You & Literature Today: African-Americans search for culture through Soul Food – Juanita

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Juanita Betts-Graves

Juanita Betts-Graves of the International African Writers Association (IAWA), USA, speaks about the bond between African-Americans, freedom, culture and literature and link IAWA presented to work with African writers.

By Munyal Markus Manunyi

Tell us about yourself and your journey as a writer.
My name is Juanita Betts-Graves, and I reside in New Jersey, USA. I was born in North Carolina along the coast and moved to New York after high school. I hold an AAS Degree in Business Administration Management from Purdue University (former Kaplan University) and I’m pursuing a BS degree in Business Administration from California Coast University to complete December 2021.
I am a poet and a published author of three books: ‘Desire My Dream’ – (Poetry), ‘My Mama Said’ – (Story book), and ‘WooSah – Bittersweet Blessings’. I first started writing poetry as a teen while sitting under a Pecan tree, staring at the clouds and daydreaming for hours about life, the wonders of life, and what else was out there. I wanted to know more, learn more, and be more.
In 2007, I self-published my first book of poetry under my company name ‘Desire My Dream Productions’ as the publisher and I continued to self-publish my books this way. Currently I have a podcast on Anchor – Conversations with DMDP. I am a part of three self-published Anthologies and the fourth will be IAWA’s Mega Anthology book titled, ‘Cry My Africa’ with many amazing authors from various countries in Africa sharing negative and positive stories to bring light on diverse cultures.
I am an African-American and considering my past ancestor’s unknown history, learning of my origin was of the utmost, so in 2016, I did the Ancestry DNA test, but in 2020 I wanted more tribal information and did the African Ancestry DNA test, which proved to be 97% West African of Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Senegal.

Every society has good cultural practices they uphold in high esteem. Can you share some with us?
The best cultural practice in my country, the United States of America is the opportunity of freedom to prosper in life beyond doubt. In the black community, one of our cultures is soul food. And the reason it’s called soul food is because of the South where most enslaved Africans were brought from various West African countries. Therefore, we needed to keep something of our African culture that was taken away from us, which comes from our souls, and no one can take from us.
Music is another culture that we have in our country. It’s the rhythm of the drums. Either an African beat or Caribbean beat mixed. No festival or life-cycle celebration is complete without the presence of music which is the center of traditional African social and cultural life.
Dancing and singing are other cultures of African-Americans because the spiritual forces become the embodiment of the rhythms and the spirits. Regardless of it being religious or for fun. During celebrations or other kinds of music, you will find dancing and costumes also, which are part of our culture depending on the type of celebration.
Another best cultural practice is family values because of our history, and so is education. We stand strong and hold our family closer to our hearts without separation as our history of being stolen from our families to be enslaved.

Now that you mentioned the good cultural practices, can we hear those you consider as ill practices and harmful to society?
The worst cultural practice in my community is racism, which still exists – the negative racial stereotype which greatly affects attitudes toward African-Americans. Poverty in communities, where it’s looked at as an option.
Trying to keep our culture separated from American Culture over time has been difficult because even hairstyles have been a problem until now, due to the adoption of the Crown Act into law, which stands for ‘Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair’. It is a law that prohibits race-based hair discrimination, whereby the denial of employment and educational opportunities comes in play because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including braids, locks, twists or Bantu knots.
This hair act which originated in California has become law in 10 states. While in some states just some few counties. But the fight is not yet over until all 50 states have adopted this law. The worst of all outside of systemic racism, is political control. Look at how wearing our hair was a political issue, and why so many blacks’ years past began straightening their hair, and now wear wigs and weave versus showing their beautiful crown of glory. I too wore the same and straightened my hair as well. However, today, many African Americans are wearing their natural hair in America despite negative feedback. I’m now among those wearing their natural hair for nearly twelve years now.

As a writer living in such a society, how do you intend to bring these ill cultural practices to light?
As a writer, I use my voice to unify my people in ways of poetry and stories to enlighten the spirit of many who find intriguing reality. I stay within the communities to write analogies with others to give unification and respect to my people and the world. Stay in my faith to hope the narratives will change for the greater.

In a few lines, tell us about International African Writers Association – IAWA and the kind of bonding established among writers.
IAWA is my family on the other side of the world connected by spirit and DNA. IAWA is a branch that leads to many directions in the continent of Africa and abroad. We strive to bring corrections to the narratives and acknowledge that some need rectifying and others more support and unification. IAWA is about believing in yourself and others around you as the same, and writing in a unified state but diverse because of the journeys.

Kindly mention some friends you bonded with in IAWA and their countries of origin.
In IAWA, as said earlier we are a family, and yes, I have bonded with a few and hope to with others. The Global President of IAWA, Munyal Manunyi Salami of Nigeria, Jennifer M. Zulu of Zambia, Mondli Zondi of South Africa, Tarqui Jalloh of Sierra Leone, Mustapha Cisse of Senegal, Patience Gumbo of Zimbabwe, and a few others.

Thank you, Juanita, for availing us yourself on this interview.
You are quite welcome and thank you for this opportunity.

Munyal is Global President, International African Writers Association – IAWA)
Email: talkmunyal@gmail.com
Phone: 08163512022