and protect it at all costs. My other wish is that we find a unique way, unique to us to build out our business improvement districts and really give them the love that they deserve. We are multiple majority black businesses, and we have to hold ourselves to the regard that nobody else is going to hold us to and we probably take it for granted because we don't see how blessed we are to walk into an establishment and it be black employees. We probably don't understand the gravity of walking into an establishment knowing that it's black owned. We won't understand until unfortunately people who are not black come in and own all of our businesses, right, because we still don't even own the storefronts. We're just renting them. So, my hope is that we do better. We build better business improvement districts to help build our economy, to help build our businesses, to help find some space to own the land. My last wish is that we continue to be friendlier to our young people and protect them at all costs. I know what it was for us growing up in Southeast Queens, in that police presence that maybe our young people are now not going to have to feel because of the work that's happening right now. When this is over, when we are out of this, when our kids can congregate again, when they're going to get back on the back of that bus, when they're gonna, you know, be wilded out in school, that we remember right now, and we remember what it means to support healthily and not pick up the phone for 911 for a conversation that we should be able to have ourselves. Those are my three wishes.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2854.0,2986.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217/transcript/32117/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Jo-Ann Wong: Grand opening grand closing. Let me stop this recording real quick.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/943/collection_resources/50485/file/123217#t=2986.0,2986.05881"}]}]}]}