“Blow the dust from your ears so you may hear and understand all that is being said to you and be able to recognize the truth.”
Beverly Cook (beh-ver-lee cook), Mohawk chief and nurse practitioner
“We all have fought the same fight. We all have shed the same blood to be called Seminoles.”
LeEtta Osborne-Sampson (lee-eh-tah ahz-born samp-sun), Seminole Freedmen Chief of the Caesar Bruner Band
“If we have education we can be able to get land and we can be able to defend the land too.”
Shani Msafiri Mangola (shah-nee m-sah-feer-ee mahn-go-lah), law student, human rights activist
“I have dedicated myself to working on behalf of Hadzabe children - the olanakwe. I am fighting for educational sovereignty.”
Anna Philipo (ah-nah fill-ee-poh), advocate for hunter-gatherer education
“We're singing goodbye to the old camp and hello to the new camp.”
two unnamed Hadza women
“We are not interested in changing our culture to conform to the policy of the aggressors.”
Gudo Mahiya (goo-doh meye-yah), elder
![“Freedmen definitely deserve reparations... because we need to be repaired for the trauma that was suffered … whether it be physical, mental, generational, [or] emotional.”](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cc4b5b0d745629b0df57a4c/1617265105449-WWCTE96T9U73UQCRXKRI/Screen+Shot+2021-03-04+at+10.04.32+AM.png)
“Freedmen definitely deserve reparations... because we need to be repaired for the trauma that was suffered … whether it be physical, mental, generational, [or] emotional.”
Lamar Williams Jr. (lah-mar will-yumz), member of the Dosar Barkus Band
“For generations, we have been a forgotten tribe of people. Now we are no longer a forgotten people. Now everyone is learning about who we are. That's a blessing.”
Sylvia Davis (sill-vee-yah day-vis), leader Dosar-Barkus Black Seminole band
“We try to teach our children the culture and remind them that they can be great. We stick to our heritage and we intend to carry on as free Maroons as long as the world exists.”
Sidney Peddie (sid-nee ped-dee), Colonel Accompong Maroons
“Cudjoe (18th century maroon freedom fighter) was taught and observed that the land the maroons occupied belonged to all of them and its amicable distribution and use must be perpetuated.”
Milton MacFarlane (milll-tun mick-far-lane), author
“Indigenous women in Jamaica live a role model lifestyle to redirect African people to a real image of compassionate family life, a unit that was totally intentionally destroyed in slavery.”
Gaama Gloria Simms (gah-mah glaw-ree-yah seems), Paramount Queen of the Maroons
“How can we preserve our culture and maintain our future? That's the first question we all need to ask ourselves.”
Marcia Douglas (mar-shah dug-lass), Colonel, Charles Town Maroons
“There is a lot of love inside the Vodou. It is our heart and blood. So we will not back down. We have an important and strong force with us. Without it, we could not exist today.”
Ougan Ricardo Marie Dadoune (ree-car-doh mah-ree dah-doon), priest
“I see my role as a human rights activist and as a Manbo Asogwe (high priestess) as one…to help to literally conjure memory, so that our sense of self and sense of place is restored.”
Manbo Asogwe Dòwòti Désir (doo-what-tee day-seer), high priestess
“We retained the language and the religion (of Africa) so both could serve us. I would say like two scissor tips cutting the skin, they could cut the chains of slavery.”
Ati Max Beauvoir (ah-tee max bow-vwahr), Supreme chief
“I worship my ancestors. They were free people in Africa, minding their business. Invaders came and took everything from them. The only thing they brought with them was vodou.”
Manbo Beatrice Daleus (bee-ah-triss deh-looz), priestess
“We do not want to live in the past. The past that lives in us will transform this country for the better.”
Denildo “Biko” Rodrigues (day-neel-doh bee-koh rod-ree-guess), coordinator, national Quilombo Association (Conaq)
“Today we work rescuing our memory…It is all connected to our history - to return to the past, to seek our origins, to learn good things, to bring to the present and build a better future.”
Adilson Almeida (ah-deel-sun ah-may-dee-yah), Quilombo do Camorim Cultural Association
“That’s what we do here in this small corner hidden within the Amazon. Surviving so that we can obtain land titles and guarantee a piece of land for us to live on, for the future of our children.”
Claudinete Colé (claw-dee-neh-tee koh-lay), Boa Vista community leader